Culligan Quality Water Warranty ripoff. Roanoke Virginia
We purchased a Culligan Water Softner system in Oct 98 for $2600. On April 2003, o-rings failed in the control valve body leaking water just 1 inch right in front of control circuit board of the Mark 100 control module. The design is so poor that when an o ring fails water is sprayed directly onto the circuit board. There are no barriers. UL code violation ? Upon failure of o rings, a company technician advised me that the warranty is not valid.
The water quality caused the o ring to fail, thus damaging the circuit board. Ok I swalled that temporarilly. Had to purchase parts, valve body $62, circuit board $261. When I got the new valve body with new o rings I found that the design of the control arm was re-engineered to avoid putting lateral movement on the valve piston. The original design caused premature o ring failures.
Thus my problem. A bad design caused o ring failures which damaged the poorly placed circuit board. Now for the comment of the water causing the o ring to fail. After some research, there are facts that sulfur in the water can cause o-ring damage BUT only on certain o ring materials. So culligan sold me a system knowing I had sulfer in the water, designed the valve with o-rings that deteriorate with sulfer.
What a scam. As an engineer, this is a very poorly designed product. The fire safety is also an issue. Electricity and water and no separation. I will go out of my way and make sure Culligan never gets a new customer.
Lucas
New Castle, Virginia
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Kenneth
Sturgis,Michigan,
U.S.A.
Poorly handled
#2Consumer Comment
Fri, October 01, 2004
Hi, I am sorry to here of your problem too late as a call to 1-800-culligan should have resolved part of the problem. The seal pack that failed was a common problem with the mark 8 valve. The new design you spoke of did fix many of the problems like you had occur. If the repairman had been properly trained, he would of known that culligan would of warranted the computer board for a full 5 years even in the described situation. All he had to do is send in a claims sheet to Culligan and it would not of been an issue. What you should of been charged for was a seal pack kit, service call, and labor. I know this for a fact, as a former service manager for a Culligan dealership, as I sent many boards in with the same problem. I no longer work for a Culligan dealership so this is not to protect them in any way. The problem is with "POOR TRAINING ON THE PART OF THE DEALER". I was fortunate enough to work for an Excellent dealer and was givin the best training avaible so as to know how this and many other problems should be handled. Sad part is the dealer sold out and the local dealer now has the same reputation as the dealer you wrote of. Best Of luck, Ken