Aug 02, 2020 12:06 PM
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(Updated Sep 04, 2020 07:27 PM)
Please read this completely before you buy Aquaguard.
RO or UV?
Aquaguard and every other purifier salesmen try to brainwash you to purchase RO models. This is because, the company makes lots of money and gives lots of perks to their salesmen on their product, filters and AMC(Annual Maintainance Contract) sales. Please be aware, RO system is not needed if your drinking water TDS is less than 500ppm. Moreover, the Indian Govt. is now about to pass a rule to ban the sale of RO systems in residential areas, as it may cause more harm than benefit, by removing even the essential ions from the water.
https://indiatoday.in/india/story/ngt-ro-purifiers-1637062-2020-01-15
My Plight:
I purchased Dr Aquagurad NRICH HD UV model for Rs.14, 000. They failed to do the mandatory free service in 6th month. It was finally done in 8th month after my repeated calls. Within 2 weeks, my filter stopped water output.
Technician said that the filters are gone. Even though my purifier is still under warranty, he denied replacing them, saying that I have exceeded usage of 5000lts. I am not running a hotel and we are a family of 3. On anonymity, their own technician checked and said that the filters are good, but the company has set a circuit to cut off water after 5000lts, irrespective of the health of filters. So, now I can’t drink from my 8 month old, Rs. 14000 worth purifier, unless, I pay either another Rs. 2800 for AMC or Rs. 2400 for filters. Nor I can buy any other filters, as they have electronically locked my purifier. I am totally at their mercy now.
The exploitation doesn’t end here. On my enquiring, they said, even if I pay for 1 year AMC and get new filters now, and if they fail in 8 months(they will surely, as PCB is manipulated), I’ll have to pay for filters or renew AMC again, as only 1 time filters replacement is allowed.
When I said, your salesman Mr. Eshwar claimed that this model filters will last for 2 years, the Service head denied even knowing his own company salesman and said, he is not responsible for his salesman promises. When I spoke about filing a case in Consumer court, their manager was so arrogant and said, it will not stand, as all is written in their policies and advised me not to believe their own salesmen’ false promises.
I earlier had Eureka Forbes’ Aquaguard iNova model for over 12 years. I had renewed its AMC every 2 years since 2007. During last service in 2019, I felt not to pay for AMC as it was working good and I could easily get its filters online now. Surprisingly, the system failed to work in 2 months after this non-AMC service. I understand it now. As long as I paid for AMC, I never had problem. But the moment I denied paying for AMC, it stopped working. I suspect foul play on the part of the company, as the technician would have meddled with its circuit to fail after 2 months.
My advice:
Don’t buy any products of Aquaguard. All their purifiers are fitted with dubious electronic PCB to fail and cut off water after a predefined time, even if your filters are good. Doing so, they compel you to buy their AMC. 3rd party filters will not work. You’ll be paying 1 year AMC, every 6 – 8 months. This is dubious business strategy. Stay away from these cheaters.
Don’t believe Aquaguard salesman. After you buy, they will disappear and will take no responsibilities of his claims. Service head, will deny even knowing their own salesman
Aug update:
After repeated mails, calls and escalations and insisting that their filters failed only because they didn’t do the mandatory free service in 6th month, they finally provided me with new filters.
After these filters fail, I’ll not buy either their filters or AMC and throw away this junk and buy other company UV filters.
But I’ll continue to spread awareness about the shady business monopoly of these cheaters and dissuade everyone from buying any Aquagurad purifiers.
They will soon realize what happens if they cheat loyal customers.
