A Culligan Flim-Flam
Our Culligan soft
water system was on
the fritz a while
back. To our
astonishment, the
plastic salt tank
was leaking, with
salt oozing on to
the garage floor.
After all if one
cannot rely on
plastic to last a
thousand years, what
is the world coming
to. A call to
Culligan will surely
correct the problem.
Culligan told me to shut off that red-blue sliding value with a push on that red knob to the left to disarm the system and wait for the technician to arrive. By the time of his arrival in about two weeks we were in a heightened state of anticipation since the salt was continuing to ooze out of the tank and was spreading. Culligan's friendly technician quickly put us at ease with his assurances:
This was an isolated, even rare event;
Our existing tank was under a 10 year warranty; and best of all
The total cost of his visit would be $30.00, an amount that was reiterated several times.
After we collected the salt on the floor, the technician changed out the tank for a new one and checked out the system to see that it was working properly. The Culligan truck was loaded and secured and we paid the $30 that was requested. End of story, or so we thought.
While at the truck, on the verge of driving off, the technician is on the phone with his office. The technician then returns to the garage and proceeds to tell me that he now needs to perform what he described as a diagnostic test on the unit to see that it is working properly. But I told him he had already determined that the unit was in working order when he put in the new tank and started it back up and he agreed. But the office was telling him that he needed to do a diagnostic test, which "test" would "warranty" our new tank. Without the "test" there would be no warranty and, more importantly, without the test, we would have to BUY the tank that he had just finished installing. He seemed genuinely embarrased. He said the "test" would cost an additional $99. We reluctantly agreed and he proceeded to perform the "test."
The $99 "test" took perhaps three minutes, which looked more like mind-meld while he stood over the controls of the operating unit, jotting down a couple of numbers in the process. He declared the unit was OK and he collected his $99 for the test and drove off.
Ron Johnson
25 January 2006
Comment: While the term "flim-flam" generally refers to a deliberate con or scam, it's fair to suggest that our technician was embarrassed and was most likely caught unaware of the company's "policy" to extract an additional amount for an unnecessary task for their replacement services.