A couple of years ago I got a reverse osmosis and water softener installed by BRM. I spoke with Derek and he asked if there was an existing water softener to find out if the plumbing was already done. He also asked if the kitchen counter was granite as there was an extra charge to drill a hole thru granite. Derek himself came and worked quickly to install them. When he finished installing the water softener I was told that there was an extra charge if I wanted him to dispose of the old water softener.
Last week I got him to change out the filters for the reverse osmosis system. I e-mailed him prior to ask him how much it costs for the filters and he replied $140. I called him to book an appointment and was quoted $140 again and no other charges were mentioned.
When Derek arrived I asked him to check the water quality as a comparison. He took out a meter and told me it was 35. The number should be under 5. I asked him if I could take a picture of the reading for my records. He tested the water again but "the batteries died." He tried again and said the number is 17. He showed me the meter and I saw a 076. See attached picture.
He then tells me the filters are $140 plus $75 service call. The $140 price quoted was just for the filters. I told him since you are already here, go ahead with changing the filters. If I had known Derek was going to charge an extra $75 for a service call I would not have bothered to have him come. I had previously looked on-line for the price of the filters and one waterestore in Ontario sold them for $86-$97 depending on the quantity you ordered which included shipping. The water store even has a video to show you how to change the filters. Those are for original Goldline replacement parts and are not generic versions.
So Derek changes the osmosis filters and adds some chlorine drops to disinfect the system.
He plugs in his compressor and sparks fly out of the cord where he had some electrical tape around it, so he quickly unplugs it. He uses whatever pressure left in the compressor and puts in 1 puff of air into the storage tank to add pressure in the system.
We then proceed downstairs to check on the water softener. He pushes a few buttons and says it looks fine.
We go back upstairs. I asked Derek how I would sterilize the water storage tank. He pulls out a device from his bag and says he uses this device. He says he puts some chlorine drops in the device and runs it thru the system. He says "I used it while you were walking up the stairs." I was surprised by his comment as I was literally right behind him only to turn off the lights.
He's finished and he leaves.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $1,900.00