Vitasalis Complaint - DO NOT buy from this company! - EQ300 Whole House water filtration system

Posted by Sparticus on 2006-09-20:

My brother is in the market for one of these. Thanks for the review, I will forward it on to him.

Posted by mooremlk95 on 2006-09-20:

I am so glad you read my review so you can stop your brother from making the same mistake we did!

Posted by Water Doc on 2006-10-10:

Sorry to hear that you got took by these guys. We are currently suing them for using our trade marks. We are the real manufacturer of the Rhino EQ-300 Whole House Water Filter. www.Aquasana.com. They used to be a distributor of ours, we terminated their distributorship for advertising violations and they started making a filter with our name. The system they are selling has no performance testing, no license of any kind and is inferior in quality to our product. Please do not confuse them with us. If you would like, we'll credit you with the full purchase price you paid them for their counterfit system towards the genuine product. Again, sorry for your experience, we are aggressively trying to stop these people in Federal Court. 877-FDA-PURE, info@aquasana.com

Posted by Water Doc on 2006-10-29:

The company name is spelled Vitasalus, you can find many complaints on them through this spelling, including numerous complaints filed with the MN & MI Attorney Generals Office.

Posted by mooremlk95 on 2006-10-30:

Thanks for the information; we have a complaint in with the BBB in Michigan whom the company claims they have "a very good relationship with." These people have truly ripped us off and I find it hard to believe that they haven't done it to a lot of other people, as well. So how come our complaint with the BBB in their area of MI is only the second of two total complaints filed??

Posted by Water Doc on 2007-03-25:

Water Doc/ Charles Strand

Most people don't waste their time sending complaints to the BBB, I wish more would. The problem with the BBB is that as long as they/Vitasalus respond to the complaint, the BBB for the most part is satisfied... wether the response is a good one or not.

Consumer comment sites like thius are a better way to complain as it is all out in the open.

I have spent over $400,000 in legal fees trying to stop them from using our Rhino trade mark over the last 2 years and still am in Federal Court, a horribly broken system in my opinion.

Posted by Fairdealing on 2007-11-06:

I read about them and they will be contacting us. Now my husband knows to ignore them! Thank you, We are looking for a good system and will look into the Aquasana but these things are so difficult. Who do you trust? Rochester Hills, MI

Posted by jktshff1 on 2007-11-06:

Water Doc/moore keep us posted

Posted by superbowl on 2007-11-06:

We bought a reverse osmosis system so we could get rid of the ugly water bottle in our kitchen. We were promised 1 gallon a minute, after two plumbers and dozens of calls we get about 1/3rd of that. The company will not take a return on it or do anything further, their attitude is that's just the way it is. I am going to take it out throw the junk in a box and send it back to the president of the company with a nice note enclosed. (VH post)

Posted by mooremlk95 on 2007-11-07:

I am sorry to hear about your experience, superbowl, and I agree with you, Fairdealing. Just an update: about a month ago, I got a call from John in Tech Services. He told me that even though he has a big problem with me, he wanted to discuss a possible refund IF I removed all negative statements I have posted about Vitasalus on this and other consumer advocacy websites. The refund was to come only after I had done so. Does that sound ethical to anyone? After I told him that I would not remove the comments until after we had resolved our dispute, I never heard back from him. It's amusing how suddenly the company is worried about their reputation but not worried enough to actually satisfy the customer just because it is the right way to do business! Their reputation meant nothing to them at the time we were unsatisfied and at this point they want to bribe me with my own money! Furthermore, they actually expected me to believe that if I went so far as to remove everything I had posted that I would ever see my refund.... what a joke! I have spoken personally to a gentleman who is still waiting on a refund from Vitasalus after over a year. The comments I have shared here should serve as a warning about how this company operates.

Posted by dodo23 on 2008-09-17:

I am amazed how broken our systems are. I actually bought a reverse Osmosis system and a water softener from Culligan thanks to the high pressure salesperson, but I did not get it installed and asked them to put it on hold when I researched it further and found out that RO is extremely unhealthy for drinking, being acidic in nature and devoid of any minerals it pulls minerals from your body. And thanks to advice from Aquasana's Jack I researched further and found these comments about Vistasalus... Also the governments are not regulating it properly. If you look on Culligan website the Cleer RO system is not for sale in California, probably because California is the only state that regulates these systems. I haven't purchased my system yet but I am close.

Posted by Treasureslueth on 2009-12-16:

There is no reason for them to be rude. With that said it seems to me that based on their systems descriptions, now and in the past, the system you should have purchased for your problem is the Metal Master system, not the Pure Master (EQ300). It is a hard conversation for interject into without being privy to the original. But they still should honor the 100% Satisfaction guarantee unless your dissatisfaction does not meet the requirements for said guarantee. One of the requirements for enactment is that the system perform as promised. Since the system you ordered was not designed to treat your problem the guarantee would not apply.

Posted by Happy with Vitasalus on 2010-01-05:

Sorry if you had a bad experience choosing the correct product,but I have actually been very satisfied with the performance of the "Metal Master" system designed more specifically for well water with high Iron bacteria/sulpher. The system still required use of a chlorinator to help precipitate out more of the iron in the water before the filtration , and was then followed by a carbon filter to remove the chlorine smell/taste. Perhaps the company was right in suggesting that you chose the wrong system for your needs,which isn't THEIR responsibility.

Posted by LOOKINGFORWATERSYSTEM on 2010-03-16:

I BELONG TO SHOP TO EARTH A BUYING CLUB THAT PROMOTES EARTH FRIENDLY PRODUCTS AND THEY PROMOTE AQUASANA WHOLE HOUSE WHICH I WAS GOING TO BUY
BUT I CHECKED EBAY FOR BETTER DEAL. CLICKED ON EQUINOX AND FOUND VITASALUS OFFERED A NEW V-750 MODEL FOR $777 THATS FOR 750,000 GALLONS VERSUS EQ-300 AT 300,000 GALLONS. SOUNDED LIKE BETTER DEAL.

THEY ALSO STAE " WE ARE NO LONGER MANUFACTURING OR SELLING OUR PREVIOUS WHOLE HOUSE SYSTEM". THEIR OLD SYSTEM LOOKS LIKE THE AQUASANA AND MAKES IT SOUND LIKE THEY WERE THE MAKERS OF THE AQUSANA.

I ALSO SEE HOW MOOREMLK95 BOUGHT WRONG SYSTEM. VITASALUS SHOULD HAVE REPLACED IT WITH PROPER UNIT NO DOUBT ABOUT IT

Posted by BCMN on 2010-06-22:

Wish I would have looked for complaints against Vitasalus before I purchased a ‘hardness master’ product. It does nothing to make my water soft. I talked to Robert Cloutier for tech support help and he told me I installed it all wrong so I moved it with his suggestions and still no change to the hardness of my water, I had the unit installed for 5 months. I had my water and my neighbors water tested and we both had the same hardness count. I rec'd a pre-paid postage address label from Vitasalus Robert Cloutier and Vitasalus rec'd it 05/24/10 (according to my USPS tracking number) I have been calling weekly to see what the process/status of my refund and always I am transferred to a MoNique person who supposedly handles returns, for 3 weeks now I’ve been leaving messages, I get the same voicemail 'Monique is out of the office call back Monday morning' the receptionist told me MoNique has had family emergencies. Seems to me I am getting the run around, I am going to write Robert Cloutier an e-mail see what he says.
BCMN

Posted by Lover of Truth on 2012-03-18:

It seems funny to me that Aquasana had a fallout with one of their distributors over dishonest advertising. The main reason I stopped buying their products was due to their deceptive and dishonest advertising. A couple of examples: 1) They put up several web sites that they make appear to be unbiased 3rd party sites doing legit research but they are actually owned and operated by Sun Water Systems, Aquasana's parent company and are rife with Aquasana propaganda with no mention that is just an advertisement site. You have to look into who the web site is owned by to know that it is their parent company. There are numerous web pages, blog posts 'user reviews', etc that are just more Aquasana advertising. 2) They use a lot of deceptive terms when referring to their products like for years they were unable to get NSF certification (for whatever reason) so they would advertise their filter as 'beyond NSF standards' as if NSF was beneath them. They still advertise their shower filter as being rated #1 by Cosmetology Today magazine. I have looked far and wide and neither I nor anyone else I know has ever heard of a Cosmetology Today magazine. I have decided that if this magazine even exists it is likely another advertising tool produced by the parent company Sun Water Systems to give more fake credibility to their products.
I have never been able to accurately 'filter' through all the deception to determine the quality of their filters. I can say that in the 2 cities I used their countertop system the water tasted good but the hardware was junk. But my water tastes good even through the basic carbon filter in the fridge.
So with a lack of accurate unbiased comparison I ultimately decided that if the company wasn't confident enough about their products to be honest about them the filters probably weren't any better than the hardware.
If this Vitiasalus company was dishonest then they didn't just get that way overnight and Aquasana had no problem with them before, as long as it served their purposes. It just seems like poetic justice for the fallout to be over dishonest advertising.

Posted by Bill on 2012-07-30:

I hate that you have had such a bad experience but I must say my experiences have been COMPLETELY different. I have had this system on my well water for 8 yrs for the exact same reason you installed yours (I did need to add a chlorination unit). I have been extremely pleased and the service has been exceptional. In fact, yesterday (Sunday) we were struck by lightening and it destroyed the power supply and controller. I called and left a message with Vitasalis and to my surprise they called me Sunday night and worked a solution to my problem. They were friendly, courteous, and sincere in resolving my problems. I've had many dealings with this company over the past 8 years and none of them were bad.

Posted by Texasgirl on 2012-10-08:

Wow! Thanks so much for taking the time to post about this corrupt company. I was just about to order some products from them and decided last minute to verify by checking reviews. The good new is that what comes around, goes around. It will catch up with them at some point. Snake oil salesmaen are a thing of the past with the internet keeping us in the know.

Posted by deb on 2012-11-20:

I've had a great experience with Vitasalus. The filters are high quality and the staff is helpful and efficient.