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Alpine & EcoQuest

Alpine • Judge Orders Alpine To Stop Making Unsupported Claims • Alpine, EcoQuest Air Cleaner Claims Questioned Again • An Alpine Dealer Responds

We frequently hear from EcoQuest air purifier peddlers protesting that their company is in no way related to its predecessor, Alpine. In fact, EcoQuest is a direct spin-off of Alpine and is headed by a former Alpine executive.

The late Alpine Industries got itself in trouble with state and federal authorities over its health benefits claims and a little matter having to do with taxes. In 2000, Alpine's sales manager, Mike Jackson, bought the air purifier business from Alpine and set up a new company called EcoQuest.

EcoQuest, which espouses an evangelical Christian approach to business, has expanded into water filters, nutritional supplements and skin-care products, all sold through a network of about 150,000 commission-only distributors.

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Jackson has tried to distance EcoQuest from Alpine and has said that, as Alpine sales manager, he was not in charge of the company and wasn't involved in any of the actions that led a federal judge to say he would hold the company in contempt if it didn't stop making prohibited claims about its air purifiers.

In fact, both Alpine and EcoQuest were named in the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Justice Department complaint in 2000. Earlier that year, a federal judge had ordered Alpine to stop claiming that its machines provide relief from any medical condition or that they effectively remove or reduce a wide variety of air pollutants from indoor environments.

Just like Alpine, EcoQuest is headquartered in Greeneville, Tenn. Alpine moved there in 1997 after the NBC News program "Dateline" aired a report that questioned the core technology of its air purifiers.

The NBC program noted that the Minnesota Supreme Court had ruled against the company a few years earlier in a case that charged Alpine with making false and misleading health claims for its products.

In an unusual twist, Alpine sued the Federal Trade Commission, claiming it was "harrassing" the company. The FTC, in turn, sued Alpine and the company was fined $1.49 million on the health claims charges. The proceedings also unearthed evidence that Alpine owed a significant amount of back taxes to Minnesota and Tennessee.

Besides claiming its new product line meets all the claims the company and its dealers make about it, EcoQuest insists it's not just about multilevel marketing scheme. It claims has an annual retention rate of 40 percent, supposedly far above average.

As is usually the case, the independent sales force includes some who vociferously defend the company, even to the point of defying a federal court order issued in 2000 that instructed Alpine to notify its independent dealers that they -- not just the company -- should stop making unsubstantiated claims.

Ralph Fourmont of Port Hadlock, WA, wasn't happy with that. On Nov. 18, 2000, he wrote:

My life has been changed by Alpine's fresh air machine. I no longer use inhalors (sic) or pharmaceuticals. I have started a business through Ecoquest that helps people just like me. Please stop this agency (ConsumerAffairs.com) from taking pay-offs from HEPA filter companies and Pharmaceutical companies and discrediting not only the parent companies of Ecoquest and Alpine, but my company as well.

You are hurting my business, as well as the potentially thousands of people who can be helped by Ecoquest products. I am physically unable to work in the workplace ... this business is my family's livelihood. This is emotionally wreaking havoc. Your agency is corrupt!

Lawanda of Fort Walton Beach FL (03/03/08)
I paid $499.00 for the eco box air purifier. First the plug went out, so they sent me a new one--except it's in 2 pieces, and they sent the wrong one. Then they told me to send it to them, and then they sent it back. It worked for one month; later the motor went out, so they told me to send it to them--which I did. It's been over a month now, and every time I call them they will tell you to state your name, and then the answering machine says they are unable to locate them. They said the product was guaranteed for 3 years. This hasn't been over 6 months. And it hasn't been working for about 2 of those months.

I still do not have an air purifier that I paid over $500 for, including costs of shipping it back to them.

Calvin of New Port Richey FL (06/22/07)
We are owners of 4 of their ozone purifiers. One will not produce ozone--the others all work as good as new. We called the company and explained the problem. The man said that we needed to replace the ozone plates. I explained that three were working perfectly and that I had switched the plates between the non-working unit and a working unit. Changing the plates between the two units had no effect on either unit. I then asked what were other things that could cause the problem. He then told me that I needed to replace all the ozone units to make them work better. I explained again that they worked just like they always had. The man was very rude, would not tell me anything else that could be causing the problem. My husband called back and said let's talk about this. Hoping to try to clarify our problem because the man's English was not so good. He said Let's Talk? and hung up. They will not answer our calls.

James of Canandaigua NY (06/26/01)
We purchased a classic xl-15 on 9/28/99 for a total of $640.93, at the time we felt it was a bit steep but if it did what it claimed to do it may be worth it. A few weeks ago the fuse blew, it was replaced and blew again, then a third time,there is a 3 year warranty on it. We then called David Fox and left a message, a week went by we left a second message still no response. What recourse do we have in this matter?

$640 is quite a bit of money to be out, especially with a machine that doesn't work.

Carol of Hazlet NJ (06/25/01)
An article appeared in one of the top NJ newspapers regarding my dilema with toxic mold in my home. Two of Alpine's sales people contacted the paper advising they had something to kill the mold in my home.

I called them thanking them for their assistance. The one fellow arrived at my house shortly after I arrived home this past Tuesday. I had just had major oral surgery the day before and was running my 9 year old back and forth to the pediatrician with a 104 temp. I then had to bring my child to his father's, where he is residing temporarily. Alpine's rep appeared at my door on the heals of all that and said he had a cure. Even a cure for toxic mold!! He plugged in the units and left. I awoke in bed several days later to find a powdery substance covering me. All the toxic molds were now airborne!!!

Serious consequences to my health and my pets who were in the home.

Jim of Bellevue WA (04/22/01)
I purchased an Alpine Industries XL-15 from Mr. Loomis about 3 years ago. The product has never worked reliably. There are problems with the safety interlock on the back of the system, so that every time you clean the ozone generating plates and/or the back screen, you have to constantly tweek the system to work.

I know that ozone systems can be dangerous if misused and was leary of the health claims Mr. Loomis made. I purchased the system to help clean the air and not to treat my sleep apnea. When I meantioned my sleep apnea to Mr. Loomis, he stated that the Alpine XL-15 would cure my sleep apnea. This should have been a clue that there was something very wrong with this system, but I passed it off to just the typicall MLM hype and purchased the system because I thought it would help with the dust in my house. The dust by the way does not contribute to my sleep apnea.

I purchased the Alpine Xl-15 during a really bad time in my life. I had just filed for backruptcy and really couldn't afford the cost, but since Mr. Loomis said he was able to sell me a repo system, I was able to get it at half price. I thought this would be a beneficail system to use to cut down dust, but after using it when I could get it to work, I actually felt irritation in my lungs. I was able to use it a lower settings and it did seem to do a good jub of cutting down the dust and emilinating some mold odors, but it never has worked reliably.

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