Hague Quality Water

Jennifer and Anakin

The WaterMax I purchased and had installed in 1994 has provided my home and family with top-quality water, with no need for a single repair until a small piston became stuck after over 24.5 years of operation. My response from the company for repair of the unit was rapid and demonstrated that this company cares about the longevity of their products and the consumers who rely on them. I even received phone calls to check in on me when a winter storm caused a delay in the service call.

My home is rural and my well 210 feet deep with water that is scummy with high rust and moderate-high hardness. The WaterMax system has taken everything that this deep well, rural life, and a family of four has thrown at it for a quarter century. The service and repair was done by a gal from Applied Water Technologies and every aspect was 5 star. I opted for the system upgrade, and after 25 years of efficient, reliable operation by such a major home system, repair costs can be expected. The WaterMax was expertly repaired and reset after water testing and is again providing my home with sweet-tasting, pure, clean water. I really can't speak highly enough about the quality of service I received and how pleased I am that I can look toward another 15 years or more of trouble-free operation by the Hague system.

As to the prior ratings, I can only assume that Hague went through some growing pains back in 2014; I find it noteworthy that these problems are no longer the subject of posts. Again, I recommend the Hague WaterMax to anyone wanting to invest in an efficient, durable, and trouble-free home softener system. (And no, I have no affiliation whatsoever with the company, I'm just a very satisfied owner and recipient of excellent service and repair on my Hague.)

In 2004 Margaret ** an older retired nun (with Alzheimer) living alone in her home in ** was tricked/scammed by a Dealer for HAGUE water softener company (Sayler’s Suncoast Water 3851 62nd Ave N, Suite F, Pinellas Park, FL 33781, Phone: 727-526-1151 Email: info@saylerwater.com) to buy and install a water softener Hague Watermax on her property. They convinced her that city water is badly "contaminated" and she needs that softener to "clean" the water. The installation was never finished.

Margaret was not able to fight the Hague dealer and soon after she permanently moved to a nursing home and her house was empty until 2014 when I bought it. Taking advantage of her age and inability to make rational decisions, Sayler’s Suncoast Water charged her about $6000, but did a mockery of installation, they improperly installed the water softener in the wrong location in violation of county electrical and plumbing code as well in violation the Hague installation manual:

It was placed outside unprotected from sun/rain/wind. (The Hague manual say on pg 10": H. For outside installations, the appliance should be enclosed so it is protected from the weather.") The drain tube was hanging unsupported, draining water in the flower bed outside?, not connected to a drain as specified by installation instructions in the manual and in violation of county plumbing codes. Hague installation manual say pg 8: "Drain the appliance to an appropriate drain, such as a floor drain or washer drain that will comply with all local and state plumbing codes." (see picture)

The power source was not available nearby, and Hague never bother to install an outside plug as electrical code requires, so the transformer was recklessly plugged inside the bedroom, 10 ft away, hanging with unprotected exposed wire connectors passing through a open window (see pictures) This is a gross County electrical code violation. In order to pass house inspection In 2014, when I bought the house I had to hire an electrician to install an outside outlet. (see attached home inspection report)

After I moved into the house in an effort to make the softener to work, in December 2018, I contacted by phone the above dealer about the Hague Watermax system control displays "Clock chip fail" (6 button control). They said It needs replacement. The manual recommended controller part #54012 or #54050 is not available from the Hague dealers anymore and they try to sell me the new/updated ST-200 Smart Touch Control = $362 (uninstalled). Why the old controllers are not made anymore? Are they recalled as defective? They refused to replace it citing warranty limitations ignoring the fact that due improper installation in wet conditions unprotected, caused the controller to fail prematurely before the 25 years expected warranty.

If Sayler’s Suncoast Water would have had installed the unit correctly and protected the power source and controller from weather, probably it would not fail that soon since it is warranted 25 years. The owner manual shows on pg. 2 (see attached) that even the warranty for this softener is 25 years, it expire after 10 years when the customer has to pay 100% repair cost. How is legally possible a 25 years warranty to expire in 10 years? Why Hague discontinue parts after 14 years when the warranty is 25 years? They have an obligation to supply same parts # for the units sold/installed at least for the duration of the warranty.

I contacted Hague customer service (Eric ** Technical Manager Hague Quality Water International), sent him pictures of the unit and he agreed that there is an installation issue and advised me to contact the dealer who did it. But Sayler’s Suncoast Water has no interest to solve the problem they created, (email from Alan Sayler, President of Sayler's Suncoast Water) and to add insult to injury he suggested that the previous owner or me changed the unit location? This is incredible deceiving strategy to make customer responsible for their sloppy work. I contacted the neighbor that cared for Margaret and he confirmed the unit was in the same place from the beginning and placed on the same original concrete slab Hague dealer provided.

In conclusion Hague delegated the dealer to solve the faulty installation problem but the dealer refused and blame it on Hague 25 years warrantee policy that expired after 10 years! Problem solved. To test the Florida dealer Hague policy, I called 3 different Hague independent dealers in central Florida and all of them asked different prices over $300 for the controller but Sayler’s Suncoast Water was the most (unjustified) expensive and the only one that wants additional programming and installation fees? All others included programming and installation in the price. There is no consistent policy of Hague dealer part prices structure of what and how much the Hague dealer can overcharge a customer as long the Hague is paid.

The only interest Alan has lie about installation (says I moved the softener and altered the perfect initial installation) is to overcharge me exorbitant service fees starting with the time they wake up in the morning ($90.00 for a service call for the first 30 minutes and then $20.00 for each quarter hour after that, plus parts). This is a doctor or lawyer fee not an appliance technician fee. Incredibly they want to charge me this rip-off service fee to come to my house only to "evaluate" their own butchered installation they did in 2004 not to fix it. Does not even crossed their mind that they are responsible for this bad code violation installation also their own company installation guide.

Hague cannot claim any protection from the Warranty conditions due to improper installation. When Hague install it wrong Hague violated its own installation rules -so Hague lost any right to apply warranty limitation to this unit. Warranty limitations does not apply to faulty installation -inside 25 years there is no time limitation for problems generated by improper installation. Only if Hague followed its own installation rules, then Hague had the right to apply to me Hague warranty conditions. Since Hague violated company installation conditions the Hague co. and dealer are not protected by warranty limitation (owner or time) anymore.

In this conditions I don't feel is my responsibility to pay 100% cost of the new controller after 14 years. I request Hague dealer Sayler’s Suncoast Water to fix the softener unit. Since the unit is my house now, and I own the damaged softener. It is irrelevant who was the original owner. This is not only about Hague warranty, but about damaged softener by Hague negligence. Since the softener is permanently attached to my house plumbing system and it cannot be removed without professional assistance, it presents a hazard for fire/flood liability.

A normal company should be concerned about their dealer's gross installation policy violations and they may want to correct it, as it affects the product's reputation. This is about professional integrity and public image. Hague does not care about all this. All they want is to milk more money from a victimized customer without fixing anything. I filed formal complaint with BBB and Consumer Protection Agency in an effort Hague will be forced to act professional and accepts responsibility for their damage or mistakes. They ignore it, and never responded to their official requests. I certainly hope that FL Attorney General’s Office will investigate and not tolerate Hague Quality Water International abusive business practice to senior citizens.

So far we are impressed. Skin and hair are more soft than before and my daughter who didn't know about the system noticed the water tasted better. It's pretty expensive but hey clean water is unfortunately something you have to pay for nowadays. Lastly I would like to say Jonathan is such a good person. He apologized several times for interrupting family dinner. An honorable personality goes a long way when you want to be known as a reputable water consultant and salesperson.

Anyway, we proceeded to sit at the kitchen table where he showed me the system costing $8000! But then did the normal sales pitch and draw a line through the $8000 and wrote $7200... then another line through that to say if I purchased today it would go to $6500... I asked for literature and his card so I could do my research. He didn't have any literature and I felt like I was back in 1980 with a guy showing up at my door to steal my money while installing windows I didn't need.

I know we have a water issue and the frustrating thing is that we need a system installed on our house and under our sink. Currently, we're using AquaTru - which is wonderful, but it is expensive. The company has been wonderful and has replaced the base a few times for us at no cost, but we've paid $25 for shipping. Needing a whole home system is different - what other options are there because I certainly don't want to give my money to a company with reviews like I'm reading today.

Here's where I'm concerned: Dawn called back to "seal the deal". I expressed that I was lied to about the water test and they wasted an hour of my time because I could have told them my water was hard already - and I didn't get a print out with all the numbers on it like the customer service person said I would. Dawn has been extremely nice and apologized for the miscommunication. She also further discounted the unit to now $5000. I told her I needed to speak with my husband, which I did. Dawn called back the following day and told me she ran my story by the boss who told her to further discount the unit to $4200.

So, she has been calling as scheduled ever since then. We're trying to make this decision and need a clear mind. I feel their website is good, but after reading these remarks, I'm worried now. I'm not going to go through with this purchase now because I can't risk the loss of funds and potential frustrations with a system that may fail since it seems so many of you have experienced that. Thank you for your details and for sharing your stories!