Customer Protection

[janverbeem]

About 4 months ago I bought a 27000 Baht whole house filter system from BKwater or Masterpure A7.It is a full automatic system designed for well water sources as it will remove all possible sediments,heavy metals,micro organisms and also calcium.

To regenerate the filter media that removes the calcium it is backwashed wiich is set at a pre programmed time through a regenerating tank holding salt.I did a lot of research on this system for at least 6 months by visiting several official dealers in different locations and even contacting the headoffice on numerous occasions.

One of my concerns was always how much of salt I would need on a monthly base to regenerate the filter media.I was always told that in my case,a normal houshold needs to set backwash every 2 days,that one bag of 40 kg salt would last between 6 to 12 months.

Finally I bought the system 4 months ago,and since the house isn't finished yet and there is a limited amount a water used ,the backwash timing was set to every 7 days only.Great was my surprise that after only 3 backwashes I detected that the salt in the tank had completely dissappeared and the even the water didn't contain any traces of salt anymore.

I called the headoffice with my complaints and was told that this wasn't normal and they would send a team of technicians.When they arrived they did a very quick check up and told me that everything was normal even the salt usage as every customer goes through that amount of salt.I told the technicians that I was told a completely different story,but there reply was that the sales people must be wrong.

So In fact when the filter will be set to it's normal backwash cycle,which is every 2 days.I will run through 40 kg of salt every 6 days or approx 200Kg a month.

That would mean instead of needing 40 Kg of salt every 6 to 12 months I would need about 2,4 Tonnes every 12 months.

As I don't have shares in any salt factory I was a little dissapointed with the misinformation I was given during the past 6 months,which seems to have been done on purpose.Who in his right mind would buy a filter if he knew he would need 2400 Kg of salt a year?

I contacted the headoffice and claimed that I wanted back my money as I was lied to on purpose,on which they replied that I had to send an email with my grieves and they would forward it to the management.

This email,and several other thereafter,were sent end of August and I have contacted the person responsible for customer relation sveral times,where I always got the answer that they would contact me back soon.

I have told them several times already that I would make a police report and take the case to court,but they laugh with it straight in my face.

For the past 2 months she doesn't answer the phone on me anymore as she probably has stored my number under "pain in the arse farang".

So at the end I have a useless 27000 Baht filter system and get no response from the company,and getting a bit fed up with it.

What are my rights and which is the way I should follow,and what are my chances that I'll get back my money.

In the mean time I have made a recorded phone conversation with the manager of a masterpure dealer,he clearly staes his name and function in the recording, in which I ask him the question how long one bag of salt would last if backwashed every 2 days and his reply is 4 to 6 months.

I'm also sure that if I walk into any given masterpure dealership with a hidden camera,I will get the same answer on a video recording.

[Sunbelt Asia]

Your first step is to contact your local Office of Consumer Protection Board with your complaints. They will listen to your complaint, collect evidence and then contact the business in question to attempt to settle the dispute, if it cannot be settled out of court then the lawsuit can proceed. The consumer protection law that went into effect in 2008 allows for only a minimum of delays, a delay of only 15 days is allowed and there are only two courts that will hear the case, the court of first instance and the appeals court if the case is appealed.

You can contact the hotline at 1166 but the case must be filed in the area where you live, there will be an OCPB at the city hall in each Muang district. The website (in Thai) is found here: http://www.ocpb.go.th/index.asp and contact details here: http://www.ocpb.go.th/main_contact.asp

[sunbelt][/sunbelt]