RO/DI Unit Cautionary Tale

[lanshark]

Bought 5 stage RO/DI unit is late 2006. Changed pre-filters only in the past.
Recently bought TDS meter out of curiosity in last few weeks and TDS approximately 400 in, 400 out? Egads!
Decided to note brand of Membrane and reorder as failing? In order to remove cap of membrane tube, hose must be temporarily disconnected and cap unscrewed. Opened cap and tube was empty.. For Last 3.5 years.

This is the reply from the Vendor;

I do apologize for that! A missing membrane is usually easy to catch as the production rate will be MUCH higher than it should be.

Again, I apologize for the frustration this has caused. Due to the age of the system, we cannot send a replacement membrane at no charge, but we can offer a replacement at a drastically reduced price of $49 (normally $79). If you would like to order you can call our office M-F from 8am – 4pm CDT.

My reply to the Vendor;

Discounted Replacement? How about ORIGINAL!!! Appears your companies Customer Service and Production/Quality Control levels match. Your assumption is the Customer has a CLUE as to what to be looking for? As you know the cap to the membrane requires temporarily disconnecting a hose? Who would do that if things appear normal (Don't know what we don't know). That invoice I paid is for goods that were not delivered. I'll take this to your local BBB.

Anyone wanting to know the COMPANY name involved, please PM me.

[kylesmoney]

How about DI Resin, you must have been blowing through a canister of that like every other day at 400tds.

[maynardjames]

that sucks i would list company name in vendor experiences forum so they cant screw anymore people. would do the bbb report as well. no excuse for such poor service

[blackx-runner]

How did your tank handle it? Any issues?
I can see the company not warrantying something that is 4 years old. Sounds like they are willing to work with you at least. Sucks for you, but personally I wouldn't have waited 4 years to check what TDS my filter was running at.

[AquaReeferMan]

This is an unfortunate event. That is why you should inspect everything you purchase, when you purchase it.

[Jeff000]

Good to know you can have a successful reef tank without RO/DI water though.

[Dave VG]

What’s that old saying buyer beware.

[iap]

So how does your tank look? Any pics? Maybe I will never need to replace membranes in my unit if you were using 400tds water and everything was fine.

[locust]

LOL that kind of throws your RO water theories out the window!! See i told you tap water was ok. The worst part is, you guys convinced me to get a RO unit, so i only just got one last week! This guy didn't even know he was using plain tap water. Anyway we'll see if this RO water does anything to fix my algae issues.

[eric@tampa]

Thank God my rodi had it's membrane in a closed bag that I had to install 1st.

[lanshark]

I'll note any obvious changes to tank once RO/DI is where it should be. Going to keep a close eye on my SPS in particular.

[Buckeye Hydro]

A reduced price of $49 for the membrane? Hmm...

[muppet]

I think this is a good argument for ALWAYS confirming your product water TDS with a handheld or inline meter. You should be doing that anyway so that you know when to replace filters/membranes.

Who doesn't open up an opaque filter housing to make sure a cartridge is in there before operating the unit? The vendor has some fault here, man, but you're being a little harsh. Would you buy a car without looking inside?

Like someone above said, you must have been blowing through DI resins, which should have been a huge tip off. Do your research before buying a product so that you know how to operate it and can catch problems!!!

[cjj14u]

Originally Posted by muppet

I The vendor has some fault here, man, but you're being a little harsh. Would you buy a car without looking inside?

And is HAS been 3 1/2 years since you bought it......

[phenom5]

Regardless of the the pricing/ discount (I think Buckeye is dropping you a hint on that) of the membrane, I kind of have to side with the vendor on this. I mean, 3 1/2 years...

[Everyones Hero]

3 1/2 years after the fact I wouldn't replace the membrane either. As far as the vendor knows you could be some shady guy trying to get something for free.

When I got my RO/DI in I was checking the water everywhere in the house with the TDS meter just for kicks.

[Buckeye Hydro]

Regardless of who did what/who owes what to whom...

Shark - do you know what you need to get your system up and running? Do you know the capacity of the flow restrictor installed on your system?

If you let me know the brand I can tell you if it takes a "standard-sized" membrane or not.

Russ

[aurora]

How can you NOT know there is no membrane in the chamber? You buy a RO/DI unit rated a say 75gpd. You turn on this thing and suddenly getting like 200-300 gpd if not more. The first thing I'd check is all the connection and taking this unit apart for a look to find a missing membrane. I can understand not knowing if something is wrong for a week...but 3-4 years!?! You'd got to be kidding me!!!! I'm siding with the company on this one. If I was on the other line getting your complaint, I'd naturally think you were trying to get a free replacement membrane after 4 years. Don't you think that you are a bit unreasonable to expect a company to assume that you have a less than usual amount of common sense and now want to be compensated for it? BTW, I'm not a vendor and has no stake in this. Since you asked for our opinion, you've gotten mine.

[Fishamatank]

The vendor screwed up obviously, but the fact that you expect something from them after 3 1/2 years is a little unrealistic.

[cjj14u]

I actually thought that the vendor offering you the Membrane for $49 was a generous gesture on their part....

[Crush Coral]

I am siding with the customer. He did not get what he paid for and is owed that. I would take that argument back to the vendor again.

[Gangous]

Hmmm I have to totally disagree with u guys regardless of weather he should have checked with a tds a company needs to stand by their product and if in fact it was sent with out a membrane then the company should send him one I bought a tds and never checked the membrane
I do use a tds though

[Servillius]

There are any number of things Shark should have done and did not do. At bottom though, here is the situation:

1) Shark bought a product, 2) the product was incomplete, and 3) Shark has not been compensated for the shortfall.

Now Shark has a problem; I'm guessing there is no way to prove the product was incomplete when received. Without that proof, its a he said, she said and its way too late to make the claim. If, however, the vendor is willing to concede the part was, in fact, missing, then there is no reason not to make Shark whole.

Since the vendor has no way of knowing for sure what was missing, I think an equitable compromise would be a gracious resolution to a difficult situation.

[JMartin104]

I think this is a good example of having a "base" understanding of the "things" we use for our hobby. 3 1/2 years tells me this person clearly does not have a base understanding of RODI (setup or maint.) - no offense intended . Had they, It's highly unlikely this situation would be where it is now.

As for the company, I would think it would be in their best interest to send out a free membrane - perhaps have "you" pay for shipping. But their discounted offer is still a good faith gesture after this amount of time.

Hope it works out for you!

[Everyones Hero]

Originally Posted by Gangous

Hmmm I have to totally disagree with u guys regardless of weather he should have checked with a tds a company needs to stand by their product and if in fact it was sent with out a membrane then the company should send him one I bought a tds and never checked the membrane
I do use a tds though

That's under the assumption that the customer actually didn't get the membrane & isn't trying to get a replacement for free.

If I bought a car & 4 years later take it back to the dealership telling them that they forgot to put in the AC compressor what do you think they're going to say?