RO+UV: Aquaguard Magna. Review on Eureka Forbes Aquaguard Magna Water Purifier

So I planned to buy a Water Purifier for my home.

I did all the research for 3-4 days and tried checking for reviews on Kent, Pureit and Aquaguard offerings.

At the end, I zeroed down to Aquaguard as I was using Aquaguard Reviva provided by my owner from past two years without any issue. Below is the description on how it went.

The day I placed the Order: 28th June, 2014(Bangalore)

I called up the customer care to inquire about Aquaguard Enhance RO+UV as I chose this among other offerings. The sales guy, Mr Eshwar Reddy came to my home on Saturday and immediately starts telling me about the new product which Eureka Forbes last launched few days back; Aquaguard Magna. The product did not even feature in the website till that time. The guy started explaining that how he has been the best salesman for Eureka and has been chosen for a trip to Singapore because of excellent performance n how this is the best product exactly suiting to my needs etc etc. He put tall confident claims on the product as:

• Filter running capacity is 8000 liters for this product which is higher than other eureka purifiers

  
  




• UV lamp can burn up to 15000 hours as it has been built with new tech

  
  




• Filter replacement cost is Rs.2700 for this product while its Rs. 3900 for other eureka purifiers.

  
  

To confirm the same, I asked Mr. Reddy as whatever claims that he is putting forward whether the same would be present in the user manual or some document from Eureka. He told with Supreme confidence that all this will be there in the manual provided with the product and I can cross check the same. After some 15-20 minutes of Q&A, I and my wife feel convinced about the product. Mr. Reddy asks for full payment as per Eureka process which I deny straight forward. Thanks to all the reviews I read through Mouth shut where people had told that they made full payment either online or to the sales guy but the installation never happened as promised on time. So I told Mr. Reddy that I will not pay anything more than 50% to place the order. He tried for another 5 minutes to convince me to pay the full amount but in vain. Then he asked that I should pay the balance amount when I get the delivery for which I told that it doesn't matter if the product gets delivered tomorrow. What matter to me is the installation and I will not pay a penny before the installation is completed and if this is not aligned with Eureka Forbes process then probably I would go for any other vendor. He finally agreed to it and told that delivery will happen next day i.e. Sunday and he would try to get it installed on Sunday itself. I made a payment of Rs. 8000 against the product price of Rs. 17450 and the order was placed.

Following the Indian standard, delivery happened on Monday.

The day when installation happened: 1st July 2014(Bangalore)

Finally after few calls to the customer service, Service guy arrived on Tuesday to install the purifier. First thing that I see is that the service guy did not bring with him was an extra sediment filter to replace the one which was already installed. I had told the sales guy that I need to remove the existing purifier which belonged to my owner and install new one with all components. I am told that the sediment filter costs extra and I would have to pay additional Rs 750 for the same however they do not have a spare one with them so I would have to wait next time whenever the service guy can come.

Meanwhile when the installation is in progress, I laid my hands on the manual and not to my surprise, I see all the claims put by Mr. Eshwar were totally farce. See the difference yourself.

• Actual filter running capacity is 6000 Liters. Claimed was 8000 Liters

  
  




• Actual UV lamp burning hours is 5000 hours. Claimed was 15000 hours

  
  




• Actual Filter replacement cost told by Service guy was Rs. 3900. Claimed was Rs. 2700.

  
  

I immediately called the Sales guy but none was picked even after 5 attempts. He finally called me in the evening to ask for the balance payment. I confronted him for all the big lies he had told and sold me the product. The guy responds "Sir, I may have missed little details as the product is newly launched.”. I asked him that if  you did not know all details about the product how the hell you came with such tall and confident claims and how does Eureka send the product for sales without even training the employees or is this the regular way of you cheating people with false  information. I told the guy that I did not want such shi t product in my house and he should refund my payment and take it back asap. The guy did not have any answer or excuse to make so he told me that he would discuss this to his manager and he will call.

No call came for next two days. Today on 4th July, I got a call from his manager asking why I am not doing the payment. I asked him whether Mr. Eshwar has talked to you in detail about this matter and are you clearly aware about what is the matter here? He replied with a plain ‘No’ quoting that Mr. Eshwar has just told me that this customer is not making the balance payment. I told the manager that I am not here to explain you and please connect with him to get details and then call me. He told me that Eshwar has left to Singapore as he was chosen for some prize from Eureka for his sales efforts. So this is how Eureka sales people achieve the numbers by cheating the customer openly.

Apart from all this, now I am even unable to use the water as it is giving some kind of smell. I do not even think the product is working as required and maybe I need to get the water tested. I went through all this exercise to prevent any such issues but given the open cheating by Eureka Forbes and substandard product which might not even have been properly tested, I stand here where I am not even sure if I should even touch that water.(It leaked thrice during installation and the service guys fully opened the device three times to fix the same).

I am not sure on what basis Eureka Forbes as earned a Brand Name for themselves but if these are the tactics behind the same I am not sure whether it would stand for long. People are paying their hard earned money to buy these expensive products to ensure their families’ health is safe but even after this they are made to run to get the minimum required functioning.  I am still fighting with the Eureka Forbes sales to get my money back but at least my calls are received because the balance 50% payment is with me. God knows if I would have made the full payment at the start then what would have happened.

Interim Update: 19th & 20th July.

No one bothered from Eureka to call between this duration after the last contact on 4th July.

I got a call from another Eureka representative on 19th July asking about what is the issue and why I am not making the balance payment. I re-iterated the same story again and he plainly said sorry for inconvenience. I asked him about what action is being taken on the sales representative on this issue for which he plainly refused saying we are not taking any action and the guy is sorry and offered me Rs. 500 discount to close the matter. It just made me laugh as how professionally Eureka has resorted to cheat its customers. How does Rs. 500 compensates for all the false claims made by the sales guy and how does it fit into the VFM calculation which I did based on the facts provided to me by Eureka.

I could have returned the product and demanded for a full refund but I did not want to go for another harassment cycle with any other vendor based on the horror stories I have read on Mouthshut and from friends about other competitors in this space. So I decided to make the final payment and close the matter. I made the balance payment on 20th July and this time, knowingly a different sales guy came to collect the payment.

This is where it becomes difficult for a new customer to choose a vendor, as almost everyone is resorting to same tactics to fleece customer's hard earned money. I have not read/heard consistent good reviews about any of the vendors be it Eureka, HUL, Kent or Livpure. I am not sure whats would be the exact experience with other vendors than Eureka but I definitely won't be a repeated customer for them.

The equipment at the moment is running fine. However, no one has yet come from Eureka labs for the promised free lab test of water. Initially it was told that lab test will happen in 10 days. The sales guy who came to take the final payment then said it would be done in a month. Its now crossed that time limit too and I am still waiting to see any traction from Eureka. My guess is that they would be even slower to respond now since I have made the full payment.

Six month Ownership review

Its been almost 6 months that I have been using this product now and apart from the early non-technical hassles on sales; the product has been running well. After few follow ups, the Lab test was done for the product after a month of use. The only minor nagging issue that I feel is the noise generated by Machine when filling the water in the purifier. Some good sound proofing could help resolve this but nevertheless its manageable.

One Year Ownership review

Long time that I had revisited this post. Recently we completed a full year of ownership of this Aquaguard Magna. Again Kudos to the Swift Service by Eureka Forbes; even though I was eligible for two free services to be done every six months before one year of completion, it never happened. I was told that I do not even need to fix the appointment or call up the Service Center but they would call and service on schedule. This never happened and finally a Service guy came just couple of days before the year of completion.

However, the product has been working well for me and that is more than enough. They again tried to convince that I should go for AMC which I declined as I see the VFM for AMC when the consumption and usage is heavy. In my case, its not even moderate as we are just two adults in the house. I will mostly look to get the filters replaced by year end or so.