Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/29/2022

  Type:Delivery Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On July 23, 2022, I placed an online order at www.berkeyfilters.com for the purchase of a "Royal Berkey and Stand Bundle". This was order number ******** and was appropriately processed. I received my shipment on July 26, 2022. After opening the package, it was clear they only sent the Royal Berkey and not the stand. I reached out to customer service that same day and asked if they were sending the stand in a separate shipment. Their response was that the price I paid was less than the amount they'd like the bundle to be sold for as I was able to use a promo code with the purchase. As such, they are refusing to send the stand and instead are only offering me a 5% discount plus free shipping for me to purchase another stand separately. I would like them to send the stand I purchased.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/29/2022

  Hello *****, I do apologize for any inconvenience. We are happy to explain the issue for you. At this time it looks like the order in question had an error where the stand was not added or charged for to complete the full bundle pricing on the order. In other words the full bundle was not purchased as only the system was added to the order and charged for. As such we are always happy to honor the price that you would have received including any discount codes that could have been applied and offer free shipping to complete your bundle.
  
  
  
  The pricing issue has nothing to do with the discount code at this time as we are happy to apply our discount code to these bundles. When the stand is added, the total of the bundle will come to $457 before any codes. The discount code you've used would have brought the full total of the bundle down by 5% making the bundle $434.15 when all items are added and purchased rather that the $405 price of the discounted system that you have received.
  
  
  I do see that as a one time courtesy we have offered to send the stand free of charge for the error as we have been in contact with you over email. Let us know if you have any further questions.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/01/2022

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********. Although the details of their response and reasoning for the error are still incorrect, a separate customer service person sent me the missing stand. I have received the stand and now consider this matter to be closed. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/31/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I waited months to get a Berkey as they were experiencing shortages. On October 28, 2021, I placed an order with BerkeyFilters.com (thinking it was THE official Berkey site) for a crown Berkey, a hand primer, a stainless steel spigot, and an extra 3 pair of Berkey filters, totaling $887.61. When it arrived, my family was ill with covid, and we got it set up just after 30 days had passed. The filters did not work. I called and was encouraged to re-prime and to retest the filters. I did, and the filters passed the test for the first gallon, then became more and more pink as the rest of the water cycled through. This happened thrice and took two months before they would send me replacements for the first two filters. I was then encouraged to test all the filters, which I did. They passed the red dye test. We tried using it but the water never tasted right and gave my family nausea and stomach pains. I was informed that it was too late to return it (even though it was not working and was hurting us). Over the next several months, customer service and I tried to determine what was wrong (they always telling me that it had to be an issue on my end and adding to anything I said--e.g., when describing an oily appearance in the water, they continually asked me about the oily taste and smell when I never said it tasted oily nor did it smell!) Eventually, I determined that the replacement filters they sent looked different when primed than the initial filters. They eventually replaced them all but say they want the initial filters back but have never sent an RNA (after making me store bad filters for months!). The new filters seemed better (less nausea/pains) for a month and half, then started pouring water through too fast to filter it. I want to return the entire purchase because it has never worked as advertised, it makes my family sick (we have to buy gallons of purified water), and Berkey now blames my water source--they advertise it even works with dirty river water!

  Business Response

  Date: 06/07/2022

  I apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced. After looking into this order it does appear that the first time we were contacted regarding this order was in the beginning of December. The replacement of the Black Berkey Purifiers was sent on December 7th, just days after the first contact was made. The first request to return this item came to us 97 days after the purchase. While we do occasionally open returns slightly past the 30 days depending on the issue with the system, 97 days is just too far past that to open. We do also advise that customers reach out to their physicians in any medical issues. With the troubleshooting completed, our system was working correctly, however it appears there was something in the water source that the filters were not capable of removing. While we do offer to clean many different water sources we do advise exactly what the Berkey will remove in our testing to allow customers to ensure that the system will be correct for them as we do not offer to remove every contaminant from the water.The Berkey does not advertise that it will clean every possible water source and does advertise that we will only remove contaminants we have tested for, as such this system was working as advertised.
  

  The customer we contacted did state there was an oily sheen in the water and we do note this as we want to offer the best assistance for the problem the customer was experiencing I apologize for any misunderstanding that *** have come from this note. I do also see that, despite our troubleshooting concluding the filters were not the issue, we did send four sets of replacement filters. We are always happy to send a shipping label for the free return of warranty items however it does appear that this label did get lost between the troubleshooting I sincerely apologize.
  
  As a one time courtesy we will reach out to you to open this return with the options in our policy. Please check your email to complete this return.