Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  11/19/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  New Update: We were told we would receive a call from the business owner Mat **** on Monday 11/18/24, with the phone recording of his business giving us a price. We never received this call. We are now receiving threatening messages from owner Mat **** online.**BUYER-BEWARE** we bought a home in 2016, Over the last month we discovered an increase in our water bill. After investigation, we discovered a silver canister near our pool equipment. The canister had Florida Water Treatment Dunedin FL on the device. We called to tell FWT Dunedin, it was leaking. The tech mentioned to turn two k**** on top of device to stop leak. We asked for removal of device on same call. A couple weeks later a person shows at our home and asks for $300 to remove device. We called ********* at FWT,. ********* was rude and *****. We asked to speak to her manager ******. She stated ****** was not available. She asked to put us on hold. Next, a person named **** ***** who identifed himself as the owner, takes the call. **** **** began to question our integrity immediately, by telling us the fee was discussed when we made the appointment. It was not. **** ***** stated his company has been in business for 74 years and we were, Barking Up The Wrong Tree. **** called us hypocrites. He said his company does not want our business. He also mentioned we could not afford to pay the $300 and questioned us on asking about the fee. At no point were we not calm, we only wanted a solution on the surprise fee his company sprung on us.This $300 fee was surprising and misleading to us.Finally, the tech spit on our driveway when leaving. Tried to disguise once he saw the camera. We have live footage of spit then cover up with water spill.

  

  Business response

  11/20/2024

  To begin the called Florida Water Treatment on 11/1/24 at 7:46AM and left a message with our answering service stating he had a system that was leaking. At 8:23AM on 11/1/24 our service coordinator called ****** back and spoke to him regarding the issue he was having with the water treatment system, our service coordinator explained in detail how to bypass the system to stop the leak and walked him through the process. During this same call it was explained to the customer that the system was installed originally in 2009 by *** and that we provided yearly service/maintenance every year up to 2016, the customer stated he purchased the home in 2016 and hasn't done anything with the system since. Our service coordinator explained that the system has been neglected for over 8 years and the age of the system was over *************************************************************************** replace the system - he stated he did not know what he wanted to do and would call FWT to back - this call lasted for 2 minutes and 50 seconds. The customer then called ********************** back at 8:31AM on 11/1/24, this call lasted for over nine minutes - (we record all of our calls at *** for training purposes and to expose the truth in situations such as this). During this call the customer was given the price of $395 initially to remove/dispose of the system and re-plumb the main water line at his home - after listening to the call our staff was very patient and answered every question the customer had. The customer thought the price was high and explained in detail how he was impacted by the hurricanes and had a lot going on and large expenses that he had to deal with - at this time he asked if there was anything we could do regarding the price, the service coordinator put the customer on hold and spoke to a manager who gave the approval to lower the price to $295 - The customer was informed of the new price and was very appreciative. On this same call the customer decided that he was good with the price and asked when we could get our plumbers out to perform the work - our staff informed him the first opening we had would be on Friday 11/15/24 and he stated that the date worked and our staff informed him that we would call the day before (11/14/24) in the afternoon to confirm the appointment - The customer thanked us and said goodbye.
  The next call we made to the customer was on 11/14/24 at ****** to confirm the appointment, the customer answered, and we explained we would be out tomorrow (11/15/24) between 12-2PM and he stated that worked - this call lasted for 29 seconds.
  On 11/15/25 our technicians show up at the customers home and he was not there (even though he confirmed the appointment and said he would be home the day before), so before doing any work the technician called the customer and let him know we were on property and that we would call him back to get payment when they completed. This is when the customer fabricated his entire story about how he didn't know there was a charge for *** to remove the equipment. The customer stated he was under the assumption we were removing the equipment for free because FWT installed the system 15 years ago. Our technician called the office and explained the situation and he was told to leave the property and have the customer call the office. When the customer called our office, he was extremely condescending and did not want to hear anything we had to say - the customer was taking cheap shots at my employees, and I was not having it.  We tried multiple times to explain to the customer that he owns the equipment and that there is a charge that he agreed to remove the system, again the customer did not like anything we had to say. 

  Florida Water Treatment DID NOT charge this customer any money, attempt to collect, or send him a bill in any way - this was a complete waste of time and the only party out any money is Florida Water Treatment.  We simply responded to ****** review left by the customer on Friday 11/15/24 that was trashing our company and flat out lying about what happened - in our response we stated the facts of what actually happened and there were no threats issued by Florida Water Treatment (the reply is publicly posted on ******).  The customer states he wants no further contact - why is he continuing to try and slander/defame our company by leaving false reviews that requires/forces FWT to respond?  After the customer decided to leave the negative review that was nothing but lies, I decided I did not want to have any further contact with this customer and will not contact him.  As I stated previously, we do not owe this customer anything.      

  The picture that is posted of my technician in the driveway is not him spitting - he was trying to flush his eye out due to tree limb that jabbed his eye on the side of the customers property. It is really shallow to completely lie and try to get a hard-working employee in trouble for something they didn't do - the customer has the video and knows the truth but decided to yet again lie to make FWT look bad.  This customer edited his original ****** review three different times - the first review that was left he made sure to state that he had a special needs child and a family member with stage four cancer (which I have personal/family experience with both and sympathize) I assume to try and make Florida Water Treatment look bad to anyone reading - the review was edited and the verbiage was removed (we have multiple screen shots of the original review because it was publicly posted on ******) because after the customer read it I assume even he realized that was not the smartest thing to do or a family member was outraged.  In my opinion it showed the customer had an outright agenda to try and make Florida Water Treatment look bad any way he could, if the defamation, harassment, slander, and lies continue we will be forced to take the necessary action against the customer.  At FWT we have the necessary documentation to show we are correct in this situation, and we advise the customer to move on.  At FWT we are out too over ************************************************* business since 1951, our reputation and reviews speak for themself and are posted online for anyone to see - we maintain a spotless record.  We will do anything and everything necessary to defend ourselves from baseless attacks by people we did not even do business with.  To be clear, if we receive any further baseless/false negative reviews it will be considered as defamation against Florida Water Treatment, we will take the necessary action to defend ourselves.

   

  
  

  Customer response

  11/21/2024

   
  Complaint: 22577729
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  Untrue statements made. We feel bullied by this very large company.

  
  Sincerely,
  Consumer 

  

  Business response

  11/22/2024

  Bullied??  This customer is delusional, as we stated ********************** did not charge you a cent nor did we issue you a bill of any kind - so what is the motive? Every message that we have sent or posted is in response to this customers vengeful attacks on our company where we are forced to respond - I am not sure how that makes us a bully.  This is not a customer of ********************** and as we stated the only losing party in this is Florida Water Treatment for a multitude of reasons. You brought this all on yourself by leaving a review where you flat out lied and now you want to play the martyr role as if you wronged somehow - sorry but it doesnt work like that. We have wasted enough time on this matter and are now to the point where you have taken it too far and we will vigorously defend ourselves.  I strongly suggest you read up on case law regarding small business defamation by consumers - we have and Florida Water Treatment has the knowledge and resources to defend ourselves from baseless attacks by uninformed people such as yourself.  I hope the mud that you slung at our company satisfied your vengeful side and was worth it. To be crystal clear this message is in no way a threat - this customer forced ********************** into a position where we now have to defend ourselves and we will stop at nothing to do so. Remember you have no one to blame but yourself and this was all initiated because of false attacks on our company and this customer will not let it go. 

*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. ↩