A friend of mine bought a washing machine. The machine is not the point in discussion here, but the way the retailer cheats the unwary buyer by selling useless add-ons.
The installation engieer scared my friend and persuaded him into buying a water softening attachment worth Rs. 1800. He said that if the water is not softened, it will form scales and ruin the drum. Though what he said is true of using hard water, the product he sold for the purpose is a useless one. It is a Magnetic Water Treatment equipment called "Aqua Appliance" from Eco Crystal.
Magnetic Water Treatment (MWT) has no conclusive evidence that hard water gets softened. There are numerous articles in internet on this. However the MWT people have their way in impressing people on the effectiveness of MWT equipment and have been successfully selling these worthless equipment in exhorbitant prices.