Date of Purchase: 25-Feb-2011
Model Purchased: Eureka Forbes Aquaguard Total Sensa
Cost of unit: Rs.18, 000/-
Product Claims: Safe, Pure water no matter what the input source - Corporation water/borewell water/Tanker water/Municipal water. TDS(Total dissolved Salts) will be maintained between 70-120. TV Advt. claims that the water can be given to babies and infants!
Service: 4 free services promised in 1 yr.
Service Engineers who serviced my product: Venkat(18-Jun-2011), Gangadhar Reddy(18-Sep-2011), Prakash Acharya(02-Dec-2011), Gangadhar Reddy & Ranjit(11-Feb-2011), Ali, Santhosh & Ranjit(18-Feb-2011)
Reality: Product has been having serious issues with maintaining water quality(TDS - consistently higher than 170). I purchased the unit since the supply of corporation cauvery water is erratic and one has to rely on borewell or tanker water and hence decided that even if the unit costs a bomb it would be a worthwhile purchase. I fell prey to the tall claims mentioned in the product brochure and the innate trust that one has on the Eureka Forbes brand(will never make this mistake again).
The water tasted OK on the day of installation(25-Feb-2011) but within a month I sensed that the water tasted salty. I decided to wait out until the 1st service which was delayed by a month. The service engineer came and said that he had fixed the unit. However, within 2 days of the service the water taste changed again and when I called the service engineer, the response was that the output was correct. My friend then advised me to have the TDS checked. TDS stands for Total Dissolved salts and gives a measure of the amount of salt dissolved in the water. Per the Eureka Forbes sales and service team, the Sensa is a "state-of-the-art" unit that gives a TDS of 70-120 which is the optimum level. When the service engineer came on 11-Feb-2011(3 weeks late for 4th service), I asked him to show the TDS before service - this came at 179! He serviced the unit, changed the membrane(Rs. 4000/- odd) and showed the TDS was at 79. The unit was well within the warranty period and the service engineer(Gangadhar Reddy) mentioned that since it was close to the 1 yr mark, he would be charging me the service charge for the membrane. I of course asked him to read up on the warranty brochure and had to fight it out with him as to why I would not pay since I had been raising the issue within 1 month of the installation(BEWARE OF THIS TOO!). One week later(18-Feb-2011) I again called the service engineers and asked for the TDS measurement - it came at 214! I have been escalating this issue all through the past year and nothing has materialized. The current TDS reading from my machine is 200!
Result has been that I have ended up giving impure and unsafe water to my 9 month old kid! Eureka Forbes helpline apologizes for the "inconvenience" and that’s it. I fail to understand how consuming unsafe and polluted water is an "inconvenience" and not a "hazard". So much for the "Paani ka doctor" claim! I have also attached a picture of the vessel in which I had boiled the RO water from the unit and the scaling is there for everyone to see.
Short summary: Insanely expensive unit, output water polluted with HIGH TDS(good chance of pesticides making it through as well as opposed to what the brochure claims), Phoney claims, Incompetent and indifferent service personnel, Company that has NO integrity or social responsibility.