Earlier we used to buy Bisleri in 20 litre can costing Rs 50/-. In June 2007 we decided to go for KENT RO, and called for the salesperson. He landed next day at our doorstep. We were impressed by his detailing and demo on the quality of our bore-well water. The impurity level was around 170 and we decided that we would go for RO, but the price was quite exorbitant @ Rs 15500/- for Kent Grand. I bargained and got a hefty discount from the Kent In-charge.
Next day he landed with the product and installed at my residence, and did not even bother to collect the payment. Meanwhile my sister with her three kids landed from Paris, and they were treated with KENT RO purified water. They are used to good water abroad and Kent RO passed the test without upsetting their tummies. When it came to payment I was little cautious, I told them I would like to make payment directly in the name of the company, KENT RO SYSTEMS, Noida.
It was my experience that in most cases the distributor or dealer will not be fully committed to providing service. My precaution paid off since there was a dispute between the company and distributor. The distributor refused to send his service personnel for mandatory service after six months. He was giving some excuse or the other, than I sent a sms stating that I am filing a police complaint against the MD of the company. The distributor suddenly realised the gravity of the situation and than rushed the service person to attend to the problem. It was basically cleaning the sedimentary filter. The company is supposed to provide two free service at interval of six months. The second service was never honoured.
Now after usage of the product for 2 1/2 years, the time has come for change of the carbon filter, sedimentary filter and a small filter according to the service personnel. I was promised that I will be charged max Rs 500/- for changing all the spares and service. But to my surprise I find that the cost has escalated to Rs 1050. Changing of the filters is basically a simple job, which should be taught to each and every consumer at the time of purchase, levying a service charge of Rs 250/- for service is a put off.
I have experienced that any product costing more than Rs 12 K should offer minimum 3 years warranty so that the customer recovers the cost of investment. For example SONY H3 camera is offering 3 years warranty. I got my flash and Lens mechanism changed under warranty. Similarly we had extended warranty scheme from Whirlpool for Rs 1600/- for 3 years along with 2 years warranty.The refrigerator too is covered under 7 years extended warranty scheme for Rs 1300/- Thus any reputed mfg should offer value for money in terms of longevity of the product.
The current models are now manufactured with water level indicator, computer controlled operation for filter change and UV fail alarm which is pretty useful alert. Unfortunately we don t have this in our old model. The built in SMPS has taken care of the voltage fluctuations which is prevalent to a large extent nowadays.
One complaint is that the company has not passed on the excise duty relief which was passed in the budget, the company should have announced boldly the price cut. I hope the company implements 3 to 5 years extended warranty scheme without fail at reasonable cost. We would definitely like to recommend the product provided if the company implements the suggestion.
We are satisfied with product utility. If the company does not implement the suggestions it is better we revert to buying Bisleri cans rather than buying another water purifier. At least it will help in employment generation in India.