Defective new water softener

Posted Thu March 22, 2007 12:00 pm, by RoxAnna K. written to GE Appliances

I am writing to you in regards to a problem I am having with one of your GE water softeners. My mother purchased a PNSF35B GE water softener 35,400 from Benson's Peoria on 6/28/03. It was delivered and installed. This merchandise cost her $854.00.

My mother lived by herself until last February, when we had to put her into a nursing home because of her health. While I was checking out the maintenance of the homes heating, cooling, and water supplies, I found out that the water softener was not working. My brother and I took turns in taking her to the store and each of us thought the other was putting salt into the softener. There was always salt in the tank only to realize that we had never added any salt since she had purchased the softener.

I called Benson's Peoria and talked to a representative of the store and asked what could be done because apparently the merchandise had never worked from day one. They said that they would send a customer service person out to the house and take a look at the softener. The service person said that he thought that it just needed to be primed and would be O.K. This was August 7th, 2006, and cost me $50.00. He said it would take a little time for us to notice the difference in the water. Three weeks went by before I called for the 2nd time, upon which he said that he would need to replace the seals in the rotor. I paid another $55.00 for this repair and can't figure out why seals would be bad when the unit has never worked. The only time the unit recharges is if we do it manually.

I knew that this unit #SA100009A was suppose to be a water safer but I think this is a bit much. I have bought many GE products for years and have never had a problem until now and now I am disgusted. I have spent another $105.00 for labor and still don't have a working water softener. I don't know which way to go but I know that I'm not going to keep throwing away money to try and fix a product that was apparently bad from the very beginning. I know that my mother paid for a new water softener, but apparently she received a lemon. Please let me know what can be done to solve this problem.

I will wait for any help that you may be able to give me in this matter. The account is in my mother's name: Bernice

Sincerely,

Edward E.
East Peoria, IL 61611


I would like to have another complete new unit installed for her at no cost to her. If this can't be done a refund of her money, so she can go elsewhere.

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Re: Defective new water softener by RedheadWGlasses Posted Fri March 23, 2007 @ 3:38 PM Was the softener even running, even if only ineffectively so? If it wasn't running, then the seals likely dried out. This can happen in all kinds of mechanical systems, such as your car's AC unit. I was told by my ex, a car nut, that you should run your car's AC unit regularly throughout the winter (only for a few minutes) to keep the gaskets/seals in good condition. I have to say, considering the water softener appears to have been ignored/neglected since it was purchased, which may have voided the warranty. Does letting it run out of salt harm it in some way? Here's a short table on the different warranties (they vary from 3-10 years for the most part, and 4-5 years seem to be the most common, from a quick google search) of different brands. http://www.hardwater.org/water_softener_comparison.html Reply