Simple h2o telemarketing deception

[haunt]

Just got a call from a company called simple h2o, claiming someone did a survey for them at my home and they were going to give me a free $149 water filtration system... within the hour. Someone was going to be at my door between 8-9pm to deliver this free product. so I said sure. If this was a scam or a trap, I have some buddies over.
So I googled simple h2o right after the call.

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110117/CGY_water_testing_110117/20110117?hub=CalgaryHome

Called back and told them not to bother showing up. They asked for my full name. I told them 'johnson'... first name 'long'. They said "well we don't have any 'long johnson' here."

Hilarity ensues.

Just a heads up beyond, don't bother with these guys.

Their number is 1-403-230-4280.

If you want to chat with them, tell them long johnson says what up!

[derpderp]

Thank you, I'll add it to my call filter.

[dirtsniffer]

shoulda let them show up

http://www.simpleh2o.ca/tags/index.cfm?find=Simple%20H20%20Scams

lol wtf is this

[calgarydub]

I saw a news story on this not too long ago...


Here it is:

NEWS STORY CBC (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/01/28/marketplace-tap-water.html)

Undercover story here:

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2011/cleanwaterdirtytricks/

[SneakyNeek]

Im pretty sure this is the same guy who owns Tristar vacuum bullshit star industries. actually I think there is a building just of 19th street Ne called simple H2o. mayb 42nd or 43rd ave, anyways these guys are dirty skeeze bags

[viff3r]

These jokers wasted 2+ hours of my time a couple months ago.

I received a bingo card in the mail one day. Prizes included $10k, a new Hyundai Accent, an iPad, or some water filtration nozzle thingy. The first clue that it was shady was that there was no clear indication of why this was sent to me, or from who. Anyway I scratched it and according to the back of the game card I 'won' a prize. To claim my prize I just had to call a local #. Curiosity got the best of me... I spoke to somebody who said that a rep just happened to be in the area, he would stop by and give me my prize. Again curiosity got the best of me and I agreed to have the guy pay me a visit.

Guy shows up at my door with that same silver briefcase from the CBC report. Says that he has my prize in his truck, but he first would like to perform a few simple water tests on my tap water. I had a bunch of shit to do that night, so I said so long as he didn't take too long, I'd agree. He said he could do it in about 45 minutes. Again, curiosity got the best of me...

He did a bunch of tests on my water while flipping through a binder full of charts, info, etc on water purity. All while confirming the fact that my tap water is cancerous, toxic, and will kill me if I drink it (ya I'm exaggerating...).

Then he gives me the sales pitch. The magical Simple H2O water purification system! Only $6k or something fucking stupid like that. 1 part goes in the basement and plugs directly into our main water line, the other sits under the sink and purifies our tap water. He also said how he has one of these systems in his house and he put one in his mom's house, how his kid only drinks & bathes with this water, et etc. Then he went through a bunch of finance options.

After I politely told him I'd think about it, he asked if he could borrow my phone to call his boss. Everything to this point hinted at shadiness but this was now screaming scam.

So he talks to his "boss" for a couple minutes, then says his boss wants to talk to me. I oblige. His boss says that he can do an even better finance rate for me. I am a patient guy, but by this point it's almost 2 hours that this loser has been in my house and I'm beyond patient. I say I am not interested, say bye bye to the boss, and sales guy starts packing up.

My wife was with us the whole time and, bless her gullible heart, she was wide-eyed after the whole sales pitch. She figured we should definitely consider this thing. So, to appease both her and the sales guy, I say we'll think about it & give him a call. As the cherry on top of the scummy sales pitch sundae, he then gives me a sob story about how "people never call back... if the deal isn't done after this in-home visit, he never makes a sale". i'm definitely sick of his lame shit by this point and ask for my prize. Surprise, it's a free water purifying shower head!

Later that night we googled Simple H2O and found what everyone above has posted.

The whole experience was just boggling. I scratch a bingo card that I received in the mail, I win a prize, then a water salesman shows up at my door to sell me a $6k purifying system? WTF!!!!!!!! Obviously I should have never bothered calling the # to collect my prize but like I said, curiosity got the best of me. The fact that these fucking idiots need to come up with this relatively elaborate sales plan in order to weasel their way into people's homes says a lot about the company.

My wife and I then went out and bought a little counter top water purifier for $150. Happy wife happy life. haha.

[viff3r]

Just watched the Marketplace report. That sales guy was feeding that lady the same BS that I heard. "How does looking at this water make you feel", "do you take your health seriously", "think of your children" etc etc. Such crap.

[Idratherbsidewayz]

Old people fall for this shit hard. My grandma in Poland almost got scammed into this (If it hadn't been for me, she would've). All these cocksuckers should be hung by the skin on their balls.

[SneakyNeek]

haha now i definitely no these are the same guys that sell the TRISTAR vacuums. They do the exact same thing including the stupid bingo cards. which by the way you win the shitty prize 999/1000 times. I know this shit because unfortunately i got involved with this a while back. ended up working like 100 hrs without a cent in profit for these fucks.


PS there office is on 39 ave and 19st ne if anyone wants to no haha

[InRich]

haha...

both that one salesman, and that female trainer need to re learn their fucking trade... their pathetic. low lifes.

great thread though... seeing as I am in the roofing business, I watched the one with the roofing scams... you guys think this water shit is bad, you guys should see the roofing industry... its fucking sad. I have had MANY roof leak calls this year from customers who have replaced their roofs within the last 2 years... some of them are ex clients who went with other companies to save money! I tell those ones to hit the road. One guy actually paid a roofer a 50% deposit, cashed it, took the roof off in the middle of winter, and left town. he didnt even order the material.. poor client.

sad sad stuff.

[calgary403]

Just hope you guys never get a visit from Breath EZ homes.

I had the pleasure of "working" for these people a few years back.

The things some people do to try and make a buck is disgusting.

[calgarydub]

How do you guys end up working for scamming companies like these? Are you just desperate at the time or do they make it seem convincing that it's a good honest job?

You'd have to be a real scum bag to continually work for them knowing what you're doing is criminal...

[calgary403]

Originally posted by calgarydub
How do you guys end up working for scamming companies like these? Are you just desperate at the time or do they make it seem convincing that it's a good honest job?

You'd have to be a real scum bag to continually work for them knowing what you're doing is criminal...

WIth Breath EZ Homes/filter queen they put an ad in the paper. It read something like

"Air quality technicians wanted. Willing to train. 23.90/hr to start."

Then you go to e big group interview and they tell you all you have to do is attend a couple day training course to become certified.

They then say they have selected all the people they want to start and to call in a couple hours and see if you were on the list of people that made it. (Looking back they probably just hired anyone that called back.)

Then you start your "3 day training course" at their office on McLeod trail. For the first little while they do actually try and teach you about air quality or atleast make it seem like they are.

Somewhere around the second day they bring out a Vacuum and tell you how this is the solution to all the air quality problems they have been telling you about. They then go in depth on features of the vacuum and how you should go about trying to sell it. How people need this so they can have better air and live longer lives.

Trust me the same sleazeball tactics these guys use on customers they use on their employees. The final straw was when I did my first "air quality demonstration" for practice at my mother's house. These guys tried to pressure my mother into buying over the phone after I was told it was just a demonstration to get comfortable with the product.

[gstone]

Lol with their mustard gas rant in the videos... :nut: (mustard gas is something much different, by their logic water would be the same as hydrogen peroxide)

[FraserB]

How do I get in contact with the vacuuming people? I need my floors vacuumed and I wanna mess with someone while they do my housework.

[SneakyNeek]

Originally posted by calgary403


WIth Breath EZ Homes/filter queen they put an ad in the paper. It read something like

"Air quality technicians wanted. Willing to train. 23.90/hr to start."

Then you go to e big group interview and they tell you all you have to do is attend a couple day training course to become certified.

They then say they have selected all the people they want to start and to call in a couple hours and see if you were on the list of people that made it. (Looking back they probably just hired anyone that called back.)

Then you start your "3 day training course" at their office on McLeod trail. For the first little while they do actually try and teach you about air quality or atleast make it seem like they are.

Somewhere around the second day they bring out a Vacuum and tell you how this is the solution to all the air quality problems they have been telling you about. They then go in depth on features of the vacuum and how you should go about trying to sell it. How people need this so they can have better air and live longer lives.

Trust me the same sleazeball tactics these guys use on customers they use on their employees. The final straw was when I did my first "air quality demonstration" for practice at my mother's house. These guys tried to pressure my mother into buying over the phone after I was told it was just a demonstration to get comfortable with the product.


This is pretty accurate to what happens. For me i was jobless with rent to pay and i saw a add in the paper, they make it very vague and you have to call an interview before you even no what your getting into. add just says NO EXPERIENCE WILL TRAIN MAKE XXXX $ call this number , or along those lines

[JimmyJones]

Just want to bump This thread. I found a job on Kijiji yesterday about a growing company looking to hire 19 positions with a growing water purification company. The positions including things like sales, instal, labor and what not.

So I call the number and set up an interview that day. I have a 20 long meeting at 39 ave and 19st ne about all the harmful things in our water.

He tells me I have the job and to come back the next day for training ( which is today btw) I ask him the name of the filtration product so I could do some research before training. He wouldn't tell me, #1 clue something was wrong.

So today at 10 am I show up at 39 ave and 19st ne, and there is a room full of young guys just kind of looking around at each other. In the room they have posters on the walls of the free trips and all the wonderful things that would happen if we sell their magical water purification system.

Before the presentation even starts I Google the company name that was on one of the posters, Simple h20, and this thread popped up. I walked out right then and there, I feel sorry for not letting the other guys in the room know it was a scam, I definitely should have told them.

Thanks for the heads up beyond! and for everybody else, do NOT let anyone doing water tests into your home if they're not with the city!

The name on the office door at 39 ave and 19st ne was star industries by the way and they are doing training there til 5 pm today.

[Seth1968]

Originally posted by InRich
haha...

both that one salesman, and that female trainer need to re learn their fucking trade... their pathetic. low lifes.

great thread though... seeing as I am in the roofing business, I watched the one with the roofing scams... you guys think this water shit is bad, you guys should see the roofing industry... its fucking sad. I have had MANY roof leak calls this year from customers who have replaced their roofs within the last 2 years... some of them are ex clients who went with other companies to save money! I tell those ones to hit the road. One guy actually paid a roofer a 50% deposit, cashed it, took the roof off in the middle of winter, and left town. he didnt even order the material.. poor client.

sad sad stuff.

Thanks. I'll PM you for advice when I replace my roof next spring.

RE: Water filtration.

Brita filters are relatively cheap and perform the job admirably.

BTW,...Reverse Osmosis=$ scam

[JimmyJones]

http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-jobs-general-labour-We-Are-A-Growing-Company-W0QQAdIdZ389207256


here is the kijiji add

[spike98]

Semi off topic but we had a cute youngish girl selling vacuums come to my buddies house on a saturday afternoon a while back. There was about 4-5 of us watching a game having some beers when she knocked on the door. The home owner figured what the hell and let her in for the demo.

She came in boasting about this vacuum and how it would do this that and the other thing. It was also indestructible and the hose has a life time warranty.

After the demo she offered one of us to try and break it and if we could, she would give us $100. We all are eager to the challenge but the one friend of mine insisted he tried. He is 6'11'' 250lbs. He grabbed the hose, stepped on it and pulled up. Ripped the hose in two. After this you could see tears well up in her eyes and she whimpered that her boss is going to kill her.

The utter shock in her eyes when it popped in half was soooo funny yet we felt terrible enough to offer her a beer. She ended up sitting with us all afternoon drinking with us and went out with us to the club. One buddy ended up fucking her in the back of his car that night....

[lilmira]

Your buddy had sex with the vacuum cleaner in the back of his car?

[spike98]

Originally posted by lilmira
Your buddy had sex with the vacuum cleaner in the back of his car?

Vacuum cleaner sales chick, yes.