Free check or scam? Filter sellers continue to scare Vitebsk residents with terrible water quality
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Do you still think you have good water? Then we are coming to you!» It is approximately under such a slogan that sellers of water purification filters, who literally attack citizens, conduct their advertising campaign. And how intrusive! They call city and mobile phones – once, twice, and three times. And they already know your first and last name. They offer to come to your home immediately and check what you are drinking completely free of charge. And no matter what water you use – ordinary tap water, bottled, or spring water – in the vast majority of cases, it will be characterized as unsuitable.My phone rang too. A polite female voice offered to test the water quality in my apartment. The girl assured me that specialists would come at any convenient time, do everything quickly and absolutely free of charge. When asked which organization they represented, after a slight hesitation, the answer followed:
“Alternative to state-owned”. The caller also explained that other clients, who had already had their water tested and were satisfied with the cooperation, gave her employees my contacts. Well, why not try, I decided.Watch
"presentation" gathered as a whole family. Exactly at the appointed time, the doorbell rang. A young man entered the apartment, introducing himself as Dmitry. The guy looked respectable: a business suit, shoes polished to a shine. With a friendly smile, he began his "solo".Does the human body need water, why and for what? Are we satisfied with the quality of tap water? Do any family members have chronic diseases? For about fifteen minutes, we answered similar questions. And when, in Dmitry's opinion, we ourselves reached a logical conclusion: health problems directly depend on the quality of consumed water — he suggested going to the kitchen and conducting an experiment.
We were asked to prepare three glasses of water: tap water, boiled water, and bottled water. With a magician's gesture, the guy pulled an electronic device resembling a thermometer from his bag. When asked about the purpose of the device, he replied:
— This is a TDS meter, which can show the amount of impurities, nitrates in water... Look, the device showed approximately the same values of 280-290 arbitrary units. This is much higher than the norm!
The materials that the young man offered to study included a table describing the standards for the amount of impurities. The norm is from 10 to 80. And above 200 it is already dangerous for life and health.
The most interesting part began later, when we proceeded to the second experiment using
"electrolyzer". This device was alternately dipped into each glass and plugged into an outlet. After a few seconds, the water in the glasses acquired a greenish tint, and some cloudy suspension appeared, which gradually settled out in black flakes. It really looked creepy.— Oh God, how many impurities are in it! — Dmitry rolled his eyes, showing in every way that he couldn't understand how we were still alive.
By the way, it was possible to determine what exactly was
"poisoning" us by a table, which was also kindly provided by the guest.So it turned out that tap water, boiled, and even bottled water, according to the specialist, was extremely dangerous to life and health. The guy looked very worried, he urgently called the company's office, reported to some boss about the measurements taken, that the water was terrible, there were complaints about health, and there was a small child in the family. If I didn't know the true background of such participation, I would surely have been scared to death (because, according to the research results, the water from the tap is real poison!). Or I would have been touched. And why not, a stranger, and such selfless care for others. In general, it's no wonder that pensioners often fall for the bait of such dealers: the performance was played out like clockwork. There was visual material, and an emotional component. Willy-nilly, you want to ask the visitor:
"What should we do?"And then it accidentally turns out that the specialist, who came only to check the water quality for statistical data collection in the city districts, turns out to be a consultant for a company selling state-of-the-art German filters. The consultant began to vigorously talk about their multi-stage purification system, about the difference between their reverse osmosis system and a similar system from another company. It turned out that the product of excellent German quality, made in Poland, has already been installed by more than 10,000 people. No wonder, as the company offers simply fantastic conditions: 20 years warranty, 9 purification stages. True, they say, at first the water is filtered so much that useful elements completely disappear, and at the last stage it is artificially mineralized by adding calcium and magnesium. Why? The question was simply ignored. But I learned that a certain resident of Vitebsk, after installing their filter, soon got rid of chronic gastritis, and another's blood pressure normalized. It's simply magic!
By the way, the consultant had water purified by their miracle filter with them, and it was also subjected to measurement procedures. The salinometer showed a value of 16, and the electrolyzer only slightly colored the liquid pale yellow, which indicates the presence of
"the necessary amount of microelements for the body". It would seem that the benefit of the filter is obvious. However, I still remember from chemistry and physics that when electrodes are immersed in ordinary water, electrolysis occurs, during which the metal conductor releases iron, coloring the water brown and forming a precipitate. We observed the same thing in this experiment. No precipitate was observed in the water that had been purified through their filter, because it was practically distilled (which, by the way, is unfit for drinking!), with a very small impurity. Even the salinometer showed a value many times lower than usual. It is precisely this microscopic concentration of impurities that allows the experiment with the "electrolyzer" to be shown in such a way as to persuade a potential buyer to make an expensive purchase.It was proposed to pay about 8 million rubles for the latest water purification system. Naturally, the filters needed to be changed every six months. Upon learning that the family did not have such money, the consultant immediately offered installments on any terms, as well as the opportunity to use his personal discount card. Pretending to be interested in his offer, we began to ask questions. We asked to see documents and licenses, which for some reason turned out to be in a foreign language. And we did not hear a single direct answer to the question asked. The guy was reciting a memorized text. When we started to clarify whether a certain level of pressure in the water supply system is indeed necessary for the reverse osmosis principle to work, he hurried off to other clients altogether. And he didn't even leave a contact phone number, as all distributors usually do. And why? Perhaps more trusting and compliant buyers are waiting for him right now?
Instead of an afterword. Filters are, of course, a necessary thing, few would argue with that. I do not presume to judge the quality of this purification system, nor whether its high price is justified. However, the company's policy, the assertiveness with which the sellers market their goods, raise many questions. And the electrolysis shows presented are, in my opinion, a
"scam". And the purest kind.Maria BUDKEVICH, "Vitbichi"