Hague Quality Water 63BEQ Watermax

Never buy a Hague product!! Does the product work good yes, but pray that it does not break. I bought my house 3 months old and the original owner installed the unit and used it as a selling point. The resin tank failed and the cost to get a new tank is the same as a regular water softener unit. The company does not stand behind there product, they write in technicalities so they do not have to warranty there products. Save you money and buy a system for $1000 and don't waist your money on a Hague Watermax!

Hague Quality Water has a wonderful product but we were told we had a six month trial period, but that is not the case at all. They just are deferring the payments and there is no trial period at all. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THE TRIAL PERIOD. The product should be about half the price, and then you would not have to lie about the trial period. People would be more likely to afford the filter system at half the cost. The system works great. But the way you got in my house really has me wanting to give it back with buyers remorse.

What you are told at the time a service call is scheduled and what the tech tells you the day he comes to service can be within a few hundred dollars difference.

Reverse osmosis only last a short time.

Customer service is very poor and misleading.

BE CAREFUL

Beware of the sales pitch! They're smooth talkers and the fine print of the contract is not consistent with the verbal assurances during the sale. Believe NOTHING that is spoken by the salesman. If you are comfortable with the language of the contract, and understand it thoroughly from the get-go, then you'll probably be fairly satisfied with the system. It is expensive on the front end and expensive to maintain, but no nasty chemicals to deal with like my previous system.

I purchased two of these units (two different homes) about 12 years ago. Each unit is still in operation and is used daily.

I had a 12 year old Charger water softener that was not worth repairing, so called the company that originally installed it to see about a replacement. This company had also done a couple of repairs on the Charger thoughtout the 12 years. They quoted a new Charger system along with a few others and told me about the Hague 23BAQ.

The Hague 23BAQ has two cabinets, one for the salt, the other contains the resin tank, valve, and controller. This unit is probably equivalent to the 63MAQ of today.

I wanted a system that had at least a 3/4", prefferably 1" input and output, along with internal plumbing equivalent to 3/4" or better. I wanted a flow rate of at least 20 gallons per minute so that multiple showers, toilets, sinks could all be used with minimal impact on water flow through the house caused by the water softener.

Initially, the purchase price of the Hague was what seemed to me to be extremely high, however, when I said there would be two of them and I will do some more research and thinking, the salesman dropped the price by more than half. I did not purchase at that time, but a few days latter had him come back. At that point when I started to press him with technical questions about the Hague unit, he asked me if I was a chemist or something. I said no, but I am an engineer. After a little more discussion, he lowered the price again, at which point I said okay.

I like the Hague units versus others as they can be tailored to eliminate multiple issues with water quality, not just produce soft water as most others do, so it was worth the slight additional cost to me.

The Hague units alos have 1" plumbing designed throughout with water flow in the area of 20 gpm if I remember correctly. I believe the Charger unit could be purchased this way, and I believe the Kenmore top of the line was 1". Most less expensive units limit you to 1/2" or 3/4" with water flow in the 10 to 12 gpm range - No one should settle for that. It will cause a restriction in the water flow should, for example, someone be in the shower, a sink is runnning, and a toilet is flushed. The flow to all fixtures will decrease noticeably.

So, now the units are installed at the two different houses located about five miles apart, but on the same county water system, all is good for about five years.

After about five years, both units stop producing soft water within a few weeks of each other. I call for service only to find the company that installed them has been sold and the new owners do not service nor carry Hague any longer. So, I contact Hague and find a new service company. They arrive only to tell me my units are no longer under the extended warranty because the selling dealer did not register them even though I paid for the extended warranty.

After producing paperwork to prove I paid for extended warranty and the install dates, the new service rep was able to get the extended warranty put in place for both units - THANK YOU HAGUE!

Hague factory support for repairs and parts does not exist - must use an authorized dealer - BOO HAGUE :(

Okay, so now back to fixing the units. Each unit had something different wrong with them which required a couple new parts, installed under the extended warranty - I still had to pay about $120 service call for the two units. Soft water again - yeah!

A couple of years later, more issues - no soft water in either unit within a couple weeks of each other. Another service call, another service charge, plus this time I had to pay prorated for parts - Still, not too bad, about $180 for both units.

A couple months later, one of the units was spewing water all over the garage wall when it went into regeneration - the dran tube was messed with by the service guy and it split. I repaired that myself (big mistake)and cleaned the computer controller of the salty water that had saturated it, and things were good for a few more months. Then, the computer went dead. Another service call and a $400 computer and we are back running again. Even though the service guy caused this mess, the company would not cover it.

After this, the other unit broke. Repair was about $140 for service call and parts. Next, the one with the replaced computer stopped making soft water - service call and the resin and tank need replaced - partial warranty, but $600 out of pocket for labor and parts not covered by warranty.

Now, June, 2012, one of the units is not producing soft water again, so another service call is required. At this point, I am not sure if i will do that or replace it with a unit I can repair myself. The service calls and expensive parts replacements are getting out of hand - at what point does one stop and install new, even though there is suppossed to be a warranty.

My daughter lives about 10 miles away, is on a water system that is really poor compared to ours, and we installed a Kenmore water softener there about six years ago. Her system has broken down twice, each time requiring about two hours of my time to troubleshoot and repair, whith parts totaling about $60. The Kenmore does not do anything but soften water, but cost one-third what my discounted Hague cost, uses about twice as much salt on much poorer quality incoming water, and has cost far less for repairs and overall ownership, producing water that is just as soft. She must use additional filtration to remove other impurites, but it is still less expensive than the cost of the Hague, especially with all the repairs.

The Hague does a very fine job of producing quality water, but at the price, I don't believe it is worth it. Had I known then what I know now, I would not have installed the Hague, but installed one that I could get parts for myself and do repairs myself such as the Kenmore. If I could get parts at a reasonable price for the Hague and do my own repairs, I would recommend the Hague if the purchase price was reasonable.

The Hague unit is overpriced for even what I paid, and outragously over priced at the $3,000 and up prices people are paying (I am assuming quick installation of about three hours at this price). The Hague units also get you as you must use a Hague service rep becasuse parts can only be purchased by authoriezed repair facilities and dealers.

I believe I kept getting the units serviced because of the high initial cost of the units and attempting to recoup my investment. It was typically less expensive to repair the Hague unit than to spend $700 on a top of the line Kenmore to replace it (plus my time to install it).

I am not much a Kenmore/Sears fan, but with two daughters having Kenmore water softeners versus my two Hague units, I beleive the Kenmore units are a much, much better bang for the buck in our situation.

The Hague units do a great job producing quality water when they work, and produce minimal water flow restriction because of the larger water flow channels they use internally. When they need repair, it can get expensive. I have not been overly impressed with the long term reliability of the Hague units, especially for the initial cost, but they do work well when they work.

I've had my Hague water system for 8 years - paid $ 4,000 for the unit. It has worked fine until this last year. Now, they are trying to charge me $ 800 to repair my unit. If their product is "high quality" like they claim, why would it require such a costly repair only after 8 years?? I only recommend Hague if you don't have to pay more than $500 for the unit.

I had WaterMax Hague 23MEQ 1996 for $1800. The main resin tank leak 1999. It cost $200 for a new one even under warranty (shipping & service free at dealer, not home service). Two year later It leaked again. This time I fixed myself using fiberglass, costed $10. I used 10 years. Few days ago. Finally the tank blew up. It craked from top to bottom. Each time main tank leak, my garage is messed, lot of clean up. It is still under warranty(25 years). But it will cost me an other $300 for replace the tank. Used 16 years, forget the warranty. Never use Hague product any more. I am shopping a new one.

I purchased the Hague Watermax BEQ 8 years ago. It worked fine for about 3 years. Then it seemed like every year there was problem. I am guessing that I spent around $1200 in repairs. Then it flooded my basment and I had enough. I went to Home Depot bought a softener called the Big Boss for $700. After I got it home and started looking at it to my surprise it was the same as the Watermax! I came to find out that Hague makes both products. The only real diffrence between the two units was the computer. I work with computers for a living and can tell you that at most would justify a couple hundred dollars in price. The Watermax cost me $2800. I brought the unit back and eventually bought a unit from another company. I would never buy another Hague product again. Tom

Pure Water People in Phoenix installed th Hague WaterMax system in my home, I just love it. The sales Representative was polite and courteous to me and my husband. He was patient, non aggressive, and not pushy at all. I recommend them to all of my friends. Thank you to Pure Water People of Phoenix.

Elana

Paul Hoogerheide is one of the most impatient, rude, chauvinistic men I have ever met. I have never dealt with such rudeness in my own home. I gave him my full attention for an hour straight asking intelligent questions and all he did was treat me like I was twelve. He didn't listen or respond to any of my questions with thoughtfulness or care. DO NOT USE HIS SERVICES!!!!