Back in the month of June resident of Alberta, Canada with his own ‘news’ blog did his community a great service by posting an article warning people that scam artists had targeted neighbors. Apparently, a fly-by-night, or otherwise not-so-ethical organization, left small bags containing water sampling kits on people’s doors and has now started making follow-up calls to the homes where they dropped off bags.
While the town of Morinville DOES have a random sampling program in effect to help guarantee water quality for all residents, the town has nothing to do with the surprise water testing packages showing up at people’s homes.
Morinville – If you come home to find a little blue bag hanging on your door with a water testing kit inside, Morinville Enforcement Services want you to know that it is not a town-run program.
Enforcement Services have recently received a number of calls from Morinville residents who have received the kits and are reporting that follow-up calls are being made to their homes regarding them.
The kits are not being distributed by Public Works or any other Morinville department.
Morinville already has a water testing process in place. Water testers collect unsolicited random samples on a daily basis and send them to a government lab to ensure the quality and safety of the Town’s water.
If the Town requires anything from a resident or their property, they contact the person directly. At no time do they hang collection kits on a resident’s door.
Residents with questions are asked to call Enforcement Services at 939-4361 or Public Works at 939-2590. ( source )
We have written about shady water testing companies in the past, we find ourselves writing about them now, and we will probably wind up writing about them again in the future. It saddens us to know that people could use matters as serious as drinking water contamination as a way to trick people into purchasing additional water testing and/or possibly unneeded water filtration equipment.
Avoiding the snake oil salesman
Most Effective Method: Don’t let the b#stards in the front door to begin with and/or hang up on them when they call.
Next Most Effective Method: Knowing the condition of your drinking water will always provide you with the best defense against unethical water testing companies and companies using deceptive water testing tactics. They cannot possibly convince you that you need ‘this’ or that you will DIE if you don’t install ‘that’ right away if you already know from testing of your own or a trusted water testing facility indicates otherwise.
Always remember that a water filter company offering to come out and test your water ‘for free’ spends money on gas, training, salary and equipment sending a technician (salesperson) to your house — and therefore expects that technician (salesperson) to sell you something whether you need it or not.
If you think you may need a water filter, first have an independent lab like National Testing Laboratories or a local laboratory certified to test drinking water give you a complete analysis. Then read the results over carefully and make sure you understand what they mean so that when the water filter salesperson makes his/her presentation, you can ask the right questions and keep yourself from accidentally getting sold more filter than you really need.
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