Looking for a Hague water review?
Thinking about buying a water softener from Hague? Are they a reputable company or would you be better off staying away? We’ll tell you everything you need to know about Hague water, from their history as a company to their water conditioning units, after reading this article, you’ll know all you need to know about Hague.
About Hague: Water Treatment in Ohio
Hague Water Conditioning was founded in the 1950s by a man named William Hague in Columbus, Ohio as a retail shop. Dissatisfied with the manufacturing of the equipment, Hague decided he was going to make his own.
And thus, Hague went from storefront to manufacturer. They service tons of consumers in central Ohio. In fact, that’s their target (and according to the philosophy on their website, only) market:
“Hire the best employees. Build the best equipment. Offer the best prices. Do it all right here in Ohio.”
It’s quite the commitment, so does Hague live up to its name or should you shop somewhere else?
Hague Water Softener and Filtration Systems: Less Than Stellar
There are three main sources we’ll use to try to get a comprehensive idea of what people think about Hague Water: Consumer Affairs, Yelp, and Amazon. This way, we’re just trying to summarize what you would do when you search for “Hague Water reviews.”
The results, unfortunately, are a bit mixed -- with a tend toward the negative.
With more than 100 votes on their Consumer Affairs page, Hague only has a 3.1 star average rating.
However, the picture looks a little bit better on Yelp. With roughly 20 reviews on their Yelp page, they have an average 4 star rating.
And, finally, their BirdEye page has the best average of all. With 47 reviews, they have a “BirdEye Score” of 4.2 stars. On the other hand, though, three of those reviews have no rating at all, indicating extreme dissatisfaction (0 stars, even though there isn’t an option for that), and you can see that yourself from the disgruntled reviewers.
Overall, that doesn’t leave us with a great impression of Hague Water. Online reviews aren’t always reputable, though, so it’s important to ask: “Why are people giving Hague Water one star reviews?”
What’s Wrong with Hague?
When people are fed up with a water softening company, they’re usually fed up for the same reasons. Whether it’s the performance of the system or the ineptitude of customer service, those things will show up in critical reviews. So what’s wrong with Hague? What are people complaining about?
Here’s a summary using some snippets from actual reviewers:
Sales Tactics - Bait and Switch Quotes on Systems
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“This company's sales tactics are completely dishonest and intentionally misleading,” - Theresa of Chesapeake Beach, Maryland.
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“They lie to customers. They do not give you the real price of the machines when they are selling them to you, over six times of how much they have been purchased at,” - Doris of Hamilton, Missouri.
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“I do not believe that my information is safe with them and think they are a scam company that is just trying to take advantage of people,” - Adam of Kingsville, Missouri.
Hague, according to over 30 one-star reviews on Consumer Affairs, has a long history of lying to customers in order to close a sale. That last snippet, from Adam, claimed they were using a fake ATV drawing in order to get information on more leads.
Why might this be a problem if you’re looking to buy a Hague water softener? Even if you have a good idea of the exact softener you want, many reviewers received inaccurate estimates that turned out to be much higher than they were originally quoted. No one wants to pay more for something than they were told they had to, and that’s part of the reason why Hague has received so many critical reviews.
Another reviewer even found out that Hague had put a lien on his house in order to cover the financing for the system (Melvin of Long Beach, California), even though he told the rep he was completely against that option.
Faulty Systems, Coupled with Poor Tech Support
The WaterMax water softener from Hague is one of their most popular products, but according to some reviewers, the results have been faulty. That happens, of course, but when you get a warranty, you like to know that you aren’t going to pay tons of money to get it fixed.
Check out what these people had to say:
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The Water Max System “never did much to the well water. The unit leak constantly. The dealer replaced the unit which the new unit he gave me leaked even more.”
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“Flood under sink and kitchen floor from the water max r o system. 4 floods and would not replace the unit or fix it,” - Don of Urbana, Ohio.
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“We are also having problems with clogged faucets with black grit. Another post alerted me that it was resin in the Hague water softener. My advice is to look elsewhere for your water quality needs,” - Michael of Ramona, California.
It appears Hague also has some issues with their resin flooding into every available tap, leaving a black residue.
Also, while they claim to only service customers in the Central Ohio area -- as part of their philosophy on their site -- it’s clear that they really service people all over the continental United States. Their Yelp page, for “Hague Quality Water,” the same name and logo as that on their website, is for the Los Osos area in California.
Conclusion: Stay Away from Hague Water
We’ve written a lot of reviews of various water softeners and water softening companies -- some critical, some not -- but we’ve never seen anything quite as bad as the sales tactics outlined by disgruntled Hague water customers.
From having people come in to interview for jobs so that they can get their Social Security number (prior to employment) in order to check whether or not they qualify to be a customer, not an employee, to good old bait-and-switch pricing, if you’re dead set on dealing with Hague water, you need to be doubly sure that you read the fine print. Otherwise you’ll end up paying more than you’d ever imagine for a water softening system -- and then you’ll end up paying even more to have a technician come in to fix it.
If you’re interested in doing more research on water softeners, we recommend checking out the FilterSmart line of products. The Hague WaterMax, their most popular water softener, is still an ion-exchange, salt-based softener -- the type that are being banned across certain parts of the United States because of their environmental effects.
Ours work a little bit differently, and they’ll save you time and money.
