High Pressure Sales Tactics - WATCH THE VIDEO

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http://www.whnt.com/whnt-takingactioninvestigation-9427865,0,5563820.story
November 24, 2008

By Wendy Halloran, WHNT-NewsChannel 19 Chief Consumer Investigative Reporter
email: wendy.halloran@whnt.com

We've all wondered whether a salesperson's claims are legitimate, or whether they're just tactics to convince us to purchase their product.

In this WHNT NewsChannel 19 Taking Action Investigation, we go undercover to expose high- pressure techniques. Our quest for the truth started with a consumer complaint from a viewer who shelled out big bucks for a water purification system, only later to wonder if he really needed it. WHNT NewsChannel 19 began to check out his concerns and our hidden camera investigation revealed some sales people could be using pitches intended to scare you to buy.

Derrick and Pamela Lucy bought a home in Huntsville three years ago for their growing family. Earlier this year, they were inundated with cold calls from water purification companies.

"Somebody just called and said, you know this is [a representative] from Crystal Mountain, we'll give you a free case of water if we can just come out and test your water," Derrick Lucy told us.

The offer seemed enticing, so they agreed to it.

"When the guy came out, you know, he was well organized. He had like a chemistry set of all different chemicals he was just dropping them in," Derrick said. "He put 10 drops here and 10 drops there."

Between the chemical concoction and the salesman's claims, the Lucy family was convinced the city water was bad.

"It actually looked like battery acid and he just said, this is what you're putting into your body. He said I know you don't want your kids drinking this. He said it was unsafe to drink," Derrick said.

The Lucys took the salesperson's word on it and spent $6,000 on a whole house water treatment system. The contract shows Crystal Mountain Water Treatment added air purification and cleaning products as part of the package deal. But later on, Derrick told us, "He said this will last you a year because you only have to use a capful. Well, we're out already."

Now, the Lucy family says they regret making the purchase.

"[It's] just like money going down the drain," Derrick said.

WHNT NewsChannel 19 asked Derrick if he felt the salesman's pitch constituted scare tactics.

"I do, I do," he said.

Our Taking Action Investigation goes undercover, using multiple hidden cameras to find out if salespeople are using scare tactics and making false claims to pressure consumers into buying expensive water purification systems they may not even need.

We captured claim after claim.

"Goodbye, bad water," says one water analyst you will meet later.

The salespeople promise their products will change your water hardness and improve the drinking quality.

"Where I'm from, every good drink deserves a chaser, so we're gonna make you a city water slammer," says one water analyst.

"This is God-made, that's made by man," says another.

They also promise to reduce rings around bathroom fixtures. "No more getting on your hands and knees, scrubbing out toilet bowl rings," the salesperson claims.

NewsChannel 19's Special Investigations Unit decided to put Valley water purification companies to the test, to hear their sales pitches. We rigged a Huntsville home with hidden cameras to see how far the salesmen would go to seal the deal.

The first appointment was with Pure Water, which sells RainSoft systems. The homeowner greets the RainSoft representative, Wendy Embrey, at the door.

Embrey doesn't waste any time telling the homeowner she has hard water.

"So, about 12 drops turned it that bright blue, indicating you have about 12 grains of hardness," Embrey said as she showed her the test tube. "Now if you look at the chart, anything over 10 and a half is classified as very hard water."

"Oh, my," the homeowner replies.

Then, Embrey says, the water is so hard, "It's off the charts hard."

Next, Embrey tests the water for chlorine. "You're really dark yellow, that would be around three parts per million, which is pretty adequate for a swimming pool," Embrey says.

To drive the point home, Embrey warns the homeowner by saying, "You're bathing in it, you're washing your clothes in it, and you're drinking it."

Then, Embrey makes another claim by saying, "In an area like this, we have insecticides and herbicides, pesticides all finding its way into our water supply." "It's pretty obvious that you have a problem," she goes on to say.

The homeowner asks her if the water has any health concerns.

"It's unfortunate that we can't really talk about health," Embrey replies. "We're not doctors, but it just makes better sense if the water looks better and feels better, it's probably better for you."

Embrey wraps up her presentation telling the homeowner the RainSoft system will cost "totally installed, with no hidden costs, taxes, everything included, its $5,200."

The next appointment is with Crystal Mountain Water Treatment, the same company that sold the Lucy family its system earlier this year.

Senior water analyst Hunter Daniel, Jr. walks through the door and heads for the kitchen.

"This is just a little chemistry kit that we test the water with," Daniel tells the homeowner.

He gets down to business quickly and says, "You got a lot of chlorine in this water. Way too much chlorine."

He also claims there's more than just chlorine lurking in the water by saying, "There is rat poison in our water. There's lots of chlorine in our water, there's drugs in our water. There's hardness, sedimentation, there's little rocks, little bits of sand, dirt, calcium, selenium, iron lead, copper and all of that junk is a skin irritant."

He even goes so far as to say the water causes disease.

"That stuff right there is what's causing your daughter's eczema," Daniel tells the homeowner.

He then claims he can make it disappear and points to a small machine he brought with him.

"Everything that's inside this little machine is God-made," Daniel says.

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But even he admits it will take more than divine intervention to cure the daughter's ills. Daniel, Jr. tells the homeowner her daughter's disease is hard to get rid of, but maintains, "Eczema is one of the hardest things to get rid of, but if you know how to get rid of it you can get rid of it."

The homeowner asks him how and Daniel, Jr. says, "I'm going to. I'm not a doctor but I grew up with one and I listened to him."

Then the presentation takes a detour down the hallway where Daniel checks out the air ducts. He's trying to promote a package deal that will include an air purification system. When he looks at the air duct he asks the homeowner if she is aware of bed bugs and says, "When your daughter sleeps in a bed --you heard of bed bugs? They're live little live nasty things and they get on your daughters skin and in her clothes when she's sleeping."

Crystal Mountain Water Treatment's price on all of this comes in at $7,750. But the salesman throws in a 20% discount, which reduces the selling price to $6,200. Hunter Daniel, Jr. tells the homeowner that's the best he can do and says, "I know in my heart I've given you a great deal and I'm not a dishonest person, I am telling the truth."

The homeowner tells him she wants to shop around. "I just want to do my homework," she says.

Not willing to give up, he tries to get her to fill out a credit application. But she's hesitant to do that and tells him, "I don't want you to pull my credit."

Daniel, Jr. keeps trying. With one last final appeal, he tells the homeowner, "The problem is you don't trust me."

So how true are the sales claims about the water quality? WHNT NewsChannel 19's Special Investigations unit had the water in that Huntsville home tested by Enersolv, an environmental laboratory in Decatur. We had lab director Bill Hollerman interpret the results.

"I see nothing involved here at all to be of concern," says Hollerman.

He says it is normal to find traces of certain metals, but he says the tests indicated the levels are safe.

"None of the analysis showed any levels anywhere near the maximum contaminant level for drinking water," said Hollerman.

WHNT NewsChannel 19's Wendy Halloran asked Hollerman if he sees any problems with the drinking water.

"None at all," he said.

We also took our story to Huntsville Utilities, which is in charge of the city water supply.

"For our customers, our water is of high quality and that's our goal is to make sure that it stays that way," says spokesperson Bill Yell.

For Yell, water quality is not just a matter of pride, it's a matter of fact.

"Agencies that monitor us are giving us awards every year, and not every system gets that. If there are things that are found, they are all below either detection level or below any requirement, health requirement," Yell said.

We had Yell watch our hidden camera video and comment on the claims the salespeople made, especially the most alarming one about rat poison.

"There's no rat poison in the water supply," Yell said.

He also says water purification systems are a matter of choice.

"It's a personal preference. Is it needed for health reasons? No," Yell said.

Our Taking Action Investigation turns back now to the salespeople, to question them about their tactics. We confront Wendy Embrey with Pure Water, the RainSoft dealer, when she comes back to the house for a follow-up.

We told Embrey we wanted to talk to her about her sales tactics. She told us we should talk to the owner. When we asked who the owner is, she got in her mini-van and drove off. But not before we asked her if she remembered telling the homeowner she had a problem with her water. We got no response from Embrey so we asked her if she remembered telling the homeowner there are insecticides, herbicides and pesticides in the water.

No answers from Embrey, but Pure Water spokesman Randy Williams agreed to watch the hidden camera video and address our questions. He has concerns she veered off the script she's supposed to follow and says, "What my concern would be is that we follow a code of ethics established by the Water Quality Association and that we're bound by a particular script."

Williams says at issue is Embrey's mention of pollutants during her sales pitch. We asked him how he would rectify the problem.

"I would tell her to make that more of a generalized information to the consumer and not base it off of what is in the area," Williams said.

We wondered how Randy Williams would rate his employee's performance.

"If I graded her on a scale of one to 10, I think she was probably a seven to eight," he said. "I think that we can discuss this in one meeting and she would never do it again."

We asked Williams if he thinks Wendy Embrey used scare tactics to make a sale. "No, I don't," he replied.

The most shocking revelation in our Taking Action Investigation is still to come. Hunter Daniel, Jr., the salesman from Crystal Mountain Water Treatment has been harboring a secret from his employer. He's about to stand trial. A Madison County grand jury indicted Daniel on 36 felony counts of selling unregistered securities, securities fraud and theft by deception this past May.

Investigators with the Alabama Securities Commission say he bilked 13 elderly Alabamians out of thousands of dollars in an investment scheme. Daniel, Jr. is also a man of many other faces. He has been arrested for cocaine possession, ***** driving and attempting to elude police. He's also been arrested on similar charges dating back to 1992.

We approached Hunter Daniel, Jr. when he came back to the house where he tested the water. He agreed to talk to us.

We asked him if he thought it was appropriate to tell the homeowner there is rat poison in the water.

His response, "I told her there was traces of arsenic in our water."

We refreshed his memory, reading verbatim from the hidden camera transcripts, about what he said to the homeowner that night.

"Mr. Daniel, actually, let me refresh your memory," said WHNT NewsChannel 19's Wendy Halloran. "You said there is rat poison in our water. You said there is lots of chlorine in our water, there's drugs in our water there's hardness, sedimentation, rocks, sand, dirt calcium, selenium, iron, lead and copper."

Halloran asked Daniel if he thought this was appropriate. She also told him he'd been caught on a hidden camera.

"Oh, well, good," he replied.

We also asked him if Crystal Mountain Water Treatment condones this type of sales tactic and whether or not he was taught to say this, and if not, did he come up with it on his own.

"No, that's the way I was trained," he said. We also asked Daniel about his comments that the water causes eczema. We asked him if he has a medical link and if he is a doctor.

"No ma'am, I'm not a doctor," he replied. We also asked him why he says his water treatment system can cure disease.

"I did not say that," he said. We told him he did say that on hidden camera. He then said, "I said it's tough to cure, but if you know how to do it, you can do it. I said soft water can make it better."

When we asked him about the bed bug comment, he ended the interview by thanking our cameraman and walking to his car.

"Thank you sir, appreciate you all. That's fine," Daniel, Jr. said.

We tried again asking him why he would say such a thing and he said, "I'm done with this interview."

He's also done working for Crystal Mountain Water Treatment. His employer told us he resigned immediately after our interview and informed them of the 36-count indictment against him.

The owner of Crystal Mountain water treatment initially agreed to an interview with us, but backed out instead, giving us a statement which reads in part, "Crystal Mountain Water Treatment's relationship with Hunter Daniel, an independent contractor, is confidential."

It goes on to say "The company does not deal with any issues about them in the public arena."

Hunter Daniel, Jr. is scheduled to go on trial December 1 on the securities charges. The arrest for cocaine possession is in its preliminary stages in the Madison County courts.

So, what does this mean for you the consumer? If you're in the market for a water purification system, shop around. There are plenty of reputable companies in north Alabama. Listen carefully to the sales pitch. But before you have someone come out, ask the company if its runs background checks on sales representatives so you know who is coming into your home.

RainSoft management tells us it runs criminal background checks on its employees. As for Crystal Mountain Water Treatment, we do not know, because they are not talking.