De Anza Water Conditioning

We have been a client for 10 years for water softener with De Anza and very happy. After doing a lot of research, we had Kinetico RO put in for drinking water and LOVE the system. It is amazing. John came out to our house for consultation and we really learned a lot from him. The water quality Exceeded our expectation. Mike installed the unit and he was superb and we thank him for his amazing work. Thank you John, Lynne, Mike, Judy and Ian. The customer service is great. If you are really looking to get an RO system, this is it. It is expensive but WORTH IT. Every time I drink it, I think of John and how passionate he is about his work and company.

Since I wrote the first review, De Anza Water called me after their service visit. I appreciate their reaching out to me. However, there was no reduction on what I had to pay for, a service visit plus a replacement filter (for the cracked one), which cost me two hundred some dollars. In the service call, De Anza’s service person used a pressure gauge with a broken screen, and he tested the water pressure of a tap that was actually unregulated. He also concluded that my water regulator and water pressure gauge were both malfunctioning. I found that untrue later. I wished the repair person would collaborate with me on diagnosing the problem instead jumping to conclusion. It is a long story and I don’t want to bore you with too many details.
However, I do hold De Anza responsible for knowing my plumbing network better before calling the original installation a success. Given that their system can fail «catastrophically» (a cracked housing instead of leaks at connection points) under unregulated water supply pressure, the installer should check the water pressure at the input point to their filter system, instead of making assumptions. Their wrong assumption cost me but not them — they charged me fully without correctly diagnosing the problem. Their wrong diagnosis also misled me to try to solve a non-​problem.

Paid a lot to get the Kinetico system installed in January 2014. 20 months later, I am on my third service call, at $ 125 for the first half hour and they charge for parts, which is contrary to what Kinetico advertises for their warranty. Paying almost $ 5,000 for a system that requires expensive service calls every six months is not my idea of a good system.
Update: 10/​13/​2015 the technician showed up, on time, and took the entire system apart. He could not find a problem with the system but had reviewed the history before coming. He therefore replaced the head unit and let me know the service fee would be waived since the unit should not be having these problems. I will update in a year if there have been no problems with the unit. I will be very pleased if the unit continues to work for an extended period as it should. My neighbor across the street has the same system and has had no problems for the years that he has owned it. I am hoping for the same results.
I am thankful to the management, and the technician, for the service I received today.

We just got a Kinetico system on the high recommendation from our contractor, Eric Killio. Eric was right on in recommending De Anza Water Conditioning. The installer was at our house 10 minutes before the schedule time and 1.5 hours later we had a new and awesome looking water softener. The installer went over all the aspects on how it worked and how we can keep it up and running– like just adding salt. Plus, he left us 4 bags of salt to go along with it. Having problems with a car dealership lately, it’s nice to know that there are companies like De Anza Water Conditioning that still value customer happiness and people like Eric Killio that also have the customer well being at heart. Plus, the water has been fantastic and we finally have a clean counter and shower.

Judy and Chris were very prompt and helpful. They came out immediately when i had my softener leaking water. Honest advice and nice people to work with.

I strongly recommend a Kinetico system from De Anza Water Conditioning, Inc. We did a lot of research into systems and companies, and are very happy with our purchase. The top of the line Kinetico is great, and De Anza Water Conditioning install was superb. The salesman/​owner is really nice and takes time to explain. The installer did a superbly professional job, utilized space well and looks very neat and clean.
There are far better systems out there than the traditional systems from the decades past, but of course it will cost you more. They offer continuous soft water with no recharge cycle that the old units use to do overnight, and requires no power. They have a 4-​tank system, 2 huge carbon filters (goodbye britta pitchers & chlorine), and 2 for softening so that one of 2 stacks is delivering soft water all the time while the other side re-​gens for 10 minutes. These supposedly use a lot less water and salt too for the regen cycle than the traditional style. And these should last a lot longer without the chlorine breaking down the stuff that regenerates. We opted for the optional additional sediment filter. Look up the systems on Kinetico’s website. The model number is slightly different for California, but it is the same as their top line.
We used to have an old-​style water softener at a previous house, then we moved. The old-​style system water would turn hard or a little hard sometimes and we’d have to force it to regen, we had to fill with a bag a salt every month (or forget too long and it runs hard), it used a much larger drum for salt (and a plume of salt dust every time I dump bags), and ran for hours at night. When we moved, we were hoping for and found better innovations.
We had ours installed January 2015. In the 7 months since we are still thrilled. It seems perfectly soft. We opted for the default smaller salt container and I love how much less space it feels like because of it. The pipes were run very neatly and tightly too. I’m surprised at how much less salt it uses. I thought I’d be filling bags all the time with the smaller reservoir, but I only just filled it for the 2^nd time after 7 months. I have a hard stick I keep next to it that I occasionally use to poke the salt in a few places to collapse any caverns if it forms a cap and doesn’t cave in. I’d recommend the Kinetico system and this company to anyone. I’m just a happy customer.

Bought their signature Kinetico water filtration and softner system in late January 2015. Very effective system competitively priced and professionally installed in three hours. Great people, great product.

I would like to thank Chris as he did a good job yesterday to repair the softener and clean the pipe to allow the water running out. Although I have to pay more thank they quoted as they did not include the labor hour for plumbing originally. But I am still happy that the problem was resolved. Also very lucky that they answered my car at 7am and arrived my home at 9am.
Thanks.

We are very pleased with the product and the installation. Yes, it’s pricey. However, it exceeds our expectation and we feel we have received more than enough value for the money we spent. Mike Munns, the installation tech, was courteous, efficient, and cleaned everything up when he was done. The installation is very professional, including patching the drywall that was removed to access the pipes. It’s unfortunate that folks have had problems with John and/​or his company; we are very pleased and would highly recommend them to anyone thinking of getting water conditioning equipment.

I purchased a kinetico water softener from this outfit. I found John to be very professional and friendly and obviously believes in what he is selling. To be honest, I had some sticker shock at the price of the water softener, but I know I needed one as I tested my water several times over the years and it was super hard and taking a toll on my dishwasher, showers, washing machine and my water tasted like chlorine. The plumbing piece took about 3 hours and in about 3 days I could definitely see and feel the new soft waters effects. Also the water didn’t taste like chemicals any more. Wish I would have done this earlier in my home ownership. The water softener is also easily moved so if I ever move again, I can take it with me and it is still under warranty.
All in all a very good experience. I had a couple other quotes but in the end I felt most comfortable with these guys.

I had installed a softener in my home and enjoyed nice soft water for a few months before I could feel that the water wasn’t soft anymore in the shower. John (the owner) came out from De Anza and explained that the resin beads in the softener are dissolved over time by the chloramines in our water. I had De Anza replace the unit with a 4040s which has a chlorine pre-​filter to preserve the softener. The De Anza installers are the best I’ve ever seen, fast, perfect work. I’m back with De Anza for a RO drinking water filter now!

Well, Lynne Farris the office manager saved my opinion of the company. She reached out to me after my review and was very apologetic, empathetic and looked into my problem. Any issues just go to her. Thank you!

We got our Kinetico water softening system repaired by them few months ago. Last friday when i reached home in the evening garage was completely flooded. I had to turn off water supply to kinetico system and do the cleaning.
I called de Anza and i got phone no of Chris and Ian. I left voicemails to both. It was around 10:30 in the night.
I texted both Ian and Chris in the morning. Ian called in few minutes. He apologized for the delay and patiently went over the whole situation.
It was a leakage in pre-​filter system. Ian said they are responsible for Kinetico system which they installed but not for pre-​filter but would love to help. He asked me to send some pictures and told me that pre-​filtration system is in fact not needed for Kinetico and it can be removed.
He said they can definitely come and fix it but after-​hour charged would be high and better idea would be to use a plumber to do the job.
I got plumber and got it fixed in few hours.
Chris did call me next day and apologized for delay in responding as he was traveling.
So overall good experience. They can work on improving response time though.

Terrible customer service and incompetent servicemen. They tried I can’t remember how times to fix my softener. Instead of fixing it they just kept breaking it more and more until they actually replaced the head unit. I figured this would have to be a sure fix but in true De Anza Water fashion they still messed that up. In the end, Aqua Terra Water fixed the unit in one visit and found the prior servicemen had set the unit up wrong all along.
The owner John was rude. He wouldn’t admit to his mistakes and corporate did nothing to help. Most of the servicemen were rude and thought they knew everything meanwhile they couldn’t fix their own unit. How a company like this continues to exist is beyond me.
The worst part of all is that their incompetence resulted in tainted water being fed to my family which includes two young ones. They were drinking brine water at times when the unit was messing up. The owner didn’t seem to care about that at all. He just wanted to get paid for keeping on sending out his people, who couldn’t fix the unit to save their lives.
Avoid these guys at all cost.

If I could give 0 stars to this company I would.
Our Experience:
My husband and I recently purchased a new home in the area. The owner of DeAnza water, John Schaeffer, showed up at our front door unannounced on a weekend day to talk to us about his product. He tested our water for hardness. It was 15 gpg, or very hard, which was no surprise. He then explained why the particular unit he wanted to sell us was great: dual-​tank, efficient, small, etc. It all sounded great but the punch line was the price.
The second time he showed up at our house unannounced my husband asked him to discuss other Kinetico options. We had investigated the website and seen that Kinetico sells lots of units — including filter options that are not integrated into the unit. John stuck to his guns and insisted that he would not feel ethical selling us any other unit because of the «heavy amount of chlorine» in our water.
Tired of the unannounced weekend visits, we contacted De Anza water over email and got this response:
«We sell and install and service the Kinetico 4040s for many customers in your area because it best addresses your particular water quality, which is considered very hard and is heavy with chlorine, a substance that destroys resin, the softening media.»
We did some research and tested our own water. The local, publicly available, report from our water supplier — San Jose Water Company — lists the 2012 total chlorine measured in the distribution system as 1.1 ppm; well below the EPA standard. We found that the amount of chlorine at our tap is the minimum required by the CDC to kill bacteria (0.2ppm). We contacted other local, water softening vendors and got information ranging from ‘you don’t need a chlorine filter but I’ll sell you one if you want it’ (Rick Randazzo) to ‘we will not sell you a chlorine pre-​filter because of the dangers of bacterial infection in water standing in the pipes past the filter’ (Rayne).
When we presented this information to De Anza water and asked why they believed our water was heavy with chlorine we got this response:
«It is recommended that carbon pre-​filtration be used with all softeners as any level of chlorine on a consistent basis will shorten the life of a water softener.»
They changed their story from ‘your water is heavy with chlorine’ to ‘any chlorine is not okay’ and then proceeded to give lots of hypothetical reasons for why other softeners might not work:
«While Kinetico offers other softeners, they may be too large for your site, provide insufficient softening capacity, require additional carbon pre-​filtration tanks at an additional cost to maintain the warranty, or are not compliant with California water softener restrictions.»
To be clear — we have no space restrictions, we have a single family home inhabited by two adults, and we had specifically asked for quotes on pre-​filtration tanks. Instead of engaging in a clear discussion and answering our questions De Anza water changed their story and gave us the run-​around. They refused to quote us on any of the other Kinetico products that would have met our needs.
Bottom Line:
De Anza sells a very particular high end Kinetico water softening unit. The Kinetico website offers many less expensive, suitable alternatives but the owner of De Anza takes an aggressive approach and insists that the top of the line unit is the only one that will work for the water in our area. He lied to us about the chlorine levels in our public water system in order to sell us on this particular unit.
Because of Kinetico’s business model you can only buy Kinetico equipment from an area representative. In our area De Anza water is the Kinetico representative so if you want to explore Kinetico products other than the most expensive ones you are pretty much out of luck. It’s also a perk for the De Anza business model that this particular unit requires on-​going maintenance that must be performed by their technicians.
DeAnza water takes the wrong approach toward customers. John wants to show up at your house and tell you what you need to buy and that’s the end of it. He will give every reason on earth why he thinks you should buy it instead of asking you what is important to you and making sure that your needs are met as a consumer. This guy is nothing but a self-​interested salesman.

Emailed them through kineticos corporate contact address weeks ago. Never heard back. I was willing to chalk it up to wrong address but last week I had a missed call with no voice message left. I googled the number and it was these folks. Kinetico systems are known to be the most expensive in the business and if this is the best their _​sales_​staff can do I’m going to stay away.
Upated:
The owner contacted me upon my previous unhappy Unilocal review. Aggressive at first, he scheduled a sales call which he was on time for. Everything presented was great, it was the experience I wanted the first time. Will update again if I decide to choose Kinetico.

I called today for service on my very old Kinetco water purifier, and decided to go ahead and install a new unit. Nelson, the technician, arrived and explained all the options to me and let me choose what to do. I was lucky in that De Anza Water Conditioning cleared his schedule for the new install today. He completed the work in about two and a half hours, went under the house to retrieve the old water bottle that was no longer working, and put the new unit entirely under my sink. It is a fine addition to my home and I’m happy to have it. This unit is expensive but is top-​rated by Consumer Reports. Nelson is VERY professional, knows his stuff and is careful to follow up on his install. I would heartily recommend this company to anyone looking to install the best water purifier in the business.

Called to get a price on installing a Kinetico water softner. They quoted me $ 1050 plus other fees. Helllloooo who charges that much now days? I wonder how many people they rip off.

It seems like contractors and suppliers everywhere are unreliable and getting worse. Prices and leadtimes seem always to change based on «new information» that no one suggested would matter when a task was initially quoted. For this reason, I particularly appreciate the work that De Anza did. They delivered exactly what they promised when they promised it for the price of the original quote, and as far as I can tell, it seems to be quality work.
There are cheaper options for water softeners than the ones De Anza sells, but I’m glad I chose quality over price, even if only to restore my faith that there are still companies who care about the work they do.

As long as it had taken me to get my softener, it had taken me even longer to break down and decide to get a purification system. I am guilty of contributing to the water bottle waste in the world since I am a Costco weekend warrior, who was buying the huge packs of Kirkland water. Before that, I tried out the «Pure Water» places where you buy your own 3−5gallon jug and fill up the water yourself with a small membership rate. Also tried the Alhambra home delivery, but I got tired of seeing the cooler in the kitchen…
So i just got sick of those errands… sick of the back aches to carry the heavy water loads… the costco RO was a pain to bother with… you get the idea…
so back to De Anza I go. I definitely wanted to see what a Kinetico RO was all about so I went for the K-​5 rental. It had a very sleek design and fit perfectly under my sink… comes with a nice faucet so it works great with the kitchen. The taste is great and my doggie loves it too which is a MUST! I figured I could try out the RO system and buy it later if I wanted to since that was an option. I definitely learned alot about different systems lately, but Kinetico seems to still be a safe bet. I bought some stainless steel bottles too so I will NEVER buy bottles at Costco again… it’s a habit i must break!