Sometime back, my Osmio Zero started to leak water and after sending it back to be serviced and returned, it still did the same. I ended up not buying another but searched and found the Waterdrop K19. This was substantially cheaper and a global company. Unlike the Osmio it used one very large filter as opposed to two.
When it came and after a short amount of time using it I was delighted with it. I am a simple soul! ALl I wanted to do was put tap water in and get RO water out and it did this very well. DaveC started quizzing me on it and we did some tests and he bought one. 6 months later he rang me and told me it was a pile! This was based on the amount of waste water it produced which affected his favourite word, efficiency. He also went on how in his view the K19 filters could not filter out microplastics found in water. I said so what, I ain’t a fish! I just drink some of the stuff!
Anyway, I let him persuade me into upgrading to their A1 system. Being broadly the same but with 2 filter cartridges and a smaller tank this produced chilled water. They were £550 or so but I found a seller on Ebay selling many Waterdrop products which made me think he was authorised (he was not). Asking Dave for his thoughts he said it is £200 cheaper, what can go wrong?
Let me tell you the answer to that! The seller is not authorised. Even though it was a sealed factory box with all the correct stickers etc Waterdrop customer service (who up till then had always been very good) declared it had no warranty but said if I have an issue tell them.
I am dealing with them at the moment for an out of warranty issue on my sons unit and they are happily engaging and even sending a new £75 replacement filter. The downside is no matter what time of day I email them they seem to wait 24 hours to reply!
So, a couple of days ago I noticed that when I had to refill my unit it had not produced any waste water (there ought to have been about 1 litre). The same thing the next time. I emailed them yesterday to explain then turned to AI and Google. Some said a blocked RO filter but since mine is 6 months old and should last a year. My tap water has a TDS around 110 and when the water has filtered around 10. I did not want to chuck my spare filter in at £70 on the off chance. SO I did the steps that others suggested and nothing helped.
Waterdrop replied overnight suggesting I change both filters. I check my TDS readings weekly (the machine also has a permanent TDS display) and when I last checked a couple of days ago the readings were normal. The next issue was working out how easy or difficult it was to descale the Elizabeth.
I made up my mind that if in the course of time I had to replace the A1 I would but I would go back to a K19. As I have said, I have simple needs and the K19 produced good levels of RO water. Personally I put ice in every cold drink so if the A1 produced chilled water I could not care.
Now, one of Waterdrops bad points is that they do dynamic pricing meaning that prices can vary by the minute literally. I found the K19 on their site for £359.99, Amazon for £299.99. I then searched more on their site and found it for £269.99 then £249.99. I tried to buy it but no matter what I did everything defaulted to the highest price. I then found two discount codes which were not that obvious, to me anyway and completed the sale for £243 delivered.
So, the outcome is be very careful when buying ‘new’ things off Ebay. My own instinct is always to pay more and get a proper warranty. Sometimes I really do wish that I had not listened to the advice dished out! Now I am waiting for the new machine to come and Waterdrop customer services can take as long as they want to fix it……then someone will receive another bargain!