Floodchek Corporation - Stephen Vargo Floodchek Hoses Floodchek Hoses Did Not Fit Correctly - Stephen Vargo Ripped Me Off !!! Oliver Springs Tennessee

I have had many years of personal experience dealing with these great Flood Chek washine machine hoses as a multi-housing and condominimum maintenenace supply vendor.  I have one large condo customer who swears by them and will only use Flood Chek hoses no matter what the price difference may be. He hasn't had a single leak or a problem with any of the dozens of hoses that he has installed over the past two decades. As advertised, they are the best washing machine hoses made!! As bad as this sounds, some unscrupulous plumbers actually want and advise consumers to install products that are inferior (break down sooner rather than later) to ensure their future job security. 

Complainant: “I bought Floodchek Hoses with the Adaptors for my Washing Machine. First thing my Plumber noticed was there weren't as many threads on the Adaptors as there were on the old Stainless Steel Hoses.”

Floodchek:  The thread design on the inner wall referred lay terms as the nut, or in engineering terms, a 3/4 inch female Garden Hose Type (GHT) swivel has an official thread designation of NH 3/4-11-12 (National Hose), or NST 3/4-11-12 (National Standard Thread).  All swivels of this most common design have 4 crests, or threads. Inexpensive zinc nuts are responsible for the majority of washing machine hose failures, see http://www.winzelerstamping.com/images/products/unicouplings_female.jpg. In this case, the nut on the complainant's wire braided hose, which, with good reason, we refer to as “The Emperor’s New Hose” is probably inexpensive galvanized zinc. The most common failure mode on such a hose is due to broken s/s wire ends that puncture the low cost plastic inner tube.

Complainant: “i had on for 12 Years with No Problems.” 

Floodchek:  This may be true, but I’m familiar with situations where the new wire hose blew off the coupling at installation.  It’s common enough to be one of several causes for initiating a number of class action lawsuits claiming s/s hose are defectively designed. Refer to: http://www.classaction.org/media/pdf/hungerman-v-fluidmaster.pdf  

Complainant: “Also my Plumber mentioned the Weight of these hoses were like 5 times heavier and would put a lot of weight and stress pulling down on the Plastic Pieces coming out of my New Washer.”

Floodchek:  In reality, a 5 foot length of s/s hoses weighs12.5 ounces, while a 5 foot Floodchek hose weighs in at 23 ounces, or just under twice the weight of wire braided hoses.  To put the complainant’s claim to the test, train a 5 or 6 ounce Hamster to balance on the “Plastic Pieces coming out of my New Washer” (correctly identified as the threaded hot or cold inlet port) and command it to jump up and down with all the force the fuzzy rascal can muster. Like the visual?  That valve’s made of high impact plastic and wouldn’t snap off short of striking it with a blow from an 8 pound sledge hammer blow, if at all, even then.  

Complainant: “He doesnt like to over tighten washer hoses as that could be a   n't going to be responsible for a hose that weighs 5 times as much with less threads to connect to washer and have Gravity slowly pull down and over time I have a Flood Disaster.” 

Floodchek: Since a Floodchek hose isn’t 5 times as heavy and all nuts have the same NST thread count, am I correct to assume that his plumber would “like to over tighten washer hoses" of any design?  Since hot and cold water valves must be at least 42 inches above the floor to accommodate the drain, the weight of any hose is irrelevant, and even if it were, the weight would be borne upon the supply valves it’s connected to, not at all causing any lateral force on the solenoid mixing valve referred to.  In testing the amount of weight Floodchek places upon the solenoid valve is about 5 ounces.  (refer to Hamster reference above)That scenario simply has no basis in reality.

Complainant:  “He is a plumber with 30 years experience and said he never has seen a stainless steel hose break…”

Floodchek: Since s/s hose failures are a proven fact, I know why your plumber has never experienced a failure.  When a s/s, or any other hose, Floodchek excluded, fails and commonly creates a $25,000 insurance claim, an owner wouldn’t call a plumber, they’d call their insurance company and a company like ServiceMaster to dry out the house and then any of a number of contractors to repair the damage, which is a life changing event that may take weeks, or months to remediate. 

Complainant: “…and that they have a 1500 PSI Burst Rating (Floodchek is rated at 1700psi, btw) and hardly weigh anything and have lots of threads to go on Deep on the Washer and thats all he uses and says every plumber he knows only use the Stainless Steel Washing Machine Hoses and that the Floodchek Hoses were too heavy and not necessary and is asking for a Potential Problem down the Road by using them.”

Floodchek:  Consumers are misled by manufacturers to believe that burst pressure is an important feature.  It isn’t.  Even the cheapest washer hoses available have burst ratings of up to 1,500 psi.  Average residential water supply pressures average from 60 to 80 psi.  Plumbers that really do know better, don’t trust any washer hoses, (with a single exception) and warn, as do manufacturers, to replace the hoses every 3-5 years.  We just received a pair of Floodchek hoses that were used on several washers for over 25 years, with no signs of wear.  We do recommend replacing the rubber washers, which we supply at no charge.  That his s/s hoses “…hardly weigh anything and have lots of threads to go on Deep on the Washer…” needs no further explanation on my part.  The only reason his plumber “… says every plumber he knows only use the Stainless Steel Washing Machine Hoses…” isn’t surprising.  One, they aren’t aware of Floodchek.  They can purchase s/s hose wholesale for about $7 dollars, resell them for $30, and charge $100 for a service call.  Not bad work, if you can get it. 

Complainant: “I called and Emailed Stephen Vargo and told me to go to Home Depot and try and get some thinner washers.. WHAT ??”

Floodchek:  WHAT(??), indeed?!  I’d be the first person to tell a customer that high industrial grade EPDM rubber washers aren’t available, since big box stores usually only carry low quality plastic washers for garden hoses.  Who cares if they fail?  Your grass gets greener for it.  As for any type washers, I’m amazed how a package of 6 can easily cost several dollars, and may cost 2 for a penny to manufacture.  We supply EPDM washers free of charge.

Complainant: “Right then I knew dealing with Stephen Vargo was going to be a Headache.”

Floodchek:  Was I having a particularly bad day, or perhaps exasperated trying to offer the above explanations that fell on deaf ears.

Complainant: “So my Plumber got me some Stainless Steel Washer Hoses at Lowes with a 1500 PSI Burst Rating and they hardly weigh anything, he put them on and everything is PERFECT.”  

Floodchek:  Travel time and markup, warrenty, replacement schedule??

Complainant: “I then tried contacting Floodchek to send these back since they weren't even used thinking it wouldn't be a problem.” 

Floodchek: Since Floodchek is a safety product, we can only accept a return if they were returned unused in original packaging. By the way, returns are so rare, I can’t recall the last one.

Complainant: “Now Steven (sic) Vargo from Floodchek wont return my calls or Emails and i CC'd myself on the Emails for Proof. So I spent $ 83.00 for Hoses that are useless from a Rip Off Artist (Stephen Vargo) Owner of Floodchek that only wants to take your hard earned money and will never speak to you again if there is a Problem.

Floodchek: We have no $83.00 product costs. I request that this anonymous person step up to the plate and contact me by furnishing the referenced CC’d emails that will prove your point.  Unfortunately this malcontent relishes being cloaked in internet anonymity and believes the freedom of speech, not only allows, but promotes irresponsibly publishing misinformation and ad hominem attacks. At face value, an educated consumer would easily see through this diatribe, but some wouldn’t know the difference, but nonetheless, this post goes world-wide, which apparently is very satisfying.

I, too, am a senior citizen, but find these attacks aren’t supported in any way by facts or reason. I’d really rather make things right, if I only knew this person’s identity and how this unfortunate situation arose.  It’s not my way.

To be fair, RipOff Report should have the sense of FairPlay to notify the any company accused, rightly or wrongly that a consumer, with or without a valid claim has filed such a report.

How are baseless claims removed, or should I depend on a reasonable, informed consumer to decide on the alleged ripoff’s accuracy and truthfulness after ready the complaint, its rebuttal and decide for themselves?

Or, Should I spend a couple thousand dollars for one of RR’s attorneys to expunge it from the internet, even though recent court actions have led to some important changes in the ways the site handles false and malicious complaints.

Is the Ripoff Report a ripoff on its own? 

Per Whitney C. Gibson, leader of the Internet Defamation Group for Ohio-based law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP, “One of the biggest problems with ROR is that they don’t remove business reports from their website, even if a court finds that the company was defamed.  Because of the name of the website, just being listed on the website at all is very damaging to business. If someone stands outside my store and yells to potential customers that my business is a rip off and I argue responses, and that customer is also looking at businesses that do not have allegations, it is clear which one the customer will chose.“ Gibson continued, “The new ROR policies do not go far enough. If it is determined that a poster published defamatory comments about the business and falsely accused them of being a rip-off, the victim should able to get their name removed from the Ripoff report.” Gibson believes the RipOff Report’s current policy will ultimately be a driving factor to changes in the Communications Decency Act. Under the current policy, Gibson notes that attorneys can get court orders that declare material is defamatory and give the orders to search engines who will often delete the URLs containing the defamatory material from the search engines. This is a huge development, Gibson notes, and is often the best that can be done in cases whereRipoff Report will not remove a company from their website even after a court has ordered that the posting of a complaint on the site was illegal. “This is wrong, and it causes enormous unfair harm to business," he said.

Contact me, Steve Vargo, if you have any questions regarding the value of Floodchek washing machine hoses, my personal integrity, or my response to this report.

Or will my response even be reported on Ripoff Report in its entirety?