Culligan of Wheeling

I was initially impressed with Culligan on the phone.  They have a good reputation.  I had family in the suburbs who used well water treated with Culligan equipment.  They were professional on the phone and the technician arrived within the window prescribed.  I do not recall the woman who took my reservation informing me of the charge for the house call.  I'm sure I would have mentioned the fee to my wife.  If I ended up buying a new water softener or fixing our current one, any diagnostic fee would be applied toward that purchase.  I'd be a new paying subscriber and this is standard business practice with most service companies.  Or perhaps not with Culligan.  Read on.
The technician spent about a minute looking at our water softener.  He used no tools to do this.  He then drew some water from our faucet to perform a water hardness test.  It was only then that he informed us that our water was softened by the municipal water supply for our town and was soft enough for washing, bathing and ingestion.  Further softening with our equipment was possible, but not necessary.  Also, our softening equipment does not filter the water so there were no benefits to using our Culligan equipment.  The technician lives in the area and admitted that even he doesn't bother with a water softener.  We did appreciate his honesty.
All of this took no more than 5 minutes to complete.  He then handed us a bill for $120.  We recognized that this was a house call and that Culligan is a service company, but we also felt that this charge was excessive considering the fact that no actual work was performed on our softener.  When we called to complain about this, the woman who booked my appointment put me on hold to speak with her manager, but failed to press the mute button.  Culligan did not perform their "10 point inspection" which I can only assume is much more thorough - involving hands and tools in addition to trained eyeballs.  Even so, she and her boss insisted that observing our unit to be in bypass mode counts as a diagnostic examination.  (Their words, not mine)  This is how they justified their fee.
There is no obvious indicator that our water softener was bypassed.  It would have been noted as such in our the home inspection report.  We were advised to have the unit inspected for service and subscribe for routine maintenance.  Since the visit turned out to be unnecessary, we offered to pay a nominal fee for the technician's time.  Again, the man reached for no tools other than a water hardness test kit.  Culligan insisted on the full fee.
If you're considering Culligan's services, start by buying your own water hardness test kit.  They're sold in most hardware stores for anywhere from $10 to $25.  If you're on municipal water in Chicago's north suburbs, you probably don't need Culligan.  Be sure to ask about all their fees prior to booking any appointments.  Based on my experience, you can reasonably assume they'll charge you for every nickel they can get.  

I contacted culligan management and requested to get reimbursed for water bill. I realize that the moving part has a tenancy to break but Culligan should informed me that if the unit malfunction there is no way to know that water leak can occur in the house and you water consumption will increase 10 fold. Culligan management informed me that i am liable for side effects of malfunction of culligan water softener.

Culligan comes out about every 3 months to make a delivery of salt. They put the salt in the water softener tank and haul off the bags. They are very courteous and I would recommend them to anyone needing their service.