User:Jonathan/Tankless Revers Osmosis Physical DRM (Culligan, Waterdrop): Difference between revisions

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-{{Cleanup|reason=Needs to be rewritten in general third-person PoV.}}
+{{Cleanup|reason=Needs to be rewritten in general third-person PoV.}}Culligan and Waterdrop are using a plastic key (physical DRM) to lock their water filters out of each others systems{{ProductCargo
-{{ProductCargo
 |Company=Culligan
 |ProductLine=Aquasential Tankless RO
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 |Description=DRM on Aquasential Tankless reverse osmosises water filtration system
 }}
-The reverse-osmosis system uses filter cartridges that are very expensive and are only directly offered from the company [[wikipedia:Culligan|Culligan]]. After searching for many years someone found another company with what appears to be the exact same RO tank-less system with the exact same filters, so they bought them
+I (Jonathan) purchased a [[wikipedia:Culligan|Culligan]] [https://www.waterdropfilter.com/products/tankless-reverse-osmosis-system-wd-g3p800-w-fc-1 Aquasential Tankless Reverse Osmosis System] (RO) a few years ago. Every year the filter beeps and needs to be changed out. Culligan after COVID decided that the filters are now much more expensive than they were when I purchased the RO.  The only way to purchase cartridges for the RO are through contacting a sales person at Culligan and either going to their office or paying them $5 to drive to my house and hand it to me.
-==Consumer impact summary==
+With the absurd nature of being more or less held hostage to their proprietary filters and process I spent time every year looking for alternatives. This year (2026) I found it!  [https://www.waterdropfilter.com/products/tankless-reverse-osmosis-system-wd-g3p800-w-fc-1 Waterdrop] created an RO filter with the EXACT same filter size and [[:File:Culligan without key.jpg|locking system]] that Culligan uses on my model. [[File:Culligan without key.jpg|thumb|Culligan Filter with plastic key removed.]]
-{{Ph-C-CIS}}
-[[File:Culligan without key.jpg|thumb|Culligan Filter with plastic key removed.]]
 [[File:Waterdrop-key-left culligan-key-right.jpg|thumb|Water drop key (left) Culligan key (right)]]
-[[File:Culligan unit with Waterdrop filters.jpg|thumb|Top slot Culligan filter, Middle Slot Waterdrop filter with Culligan key slotted in, Bottom slot Waterdrop filter with key removed. ]]
+I ordered 2 Waterdrop filters from [https://www.homedepot.com/p/Waterdrop-WDG3-Replacement-Filter-1-Year-Combo-2-WD-G3-CF-and-1-WD-G3-CB-Compatible-with-WD-G3-W-WD-G3P600-WD-G3P800RO-Systems-B-WD-G3-2CFCB/332726014?MERCH=REC-_-fbt_test-_-325393553-_-3-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a#overlay Homedepot] and when they arrived I realized that there is a [[:File:Waterdrop-key-left culligan-key-right.jpg|plastic key]] on both brands of filter that prevents them from being directly interchanged. Luckily they were not very solidly attached and I was able to pry them off with a butter knife. I put one of the Waterdrop filters in the RO with the Culligan key replaced onto it and then put the second Waterdrop filter in without a key and it [[:File:Culligan unit with Waterdrop filters.jpg|worked]] just the same.
-The reverse-osmosis system uses filter cartridges that are very expensive and are only directly offered from the company Culligan. After searching for many years someone found another company with what appears to be the exact same RO tank-less system<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-03-16 |title=Water Drop Tankless Revers Osmosis System G3P800 |url=https://www.waterdropfilter.com/products/tankless-reverse-osmosis-system-wd-g3p800-w-fc-1 |url-status=live |access-date=2026-03-16 |website=waterdropfilter}}</ref> with the exact same filters, so they bought them and found that they were exactly the same except a little plastic key that made them "incompatible". They were able to pry off the key with a knife and interchange them if they wanted to. Better yet, it worked without the key at all. The plastic key was only added to try to make the filters incompatible. They have not found info anywhere else on the internet that calls out the compatibility of the two brands.
-==Incidents==
-{{Ph-C-Inc}}
-This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents related to this product. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].
-===Example incident one (''date'')===
-{{Main|link to the main CR Wiki article}}
-Short summary of the incident (could be the same as the summary preceding the article).
-===Example incident two (''date'')===
-...
+==Consumer impact summary==
+{{Ph-C-CIS}}Attempting to physically lock two cloned RO filters from one another with a key is anti-consumer behavior that needs to be called out. Culligan profits heavily from locking consumers into a high upfront cost RO system with expensive filters and no other way to get them than to call a salesperson to come by your house.
 ==See also==