Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've been in the homeowners insurance industry for 17 years now. I know the devastation that water damage can cause. After finding out about this device from a few of my companies (and a few of those even give discounts on insurance for having the device installed), I, my parents, and one of my business partners decided to give it a shot and have the device installed on our homes. I definitely wouldn't say it was an easy process. While most of the instructional videos on YouTube indicated that the device should be installed at the supply line to the water heater (located in our garages) were all told by our plumbers that the device should actually be installed outside on the main water line because there it would be able to monitor the entire water supply to the house and not just to the water heater and plumbing fixtures fed by the water heater, which made sense. Installing it outside, however, also required an electrician to install a waterproof junction box for the power supply to the device. Between the cost of the Flo, the plumber, and electrician, it ran about $1200. This is where the fun began. After the plumber installed the device, it would not connect to my Wifi. The connection button on the device did not work. As there was no other way to connect it to my Wifi, I contacted Moen's tech support. They advised me to buy a new device and return the defective one. After some back and forth with them over the cost of the plumber now having to come back out, un-install, and re-install the device, Moen agreed to send out one of their preferred plumbers at their cost. After it was installed, it worked perfectly. When the device is first installed and the app is learning your water usage, there are definitely 'growing pains'. If you take a shower longer than 5-10 minutes or if the device learns you take your showers around the same time every day, taking a shower during a different time will trigger the app to think there's a leak. You'll then get a message on the app, an email, and an automated phone call from Moen saying they've detected abnormal use and your water will automatically shut off in 5 minutes if the notification on the app isn't cleared. I've recommended the Flo to a number of my clients who have all said the same complaint about the device shutting the water off while showering. Anyways, for the 2.5 years I've had the device installed, it's worked great. This brings me to the present day. Each week, the app sends a notification of weekly water use. Two weeks ago, it said it didn't register any water use. I thought it was odd, but figured it was an error. This week, I received the same notification, so I contacted Moen. I was told that this likely means the turbine inside the device that reads the water flow is clogged with debris and that it's as simple as removing the device and flushing it out. I'm not handy enough to do my own plumbing work and even if I was, there's no way in hell I'd be messing around with my own water main. I called the plumber who Moen had sent out to do the first replacement and was told they only do installs and do not do service on existing devices. I called a few other local plumbers and was told the same thing. I called Moen back and they sent me a link to all of their recommended plumbers. I'm located in South Florida. Between Jupiter and South Miami, their list has 25 plumbers. The first 22 that I called all said the same thing as the first plumber. It wasn't until the 23rd who said that they would try -- it could be debris in the turbine, but he's also seen the turbine blades break due to water pressure -- so he can't guarantee a fix. This is when I took to trusty Twitter to @Moen. Their first response was again for me to me to remove the device and flush it myself, which I'm not doing myself, Their second response was to send me that same list of plumbers. That's when I called Moen back and was told that I should buy a new device and then send Moen the receipt from the original device and they'll reimburse me. The problem with that is 2.5 years ago, I paid around $400 for the device. As of April 2022, you can't find this device ANYWHERE and third-party sellers on Amazon are price gouging for between $800 and $1400, and Moen would only reimburse me for the original price paid. I went back to Twitter, this is when I finally got help. They asked if they could contact me directly, to which I obliged. They said that if the plumber cannot fix the issue to call them back and they'll send me a replacement device under warranty (but I'll still have to pay for the plumber). At this point, I think this is the best I'm going to do. In the end, caveat emptor. The device isn't cheap (especially as of April 2022). The installation isn't cheap, unless you're one of those super handy people who can do it yourself. If something goes wrong with the device, you're going to have to pay for a plumber again... if you can find one to service an existing device. Moen's product support, after a bit of pushing, is very helpful and they do stand behind their product. Even with these costs and hassles, the benefits of the device do outweigh the stress and costs of having a pipe burst and your house flood. Just know what you're getting yourself into.