Owner speaks after Cape Coral issues warning about water purification businesses

Monday, the City of Cape Coral posted on Facebook about a scam alert, and news organizations picked it up, including WINK News.

The owner of Florida Analysis claims the city was wrong by calling his legitimate business a scam.

We spoke to owner Geno Yauchler of Florida Water LLC and Florida Water Analysis Thursday to get his side of the story.

“Just retract what you are saying because it’s untrue,” Yauchler told WINK News in reference to the city’s public message. “We’re not a scam. There’s no reason for a consumer alert.”

Yauchler wants the City of Cape Coral to take back what it has said about his business.

“It is causing financial harm to my company,” Yauchler said. “You know, the unfortunate thing is I’m going to have to get a legal counsel.”

In a Facebook post Monday, Cape Coral issued what it called a scam alert, highlighting Yauchler’s two companies.

“What we do when we’re done with the testing is we say, OK, you have this, this and this in your water. Would you like to see what it is that we can do to fix it for you?’” Yauchler explained. “And if they decide not to have that done, then, we’re done. We’re on our way out the door. But if they say, ‘Well yeah, what can you do?’ Then, we’ll go into explain, first of all, what the concerns are with the water. Right? Why we recommend what we recommend.”

Yauchler points out that his company has an A+ rating on the Better Business Bureau and positive reviews on many other sites.

Cape Coral has since changed its Facebook post from scam alert to consumer alert.

“This is my livelihood, all of the people that work here,” Yauchler said. “And it’s not just us. This is a black eye for water purification across the entire state. You know, if you look up the news right now for Florida Water Analysis, the first thing that pops up is all of this banter about how we’re a scam and if we’re not a scam. Is that not an injustice? I think it is.”

Cape Coral issued a statement to WINK News. It says the city’s water meets or exceeds all state and federal safe drinking water standards. The city continued by saying, “attempting to convince our residents that they need expensive equipment from this company is deceptive.”

“We’ve never said that we’re doing anything other than what we’re doing,” Yauchler said. “We’re coming to do a water test. And most people, by the way, who have the water test done, don’t buy anything. Right? And that’s their choice. And we’re not upset about it because that’s just the cost of doing business.”

Geno Yauchler pointed out that not everyone in Cape Coral uses the city’s water, including those who use well water. He says his company tests water quality for free and then discusses water purification options after.

The city told us in an email, it stands by its efforts to inform citizens of this company’s practices.

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City of Cape Coral email

Here is a link to the annual water quality report that explains the reverse osmosis process, in detail :
https://cms4.revize.com/revize/capecoralfl/department/utilities_department/docs/2019%20Citywide%20CCR.pdf. Blending is a necessary step in the process for disinfection and stabilization for corrosion control. As previously mentioned, the City’s drinking water meets or exceeds all federal and date safe drinking water standards.

The purpose of the post is to inform residents that City of Cape Coral’s drinking water is safe and attempting to convince our residents that they need expensive equipment from this company is deceptive. We stand by our efforts to inform our citizens.

Here is information from the Florida Attorney General’s Office that may be helpful: http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/main/3d0fd1650fc920c485256cc900698282!OpenDocument