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Alpine & EcoQuest

We frequently hear from EcoQuest air purifier peddlers protesting that their company is in no way related to its predecessor, Alpine. In fact, EcoQuest is a direct spin-off of Alpine and is headed by a former Alpine executive.

The late Alpine Industries got itself in trouble with state and federal authorities over its health benefits claims and a little matter having to do with taxes. In 2000, Alpine's sales manager, Mike Jackson, bought the air purifier business from Alpine and set up a new company called EcoQuest.

EcoQuest, which espouses an evangelical Christian approach to business, has expanded into water filters, nutritional supplements and skin-care products, all sold through a network of about 150,000 commission-only distributors.

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Jackson has tried to distance EcoQuest from Alpine and has said that, as Alpine sales manager, he was not in charge of the company and wasn't involved in any of the actions that led a federal judge to say he would hold the company in contempt if it didn't stop making prohibited claims about its air purifiers.

In fact, both Alpine and EcoQuest were named in the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Justice Department complaint in 2000. Earlier that year, a federal judge had ordered Alpine to stop claiming that its machines provide relief from any medical condition or that they effectively remove or reduce a wide variety of air pollutants from indoor environments.

Just like Alpine, EcoQuest is headquartered in Greeneville, Tenn. Alpine moved there in 1997 after the NBC News program "Dateline" aired a report that questioned the core technology of its air purifiers.

The NBC program noted that the Minnesota Supreme Court had ruled against the company a few years earlier in a case that charged Alpine with making false and misleading health claims for its products.

In an unusual twist, Alpine sued the Federal Trade Commission, claiming it was "harrassing" the company. The FTC, in turn, sued Alpine and the company was fined $1.49 million on the health claims charges. The proceedings also unearthed evidence that Alpine owed a significant amount of back taxes to Minnesota and Tennessee.

Besides claiming its new product line meets all the claims the company and its dealers make about it, EcoQuest insists it's not just about multilevel marketing scheme. It claims has an annual retention rate of 40 percent, supposedly far above average.

As is usually the case, the independent sales force includes some who vociferously defend the company, even to the point of defying a federal court order issued in 2000 that instructed Alpine to notify its independent dealers that they -- not just the company -- should stop making unsubstantiated claims.

Ralph Fourmont of Port Hadlock, WA, wasn't happy with that. On Nov. 18, 2000, he wrote:

My life has been changed by Alpine's fresh air machine. I no longer use inhalors (sic) or pharmaceuticals. I have started a business through Ecoquest that helps people just like me. Please stop this agency (ConsumerAffairs.com) from taking pay-offs from HEPA filter companies and Pharmaceutical companies and discrediting not only the parent companies of Ecoquest and Alpine, but my company as well.

You are hurting my business, as well as the potentially thousands of people who can be helped by Ecoquest products. I am physically unable to work in the workplace ... this business is my family's livelihood. This is emotionally wreaking havoc. Your agency is corrupt!

John of Demarest NJ (01/28/09)
On December 2, 2008 I applied for a refinance mortgage at 5.50% for a jumbo loan and zero pts. I was immediately approved for the loan but never provided a closing date. On December 23, while waiting for the loan to close, Alpine lowered my rate to 5.25% but still could not deliver a closing date. On January 6, I complained in writing and demanded a full refund when they again offered to lower the rate to 4.875% with zero pts for a jumbo loan but needed 4-6 days to get a closing date. That period came and went. Since then I have missed the opportunity to move forward with another lender at 5.25% with zero pts. which I informed Alpine of.

After repeated multiple daily phone calls to the general manager without a response I finally received an email 3 weeks later stating that they will not honor their previous rate and that it is now half a point higher and with a point to add. As you will see in the attached correspondence, Alpine have made numerous commitments, misrepresentations and breached on all of them and as a result missed an opportunity to lock in a lower rate. I am seeking restitution on the missed opportunity to refinance my jumbo loan at 5.25% with zero points as well as request an investigation by the attorney generals office on Alpines fraudulent activities.

Loss of 850 and 5.25% mortgage rate

Chandler of York, NE January 17, 2009

Chandler of York NE (01/17/09)
2 years ago at the urging of a satisfied user of Alpine Air Products I purchased a Flair machine. When we first received the unit, it seemed to work as expected. However, before the year was up, we had to send the unit in for repair. It never worked at the level we had seen previously, so in October of 08 we sent it in again. After several weeks we hadn't heard back, and so we used the contact section on their website.

Long story short, their response was that the unit had come to them damaged in shipment, and they bore no responsibility. They claimed to have notified us of the damaged shipment, but we received no messages on cell, home phone, or by email. By the time we confirmed with them the damage, 5 weeks had elapsed, far outside the time FEDEX allows for claims. I was rudely treated on the phone on two different occasions, basically informing me that I was out of luck, and how should they send the broken unit back.

The person who signed for the shipment at Alpine Air did not note the shipment was damaged on the airbill, as is required by FEDEX. Alpine Air Products no longer responds to my emails. I am thoroughly disgusted with the treatment that I received from them.

Edward of Strongsville, OH November 22, 2008

Edward of Strongsville OH (11/22/08)
I agree with all of the complaints I have read about the so called air purfiers. I had stoped using the 2 that I have a few years ago. Eye and Nasal irritation was constant with each use.

What was not discussed was that Every piece of audio equipment and every cd drive that had any rubber belts, was ruined. I cost over 200. to have all my equipment fixed. when I asked the technition if the ozone machines could have caused the damage, His answere was turn those things off

Patricia of Middletown, NY October 15, 2008

Patricia of Middletown NY (10/15/08)
My husband and I purchased this machine the Alpine Living Air Ozone air cleaner in 1999,about 3 months after we got it I was having trouble breathing so I went to my Dr. for a check up. He said I had congestion and would need some more test, he ordered a PFT (pulmonery function test)he called me at 9 PM in the evening to say that I had emphysema. I went down to Westchester Medical Center for a second opinion after many test they confirmed that I did indeed have emphysema.

I couldn't understand it because I had stopped smoking 20 years ago and I had no health problems. My husband and I went hiking in the parks and fishing climbing up and down small cliffs. After much thinking I remembered getting the air cleaner and I started investigating them, in a fax I got from the FDA they stated the things that could occur from these macines and one was lung irritation, I immediately shut the machine off and contacted the company about what had happened. In return they wrote back how good their company was and so on. I told them to send me a refund and they refused. I contacted the N.Y.S. Attorney Generals office and while on a three way phone conversation they were told to send me my money back. About one week later I got a postal Money oreder signed by Joe Smith for 654.00.

I now still have emphysema and always will, I take 2 different inhalers everyday and nebulizer treatments when I have a cold. The worst part of this is this desease literaly takes your breath away, and no company should be allowed to sell these things.

Barb of Minden, NE September 22, 2008

Barb of Minden NE (09/22/08)
I purchased 2 of these machines. The living air one and the flair. The living air one was about 694.00 and the flair one was around 369.00. They were suppose to help with allergies and cut down on dust. My complaint is that the machines are broken down, all of the time. They stop working, or the ozone does not work, or the plates crack or the fan quits, on and on. Between shipping it in for repairs and parts and labor, they have been terribly expensive.

I have also noticed instead of reducing the dust, they put a fine white powder on everything. I purchased these from a vendor at the county fair and do not have a way to contact him anymore. I have had to send them in for repair to another dealer, that I found through a friend.

Lisa of Edmonton, OTHER July 26, 2008

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