Water Softener in a foreclosure?

[Brewslit]

I just bought a home from a bank. The previous owner passed away and the house was vacant for about a year and a half.  We moved in and everything seems to be in working order as the house was only built in 2012. The one thing throwing me for a loop is the wafer softener. It has a sticker on it saying its a rental, so I'm wondering if anyone knows if I have to contact the company to have them turn it on. It has salt in it and I've tried getting it to manually regenerate but it doesn't seem to want to actually do anything. I'd rather not have to pay the rental fee if the company has written it off but I'm at a loss.

[Fishindude]

Renting a softener is pretty common.   I'd call the company and tell them they can come get it, or get it working and sell it to you, or sell you a new one.

[GuitarStv]

Have you been charged for the equipment?  It's possible that after all this time the company renting the thing have just written it off and forgot about it.  I agree with Fishindude, call the company and see what they say.

[paddedhat]

I would call and be very non-specific as to who you are and your location, and really get a feel for how professional and honest you feel the company is. We have a lot of these outfits, and a similar number of propane suppliers who rent their tanks out. Some are absolute scum, and will try to screw you any way they can. I can think of more than one supplier who, if this happened to me, I would just drop all their shit in the dumpster and move on. BTW, I have installed at least a dozen Whirpool brand softeners from Lowes. They are easy to install, cost me 1/3rd of what my local, reputable softener company wants to sell me the system, parts only for DIY install. If you buy the $10 bottles of their branded softener cleaner, and use them a few times a year, Whirlpool extends the warranty to three years. It beats renting one by a big margin.