Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2016/01/21) */
I am confused about Mrs. complaint since Mr. did not seem upset when he contacted our office on Friday, January 8th. He appeared to be happy with the work we did with the skimmer.
I am attaching copies of their statements dated December 1,...
2015 and January 1, 2016 as you can see we DID NOT charge to take measurements for a pool cover, to winterize or un-winterize the pool equipment. Nor have we charged a late fee as claimed. We only charged for blowing out a clogged skimmer line.
As soon as this issue was brought to my attention I made sure they were credited back $135.00 for the WORK WE DID.I am attaching copies of the documents showing their credit card charge on January 8th as well as the refund on January 11th. I am also attaching a diagram summarizing our visits, time spent and charges as well as the supporting GPS history.
I am hopeful this issue will be resolved soon. There are eleven pages of documents attached. If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact me at the number provided.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2016/01/29) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The work that was done on the skimmer has never been the issue in question. Yes, the work was completed and we are happy that we were able to get that resolved and we would have been happy to pay for that time and that time only. However, when the bill came in we were charged $135 which includes time for services that were never ordered.
First and foremost - we have a recording of the last call between Mr and the lady representing Johnson Pools. The quotes given below are in reference to that phone call and the audio file can be made available as needed.
In regards to the documents. The second one does not match the invoice that was received. The January invoice we have includes a bold red area which shows that the invoice is LATE. You are correct, there is actually not a late fee incurred on that invoice, however we had to call the pool company back in regards to a matter they promised they would look into and provide an answer for. (This is admitted by JP in the recorded call). Had we continued to wait, we surely would have eventually received a late fee. We willingly reached out and ultimately paid the bill to avoid the threat of incurring additional charges.
Because there was extra service performed on the pool we specifically requested an itemized invoice to which we were told they would not be able to provide. We had no way of knowing exactly what made up the $135 charge - especially when we were quoted that it would be $90.
Based on the items that have been provided, the GPS shows that Johnson Pools was on property for a grand total of 1 hour and 42 minutes. The first visit (for the skimmer and closing the pool) was 1 hour and 28 minutes with the second visit (to UNDO the work to close the pool) lasting a total of 16 minutes. They are ASSUMING that 16 minutes of the initial visit were spent closing the pool simply because this is the same amount of time it took to UNDO the work upon their return. Johnson Pools claims in the audio that they were on property for 2 hours and they act as if they are doing us a favor by "only charging us for an hour and a half" - which is longer than the first stop itself - which again, included time spent on work that was NOT REQUESTED. This is not a discount or a means to do right by the customer.
Furthermore, in the phone conversation, Johnson Pools goes on to say that the Repair Manager explained to Mr. "they didn't charge you for the measuring of the cover. It can either be a wash or they can take away a little bit and then add the $90 for the cover - for coming out and measuring for the cover and not going with the bid. Normally it would be the $90 and then another $90 for the measurement of the cover that we didn't go with the estimate - so $180 would the account balance."
So admittedly, IF they were to take away a measly TEN MINUTES to bring the charge to $90 (as it was originally quoted) then they would be forced to charge us an additional $90 because we didn't go with their company on a pool cover bid. This is not the type of business we will work with in the future. While we appreciate that the money was refunded, we would have much rather paid for services that were actually requested, provided with the proper documentation when we asked for it and ultimately given the benefit of the doubt and provided with a higher level of customer service considering the company did work that was NOT asked for, then turned around and initially made the consumer feel like they were getting a DEAL on the charges before being threatened with a higher level of charges because we didn't choose their company for a separate project.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 11, 2016/02/08) */
When this was brought to my attention.
1) We apologized.
2) We refunded all the money ($135).
3) They got some free work.
Why are they still mad?
The phone conversations could have been handle better on our part. I apologize again! But, in the end they were charged only for the work they approved. I get it, they do not feel like they got $135 worth of value. Because of this, we refunded their money. We always want our customers to feel like the are getting their money's worth.
We regret missing this opportunity to gain another satisfied customer. We have used this unfortunate incident to improve our customer communications. Hopefully, minimizing these types of misunderstandings going forward.
I feel we have been fair and reasonable in resolving this issue. I consider this matter closed. I sincerely hope the customer feels like she has been heard.
Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2016/01/21) */
I am confused about Mrs. complaint since Mr. did not seem upset when he contacted our office on Friday, January 8th. He appeared to be happy with the work we did with the skimmer.
I am attaching copies of their statements dated December 1,...
2015 and January 1, 2016 as you can see we DID NOT charge to take measurements for a pool cover, to winterize or un-winterize the pool equipment. Nor have we charged a late fee as claimed. We only charged for blowing out a clogged skimmer line.
As soon as this issue was brought to my attention I made sure they were credited back $135.00 for the WORK WE DID.I am attaching copies of the documents showing their credit card charge on January 8th as well as the refund on January 11th. I am also attaching a diagram summarizing our visits, time spent and charges as well as the supporting GPS history.
I am hopeful this issue will be resolved soon. There are eleven pages of documents attached. If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact me at the number provided.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2016/01/29) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The work that was done on the skimmer has never been the issue in question. Yes, the work was completed and we are happy that we were able to get that resolved and we would have been happy to pay for that time and that time only. However, when the bill came in we were charged $135 which includes time for services that were never ordered.
First and foremost - we have a recording of the last call between Mr and the lady representing Johnson Pools. The quotes given below are in reference to that phone call and the audio file can be made available as needed.
In regards to the documents. The second one does not match the invoice that was received. The January invoice we have includes a bold red area which shows that the invoice is LATE. You are correct, there is actually not a late fee incurred on that invoice, however we had to call the pool company back in regards to a matter they promised they would look into and provide an answer for. (This is admitted by JP in the recorded call). Had we continued to wait, we surely would have eventually received a late fee. We willingly reached out and ultimately paid the bill to avoid the threat of incurring additional charges.
Because there was extra service performed on the pool we specifically requested an itemized invoice to which we were told they would not be able to provide. We had no way of knowing exactly what made up the $135 charge - especially when we were quoted that it would be $90.
Based on the items that have been provided, the GPS shows that Johnson Pools was on property for a grand total of 1 hour and 42 minutes. The first visit (for the skimmer and closing the pool) was 1 hour and 28 minutes with the second visit (to UNDO the work to close the pool) lasting a total of 16 minutes. They are ASSUMING that 16 minutes of the initial visit were spent closing the pool simply because this is the same amount of time it took to UNDO the work upon their return. Johnson Pools claims in the audio that they were on property for 2 hours and they act as if they are doing us a favor by "only charging us for an hour and a half" - which is longer than the first stop itself - which again, included time spent on work that was NOT REQUESTED. This is not a discount or a means to do right by the customer.
Furthermore, in the phone conversation, Johnson Pools goes on to say that the Repair Manager explained to Mr. "they didn't charge you for the measuring of the cover. It can either be a wash or they can take away a little bit and then add the $90 for the cover - for coming out and measuring for the cover and not going with the bid. Normally it would be the $90 and then another $90 for the measurement of the cover that we didn't go with the estimate - so $180 would the account balance."
So admittedly, IF they were to take away a measly TEN MINUTES to bring the charge to $90 (as it was originally quoted) then they would be forced to charge us an additional $90 because we didn't go with their company on a pool cover bid. This is not the type of business we will work with in the future. While we appreciate that the money was refunded, we would have much rather paid for services that were actually requested, provided with the proper documentation when we asked for it and ultimately given the benefit of the doubt and provided with a higher level of customer service considering the company did work that was NOT asked for, then turned around and initially made the consumer feel like they were getting a DEAL on the charges before being threatened with a higher level of charges because we didn't choose their company for a separate project.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 11, 2016/02/08) */
When this was brought to my attention.
1) We apologized.
2) We refunded all the money ($135).
3) They got some free work.
Why are they still mad?
The phone conversations could have been handle better on our part. I apologize again! But, in the end they were charged only for the work they approved. I get it, they do not feel like they got $135 worth of value. Because of this, we refunded their money. We always want our customers to feel like the are getting their money's worth.
We regret missing this opportunity to gain another satisfied customer. We have used this unfortunate incident to improve our customer communications. Hopefully, minimizing these types of misunderstandings going forward.
I feel we have been fair and reasonable in resolving this issue. I consider this matter closed. I sincerely hope the customer feels like she has been heard.