All American Pool Service

Review: [redacted] from All American Pool Service was called by my girlfriend, [redacted] to give a quote to open our pool for the summer. [redacted] looked at the pool and the pump that runs the pool. He gave a price and was given the job. All American Pools Service came to the house removed the cover from the pool, installed chemicals and free of charge installed an O ring for the filter.

After a few days the pool was green, they were called because it was still green, they returned, we believe , but not sure if they installed more chemicals.

After a few days the pool was still green, a number of calls were placed to AAPS and no calls were returned. After a week we were able to get [redacted] on the phone.

[redacted] told me the pool was still green, because the pool pump is the incorrect piece of equipment for the pool. I asked him if he knew that when he looked and priced the job, he said he did, but took the job anyway.

When I asked why he took the job, he said he was trying to help and get the pool open. I asked "how are you helping if the pool cannot be swam in and you took the money, knowing the pump was wrong"

I said just don't take the job or money and he responded "he wanted to help"

He then became very aggrogant, telling me how he would win, if ta[redacted] to court and hung up the phone.Desired Settlement: AAPS was paid $377 for their services I would like the money paid to them refunded

Business

Response:

The business has responded. Please see below:

We've gone through the history of this case and compiled all of our information here...

First visit (June [redacted] roughly 3:00 pm): Our NY foreman, [redacted], stopped by to take a look at the condition of the pool to find the pool was extremely dirty. The water was black. Pool had a mesh cover held down with blocks with about 1/3 of the cover in the pool allowing leaves from the past autumn to fall in and sink to the bottom and rot. [redacted] told [redacted] that the opening for an inground pool was $299.95 (our standard rate) plus NY sales tax. This service would also include 2 pounds of 99% Dichlor granular chlorine to begin the shocking process of the pool. [redacted] told her he would return the very next day to open the pool. He tied mason line to the cover and to the fence around the pool to keep the cover from falling into the pool further allowing more leaves to go in. He did this at no additional cost.

Second Visit (June [redacted] roughly 11:00 am): [redacted] returned with two helpers (techs normally only travel with one helper) to perform the opening. First they scooped leaves off the cover (at no extra charge) till it was light enough to pull out. At this point they found out the pool had not been closed properly. The returns and skimmer were not plugged meaning that none of the lines had been blown out for the winter. They cleaned the cover off, folded it neatly and put it in the shed. While the two helpers administered the two pounds of shock that was included with the service [redacted] worked on the pump and filter to start up the pool. He found that the pump was the incorrect model for an in ground pool; it was for an above ground pool (flooded suction as opposed to self priming). The o-ring for the pump house lid had been lubricated with a petroleum based lubricant (probably Vaseline) in the past and had since expanded to a size too large to seal properly. At this point [redacted] went to the house, rang the bell and informed [redacted] that due to the extremely dirty state of the pool that it would require additional chemicals to start the clean up process. She said "OK" acknowledging that she understood. He also informed her of the issue with the pump being the wrong type and how it would struggle to clear her pool to which she replied that she was aware of that fact. Her father had bought and installed the pump. He also informed her of the issue with the o-ring for the lid and how it was now the wrong size due to improper lubrication. She started getting very upset that so many things were wrong with the pool. He told her he would try his best to force the old o-ring to fit for the time being (if at all possible) but that he would order a new one and return to put it in. At this time she made a point to inform us that her 8 year old daughter was terminally ill and that money was tight. Fortunately he was able to force the old o-ring into place and got the system up and running at which time he was able to address any plumbing issues such as leaks. They had to add 11 pounds of our strongest granular chlorine to reach super chlorination (10 ppm free chlorine), 1 quart of Poly 60 (the strongest algaecide available) and 1 tub of pH increaser (the pH was dangerously low). We took pity upon her situation and only charged her for 4 pounds of the chlorine shock which saved her $83.65 plus tax.

First Phone Call (roughly June [redacted]): [redacted] called our NY line and spoke with [redacted] to let him know the pool was still dirty. [redacted] informed her that this was normal for a pool in this state of neglect and it would need more chemicals and vacuuming. She seemed annoyed at this fact. [redacted] said he would stop by to put the new o-ring and test the water chemistry to see what more needed to be added.

Third Visit (roughly June [redacted]): [redacted] arrived to find no one was home. He installed the new o-ring as promised and proceeded to administer roughly $300 worth of chemicals in the form of shock and algaecide. Taking pity on her situation with her daughter being so sick he left a ticket on the front door and wrote upon it "NO CHARGE". Very generous in our humble opinion.

Second Phone Call (roughly July [redacted] around 8:30 am): [redacted] called the NY number and spoke to [redacted] saying that he was [redacted]'s boyfriend. He said that the pool was not clean yet. [redacted] told him that a pool that dirty would take several visits for vacuuming and chemical treatments. ** then proceeded to demand a full refund or he threatened to go on the internet and post bad reviews for our company and report us to the Revdex.com. [redacted] was very sha[redacted] by this verbal attack, especially after doing all he could to try and help a fellow human being in a tough spot.

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

I would like to thank [redacted] for the detail he gave in his response to this complaint. It is his detail in my opinion that further helps my point on this complaint. My original discussions with [redacted] was why did he take a project he knew that there were so many issues with the pool.

Between the pool not being closed properly last fall, the cover not tied down over the pool the way it should be, leaves on the bottom of the pool and the pump being the wrong model for this pool type. All of these issues were known the first day a price was given to open the pool and instead of walking away and saying there are to many issues [redacted] choose to charge for a pool opening he had no business doing and he should have walked away.

I also have issue with the amount of chemicals used to try and open the pool, based on the detail given it sounded like [redacted] was guessing as to the amount of chemical it would take get the pool opened properly. How do you add an additional 11 pounds of chemicals, after thinking 2 was going to do the job. As it turned out the 13 pounds put in the pool, wasn't enough.

Just a few other details that I want to clarify about what [redacted] wrote:

[redacted] never told [redacted] her Dad purchased and installed the pool pump that is installed and that pump had no issues running the pool for the last 2 years.

[redacted] never told [redacted] that pump was wrong and also said to her the pump would be ok to run the pool for the summer

[redacted] never said to [redacted] that money was tight to pay for the pool opening.

I never raised my voice or verbally abused [redacted] during our conversation. I asked [redacted] a number of times "why did you take a job you knew you couldn't complete", he had no answer. After I asked him that question a number of times and told him how unprofessional it was to take the job he told me I could take him to court, I would never win and hung up the phone. I speak to 100 people a day in my business and know raising your voice doesn't get you anywhere.

In closing I have to ask the same question I asked [redacted] from the 1st time we spoke. Why take a job you knew had so many issues, you couldn't complete, but took the money.

Thanks

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

Two pounds of granular chlorine shock were included with the pool opening service. It needed a lot more than that. As for the issues with the filthy cover and pool water, we've seen much worse and have cleaned them up and returned them back to beautiful swimming pools. It's all a matter of time, proper filtration and chemicals. We were not afforded enough of any of those parameters. In regard to the pump being the wrong type, that was the customers choice not to change it out to the proper type. We are aware that it ran well enough in the past to maintain a clean pool, but it's not enough to clean up the mess that the pool has become. Many pool owners have less than optimal equipment and we do our best to work around that when needed to help them out. It usually requires extra work, as it does in this case.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[redacted] is now changing his story regarding this matter. In my original phone conversation with [redacted] and I wrote it in my complaint, [redacted] said he knew he couldn’t get the pool running with all the issues. That is when I asked why take a job you knew you couldn’t complete. All American Pools has not denied these statements in their responses. Now [redacted] is saying they could have gotten the pool running properly, “it was just going to take extra work.”

I hate to assume, but by extra work I assume [redacted] means extra money.

I have to go back to my original question, why did you take a job you knew you couldn’t do for the opening season price. Is it so you can go back to the client and ask for more money later and in this case you say you were trying to help, but you could only help so much and then you couldn’t give any more help, you just walked away. Now the client has paid for services not rendered.

Please return the fee paid and mark it down as lesson learned that complete review and pricing is given prior to starting a project.

[redacted]

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,