Farwell Pools & Construction, Inc.

Review: In November 2013 We purchased a home with a pool. The pool is located inside a sun room connected to our house. The previous owner gave us the name of the company who had installed some of the equipment and who serviced the pool. We contacted the company and they confirmed this and offered to continue to service the pool equipment if needed. The pool has a heater which was installed by Farwell Pools only two years ago, in July 2012. In March 2014 a sensor failed in the heater. We called Farwell Pools, they came out, diagnosed the problem, told us it would be covered by warranty. They returned a couple weeks later and informed us that the warranty had expired, but that they repair the inexpensive part/ sensor anyway. After their service we noticed water leaking from the bottom of the heater. We contacted Farwell Pools. We paid them to, diagnosed the problem. They disassembled panels and screws on the heater (laying them on the ground), they also turned the heater off. Farwell informed us that the "Tube Assemble" within is leaking and needs to be replaced. While waiting for the bid, we contacted them in June to ask that they reassemble the heater for safety reasons (the parts and screws were left on the floor,and the smell of gas). After some time, they sent a bid to replace or repair. (the bid was high for both). In the bid, they claimed that the "area" where the equipment was installed was "small" and so the labor would be more. While waiting for their reply, we contacted a pool heater installer to put it back together for our safety. He looked at the 2012 heater and told us that Farwell Pools had not installed the heater gas to code or per the manufacturers instructions. He declined to work on it. We contacted another company. They also declined for the same reason. The install is not to code. Both companies noted that the main front panel is blocked from being opened by a pipe running in front of it below. Neither installer could gain access to the "tube assembly" to even view its condition. We have sent six or seven certified letters outlining our concerns and requesting action from Farwell Pools. We have called weekly. The safety of our family is most important, so on September 4th We signed the repair bid, remitted a check for 50% as stipulated/requested by Farwell Pools. Their bid stated 10 days from the receipt of payment to order parts and conduct the repair. Farwell Pools continues to ignore our phone calls and letters. We have four children and are frustrated and saddened at Farwell Pool's callous attitude towards our safety. We also have a home warranty that will pay a portion. It expires in about 3 weeks. They will pay $1000 towards the repair. We have notified Farwell Pools of this numerous times, but they do not reply.Desired Settlement: We would like Farwell Pools to contact us regarding repairing the pool heater, bringing it to code and the receipt of the payment we sent in September. We have offered Farwell some simple suggestions that were provided us as to how to address some of the code issues. We would like Farwell Pools to repair the pool heater or replace as needed. We would like Farwell Pools to conduct the service prior to the expiration of our home warranty with HSA.

Business

Response:

10/14/14

Revdex.com

Subject: Complaint #[redacted]

To whom it may concern:

In the matter of the complaint submitted by:

In late May

of 2014, we were contacted by Mr. [redacted] to troubleshoot a heater we had

installed

in his home

for the previous owner. Being familiar

with the equipment room, we were aware that the location for the pool heater,

pump and filter was less than ideal to say the least. There is literally no room to operate when accessing

the equipment which makes diagnosis of problems very difficult.

My

technician however was able to access inside the heater and determined that the

heat exchanger was leaking and a governor in the In/Out Header was corroded

away. The failure of these components

was likely due to pool water balance from the previous owner. At that time we provided Mr. [redacted]

with an

estimate for the repair and an estimate for replacing the entire heater

unit. Taking into account that at the

time this was transpiring we were in the busiest time of our season, and that

Mr. [redacted] was not living at the house, we did not have contact with Mr.

[redacted] for some time. Then we started

receiving Certified letters regarding this matter from Mr. [redacted]. He indicated that he agreed with most of our

estimate except for the price of the heat exchanger (Tube Bundle). He did some investigating on the Internet for

pricing on the heat exchanger and found some lower pricing. We indicated that internet pricing is cash

and carry with no regard for installation.

The price we gave Mr. [redacted] was a fair price for our area. However as a courtesy, we “sharpened out

pencil” so to speak and lowered our price of the heat exchanger.

As to Mr.

[redacted]’s contention that we left a “dangerous” situation in his equipment

room, we would like to address those as follows. At no time was a situation dangerous. The door to the equipment room could be shut

to prohibit access, so any minimal parts left on the floor could in no way cause

danger with the minimal effort of shutting a door. Mr. Thomson stated that he had (2)

“professional heater installers” look at the heater and state that it was not

“up to code” and they would not work on the heater. When the heater was installed, it was

installed the only way it could due to the ridiculously small area in which the

heater could be placed. Our belief is

that the “professional heater installers” took one look at this set-up and

didn’t want anything to do with it because of the nightmarish room in which the

heater is installed. I find it

interesting that our heater technician was able to access the heater to inspect

it, but the “professional heater installers” couldn’t even access it. This adds to my belief that they just wanted

nothing to do with it and that was there excuse for turning down the work.

As to the

“smell of gas” in the room, I would think that if that situation existed, any

prudent person would call the gas company right away to alleviate any concerns.

In addition, the disassembly by our technician in no way involved anything to

do with the gas valve or gas piping. Any

attempt to include this issue with safety concerns is not valid.

In closing,

we would like to complete the work for Mr. [redacted], but this business of sending

“Certified" letters and hiring outside contractors has left us with some

trepidation in working with Mr. [redacted].

We feel he has not always been on the up and up with this situation and

somewhat devious.

We would

like to have a good business relationship with Mr. [redacted], and now that all

parts required for job completion are in stock, we will schedule the work and

complete it before his home warranty expires.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

11/13/14

Revdex.com

Subject: Complaint #[redacted]

To whom it may concern:

In the matter of the complaint submitted by:

This letter

is the second being submitted by Farwell Pools in the matter of the heater

repair

for Mr.

[redacted].

It should be

known that as of the week of October 20th, the repair that we were

contracted for has been completed and paid for by Mr. [redacted]. No other issues were raised by Mr. [redacted]

regarding the heater repair, so we can only assume that our work was to his

satisfaction.

As a

swimming pool repair service, we have completed hundreds of heater installs and

repairs to the satisfaction of our customers.

We would never work on any piece of equipment that was deemed

“unsafe”. Although the heater that we

installed for the previous owner of Mr. [redacted] property was not in an ideal

location, we were simply contracted to replace in existing heater. Not change the plumbing configuration in any

way. Mr. [redacted] seems to want to blame

us for work we did in the past, even though the previous owner was more than

satisfied with the work we performed.

Mr. [redacted] seems to be passing judgment on issues that he is really

not qualified to interpret. He sites the

opinion of (2) “independent pool installers” with no information of whom they

might be. This makes it impossible for

us to refute what their opinions are. In

the end, the “proof is in the pudding” so to speak. Our technician was able to remove and

re-install the front heater panel several times in diagnosing and repairing the

heater, so the panel removal is a non-issue.

This repair job has been a bit of a moving target for us. It started out as rather difficult but

straight forward heater repair, and morphed into the suggestion that we raise the

heater for access without any reference to how costly an endeavor that would

be. I would reference picture

100_7932.JPG that Mr. [redacted] submitted in his complaint. This picture shows Mr. [redacted]s equipment

room. To raise the heater the way he

suggests, the pool plumbing, gas piping

and heater venting would all have to be modified. This modification would come with a sizable

cost as a plumbing and HVAC contractor would have to become involved. At no time did Farwell Pools state or imply

that we were qualified to do gas piping or indoor heater venting.

Mr. [redacted] likes to use buzz words like

“dangerous situation” to convey that Farwell Pools doesn’t care about the many

customers we service. Nothing could be further

from the truth. We take great pride in

our work and have many hundreds of satisfied customers to prove it. We find ourselves “scratching our heads” at

what purpose is being served with the continuation of this complaint.

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

I do not have anything good to say about this Company. They don't return phone calls, do not show up as requested and when they do show up it is unannounced I had a problem with my pool liner. It took them almost 2 weeks and several calls to get them out here. I asked [redacted] (owners son) if he treats all his customers like this. His response, Basically yes. He is too busy. I asked him "Don't you care about your customers" His response. He said he has enough customers.[redacted] said he could contact the manufacter on our liner. After 2 weeks with no response I contacted [redacted] the owner and found [redacted] did not contact the manufacture. Very poor service.