ComplaintsforHome Pools & Spas

• Initial Complaint

  06/14/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Called store to check where liner was at on 6/4 after a few calls they said it was in 5/23 and that they were coming to install it on 6/7. On 6/6 they called and said they were coming early and would install the liner. My pool was capped and winterized. They asked if they could turn on my drain just to drain my pool. So they started draining my pool from the main drain and left. Came back few hours later and the pump had lost suction and had to be reprimed and started again. Cut out the shallow end of pool liner and left again. At 3:45 I left for work and the pool was dry in the shallow end and there were no issues with the steps. In Friday I noticed wrinkles in the deep end and called to have them come again they came and finished working on the liner and had a truck load of water hauled in. When it got to the steps I called complaining because I thought there was air between the liner and the pool wall by the steps, **** said the techs said water was gushing out of the walls behind the liner and that if I filled it full it would push it out and lay flat. While filling the pool the stairs were cracked so we had to patched and continued filling the pool. Once pool was full 2 days after all the issues started we opened our pool and turned the pump on. Then noticed the water was draining rapidly. Called them and all the lines in the pool are busted and the pool is not usable now for summer over a liner replacement that they should have used their trash pump and not even touch my pump system that they didnt know. Red flag * dont know where the pool drains red flag * having to restart a pump in closed circuit. Red flag* water traveling up hill to crack steps and gush behind liner in shallow end but cant say where water is from but to fill the pool to fix the liner issue. Filled pool now leaking and refused to admit any fault for any of it.

  Business response

  07/01/2024

  Home Pools and Spas did not bust their plumbing or damage their steps!  We paid, at no cost to the customer, a 3rd party to verify that with the customer.  The customer works for a pool company, and we feel that this is just a competitor trying to hurt the reputation of their competition.  Home Pools and Spas has done everything the customer has asked, all while the customer still hasn't paid their balance.  We have proven that we did nothing to damage the customer pool and we stand behind our work and the liner manufacture stands behind their liner.  If at some point it is determined that there is a liner issue, we and the manufacture will take care of the issue once the balance is paid because it would be a warranty issue.  The customer has lied about the busted lines and cracked steps not only to the BBB but also on other online review areas all while knowing that it is not true. We request that this review be removed because as we stated, we feel that this is a compactor trying to hurt their competition.  

  Customer response

  07/06/2024

  The only reason, I stated the pipes were busted is because that is what Home Pool and Spa  told me in the beginning when the liner would not hold water. Then once they checked them, after my ******** post, they said they were not and that it was the return on my step, so they put caulk around that as well only to find out that, that is not the issue either. I do not want to pay a balance when the complaint I still have is the same complaint that I had on Friday, June 7th when I asked them to come and was told to fill the pool to fix the issue. Once the pool was filled it did not fix the liner issue that I originally called about to begin with before all this mess. As far as a competitor, that system is not true. My husband owns a masonry company and build homes, outdoor kitchens, paving etc. he does work for the Pool Specialist, which would for sure not be competition for Home Pool in Spa because they do not do liner pools. They are a company that is over 80 miles away and would not even do work in ******************* because they do high end pools. Not sure why they say that he is competition when he does masonry. There are assumptions made by looking at facebook. 

• Initial Complaint

  02/21/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I never requested or received service from this company but they continue to send me bills and adding late fees.

  Business response

  03/14/2024

  Hello,

   

  Customer call our store on 5/6/2021 and stated that their inground jets seemed like they were losing flow.  We scheduled a service appoint with the customer for 6/7/2021.  Out tech arrived at the customer house at 12:30 pm and was told by the customer they no longer wanted the service work done.  Out tech then left without preforming any service.  Our policy is that customer pay for the service call of $130 which included the trip charge and 1st hour of labor.  Since the customer did not call the store to cancel the appointment they were billed for the service call.  Home pools and spas will remove the charge even though the customer is responsible for the amount.  The customer will not receive any further bills for invoice 2608.

   

  Thanks,

  Home Pools and Spas

• Initial Complaint

  07/23/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I ordered a pool opening service from this company and paid 400 dollars in advance. They told me I needed a new pump and it would be 2 thousand dollars, I ended up buying my own pump on ****** for 200 dollaes. Later I recieved a bill for 395 more dollars for "weekly cleaning services". I never signed up for a weekly cleaning service at anytime and they did not do these services they claim I wanted that I did not want. This company is attempting to extort me for money and many other customers. I request all billing charges to be dropped.

  Business response

  08/07/2023

  Hello,

   

  Customer contacted Home Pools and Spas on 5/10/2023 and hired Home Pools and Spas to open their pool, which was scheduled to be don on 5/30/2023.  Attached is the invoice for said service.  Home Pools and Spas service technician showed up at the customer house at 8:09 on 5/30/2023 to open the customers pool.  Not sure who maintained the customers pool in the past but upon opening the pool it was in horrible shape.  The technician stayed on site until 9:21 vacuuming pool to waste until pool water was too low to continue vacuuming.   As per invoice attached, customers are charged for addition $130 for additional trip back to finish opening the pool if service is unable to be completed because of water level.  We reached out to Mr. ***** and asked if he wanted to finish opening his pool once water level was back up or if he wanted us to do it for an additional charge.  He wanted us to come back and finish opening his pool.  Home Pools and Spas sent a technician back out on 5/31/2023 from 1:47 pm to 3:03 pm and vacuumed pool again until water level was too low to continue and once again asked customer if they wanted to finish on their own or have us come back.  Customer once again asked us to return and would pay for additional services.  (Customer paid $400 to have pool opened and was charged an additional $100 for return trip on 5/31/23 and $35.69 for chemicals used plus tax, not the $130 that is what should of been charged, see attached invoice).  Home pools and Spas went back out on 6/14/2023 from 10:33 to 11:02 and once again attempted to vacuum the pool but pump would not keep pressure and was too weak to vacuum pool (Instead of charging $130 we charged for a weekly cleaning charge of $55, which we also wrote off). We notified the customer that a new pump is recommended and we priced a Pentair Superflo VSP (342002)for $1749 plus labor to install.  Customer at that time said he would finish everything on his own.  As of today, 8/7/2023, on ****** currently a Pentair Superflow VSP (******) is $1219 and is not the trade grade that we sell and only has a 1 yr warranty and not a 3 year like the one we sell.  There is no possible way that the customer purchased the Pentair pump for $200.  The customer was billed for less then what they should of been and then refused to pay the balance.  Home Pools and Spas wrote off the remaining balance on 7/24/2023 (as you can see on the attached invoice)   The customer has also since posted that he in in the swimming pool service business and keeps posting negative reviews about Home Pools and Spas from his personal account and his business account.  This seems as if he was using this experience with Home Pools and Spas to try and diminish his competitors in the swimming pool business and has nothing to do with the outstanding service that Home Pools and Spas provided BELOW CONTRACTED PRICE!  We ask that you delete his complaint as the facts show that we did everything that was asked of us and went as far as to write the balance off which the customer knew about before he brought this claim forward to the BBB.

  Customer response

  08/07/2023

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

   

  This company is still attempting to extort me for money by using illegal business methods. I suspect they have done this to many other companies so I will be contacting the state to open a investigation. 

  The situation is the same as if I didn't order a cheesburger from McDonald's and they charged me for one then claimed I wanted it and have no evidence of giving it to me, except this company does it to many customers and for hundreds of dollars if not thousands. 

   

  This company is harassing me and using illegal practices to attempt to extort me financially. 

   

  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** *****

  Customer response

  08/07/2023

  I did not see the comment this business left before I responded. Although most of what they say is a lie and I disagree with the company and I was never contacted and told they wrote my balance off I would like to drop my complaint, if and only if they actually did write off the balance they claimed I owed and dropped it to zero. If this is the case I see no need to continue this complaint and would like to change it to settled and I would like the business to see this message and know that although we disagree I appreciate them dropping the charge and I will alter any google reviews I left this company. 

• Initial Complaint

  11/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I bought a hot tub from them and nine months after the purchase it quit--no water would come out and it wouldn't heat up. I had a warranty. I called them and they told me that they didn't work on hot tubs during the summer. They would come out during "hot tub season." To my knowledge they have never been out. No appointment was set. When I called them they said I owed them $140 for a service call but as I said i don't know that they ever came out.

  Business response

  11/28/2022

  Customer called on March 29^th 2022 and stated that their hot tub was not working properly.  We advised him to hit the reset button on the power cord and see what happens.  Customer did as instructed and said hot tub powered back up but was showing PR code but was working.  We told customer that the PR code was normal after restarting the spa and everything should be good to go.  Customer still wanted spa looked at to make sure everything is working properly.  We advised customer that we were scheduled out until fall for hot tub repairs but if something opened earlier we would get him on the schedule.  We scheduled customer for August 1^st 2022 for a service call to have hot tub looked at and notified customer of scheduled appointment. 

   

  On August 1^st 2022 technician ***** ** tried calling customer at 10:07 to see if they still needed their spa looked at.  No-one answered so technician continued on to the customers house and arrived at 10:32 AM.  Technician knocked on door with no answer and began looking at the spa.  Spa was empty so technician filled spa and powered it on and everything was working as it should.  Technician made note in customers file of what was done and took photos showing everything was operating as it should.  Technician checked out of job at 11:41 and was there for a total of 1 hour and 9 minutes. 

   

  Home pools and Spas charged $130 for a service call that includes trip charge and 1^st hour of labor.  Spa was under warranty but because no issues were found on spa at time of service, customer is charged for the service call.  Attached is two photos showing spa working while technician was there. Also attached is screen shots of GPS tracking of the technician for that day that shows where he went and a zoomed in satellite photo showing him at the customer house.  Also attached is technicians scheduled review for August the 1^st of 2022 sowing that he clocked in and out of this service ticket. The other attachment is the customers sales order for the $130 with notes of what was done on site.  (Be advised that our GPS service ticket tracking system does not adjust for day light savings time so times are off by 1 hour)

   

  As you can see, customer called and scheduled service, we provided service and now would like to be paid for service.  Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any further questions.  We would normally send this to the customer because Home Pools and Spas has nothing to hide and is proud of the work and service that we provide but no customer email was ever provided to us.   

   

  Thanks,

  ***** ********

  Home Pools and Spas

  ***** ******** ********************

   

  Customer response

  12/06/2022

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I simply want this company to repair the hot tub.
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** *******

• Initial Complaint

  10/19/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  July,2022 we hired this company to install our pool, they charged us for ground leveling but my husband did it instead so they agreed to a refund, but now they are refusing to refund our money. They also closed our pool at the end of the season, they did not secure the cover causing it to come off, they now want to charge us to put it back on.

  Business response

  11/08/2022

  Hello,

  My name is ***** from Home pools and Spas and I am the Operations Manager here at the company.  This correspondence is in regards to complaint ** ******** from customer ***** *********.  I received the letter regarding the complaint in the mail today, 11/18/2022, and is the 1^st letter that I have received.  The letter dated from the BBB states that this is the second letter and it may be the second letter sent but it is the 1st one received here.

  As far as the customer complaint goes, attached is a signed contract between Home Pools and Spas and ***** *********.  On the second page of the attached documents, about half way down the page, the contract stated “Home Pools and Spas will level your pool site up to 12” off grade.  Home Pools and Spas will charge extra for leveling if the pool site is over 12” off grade.  We charge $100.00 per additional 12” of excavation.”  The very next line reads “Any unusual subsurface conditions such as rock, tree roots, boulders, or jobs that require rental of special equipment or when minus fill is required is NOT INCLUDED in the standard pool installation price.  A surcharge will be added if these conditions occur and will be added accordingly”.  The Home Pools and Spas crew arrived to install the pool we hit rocks/roots under the surface and could not excavate it with our equipment.  We notified the customer that we would need to rent a different machine to complete the install.  Customer said that her husband had some equipment and he would brake the rocks/roots up for us so we wouldn’t have to rent anything.  The customer husband did do that work and when he was done we cleaned up the ground and installed the pool.  We had the right per our signed contract to charge extra for out crew to stand around and wait for the customers husband to get the ground ready for the install, but we did not.  The customer paid for standard installation up to 12” of grading and that is what they received.  Per the contract it doesn’t matter if its 0” up to 11.99”, the price is the same. As far as charging customer to put pool cover back on, We closed the customers pool on 10/10/2022.  Attached is a picture of the pool closed and the cover installed.  There is two other pictures attached that shows that a deck was built right up to the pools top rail after we installed the pool.  With a deck that close, there is no way to get cover down the wall as far as it needs to be to keep the wind from pulling the cover off.  When the customer called and said their cover blew off and wanted us to reinstalled it, we informed the customer that we would but would need to charge $130 for a service call which is our standard price.  Customer refused to pay for service call so we didn’t reinstall cover. 

   

  As of today the customer still has not paid for their pool closing in the amount of $277.89 plus late fees.  As you can see, Home Pools and Spas did everything that we were contracted to do and the customer is the party that is refusing to pay as promised.  I am also copying customer onto this email so they can see our response because Home Pools and Spas has nothing to hide and stand behind our work. 

   

  If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at any time. 

  Thanks,

  ***** ********   Home Pools and Spas

  ***** ********

  Customer response

  11/08/2022

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: We were told by the installer we would be reimbursed for the ground work, once we went to the business for the refund, the person there declined to reimburse us. Later they came out to close the pool and did not secure the cover, it blew off within the first 24 hours. We are owed nothing less than a full billing adjustment of the invoice for the pool closing, and a full reimbursement for the ground work we did ourselves. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** *********

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩