Litchfield Park Pool Service

I am very upset with the customer service Litchfield Park Pools provides. We had them come out and complete a full overhaul of our pool, (totally over $700) and had discussed up front having them manage the pool going forward. 2 weeks after the overhaul, I had to call to confirm they would be out soon for maintenance. They then informed me I needed to come into the store to sign an agreement. Shortly after, they called me to say "don't come in and we won't be able to manage your pool". ***? If I had know this I would have not hired them for any repairs. Bottom line is this company is unable to provide good service! Seems like they are interested in big tickets instead of doing the customer service and maintaining relationships. How Sad!

On April 16, 2013, I contacted Litchfield Park Pool Service Company to initiate pool service. In addition, I explained that the pool was turning green and it appeared as though there was something wrong with the pump function capacity. The representative from the company stated the soonest they could send someone out would be Thursday, April 17. I requested the technician inspect the pool and start service. I was directed to add liquid chlorine between now and the time the technician services the pool. Litchfield Park Pool Service did not contact me regarding the findings; therefore, on Saturday, April 20 I contact the service company. There were no notifications regarding this service. The technician states someone will look at the pool on Monday. On Monday, April 22, the technician calls to report that the pool will need to be drained and chlorine washed because of the algae levels. I remind him that there is a potential issue with the filter/pump. This was not addressed. Since I am the customer and this is the individual with the expertise in pool maintenance, I trust that this person has looked at all possibilities with the pool. From Tuesday, April 23 ? Friday, April 26, the technician performs the work associated with a pool start-up. The customer service and communication are lacking at this point, but I assume that they are used having customers be hands-off. Again, when I approach the technician I remind him of the pool pump/filter issue, since the pump was not functioning or suctioning at full capacity when on. In addition, the water fall was not functioning at full flow. During this week, the technician does not show up on one of his scheduled days for service. I call and request to be notified when anyone from their company will be on my property. On Thursday, May 2, I receive a phone call requesting permission to charge my credit card for the invoice for the service as well as the signed service agreement page, since a technician was waiting to start service immediately. I immediately fax over the service agreement and make several phone calls to confirm receipt. I do not hear back, but based on the poor level of communication this does not appear as unusual. I also direct the company not to charge my credit card until I can review the invoice (attachment A). I do not receive a phone call. On Saturday, May 4, my mother contacts me to tell me the pool is looking cloudy and has for a few days. In addition, she states the pool pump is not functioning at full capacity as the waterfall doesn?t appear to be flowing and the pump is not moving swiftly through the pool. I call Litchfield Park Pool Service and request a return phone call for the pool. I call afterhours, but request a call first thing Monday morning. I do not receive a phone call. On Monday, May 6, I return home to find a green pool. This happened in two days ? I call Litchfield Park Pool Service again. I again request a phone call first thing in Tuesday morning. I am livid and unhappy. Again, I do not receive a phone call. On Tuesday, May 7, I call Litchfield Park Pool Service. This time someone answers, admits to not calling me back and does not apologize. The individual is unresponsive to the fact that this delay in communication regarding servicing has left me with a green pool again. She forwards me to a supervisor, who although listens to the sequence of events is not apologetic and immediately wants proof of fax submission. When returning to my office, I call Litchfield Park Pool Service to ask how they want the fax transmission paperwork sent to them. At their request, I email over a copy of the transmission. The supervisor I spoke to earlier states that they cannot locate the service agreement, which I obviously sent, but begins to blame me for the pool being green. Again, I become irate at the customer service and communication. Litchfield Park Pool Service and I agree to send a technician out to inspect the state of the pool and to identify the problem. I request again to be notified when someone will be on my property. Litchfield Park Pool Service sends a technician out and when he inspects the filter, he finds a dead bird, which he identifies as the cause of the green pool. I am informed that the bird would soak up all the chemicals that were added during pool start-up. The technician adds chemicals to help return the pool to use. The supervisor contacts me and states that the technician will attend to the pool the remainder of the week, which I understand as Wednesday through Friday. She goes on to inform me that the pool servicing day will be Thursdays. The technician tends to the pool for the remainder of the week. On Thursday, May 9, I ask what I can be doing to assist in this process. I am told to add chlorine tabs to my skimmer. When I do so, I see that the skimmer has no tabs in it; this strikes me as odd since we had just completed a pool start-up and the technician claimed to add more chlorine to my pool. On Saturday, May 11, I contact several pool companies to see what is included in pool start-up services. I specifically ask if chlorine tabs are included and I am told yes by all the companies. I review the invoice from Litchfield Park Pool Service and see that I was not charged for this service, which indicates that it was not done. I then contact another pool service company for a second opinion of the pool?s condition. On Monday, May 13, the second company tends to the pool and identifies that the pool pump/filter are not running as designed and need to be service. This was exactly what I observed to be the issue the entire time I dealt with Litchfield Park Pool Service. For one month, I could not use my pool because they ?band-aid? fixed and aesthetic issue (the green pool) and did not thoroughly inspect the pool. Later on Monday, May 13, I receive an email from Litchfield Park Pool Service. The email stated a technician was on my property and saw another company there servicing the pool. Again, I am furious because this was not an agreed upon time for an individual to be on my property. I inform Litchfield Park Pool Service that this company was providing a second opinion and based on their findings to please cancel pool service. On Tuesday, May 14, an individual is on the property and contacts my mother regarding the pool pump and filter. It turns out that this individual is from Litchfield Park Pool Service and is on site to service the pool. This brings us to the last shady event with this company ? per the email from Irene Mitchell, the service technician from their company should not have been on site until Thursday and it was Tuesday. I truly believe this company was inept at addressing the root cause of the issue with the pool ? the item that I requested to be inspected the entire time ? the functioning of the pool pump and filter. The band-aided my green pool issue and did not inspect the time system. In addition, the customer service and communication was lacking. I am disgusted with the service and that for one month I have not been able to use my pool.

Initially it seemed to go well with the exception that they missed a corner of the pool where debris collect. When we called they said the would get it in the future of which they did the next week, but no further weeks. When they came to clean the filter, the technician left DE on the deck surrounding the skimmer basket and DE-stained water all over the pool equipment -a simple mess to clean up, but no effort was made. When we called, they were more than friendly and said they would get someone out to clean it up. No one ever came to clean it up. One of the services decided to backwash without a hose carving a hole into the ground next to the pool equipment. When i called, they said they would get someone to fix it. The following week i noticed where someone had kicked a few rocks into the hole. When i came back from travel last week the pool pumps were off due to a bad flow switch. Litchfield Pool was here to service the pool that same day (Friday). They must not have bothered noticing the flow-switch error message and did nothing about it -no filter running. On the same Friday, they did leave a note saying they would be back to add salt. This is likely because the "low salt" indicator light was on. This light comes on when the salt cell chlorinator becomes clogged with calcium build up. They said they don't want to clean the salt cell too often because it might cause damage. If you know much about pools, increasing the salt level in can actually cause damage in most cases. In short, they said they didn't use the backwash hose because there was pressure in the filter that needed to be released immediately (not sure why they couldn't turn the pump off). They said they didn't notice the pumps not running do to the flow switch. They said the would try to clean up the mess again -that one technician thought the other was going to do it and vice versa. When i went out to replace the flow switch I noticed all of the water features had been turned off manually so that if my wife used the remote to turn them on, they would not come on until someone manually adjusted the valves defeating the purpose of the remote. Simply put, these people don't have the first clue as to how modern pools are serviced, maintained, and used. Stay as far away as possible.