Most of this is explained in the previous section. Overall, I have been happy with individual technicians who have come to address specific problems with the pool but I am unhappy with the management of the business because I don't think they were forthcoming with information (e.g. pack rat problems) that could have prevented problems I faced after the pool was completed. They also could have ensured that I understood the rather complex pool equipment operation much better than I did from the cursory briefing I received when the pool was finished.
Description of Work: First to clarify some of the responses: I really have no option but to use Patio Pools service department at least until my current warranty expires. The service period has been from installation (11/15/2009) until the present - many visits for equipment repairs. I can't say what the actual repair costs would have been because the pool is still under warranty. In my opinion, Patio Pools is very good at building new pools but does not spend much time training the customer how to operate the pool equipment. They also did not inform me, the customer, of the local problems with pack rats and the options for reducing the risk of pack rat damage to pool equipment. I have also some reason to believe that their service department has trouble maintaining at least some types of pool equipment, specifically the heater, especially the valve connecting it to the spa. Specific comments follow. Training the customer to operate the pool: After my pool was finished, I received only a cursory orientation to its operation and, as a result, I learned the hard way that modern pool equipment can be very complex and thus it takes awhile to learn how to operate it properly. In fact, most of what I have learned about my pool’s problems was told to me by various technicians from the service department only after I had experienced problems with pool operation. Given the cost of a modern swimming pool, I think Patio could have spent more time showing me its operational requirements. Pack rat damage: In the Tucson area, and probably all of southern Arizona, pack rats are pervasive and cause substantial damage to human structures and equipment. Pool equipment is no exception and, since our pool was built in late 2009, we have had pack rats invade our pool heater and chew through electrical cables involved in the operation of the pool equipment. Having moved to Tucson from the Midwest the year prior to having our pool built, we had no experience with pack rats and the damage they do. Patio Pools did not inform us that there was an option to have the openings in the pool heater covered with screen. Only after pack rats got in through these openings did Patio tell us that we could have had the screening installed if we had asked for it (and paid for it). Given the pervasiveness of packrats in this area, I would have thought Patio would have given us this option in the pool design phase, but they didn’t. Last year, a pack rat chewed through an electrical cable thereby disabling the spa controls. Once again, I learned from a technician that the problem could have been prevented if I had been told of the option of having the cable armored, or doing it myself, with a relatively inexpensive tubing that one can find at Home Depot and Ace Hardware. I complained to Patio and ended up talking with someone who is possibly an owner of the company. He expressed surprise that pack rats would damage pool equipment, which caused me to wonder how long he has lived in Arizona! Pool equipment: 1. Apparently, the pool heater that was installed for my pool is a different one than has been used by Patio in the past. I learned this from the technician that came to look at the pack rat invasion of the heater before the screen was installed (see above). The earlier version apparently did not have the numerous openings to the outside that pack rats use to gain entry to the heater. It may be that the version they installed in my pool has features that the earlier model did not. But its design necessitates the installation of screen to protect it from pack rat invasion. If you are having a pool built by anyone, ask about the potential problems posed by pack rats and the options for precluding such problems. 2. When my pool was installed, I had arranged for the plumbing to be included for an eventual roof-top solar heater. A year later, the solar heater was installed. From what I can tell, there is a problem, possibly a conflict in the electronics that operate the pool cleaner and the spa. Whatever the explanation, the effect is that, when the spa is turned on, a valve fails to operate to connect the main pump to the heater and thus push water through to the spa (that’s the best explanation I can come up with). Fortunately, one can go to the pool equipment area and flip a switch on the valve to manually cause it to rotate into that position. I have discussed this with several Patio technicians who agree that the manual rotation shouldn’t be necessary. They have offered to research the problem but then I don’t hear anything more from them. The only conclusion I can draw at this point is that this is an insurmountable design problem in the Easy Touch equipment itself.