Tom's Pool Services of NW FL, Inc.

I hate to resort to this, but have no other option since Tom's Pool Services will not respond to my multiple voicemails. I contacted Tom's to handle repairs for a listing under contract. The pool pump was not functioning, and the pool light was out. I asked them and another pool service for a quote on the work, as is the usual practice in a real estate transaction. Communication with them was difficult from the beginning. They sent someone out to the house, and when I followed up to obtain the quote, they advised that they had already repaired the pool pump, when I had not authorized them to do so. Later on down the line, they advised the buyers that they would not have repaired the pump but replaced it instead because it was so old, information they never advised me in the first place, since they had just gone ahead and fixed it without my authorization. This caused an major conflict in the transaction, but that's another story. Tom's Pool Service had advised that since there might be more wrong with the pool light than a burned-out bulb, they would need to drain the pool to below the light, and refill it, which takes a bit of time. I gave them the go-ahead to drain and fix whatever was wrong. Then followed two weeks trying to get them to go back out and repair the pool light. Every time I called, they complained about the amount of time it would take "doing nothing" while they had to drain the pool. Closing date was coming up and I began to call every day. Just as is happening now, I left voicemails that were never returned. When someone at the store actually answered the call, they were never sure when the repair might be done, but knew enough to complain (again) about the time involved to drain the pool. Finally they made it to the house and repaired the pool light. Then it was like pulling teeth to get an invoice from them, which the buyers required as proof the work had been done. My husband actually had to drive down to Navarre and wait more than an hour, advising Tom's Pool Service he would not leave until he had the invoice. They kept trying to put him off, but finally gave him an invoice when they realized he was not going to leave. I went to the house before closing and tested the light, which worked. The transaction closed. But wait, that's not the end. Last week the new owners called me to advise that the pool light was out again. When they called Tom's Pool Service, they were told that only the bulb had been replaced, but that there was corrosion and leakage that needs repair. WHAT?!? Tom's Pool Service had advised me that they needed to drain the pool in order to determine whether it was more than a burned out bulb, yet once they did this, they simply replaced the bulb and nothing else? They said nothing about it, and charged the seller $300, to boot? Here we were, thinking they had actually made the necessary repairs, when instead they charged top dollar for a slipshod job and said nothing to anyone until the new owners called them, at which point they blamed it on us, claiming they had advised us of the issue. They did, early on, when they said they needed to drain the pool to make sure it was properly repaired, and we told them to make the repairs, which ultimately they did not do Tom's Pool Service owes the new owners a proper repair of the pool light at no charge. NEVER will I use Tom's Pool Service ever again.