AUTOMATIC POOL COVERS OF NE OHIO

Was difficult to confirm dispatch and repair time. Called many times and never was able to chat with anyone live. Repairman arrived unannounced. But arrival was welcome because of the time of year (fall) I was leaving the house as he arrived.. I understand this is a busy time of year. Asked for a "not to exceed" quote. Was told it wouldn't be less than $300. Told him I'd even go as high as $350. Made the mistake of agreeing to the work without a written quote. Bill came in at $439.92. Disappointed. Was hoping to find an honest pool service provider. Work performed took about 2 1/2 hours. I was pleased with the work done and the quality and consultation.

I contacted Tom on Monday October 7th 2013 to come to our home and repair our pool cover which had stopped opening. He told me he would be over within the next couple of days. I asked him if he could come over on Monday but he said no it would be Tuesday or Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon I call Tom because I had not heard from him. I asked him if he would be coming over that day to fix the pool cover. I reminded him that he said it would be a couple of days and he told me he never said that, that he told me that he would be able to fix it within the week. By Friday at 5 clock I had not heard from him and no one had come over to do the repair. On Saturday I looked on Angie's List for a different repairman. This other this competitor give me a time and date for service Monday morning at 8:45. On Monday morning the competitor arrived at 8:45, fixed my pool cover promptly and was polite. Tom treated me with some condescension. Frankly I do not need have anyone tell me that I am at the mercy of their schedule when I'm the customer. For complete transparency I will let you know that in the prior year Tom replaced our pool cover. Although I found him impersonal he did repair the cover.

They installed a replacement pool cover, which was incorrectly made. When it failed, almost immediately, they blamed us, and then the company that made the cover. Well, they ordered it and installed it and sold it to us. They told us it was 100% warrantied. When our pool maintenance people repeatedly told them that it was not made correctly, they came and partially repaired it, and then charged us over $600, which should have been covered under their warranty. My advice is, if you must use this company, get a real written warranty and hold them to it.

We had the pool renovated which included adding a safety cover. Our pool builder built the pool cover "box" to APC specifications and APC even inspected the box before installing the cover. This work was completed late summer early fall of 2009 and so therefore we were unable to use the pool at all until this past summer of 2010. The cover started out working well in the beginning of the summer, but after a few weeks we started to notice that it wouldn't open all the way or was very sluggish when opening. This continued to occur until July when the cover wouldn't open at all. When I called APC, they came out and made adjustments to the "clutch" as it was slipping. When it occurred again, only a month later, I called APC and they again came out and made adjustments to the clutch. When I received a bill from them in October, I was charged for the "adjustments" made and was then told that It was my fault because I wasn't pumping the water off the cover therefore putting excessive wear on the clutch. The cover and motor is under warranty, but APC refuses to acknowledge this and puts the blame on the consumer and not the product. Tom doesn't live at my house or swim in my pool and yet he is passing judgement on what transpires at my house. Shop around for other dealers and suppliers of safety covers before entrusting your time and money with this company.

THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF POOL COVERS APC SELLS. THEY CAN BE EITHER MANUAL (WITH A HAND CRANK) OR MOTORIZED (AS I HAVE GOTTEN). TOM WAS VERY HELPFUL AS I WAS A NEW POOL OWNER. HE SUGGESTED WITH THE SIZE OF MY POOL THAT I GO WITH THE MORE EXPENSIVE MOTORIZED POOL COVER AS MY POOL WAS QUITE LARGE. HE GAVE ME A HOMEOWNER IN THE AREA WHO HAD A HAND CRANK POOL COVER SO I COULD LOOK AT IT, WHICH I DID. ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT TOM WAS CORRECT, ITS TOUGH TO USE THE CRANK POOL COVER WITH LARGER POOLS. THIS ALSO GAVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO TALK WITH A POOL COVER OWNER AND FIND OUT THE OTHER BENEFITS OF HAVING A SAFETY POOL COVER THAT YOU COULD COVER AND UNCOVER EVERY TIME YOU SWAM, WHICH WAS LOWER HEATING BILLS, SAVINGS ON CHEMICALS, AND FAR LESS CLEANING. TOM WAS VERY POLITE, ON TIME AND RETURNED MY MANY PHONE MESSAGES I HAD LEFT HIM IN A TIMELY MANNER. ALTHOUGH PRICEY, THE COVER HAS ALREADY PAID FOR ITSELF BY BEING A SAFETY COVER BY SAVING SOMEONE WHO WOULD HAVE GONE IN OTHERWISE.