Gateway Pool Service

If you're looking for a quality pool resurfacing, Gateway Pools and Dave Cochran can deliver. But if you're looking for great or even average service, look elsewhere. A five-day job took over a month to complete. Weather elongated our time table -- we'll give them that. However we spent an entire month in a circle of poor communication and deliberate lies. On two specific occasions, services were scheduled but nobody came or even called. This was most likely due to the crew being used was moonlighting from another pool company which was told to us by the foreman on his first day. Dave's story and timelines changed on countless occasions. According to him, it was essential to monitor the chemicals daily for a week so that they didn't steal calcium from the new plaster. While Dave was out of town, he said someone had been at our house every day that week testing chemicals and brushing the pool; we have cameras -- nobody came. Gateway said ?don't touch the pool, we'll do everything?; they didn't backwash the filter as promised nor did they put the pool cleaner back in the water. Gateway Pools was going to replace mastic after it didn't set up properly, a flaw their team brought to our attention; in the end, they decided they wouldn?t replace it after all. Up front, Gateway Pools said they'd diagnose any problems with the pool free of charge if we used their cleaning service. On our regular cleaning day, Dave quoted us a price to replace the pump which was $70 higher than a competitor. Ultimately, we had the competitor replace the pump because we didn?t feel we could trust Gateway. Once it was finished, Gateway Pools charged us for the diagnosis even though the problem was diagnosed on the same day as normal cleaning service so it didn?t require an additional trip. In the end, things got ugly. Dave wouldn't answer our calls but would answer immediately when we called from a number he didn't recognize -- proof we were being avoided. Every time we planned for work to be done, we said, "Tell us what works for you." All we asked was that Gateway set our expectations and follow through with their commitments. After being unprioritized, avoided and lied to, we called Dave out on the inconsistencies at which point he told us we were the worst clients he's ever had. If I pay you $7,000 and you say you're going to do something -- I expect you to do what you promise, not get around to me whenever you feel like it. Overall, we like the pool?s new appearance, but it wasn't worth it to have to chase Dave and his Gateway team down, hope they'd show up then reschedule repeatedly when they didn't do what they said they'd do when they said they'd do it. To add insult to injury, we had to spend a weekend this spring installing new sod because the Gateway team failed to clean up properly. Old plaster was left in the yard for more than a week which allowed the mortar dust to get wet and create a slurry, killing the grass. We specifically asked if this would happen; Gateway Pools told us the grass would be fine. Additionally be careful when you're reading other reviews: notice a lot of the glowing ones come from someone named "Dave." Coincidence that the owner's name is Dave? I think not...

I received quotes from several companies for replacement on pool equipment. The equipment quote and installation charges were reasonable. Dave came out to give the quote and had 2 men come out for installation shortly after. Everyone was friendly, helpful, and the installation was much faster than if we had done it on our own. They cleaned up the area once completed and showed me how to use all of the equipment. They came in exactly at the quoted price, were quick, efficient, and very helpful. I would recommend them again and again for pool services.