Coolwater Pools & Spa

I've been an Angie's List member for many years. I have written up a lot of good contractors. Coolwater gets my first overall grade of "F". This was a contractor for the Old Republic Home Warranty Service. The jury is still out on OR as this is the first time I have had to use their service. Since they offer no means of taking customer feedback on their website, I am not hopeful. But, they will be getting this critique as well ... if I have to hand carry it. My pool complaint was one of the two circulating pumps was (is) frozen and was blowing the circuit breakers at the main electrical box. I had turned the electrical to the bad pump off for a couple of days prior to the technician arriving to making any repairs. When I saw the fountain sprays come on again in just a few short minutes, I went out to see what the fix was. Much to my surprise, the technician had just replaced the starter capacitor on the working pump. When I ask why he replaced a component on a perfectly good motor, he responded "that's usually what causes circuit breakers to blow." You can read into that, no actual testing was done. I am pretty sure Old Republic won't like funding the replacement of perfectly good and expensive components. Though I don't officially have a EE degree (I am close), I grew up with a father that did, and I am highly electronically savvy e.g., Extra Class Amateur Radio license, former Army Signal Corps officer, business background in electronic consulting, bla bla bla. Recognizing that this technician didn't have a clue, I asked him why he didn't address the motor that was broken ... the impeller would not turn ...which generally is more indicative of causing a circuit breakers to blow. He said all he needed to do was to get the water circulating again. My pool is 28,000 gal and requires two pumps for proper flow. The pool is actually double plumbed with one pump driving half of the outlets and the second pump driving the other half of the pool's outlets. Both flows terminate at the spa; consequently, with only one pump working, only half of the outlets emit water flow. All any moron needs to do is stick your hand in front of any outlet in the spa to see that yes, there is water coming out of this one. And no, there is none coming out of that one. That apparently required to much of a science background. There is a third but smaller pump for the sweeper. The technician said he'd have to get with his supervisor to fix the other pump, but in the interim to leave the frozen pump off to keep from blowing the circuit breaker ... Duh! After three days with no report back, I called the Coolwater phone number. It rang 12 time and was never picked up i.e., no way to leave a message. I called two more times during the day with the last call ringing 25 times, still no answer. I called Old Republic. What actually happened is that the technician reported back to the insurance company that the pump that was frozen was used to drive the waterfall at the spa, so Old Republic said it wasn't covered. The fight began. After two calls to speak with Coolwater, OR seemed more than willing to take the advice from the Coolwater management that the pump was only used for the waterfall. Coolwater is obviously not consumer friendly as OR had difficulty getting them to answer their phone or emails too. The disturbing thing is that OR almost refused to listen to someone (me) who tried to explain to them in great detail, what the real problem was ... they had idiots out trying to repair their customers claims. I never cussed or yelled once, though OR's service reps were pushing me to my limit. In one of their vein attempts to make me go away after my first denial, one of OR's service reps put me on hold and "some how," I was accidentally disconnected with not even a "sorry 'bout that" response when I called back in. After the third rep called to inform me that my claim was still denied because my pump was only for making the waterfall work, I offered to take my computer out to the spa to show them via webcam that the water fall was working on one pump, though obviously at half capacity, they declined as they didn't have a way to view ... like no one in the room had a smartphone. After reading their contract back to them verbatim, I asked them them to show me where there was any option to deny coverage as both pumps are required to maintain the health and safety of my pool. One of the three or four OR reps that I talked to to said that "it would certainly be covered." Regardless, their reason for the exclusion, because it was for a water fall, was also not specifically covered in the OR exclusion clause. They finally agreed to send another contractor next week to take a look. That is why the jury is still out on Old Republic. I am 100% VA disabled from flying helicopters for two years in Vietnam. My back is fused at L5/S1 with permanent nerve damage, so I can't bend over or for that mater lift heavy objects like pool pumps. Otherwise, I wouldn't have paid for the additional optional pool and spa coverage. I would have done it myself. This ain't rocket science. I am paying extra for a service that I cannot do myself and having to fight to get it done. After I saw the "F" rating For Coolwater on Angie's List , I could see that their service trend is definitely in and that it is not just incompetent technicians; this is Coolwater's way of doing business. STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE! Besides their total lack of customer focus, their technician makes using the word dufus a term of endearment.

He showed up and took a look; said it was the circuit board (which is covered by my warranty company) said he was slow about getting things in and it would be the next day; I called the First American Home Warranty company and said Bill told me it was the circuit board, was that covered and was told absolutely it is covered; today (Monday, July 22, 2013) I got a call from the warranty company stating it wasn't covered. It is electrical, even though that too is covered. I have called Bill's office several times, and emailed them and slow response. Finally got a call from Phyllis and she was rude, unprofessional. This is a company to definitely stay away from, complete lack of customer service and responsiveness.