PRESIDENTIAL POOLS

I found the company as concrete specialist on craigslist. I got them to pour a concrete patio for me and they came and did it the same day. It took them about four hours from start to finish. Everything seemed all good until they left and I started looking around. The patio is not level at all. It slopes in all different directions. I could have done it myself and it would have been more level than what I have now. I called and told Renee the issue, only to get told that it is between myself and Frank. When I talked to Frank, he promised to make it right and he would get back to me. After a couple of days, I took pictures of the patio, even with a level on it, proving how screwed up it was, and sent them to Renee. I shortly recieved an email back saying that Frank would take care of it. I still have not heard back from them. I spent alot of money, only to have an unlevel patio and a mess in my yard.

It is unfortunate that I have had to come back to Angies List and update my original glowing report. Alas, the devil is in the details. Presidential Pools completed a significant repair to my pool. It included, new decking, liner, skimmers, and pump repair. The company had some outstanding items to be completed - cleaning splashed concrete off of deck, replacing a ladder that had been removed from the pool (found out later they cut it out), and come back to re-seat the liner. I contacted them multiple times requesting that they come by at their convenience to finish the repair. No response. Looks like I will be hiring someone else to repair Presidential Pools less than detailed work. This is too bad. The company says the right things. However, in the end, actions speak louder then words and Presidential Pool did not live up to their word.

Presidential Pools - Frank and Renee - were very professional, prompt, courteous, and most of all honest. Frank and Renee took time from the beginning of their own vacation to come to my house and meet with me to discuss the scope of the job and ensure that all expectations were set from the beginning of the job. I expressed my desire for any and all changes to be completed in writing as I had be burnt by a previous pool company doing a liner. Needless to say, this was a very good experience. All work was done to a professional standard and completed per the initial job description and contract.. All changes, additions, etc. were handled as requested by Renee and I found both to be very easy to communicate with. Did I mention fast. These folks worked in some of the hottest days we have seen for a while and still brought the job in on time. Thanks to Frank, Renee, and the rest of the Presidential team, I get to enjoy what is left of the summer in my shiny new and functioning pool.

I called and he came out the same day I called. He and his crew got right to work and was done in less than 1/2 hour. It was a small job, but he did it very quickly.

It didn't work well at all. I came home and I called them one day. They were out here and were cleaning the pool. I didn't know that they were going to be here on that particular day. At that time they were cleaning the pool. The next time they were to come out to start thatching and so forth; I asked them to call me before coming. I called them and they asked me to come here. I asked them to call me before they came. When I called that day because I had different phone numbers, she asked me to come here. So I came out here, and they had bypassed two or three steps and gone directly to painting the pool, when I got here. The owner came out, because I had very strong differences of opinions. He said that he not contracted to do those steps. But I told him that he did and I had the papers to prove it, and I showed it to him. He said that his wife would have probably said it because he didn't say it. They were both really clear about what their boundaries were. She did not talk about the actual work that would be done, and he didn't talk about the contractual part. So she did not give me this information that was on the contract and he gave it to me verbally. Then they sent it out in writing. I asked him to leave until I decided what I wanted to do. I sent him a fax, asking him to come and finish it up but I never heard from them. I paid them in cash of what they wanted upfront. I just didn't have the stamina to fight with them. It's a long time ago but I should have reported on them. Up until the last interaction, their responsiveness was okay. I don't know if they were punctual because we didn't have time for anything and they didn't call me or agree. The communication wasn't right between us. The people who did the work were okay, but his professionalism and his wife's; that really deteriorated. Their professionalism was average.

Frank showed up on time and told my wife he would fix all of my vents for $150. His repair method was to apply roofing tar around these vents. The vents should have been replaced, not covered with tar. His repair procedure was incorrect and sloppy. He damaged my gutters in 6 separate locations by putting his ladder directly against the gutter. He slopped roofing tar around the vents, collected his money and left. He never mentioned the damage that he had done to the gutters. During the course of his repair he dropped tar onto my sidewalk that my dog walked through. The dog unknowingly walked throughout our house leaving tar everywhere he went. Great B-DAY for me coming home to Franks mess. I came home to five adults in our home spent 5 hrs scrubbing tar with numerous products to get tar out of DR,LR.HALLWAY,BEDROOM and new hardwood floors in kithcen. Forget dinner that night. One day to NEVER forget!!!!!!! Called Renee.She stated Frank will come out and take care of it next day,NO SHOW FRANK.NO CALL FROM FRANK.Of course he removed his name from craigslist that day for a HANDYMAN.Had to write him a letter.NO RESPONSE.Needed to call a REAL roofer.One gutter non fixable replaced at $500.00.Other gutters still bent in.Oh YES and had to hire a carpet company to come in at $219.00 to try and clean carpets.They looked good at first but now 2 wks later BIG BIG TAR MARKS REAPPEAR.I think about you daily FRANK each time i vacum.Wish I could afford new carpets and gutters during these hard times.Keep in mind my house is 11 yrs old it has always been pride and joy.How do people like this call their selves contractors and sleep at night.DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT LETTING THIS GUY NEAR YOUR HOME.IT WAS A NIGHTMARE NEVER TO FORGET

Based on the glowing reviews on Angie's, we hired this company to inspect a pool (in April) at a home we were buying (in early May) and also open it for us as it had not been closed properly for the season and was in pretty bad shape. They missed several things on the inspection (leaks in the solar system and the salt cell missing) and took weeks to do their work, missing deadlines and commitments. They broke one of our poles and we had to press for a replacement, which I'm not even sure we got (my husband bought one.) We should have been notified of this and offered a replacement - we should not have had to discover this and have to press them on this replacement. We had to stay on them by calling every few days as they are completely over-scheduled. Nice enough folks but over-committed and thus quality suffers. We had to call weekly to remind them of unfinished work. We also learned that they should not have been putting chlorine tablets in the skimmer baskets as it prematurely wears out the equipment. In the end my husband took over getting the water clear by working with the local pool supply store and doing much of the work himself. Therefore we do not have confidence in their ability to do much more than basic pool cleaning. In the end we were very disappointed and cannot recommend them.

I contacted this company based on the glowing ratings and reviews posted on Angie's List. Based on my experience, which was completely contrary to the stories posted, I am now wondering whether these were posted by friends vs customers. I originally contacted Presidential on the day I opened my pool for the season (a Saturday) and discovered a problem with the water pressure and pump. I did receive a very prompt return call to the message I left from a woman (I believe her name was Renee but I am not positive...for purposes of this story that's how I will refer to her). She stated they were extremely busy due to weather & other delays and it would be several days before they could come out, so suggested I call around to see if I could get a quicker service call. I appreciated this honesty. After calling several other pool service companies and receiving similar time frames for service, I called Renee back to get on the waiting list as I had appreciated the prompt phone call. I was told they would attempt to get out to my house on the following Tuesday. She called me early Tuesday AM to say they would not be able to come by due to other scheduled pool liner installations and would shoot for late that week. Again, no problem and I appreciated being notified. By Friday I had not heard from Renee so I called again and reached Frank the owner who happened to have Renee's phone. He said he'd stop by Friday evening around 6 or so to assess the problem. At 7 PM, I called and was told by Renee that Frank was stuck at a job with a flat tire and he wouldn't be out that night, but would definitely come by on Sunday either before or after a liner installation. After waiting around the entire day Sunday, I called Renee at about 7:15 or so and was basically told the following: she had no idea when Frank would be able to come out, she had told me the prior week to call other companies, they had liners costing thousands of dollars to install, and maybe I should try to call Frank myself to see if I had any better luck. I left Frank a voice message the next morning, which was never even returned. I was dumbfounded. I had been patient and understanding during the previous discussions, recognizing that this is an extremely busy time for pool companies, but this was ridiculous. Had I known I would get such a run-around, I would have gotten on another pool service company waiting list that first Saturday and avoided trying to work with this company entirely. They are obviously focused only on the high-ticket jobs, but I would suggest they recognize that once a pool is installed on-going service is just as important. I have several neighbors and friends who have pools and would NEVER recommend this company to any of them.

I first found Presidential Pools through Angie's List. I needed their help because I am a landlord who doesn't live locally. The pool service company I had arranged to do the opening and cleaning of my pool did not live up to their end of the deal and I had new tenants arriving within a few weeks. Presidential Pools provided me with a written (!) estimate of the work that they would need to perform to get my pool in shape for the season. I have not had many pool companies who provided professional, written estimates and then stayed within that estimate!! They were extremely responsive, answering emails and phone calls right away rather than having me leave message after message. The crew drained my pool, making sure the hose was properly stowed upon completion. They ordered the new liner and had it ready on the day agreed upon. They arrived on time, took pictures as the liner went in, and completed on time. The new liner looks great! There was a small problem with water leaking into the underwater light fixture, but they immediately came back and resealed the area. Presidential Pools kept to our agreed upon schedule, so the tenants always knew when someone would be arriving to take care of the pool. The closing also went on time. As you can tell, I appreciate the professional attitude and their timeliness. It was a relief to have someone I can count on to be there when we agreed and to stay within the agreed upon price. They are very good at answering emails and phone calls.

My Hayward motor was ten years old and needed replacement. It was still functioning but was very loud. I called on Monday afternoon and Frank came Tuesday afternoon to investigate what had to be done. He installed the new motor Wednesday afternoon. The new motor is very quiet and the filter is running great.

The job started off okay with pressure washing, staining and resetting fence posts. There were stains on my concrete patio from the stain that Frank said would come up with water. After washing the stains they did not come up. Also, the day after the job was complete, the fence began sag and would not latch. In addition when I went out to my car the next day it was covered in overspray from the staining. I called Frank and after having to call him a number of times he finally came out to redo the gate. He reset the fence post, but reset it out of square. He indicated he would come back and fix as well as wax my vehicle and powerwash the stains. This has been going on for several weeks and no action. In addition, the gate frame itself is now sagging and still not latching. This was a sloppy job and poor responsiveness. Frank then became a real jackass about coming back out to fix his mistakes. I now need to hire someone to come fix his mistakes. I'll be filing a claim in small claims court this week for restitution. STAY AWAY!!

They charged about half of what others quoted, and he's the only one that would come out to the house to inspect it during the busy season. He was very responsive, and the pool looks beautiful and he did a very nice job.

They are a professional company as well as very competent. They came on time and did a great job on everything. It was easy to do business with them which is a nice change. The staff is very friendly and customer service oriented.