BACHMANN POOLS & SPAS LLC

Tech was leaving as my spouse got home. He gave here the invoice and made some simple instructions. I called the next day and talked to Kristina. She tried to explain that the tech got authorization from my wife. I explained the timing and then she back tracked. I am upset because I won't have spent that amount of money on something that only worth a couple of hundred dollars

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After they did the diagnostic test. The hot tub no longer worked at all and they said the motor was old and needed to be replaced. Before they came out the hot tub was leaking a little bit, but not too badly, after they worked on it and left the leak had become much, much worse than it was before they looked at the hot tub.

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Update (original review below): I called another pool company that came out, spotted a leak in the liner within minutes and patched it, and gave me instructions to complete the pool opening. No leaks in the plumbing system were found, altho a few things are still suspicious, but no major water leaking out. All is holding water. That was the beginning of July. In August, I learned how to repair concrete and fixed the big hole myself. Not fun for a single mom. Fall 2014, Giving Bachman's one last chance, I contacted them in Sept about the pool closing and noted a new customer service person, Aaron, answering. I told him of how upset I was by the past service, but needed to close my pool. He was extremely polite and understood my frustration. Stated they'd had some staffing changes. Asked if he could call me back after he discussed my situation with the owner, Fred. When Aaron called back to schedule, he stated that they would close my pool for 1/2 price. Still pricey, but now in the range of the competition, so I agreed. We set a date for the closing. On that date, Ethan and another employee came out and proceeded to do a thorough job closing the pool, checking a few extra things that may have been missed, making notes for spring opening, etc. Everything flowed smoothly for the most part. Overall, while somewhat leery, I will say that Bachman's is making positive changes and I'd give them another chance in the future. I'd like to upgrade them totally based on their last performance, but for now I'll move them from an F to a C ----------------------------------------- Original situation: Last fall, 2013, I started losing water fast in my pool. I called Bachmans and they stated I should just turn the pump off and see where it stopped. Then we could do a pressure test when they came to close the pool. The water stopped going down when it got below the plumbing lines. We determined there was a leak somewhere in the pipes. Fred the owner personally came out to look at the situation and said he'd have a pressure test done when the person did the closing. They came to close the pool and did not run a pressure test stating they forgot the equipment. The pool got closed. They stated they would run the pressure test when they came to open the pool in spring. This spring, 2014, I started calling their office the end of April as the last snow melted. The scheduler said that Scott would have to schedule the opening as he didn't know how to book an opening with a pressure test. He was going to let Scott know to call me. I waited a week and heard nothing. I called Scott who stated he was out-of-town, but would return my call the following day when he returned to the office. Another week -- nothing. I called the scheduler again who stated he'd have Scott call me. Over the next couple of weeks, I left several messages on Scott's cell phone and didn't hear back. Finally, out of desperation as it was approaching June, I called Fred's cell phone and left a message. That afternoon, I got a call from Scott requesting I call the scheduler and request the next slot for opening the pool. I told him that he said he didn't know how to schedule a pressure test -- Scott said to book the next opening and request the scheduler to make a note about the pressure test. The opening was finally scheduled for the morning of June 4. The morning came and went. Finally, midafternoon, Scott and a helper showed up. No pressure test equipment -- rather a snake camera to go through the lines and locate the leak. First, they snaked the waste line -- which wouldn't be responsible for losing water when the pool was operating. Then they attempted to snake the return line -- but a 90 degree elbow wouldn't let the camera through. So they decided they try from the pool side. There they ran into another 90 degree elbow -- however, they thought the fitting and the elbow were cracked enough that that would be the problem. Scott called the office and scheduled June 16th & 17th to be at my house to make repairs. He also told me that if I had someone who could break out the concrete at that local and dig the hole, it would be a significant cost savings. So I did. June 16th came and went. I called Scott and asked what time he'd be here. He said he thought someone would be by in the afternoon. But nope. June 17th, I called Scott in the a.m. He promised he'd had someone over sometime that day. Ethan arrived just after lunch. He cleared the area around the fitting and noted it was not leaking. He did some additional testing and opened up the pipes. He called up Scott with the bad news that no leak was found, but did find a faulty pump gasket. However, that was not enough to be the cause of the problem. Scott said he'd be over later that afternoon. No show. But did call to say he'd be over first thing in the a.m. June 18th -- I called Scott mid morning. He'd be over later that afternoon or first thing Thursday. June 19th -- I called Scott mid morning. Got the message service and left a message. No show. June 20th -- I called Scott and left another message. Then I called Fred, the owner. I explained what was happening. He said he'd call Scott and then call me right back. This was around 9 in the morning. Around 2 p.m., Scott called and said he and Ethan were about 15 minutes away. They went to work. Replaced the gasket -- but still getting in way too much air in the pump. They tried a few things and thought they'd diagnosed the problem, but didn't have the parts needed on the truck. Would return first thing Monday a.m. June 23rd. -- I called and left messages for Scott. No return calls. No Show. June 24th -- I called and left messages for Scott, Fred and Ethan. Around 9 a.m. Ethan called and said Scott would be over. Ethan came instead. He tried the fixes the two had devised on Friday, but they weren't working. Ethan politely told me that he was not the pool repair guy -- he mostly did small repairs, openings and closings. He stated that he believe there was a leak under the concrete somewhere around the intake pipe, but again, concrete would have to be torn out to verify. He called Scott who was to come out either that afternoon or the following day. It's now June 27th. I haven't heard a word or seen anyone from Bachman's. My pool is not repaired or open. We've had several days where a swim would have been welcomed. And the pool level is slowly dropping again. I like all the folks involved. I think Ethan went above and beyond in trying to help. He's been with Bachmans for many years. I think Scott is knowledgeable. I think Fred needs more staff and better customer service. I'm still waiting for service -- and have a big hole in my patio.

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Mike was super helpful and saved us the trouble of a service call.

Whenever we have had a problem, they have been very good about coming out and fixing any problems. I also like that they are very informative and thorough about hot tubs. They are also expensive, but worth the money.

He was expensive. The salesman was Ryan. He was outstanding. He was so kind. He worked with us to give us a discount. We thought the work would be done sooner, but it got pushed back and he was very flexible. He kept the hot tub during the summer, until it was ready to come in the winter. It appears to be working now.

Bachmann Pool acquired Benson's Pool and Patio recently. We bought our hot tub from Bensons and purchased hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars of hot tub chemicals and supplies over the last eight years. Two days before we were to close on the sale of our home, the hot tub began malfunctioning. The hot tub was part of the sale and the contract required that it be in working order. We called Bachmann's and begged, pleaded, and cajoled to try to gain a commitment to service the hot tub before our closing date and time. The best they would do is a service call one hour before our close. The charge was $160+ just to show at our door. Tom at Spa Pro (a competitor of Bachmann's) came out on 12 hours notice with a "show up" cost of approximately 25% of Bachmann's; and he had no prior relationship with us and had received none of the "who knows how much" markup on chemicals that we had paid over the years. We will never do business with Bachmann's in the future. Their servicemen had to attend to routine pool maintenance as a priority over a once in eight years emergency request. Terrible customer awareness and responsiveness! Can you imagine if it was winter and the hot tub was in danger of freezing up!?!

Overall service went very well. Service person came out as scheduled and installed a new heater. He also recommended that we replace two out of three filters and get a critter guard for the bottom of the tub.