The Poolologist

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We offer the customers a possibility to save money by offering full service and repair assement based on a preventive maintenance program instead of on a selling cost program! Saving people money and helping them maintain they investment in the best possibly shape over the years!

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Hired 2 times

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Services offered

Additional services

Filter cleaning

Pump maintenance

Stain removal

Cover cleaning

Project type

Cleaning and Maintenance

Winterization

Inspection

Indoors or outdoors

Indoors

Outdoors

Projects and media

5 photos

Projects and media

5 photos

Reviews

1.0

1 review

100%

John F.

Jan 11, 2012

•

Hired on Thumbtack

The Poolologist practices bait-and-switch tactics and misprepresents the extent of his knowledge and capablilites. When he came to my house the first time to assess the situation, I told him up front that I did not have the money for an extensive repair if that was what he felt was needed. I showed him the area under our extensive paver patio and deck area that showed evidence of a leak. I told him that the repair service that I normally use--Cool Times--refused the work because he didn't feel comfortable removing and replacing pavers. Alan assured me that he had vast experience with pavers and that would not be a problem. I agreed to pay him a service fee--which was paid--for him to pull up the pavers and determine what was leaking. After he went that far, he agreed to do the necessary work for $385.00 and I accepted that amount. Then the bait and switch occurred when he did more digging and decided that the skimmer box should be replaced and he needed to jack hammer the area. I told him I could not afford the $1,200 estimate and he assured me that he could fix the leak using a rubberized compound around the bottom of the skimmer box but it would take more work so we agreed to raise the total price to $460.00. At this point he has pulled up a substantial portion of the paver deck around the pool and was digging further, spreading dirt everywhere in the area and generally making a huge mess. Then he decided there was a second leak on the return line and, once again, blamed the original pool company for using too much cement in the area. He now claimed that he was going to need to rent a jack hammer and would need to add an additional day's work just jack hammering everything. Now he raised the price to the $1,200 he was aiming at all along. By this time I had paid him $600, well over my budget for the project and nothing was repaired. The day trhat he was going to spend jack hammering came and in reality, he was at my house no more than 45 minutes and then declared that he not only jack hammered everything necessary around the skimmer and return line, but had also repaired the leaks although I saw no jack hammer and no pvc piping either new placed in the area or old taken out. He then said we needed to leave the massive hole open for "a few days" to make sure the leak was repaired by allowing the dirt to dry out. Several weeks went by where he would make an appointment time to come out and then either not show up at all or show up 5 or 6 hours later, stay for 10 minutes, do no work to close up the hole and replace the pavers and give another excuse for why we needed to wait. This job started in early October and by the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the hole was still there. He finally came over on that Wednesday before Thanksgiving and filled in the hole and just placed the pavers haphazardly around the deck to make it look presentable for Thanksgiving, promising to come back on the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving to replace the pavers properly. He did not come back until more than a week later and began replacing the pavers. I was shocked at the incompetent job he did on the pavers. They do not follow the pattern of the rest of the pavers, they are not level, they are not even and many pieces are not replaced because he could not make them fit. He also brought white colored pool sand to use as the filler between the pavers instead of normal sand so the area he worked on sticks out due to the white color. He also dug up my landscaping in areas leading to the pool equipment to check for leaks that he has never fixed so I have large areas missing landscape stone and the area is all uneven. Then after all that, the pavers started showing signs of dampness in the same exact area I showed him at the beginning of the process. He then took the position that this dampness was not where he worked so it has nothing to do with his performance. But it was his "expert" analysis that decided where the leaks were that was causing the problem. I finally had enough when he began sending one of his employees to my house who is nothing more than a laborer with no knowledge or expertise in pool construction to try and placate me and get more money out of me. This laborer would show up at the house either without any appointment or at a completely different time than promised, walk around the area with a totally bewildered look on his face, then call Alan on the phone and try to describe what he saw because he had no clue of what was going on. The final straw came when this laborer came to the house unannounced when no one was home and proceeded to use a black marker to make large marks on all the pavers that were showing signs of wetness and that were uneven or out of plum, ruining approximately 15-20 pavers as those marks will not come out and are very noticeable. I have taken pictures of all the damage to my yard done by the poolologist and have begun taking estimates to fix that damage. I have received one estimate of $400 to fix the pavers and I am getting another estimate next week. I have also scheduled landscapers to give me estimates for fixing the damage to my landscaping. On top of all this future expense, the pool still seems to be leaking in the very same place that I showed Alan the very first day. So, in short, me experience with Alan was a disaster that cost me $600 for no solution to my leak problem and substantial damage to my pavers and landscaping. Alan has no concept of the value of his customer's time as the only appointment he kept on time was the very first one. I would not recommend the poolologist to anyone and would, in fact, strongly recommend against using this company.

FAQs

What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?
Make sure the person from what ever Company knows what they are talking about and what they are doing! Too many people in the business give bad advice , based on how much money they can make off of you, now and later!!!

The Poolologist

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