Pete's Pool Service

"This is a hard review to respond to due to the confusion of the owner as to what was expected. Yes, I maintained the pool mostly during the winter and fall, and that involved mostly leaf removal and blowing of the surrounding area. I had absolutely no complaints during these times except the owner said they were having a leak problem and had one for a long time. I do not do leak detection but suggessted and scheduled a company to find and fix it.... In the meantime my partner and I tried to help fix the problem with marine silicone caulk, which did not work, and for which the client was not charged a dime. The pool was always sparkling and I never had a complaint until this "inability of the guests to enjoy the back yard"" ocurred. I never heard of this problem until the owners returned, and fixed it and made the pool and spa beautiful within 2 hours. I could go on with the other issues alleged by these clients, but, there is no point. I am reluctant to say so but there are client that cannot be pleased under any circumstance. In this case there seemed to be one person who "ran the show" and another who tried to "carry out the commands". I only met [Member name removed] one time. I must say that I am relieved to have no responsibility for these clients' pool and can be contacted directly regarding any money they felt was wasted. They should be ashamed. Peter Hable, Owner"

"This client is correct in that I am guilty of poor communication in this matter. I must also say, though, in my own defense, that I managed to work this inspection into my schedule despite the fact that this was the busiest time of the year, and I was swamped with work for clients that I have served for years. I did this because it was the last day of the client's inspection period before buying the home. A previous inspector had estimated that $ 28,000.00 worth of work needed to be done to bring the pool up to code. I discovered that very little of this work was necessary, and the rest was an attempt to perform work that was not necessary. The client was elated with the results, thought I had to tell him over the phone, due to the fact that he did not even show up at the inspection as he had agreed to do. I do apologize to this client for the lack of communication, but ONLY for that. I performed all other aspects of this work with professionalism, quality, and timeliness. I do not deserve to receive a grade of F for my overall performance, and will be glad to discuss this with any prospective client that contacts me. I believe this grade is not accurate, but vindictive."

"I enjoyed working with this client very much and thank her for the positive review. The scheduling problems were due largely to the fact that the job basically scheduled by her next-door neighbor, which added another layer of difficulty in scheduling and communication. That said, I think everyone was pleased with the quality of the finished project."

"Thanks [member name removed], appreciate you taking the time to write this review ! Pete"

"[removed member name], Thanks for taking the time to write this review, and I'm really glad you were pleased with the service.Please let me know if I can help with any problems in the future !"

"I don't know the person who wrote this review, I always dealt with a man who lived at the house, but I know I can't use client names in responding to reviews. I can summarize the events regarding this pool, and I do regret that things didn't work out well, either for me or the client. We definately have different perspectives on what happend. A. I did provide the client with a price to clean up his pool, and began adding chemicals the same day. The next day he called me and said his pool was drained of water. B. I came out the next day to see what the cause might be, couldn't find any possible way it had drained, The pool has a "closed" system with a cartridge filter, and the only thing that could drain the pool was a broken pipe not visible to us, or opening a drain valve on the filter. There was no evidence that the filter drain had been opened. C. I hired a leak expert at my own expense to come out and search for the source of the leak, and he was not able to find the source. D. Since the pool was already drained, I acid washed and bleached to get the algae off the walls and floor. I didn't ask for or receive any money for this cleaning, which would cost approx. $ 700.00 under normal circumstances. The pool was subsequently refilled with water, and was ready for use for the holiday. I visited the pool on that weekend and the children were playing in the pool and the client seemed to be pleased. E. I don't use contracts in my business, so that either party may terminate service at any time. I explained to this client that all things considered, I would prefer that he hire another service. F. I received no compensation for my work on cleaning the pool up, or my efforts to find the cause of the problem. I feel that I bent over backwards to solve this problem, but couldn't continue to spend so much time and money in that effort. I operate a small company, and so my time is limited as far as spending so much time on one problem. I feel I fulfilled my part of the deal, and as I said I received no money at all for all my efforts. If anyone would like to contact me personally regarding this matter, I would be glad to explain it further. I have never cheated anyone in my business, and never will. I feel that the other reviews regarding my work would bear that out. Thank you for reading my side of the story, Pete Hable Pete's Pool Service"

"I'm not sure how to respond this review, but will try my best. I don't have any health problems, and I'm not sure what that has to do with anything about the pool. This is a very old (over 20 years) pool. I had no problem maintaining the pool until I fixed the Polaris cleaner, which hadn't been operating for a long time, and which I believe caused the water to turn cloudy due to the fact that the pool had been painted some time ago, and had become chalky (you could feel the paint and see a cloud of dust puff up). I was in the process of leaving the Polaris out of the pool for a week when the customer called and said they were getting a new service. I had come to service the pool twice a week for many weeks trying to figure out the problem, and spent a lot of money on extra chemicals (floculents, phosphate removers) to try and solve the problem, and never charged extra for any of it. I had performed service 3 times in the month prior to being replaced, but insisted that I would not charge for those visits because the customer was not satisfied. I thought we had come to an amenable separation; I dealt almost exclusively with the husband of this customer, and am disappointed that he couldn't have offered a more objective view of the situation. In any event, I regret that I could not solve the problem, but it was not for the lack of trying my best and being persistent."

"I initially came to this client's home early on a Saturday morning to prepare his pool for a party. I was unable to return the next week due to a death in the family. I left a message on his answering machine stating the reason for my missing the next service date, and expressed my regret, and said I completely understood if he wished to find another service provider, and that there would be no charge for the first service either way. I received no response, and can't understand why he couldn't contact me in that I have a phone with answering service and also an email address. I regret the misunderstanding, and my apology to this client."

"I am always amazed when a client who claims they were mistreated waits 2 months to call and file a review with Angie's List. I am even more amazed when they grade ALL performance as an F. These are the facts: I opened this client's pool on June 3 and serviced it weekly until July 6, and had NO complaints. The review is correct that at that time I had decided to downsize my company so that I could provide the best in service to the clients I could handle, given the fact that I want to provide personal service. I notified all clients that I could no longer service of this fact, and offered to help with finding them a new provider. I was called by the husband of this client after my last service and told that I need not return, they had found another service. At that time, I had not yet billed for the remaining cost of opening the pool, $ 150., and decided to not bill for that to make up for any inconvenience the client experienced. Yes, I run a small company, and as I said it is because I want to provide the best service I can to my clients on a PERSONAL basis. Yes, I admit I got in over my head, but in no way did any of my clients suffer due to my decision to downsize, either in terms of service or money. I have not had a vacation in the two years since I started this company, and this clients' idea that that was the cause of the problem is completely false. I have NEVER failed to return a call or respond to a client's needs promptly. I'm sure it was easy for this client to list ALL "F" in her review, but in my opinion that was vindictive and completely uncalled for, as 38 of the 41 reviews I have received are all "A". Unfortunately, in the service business one can never make some clients happy no matter how hard they try...and I try very hard. If any prospective client has questions as to this review, please feel free to contact me directly through Angie's List. Thanks for your time in reading my response. Pete Hable"