tldr;
I lost faith in the Pool Maintenace industry, as the 3 companies (2 from Yelp, with 4.5+ star reviews each) I attempted to hire before American Pool Pros all no-showed on multiple appointments (all 3), broke my equipment (1), went on vacations for 2-3 weeks and didn't return calls or have any backup maintenance/support available(all 3). Finally I deliberately called a company well outside of my service area in Altadena, just to get an objective answer on whether this was standard industry behavior. They said it was 'unfortunately common', but then gave me the number for Micah @ American Pools Pros. Since taking over my pool service 4 months ago, I've received timely service, had my phone calls returned, and my pool is operating reliably. Save yourself the nightmare I went through and call American Pool Pros & Micah first.
*** LONG VERSION ***
I debated whether to give APP 4 stars rather than 5, only because I worry people immediately discount 5 star reviews as being 'non-discerning' and put more value in 4 star reviews. I find my self doing that when I read Yelp reviews. However, I can't bring myself to deduct a star even if it's for the purpose of pushing more people towards Micah and American Pool Pros.
I moved into a house that had a pool 10 months ago. I'd never had a pool, though I'd enjoyed swimming in my friends. We live in Sherer Canyon, in Glendale. The previous owner connected us with their long time pool service tech (I don't want to slander anyone so I will call my first PoolMan 'Joey from Friends'). This guy had been servicing the pool for 8 years, but when we arrived it had algae, the heater didn't work, 2 of the pumps didn't work, and despite being a salt-water pool, the salt-water components were 'broken and inferior to chlorine'. This was 2 weeks after Joey had certified that the pool was in tip-top condition and never had any problems. Joey deep cleaned my filter twice in 6 weeks (for +$100/time in addition to the monthly rate we paid) and left 3-4 broken grids inside the filter. Twice. I didn't know this at the time, nor did I know what a 'grid' was until weeks later, when I continued to have the underlying symptom--high pressure in my filter causing the heater to malfunction as the water flow was insufficient. Finally I brought another technician out, I'll call him 'Nintendo.' Nintendo explained to me that taking apart a filter to replace a grid is uncommon. A filter is composed of 2-8 grids which are mesh/plastic catch-piece that actually do the filtering. It's a lot of work and expense and it's generally accepted practice to leave them in until you are already charging the customer disassemble and clean the filter. If 50% of the grids are down, the filter is operating at less than 50% efficiency. This can cause a reduction in water flow and increase in water pressure. However, if a pool tech is already charging you to take apart a filter to deep clean, it's negligent to leave them inside the filter. They are not expensive parts ($2-$30/each) and can greatly improve the operation of the pool. Nintendo was only comfortable doing an evaluation, lest Joey tell customers at the Pool Supply store that he was stealing customers. Armed with this knowledge, I confronted Joey and he admitted that he didn't change the grids and also informed me that most of his customers have at least 2-3 of their grids broken and that he doesn't change them until at least half are broken. He was insulted that I wasn't giving him the 6 months it would take to get used to the 'fingerprint' of the pool, even though he'd been servicing this pool for the previous 8 years. As a matter of principle, he resigned with no notice once I explained that I had another company evaluate the state of my equipment. I accepted gratefully.
In the clear, Nintendo took over my service and replaced the grids. He confirmed the saltwater system was way too complicated. Nintendo did good things over the first 3 months--installation of a Pentair Screen Logic system, and and elimination of the algae. However, my wife and kids developed rashes when using the pool. At 3 months, he replaced the heater with a new one because my heater was 'sensitive' and was tearing through 'thermo regulators.' Up until then, I was satisfied with Nintendo's work. 10 weeks later, my heater wasn't functioning, and a mistakenly installed valve had dumped half the pool water down on my neighbors, twice. Nintendo wouldn't return my old heater, offer a refund, or seek help from another installer. I will say that Nintendo spent at least 30 hours installing the heater incorrectly, across 4-5 visits. He quoted, I learned later, a fair price for the heater install. He just was learning on the job, and I had to contact manufacturers, dealers and distributors to supplement that lack of experience.
I have my career, as I'm sure others do. Micah frees me worry about my job by paying him to do his. PS. Saltwater pool works! read more
