With this post, I'm hoping that Richard himself will see it and maybe it will matter. We've been with Richards Pool Service since 2017 when we bought our home. We were given their name by the prior homeowners who used Richards for years prior to that (so a verrry long time). At first when they were smaller, Richard would be the one along with a helper (his son i believe) to personally close/open our pool. They were great, service was great and they crossed their T's and dotted their I's. Good work all around and the cost was reasonable. Thru the years, however, as business expanded i'm guessing the workers who were being sent out were less than great and they seemed to always forget to do at least 1 thing to winterize the pool properly simultaneously the cost to close the pool has increased substantially. Year after year since 2017 the quality of the job deteriorated with each new crew being sent to do the work. This last season in particular, they absolutely 'forgot' to add chemicals and the filter sand was not even cleaned - they used to top off the sand filter just by sticking their hand in there and taking out any muck from the first couple inches. When we opened the pool this summer it was an absolute mess. I mean, I've NEVER seen the water look worse than a mucky pond - EVER. It took us over a week to get the water clear. If this was a fluke I'd understand but since their workmanship over the years has steadily declined as their prices have steadily skyrocketed i feel it's time to say so. Do better Richard. read more

My pool was supposed to be opened today by Richard's Pool (no) service. A crew of 3 smart asses showed up and refused to open the pool because we didn't pump the water off the cover of the pool. We were not told that we were required to do that. I mean, isn't that part of opening a pool? While I was calling their office to speak with their boss Tyson, they just picked up their gear, got in their truck and left. Without saying a word. Tyson didn't answer his cell, and has yet to call me back. I see many negative posts for this business, for good reason. Maybe Richard is ready to close up shop, as he sure doesn't seem to care about keeping his customers. Stay away from this one folks, or you too will have disappointed kids on your hands. read more

I have a really old Dough Boy pool and the liner got a hole in it and we could not find it. I called Richard's and the staff were constantly communicating with me. We had an error occur, my fault mostly, and they not only were quick to help me correct it, but they were very understanding and patient. Pool looks beautiful. They saved our summer. read more

I had my pool installed in July and twice I lost all of the water in my pool due to the way the installed the pump. Both times the hose came of the pump and lost 3/4 of my water. The first time they reimbursed me for the water. The second time they told me I'm on my own. Right after those two hose mishaps my liner sprung a leak. Tyson informed me they would take care of it as long as it was not my fault. It was proven I was not to blame and the owner who by the way would not call me himself said there was no way he was paying for it. I paid a lot of money for this installation just to pay more money for their mistakes. I would never recommend them to anyone. read more

Richards Pool Service - Pool Cleaners Near Me - Portage, Indiana

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I had an above ground pool put in and the entire process from start to finish was smooth. Tyson was extremely responsive and answered all my questions from permits to recommending placement. The techs that did the install were clean, thorough and explained everything about the pool. read more

Very impressed with the gentlemen who came out to close my pool. They were polite, on time and worked quickly. They discovered that the winter cover I had purchased was too small for my pool, and the gentleman Jaime explained I could use it but that it may easily rip. Luckily he had a cover that would work on his truck, so he and his team swapped the covers out. I'm so grateful I don't have to worry about my pool cover ripping over the long winter. Highly recommend this company! read more

They came to replace my liner on my 10 year old pool, I'd had a leak and it had a small rust spot they grinded down the rust and sprayed it with some rust proof paint and put a piece of wall over that and then put the new liner in. What a great job. My only concern is the small amount of water under the liner. read more

Pool liner leaked right after install. Boulder size divots in the sand under my liner within the first two weeks of install. I called and reported this, and was told to keep an eye on the issue. Continued to call and tell them the issue was getting worse. One month after my warranty was up I spoke with them again, and I quote " you do know your warranty ended last month so there's noting we can do". Don't use this company! read more

Stay away from this company unless you have nothing better to do with your time or money. The owner is the biggest waste of time! He does not conduct business in a reasonable fashion. He does what he wants when he wants. He has has my family sitting around waiting for him for 3 days now. He has no want to communicate with the customer, until it's to late! This in my opinion makes me question his integrity, and his work ethic. He says he's old school and believes in a hand shake..... Yeah ...now we know why!! And if you try calling the office good luck! You go straight to voicemail, you might get lucky and catch the secretary who states she's only there to leave notes!! I'd truly believe it deserves no stars!! read more

I'd give 0 stars if possible. Terrible company to deal with. We called and had a scheduled timeframe of middle to end of May. Never hear back from them. We finally get someone on the phone and they claim to have no record of our appointment and what work we were to have done. Talking to my neighbor with a pool, he too was supposed to have Richards service his pool. Same thing was done to them. Richards finally has someone return our calls and the "estimator" wants to charge us $50 just to come out. When we had our work scheduled we were quoted a price. What has changed since then? They are rude on the phone. Lacking in customer service. Do yourself a favor and hire anyone else. We ended up getting F & M Pool Services. They did a great job for half the price. Richards Pool Service is anything but service. read more

Richards installed a new liner for our pool. After the install we noticed a pointy metal object poking our liner from behind a post. The object sticks out about an inch. We called them after the liner was installed and Tom Richards said we need to drain the pool and someone would look at it. He suggested to do it in the fall, so that's what we did. Now it's fall and our pool is drained. We called Tom and now he is acting dumb about it and is refusing to send anyone out. Basically it's closing season and he doesn't want to send anyone over because he over charges to close pools. Now we will pay someone else to fix there mistake. They also installed our pool in crooked, but we never complained about that. It's an oval pool. Never again would I use Richards or recommend them. read more

Richards Pool Service - They installed a liner and left this. Now refusing to fix it. - Pool Cleaners Near Me - Portage, Indiana

This is the biggest waste of money!!! I was told I was getting a pool opening service, instead I got a headache and algae! Two men came, poured bleach in my pool, and charged me over $200. When I called to inquire the manager/owner was completely disrespectful and had an awful attitude! Soooo disappointed and still do not have an open pool! read more

Richards Pool Service - This is how they left the cover - Pool Cleaners Near Me - Portage, Indiana

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Do not use this company at all. They are horrible. They leave a mess. If anything goes wrong they expect you to figure it out. Nobody ever answers the phone either. read more

I used this guy for a few years many years ago. In the beginning his service was reasonable but grew to be outrageous. I have a four step ladder that he would place or remove from the pool. One year he didn't install it and saiid his insurance company wouldn't let him. He had installed it in previous years. Each year he would charge for things he had previously not charged for. His pool openings were also sub par, he did a horrible job of cleaning the pool. He would also charge extra to connect the heater then the heater wouldn't work. I didn't realize what a horrible job he did until I hired a company from Hammond who did a great job of cleaning and opening for less cost. This guy also helped himself to a valve on my pool and replaced it with another without my permission. One year I needed a pool cover and he sold me one for $75, saying it was guaranteed for 5 years. It ripped the next Spring and they would not honor the guarantee. He said I would have to contact the manufacturer, they don't guarantee it. I reminded him of our conversation and he just kept saying, "yes ma'am, yes ma'am". He also had a habit of saying "have a blessed day". Kind of hard to feel blessed when you feel you're being scammed. read more

Called on a thurs, set up appt for following Monday to remove old torn cover and replace with new one. Simple job cost about $320. Tl I told them on phone I work 8-430pm m-f and because their hours are 8-4 i would call back a day or so after the job was done to pay when I could grab a break at worj. I've used them before and paid no problem. Between the time the job was done Mon afternoon and Wed morning I had about 10 calls, texts and rude voicemails saying they've called several times and need payment immediately. I understand needing to pay, however after youre about to collect $320 from me I don't appreciate rude voicemails 1-2 days later after i explained I cannot answer my phone at work and work longer hours than your store is even open. If i hadn't paid in a week or more I understand, but it feels really insulting to get multiple voicemails as if I'm avoiding payment immediately for a job that was way over priced to begin with, especially since I've been a paying customer before. Office woman handling calls is extremely rude, and even had the serviceman, who was really polite ay least, call for payment. I don't know if it's her, or the boss making the rule to hound customers like that, but because of this they lost a customer. Also left old cover and box new one came in on the ground in my yard. For $320 i would expect disposal wouldn't be too much to ask for. Go elsewhere for more affordable and friendly service. read more

Had our above ground pool liner replaced. Guys were professional, meticulous and made a challenging pattern completely line up. Looks like a new pool! Had a great experience! read more

So far, I'm not impressed. Between Water Ways in Portage and Richard's, I get told 2 different completely opposite things. I was told that I would have my pool installed w/in 2 weeks of the purchase date of 6/7/2016. Richard's charged $40 to come survey the site and mark it. This money will NOT be applied to the final install cost. What? We were told by Richard's that install would be the week of 6/26. They told us they couldn't give us an install date until the pool was delivered. WW said don't deliver it until you have an install date. When Richard's finally called w/a date, it was 7/1. No one was able to be home. When my husband learned that in laws could be here, he called back w/in 1-2 hours. We heard back from them 2 days later, on Monday. Now it can't be done until 7/6. How did it get pushed back that many days when they were closed for the weekend?? After reading the other reviews posted here, I'm dreading the install and am expecting more problems. I hope that I am wrong. Dad will be here that day, and God help that crew if they screw up! read more

Scammers! They opened our pool last summer and said "hey call us if you have questions or problems", which we did. Yeah they never bothered calling us back and pretty much felt like they were dodging our repeated attempts to contact them. read more

they just did my new pool install. What a wonderful crew. everyone had a job, and they did it professionally and on-time. Everyone from Jennifer, Sieg, and the install crew where courteous and professional. And what a great job they did. As far as the backfill and such, it states in the contract that they are not responsible for that unless otherwise specified. I chose to do this myself and completely understood the terms BEFORE service was started. Thanks guys! Really looking forward to my new pool! I would HIGHLY recommend. On a further note, I almost cancelled this company due to the lack of and poor ratings on various sites. What a mistake that would have been. I'll only use Richards if needed in the future. I will be seeing them in the fall to close my pool based on my experience with this install. read more

absolutely not worth the money they charge for the services provided! my pool was opened half way no chemicals were used a mess was left and they surcharged me $60 for leaf clean up "which half ended up inside the pool" my family spent the next 5 days fixing their wrong doings. when I called to complain they would only refund me half my money, absolutely absurd and a little note was left on our refund envelope thinking they were cute. read more

Didnt show up the first day at all after changing the arrival time three different times causing my family to rush over and help me because i was at work. They sat there for four hours waiting and then got a call saying they would come the next day. The next day they show up and hook up the filter and leave because they say the water level was too low to test. Two hrs later pool is full and turn it on and the filter system was leaking in several places. Called them back and the lady said she would send the guys back to check and they never showed or called. My bf and I ended up fixing it all ourselves after paying them to do their job. Terrible service do not use them read more

Don't use this company as I paid them extra to remove the extra material from my pool replacement and they only took some of what was agreed on and left the rest for me to dispose of.t hey had too much sand delivered to my home and they wanted to leave it for me to dispose of which I told them I would not so they loaded a Mix of sand, dirt, clay and rocks and dumped it in a sand volleyball court near my home. All i Wanted was what they were paid to do and that did not happen. read more

They didn't winterize our DE filter and skimped in the chemicals. We moved into our new house which has a 20'x40' inground pool in 2015. We had Waterway in Portage come out to close the pool. (they no longer do pools, unfortunately) We had a safety cover, and a DE filter. They removed the panels and cleaned out the old earth out of our filter. Then they replaced the panels in the filter, put the chemicals into the pool and pulled out the cover. It was dry rotted. So we purchased a fast fix of a large pool tarp and some waterbags and finished the closing ourselves as that was all that Joe from Waterway was able to do. Fast forward to 2016 pool opening. We called Waterway, but they no longer opened or closed pools, they recommended Richards. They came out. Emptied the waterbags, got the cover off. they put chemicals in and the pool looked lovely. (Waterway's chemicals, from closing the year before!) ...called Richards to close our pool. They came out. We paid for them to cover, fill the waterbags, add chemicals, and winterize our DE filter. All basic stuff... Pool opening 2017!!! May 23rd we opened to a GREEN MURKY MESS! But that was an easy fix actually. What did it for us, was opening up my DE filter and seeing last year's earth still in my filter. It smelled of mold, There are a few panels that need to be replaced. I'm betting money it was because of the earth freezing and thawing in my filter all winter. I suggest to everyone who hires this business, to watch them like a hawk while they're "working". MAKE SURE YOU'RE GETTING WHAT YOU'RE PAYING THEM FOR! Also, I called to let them know about it. The lady was very nice. She told me to e-mail photos to "Tom" the owner right away, he would want to know. I did so. I have yet to hear back from ANYONE, by phone or e-mail. Hire at your own Risk! read more

Richards Pool Service - This is what your pool will look like at spring opening, if Richard's closes your pool. Also didn't clean and winterize our DE filter. - Pool Cleaners Near Me - Portage, Indiana

Last year, my parents decided to hire Richards to open our pool. They agreed to open and clean the pool for two hours (aka 2 hour vacuum). They rushed through the opening, and vacuumed nothing. They claimed it was too cloudy to vacuum. It was cloudy because they pushed the dirt up using the vacuum. When someone pushes hard and fast on the vacuum, the dirt tends to cloud up and make visibility impossible. Well they said they would come back tomorrow and continue the vacuum service. They never came back. For some odd reason, my parents went back to them this year for the same service they never got last year. Well, they agreed on yesterday being the day, and told my parents they would arrive at 6pm. My mom said she had to remind the person on the phone we are in fact paying for a 2hr vacuuming (as advertised), and expect them to vacuum for 2hrs. They called around 5 or 6pm yesterday and said they were too tired and had a job that was longer than expected. So they said they would be here sometime in the timeframe of 2pm-4pm. I am writing this review at 6:22pm and they just called. This time the man on the phone said, "I am in Hickory Hills right now in traffic. We won't be able to make it today." That is two cancellations in two days within an hour or later than the scheduled appointment. My mom was irritated, and told them that we would be finding someone else if not tomorrow because they are busy next week (going on vacation), and then we would be looking at late June for the pool opening. Since we live in Indiana, our summer's are pretty short. That is unacceptable. Personally, I wouldn't have hired these people back after last year. Who cares if it's cloudy, sit there and vacuum. That is what they are paying you for. But after this year, I can assure you, we won't be returning customers unless they pull some crazy awesome service with a smile. And get the WHOLE pool vacuumed. I will more than likely update if the service gets better or worse. update: They showed up about a half hour late, 8:30 AM and did the job they were contracted for. I am on the fence if I am satisfied considering how many cancellations and their service last year. read more

DO NOT HIRE THESE PEOPLE!!!!! THey will rip you off. They rip our pool liner and did not tell us.the filter leaks because they broke the rubber ring. They said we need a chlorinator, no not true, all they did was took the tarp off and charged us 479.00. BIG RIP OFF read more

I waited 2 whole weeks, so they could tell me that I live to far, I sent pictures and purchased everything that they ask for got a confirmation of date, time, and amount of my charges only to received a phone call the morning of (that they can't service me because I'm to far, I took off work to be stood up, but that's ok your service SUCKS AND YOU ALL ARE VERY UNPROFESSIONAL! I would not use this service for my dogs! PLEASE DON't EVER USE THIS SERVICE!!!!! read more

They want too much money to do anything had a pool put in they charge me extra $500 just to put up a fence and now the fence is falling down because they just use self tapping screws you need a nut on the end of the screw to hold the fence I told him this they wanted more money to come back out I just fixed it myself I would not recommend this place unless you got all kinds of money to get ripped off read more

April 2016 had Richards pool service install a new above ground pool. First they tore up my lawn with there bob cat big tranches in front and back. Then they ripped the seam in the new liner. they did me a favor and just charged me half price $250 to install the 2nd liner . when they installed the 2nd line i was at work. when i can home i noticed there was sand stuck to the bottom of the 1st line i would thing that Jamie would of redone the bottom level the sand NO he didn't now I have big groves in the bottom of my pool where the sand came up and crease all the way around the bottom of the pool next to the wall. read more

it has been my absolute pleasure telling anyone who will listen how HORRIBLY AWFUL this company treats people. its a shame that your company will eagerly send someone out to do an estimate, write every detail on the estimate to make sure you have included every nickel and dime you could, charge $25 for the estimate and then promise a date and time to be there, only to no show because you apparently DID NOT REVIEW THE HAND WRITTEN ESTIMATE BY YOUR OWN EMPLOYEE, and (heaven forbid!) you did not want to do ANY of the work ON the estimate once you found the correct one. whats even better, was then... you promised us ANOTHER DATE AND TIME, only to screw that one up as well! way to go guys!! so, when you finally showed up, filled with utter sunshine and happiness, you totally kept up your perfect score of being the biggest let down in the history of the pool business!! you REFUSED to do the job that your own person said you could do because there was (maybe) an inch of water in the pool!! guess what genius! there WASNT water in the pool the day you were SPOSE to come out and put in the new liner!! you then told your helper to put stuff in the truck, as you were angy that you wasted YOUR precious time and now couldnt do anything. HOWEVER, when i reminded you that you were putting sand down anyway, which would soak up the small amount of water (in my world thats what happens with water and sand) you became indignant and denied thats how that works. when your helper started to comment positively, most likely because he KNEW I WAS RIGHT, you shot him a look that might have killed a young child or elderly adult, but im sure he was quite used to. it was at that point... when YOU TURNED YOUR BACK ON ME and REFUSED TO EVEN TALK TO ME, that i said to you: "YOU GOTTA BE EFFING KIDDING ME" oh yeah! you betcha i did! the other few times i threw it out were just for good measure. kinda like an ode to your service. i do not deny nor regret my vocabulary that day because you sir, deserved every word of it. have a blessed day!! read more