Brothers Pool Service

We contracted with Brother's Pool Services in May 2014 to resurface our pool. The reason for pool resurfacing was we had an existing structural crack in the pool wall that we had repaired and we wanted to restore the pool cosmetically. We chose the highest quality and most expensive pool plaster material they offered, "Color Quartz", which came with a warranty. The warranty expressly did NOT cover the area of or around the crack or for any structural cracks whatsoever. Only the integrity of the plaster surfacing was under warranty. A couple of months ago we noticed the structural crack in our pool had reappeared. We contracted with a pool repair company to do more extensive repair on the crack. After we refilled the pool water we noticed some bubbling in the plaster on the corner of our pool steps, not connected to the crack. We called Brother's Pool Service and they sent Jorge out to assess the problem. Upon inspecting the pool he suspected the calcium in the pool had been insufficient, thereby causing the corrosion of the pool surface, so he performed some tests. The tests came back with all chemicals at good levels. He then tested the water coming out of the tap which fills the pool and he said the water coming out of the tap had a calcium deficiency. That calcium deficiency he said was probably the cause of the problem. This is why they always like to restart the pools after they plaster, to make sure the chemicals are perfect, Jorge said. Nevertheless, Jorge said Brother's stands behind their work and the pool was well within it's warranty period, so they would make me an offer of a 50% discount on the original price of replastering. He said the warranty only partially covers pools that have been repaired. I checked my warranty and NOTHING of the sort was included in the language, but all in all I felt Jorge's offer was fair since the pool plaster had already been cosmetically compromised. We agreed to the 50% discount on replaster, and in the meantime Jorge offered to patch the bubbling areas so the issue would not spread. I spoke with our pool man who did the pool restart and he gave me a breakdown of all the chemicals he added to the pool and the levels as tested after restart. He indeed added Calcium upon restart and the level was at 200ppm at restart, well within what's considered the good zone. Our pool has never at any time had a calcium deficiency my pool man said. He said the reason for the bubbling on steps was not calcium lack, it was from poor install --"spalling". I looked up spalling and got this: "Spalling is the flaking or peeling of a thin layer (1/8 inch or less) of plaster, usually in small areas on steps and shallow end floors. [This is exactly our issue.] It is caused by the over-troweling of the surface when the underlying paste is wet but the surface cement laitance is dry. Spalling may occur immediately, or years later when the pool is drained, etc. [exactly like ours] Spalls may be sanded, although the pool may need to be replastered if large areas have spalled." I didn't know who to believe, Brother's was blaming the tap water and improper restart. My pool man was sure it was spalling, which sounded more likely given the circumstances and the description of this issue matching exactly the issue we were having. Either way, Jorge's offer stilled seemed decent to me. The day after his visit, Jorge contacted me to tell me that he had spoken to his brothers and that actually his brothers would not allow him to honor his offer of 50% off for replaster. All he could do was the patch. The night before he came to do the patch he informed me (only after I asked) that he would not be able to do the pool restart. Since the restart was the reason he offered for why the pool plaster was chipping off in the first place, and since he stated that they always liked to do the pool restart when they work on pools, it made no sense that he was not including this step in his repair. At this point the whole thing really fell apart. Jorge did the repair and then began refilling the pool. I told him I wasn't able to schedule anybody to restart pool with proper chemicals and he told me it was better to refill the pool than to leave it empty. But I said, "you (I pointed at him) were the one who said the water we use to refill pool was the cause of the problem, so why would you be refilling it without proper chemicals or without coordinating with me for someone else to restart pool." That's when Jorge lost it - puffed out his chest and charged up in my face with crazy eyes and told me not to point at him. I said in disbelief "now you're threatening me?", to which he kind of gathered himself and backed off. He then grabbed his stuff and charged at me forcing me to clear the narrow path on the edge of our empty pool so he could leave. NOT RECOMMENDED!!!

Jorge is an excellent representative, always willing to take the time to explain the nature of a job and why they are giving a specific recommendation. No high pressure sales tactics or pushiness. So far very happy with the service provided by the office staff and service team. Weekly pool service quotes were less than many companies in the area. Pool repair quote was slightly more expensive but we liked how they proposed to complete the work and had them do it.

Simply put...Brother's is the best! Jorge is nice, articulate and very knowledgeable. They did everything they said they would do on-time and on budget. They cleaned up after themselves and were very respectful of my property. The job took less time than they originally quoted and the results were amazing.This is a very professional business that I would refer to anyone!