Aqua Techs Pool & Spa

Another nightmare!   My daughter called this pool company several times on Tues & Thurs and left messages and then sent an email on Saturday for someone to call her back about completing repair work that was never fully completed by this company.  I call for her this morning and left my phone number still no response.   I would not recommend this company to anyone needing pool repair or service.

COMPLETE NIGHTMARE! Our careers required us to relocate to another state, so we moved out of our house and listed it for sale. The backyard is gorgeous and, as a potential major selling point, we wanted to ensure that a sparkling pool awaited all prospective buyers who visited. We found Aqua Techs online and spoke to the owner, Dominic, over the phone. Dominic was a nice guy and he explained that the weekly pool cleaning service would be $45 per visit (comparable to competitors) and would charge up-front for multiple weeks. I went ahead and paid for the first 8 weeks of cleaning at the beginning of May under the agreement that Aqua Techs would clean the pool every Thursday throughout the summer beginning 5/8/2014. This regular Thursday schedule needed to be reliable, as I needed to have the automatic gate opener left for the technician at the property before service and picked up afterward.



The pool is an in-ground fiberglass with a basic rectangular shape and is only 5.5 feet deep at its deepest point. It is very easy to maintain. I did it myself for years with no prior pool experience and with no problems. I understand that leaves and dirt blow in periodically, but weekly vacuuming and brushing along with proper chemical balance should be more than sufficient to address that and prevent algae growth. I am also fairly easy-going and did not have unrealistic expectations by any means--I merely sought a pool with clear water, clean walls, and little debris. I am unsure if the house being vacant and me being out-of-state led Aqua Techs to assume there was no local oversight, but luckily my extended family still resides nearby and made periodic visits to the property to check on it.



My mother visited the property on the Saturday following the first pool cleaning (5/10/2014). She called me asking if the pool service had been hired yet because the pool looked terrible. She texted photos to me which looked like somebody had literally made only two swipes with a vacuum or brush, gave up and left. I forwarded the photos to Dominic seeking explanation. He apologized and said they'd be back out to finish on Sunday (5/11). On Monday (5/12) I contacted him and asked if the pool was finished. I was told it was not and that they'd be back out on Tuesday (5/13) to finish. Despite Dominic's assurances, each time my mother would check on the house she would find the pool dirty or equipment (brushes, etc.) left out on the deck. Dominic told me he ended up firing the employee that had been slacking on my (and other) house(s). I felt bad but was more concerned that for an extended period of time I had a dirty pool which undoubtedly turned-off potential buyers who viewed it.



This kind of back-and-forth continued throughout May and June. Finally on Saturday July 12, 2014, after receiving yet another photo from my mother showing a green, algae-covered pool, I notified Dominic that I wanted to terminate the contract and receive a refund of prepaid fees that had not yet been realized. Dominic apologized and stated he had fired two more employees who had been "slacking off." He said he had sent his "best guy" on the preceding Thursday (July 10th). Why, then, was the pool disgusting if his "best guy" had serviced it? Apparently the pool had been out of chemicals but he didn't know because he "was sick that day" and his "best guy" hadn't yet turned in the paperwork which indicated the chemicals were gone. Plus, the fact that "it had rained turned the pool green that week".



These were obviously empty excuses. First of all, the amount of algae growth indicated the chemicals had been gone for some time--not just that day when Dominic was sick. Secondly, over the two months they had been servicing the pool to that point, Aqua Techs never notified me that the chemicals were depleting or, in fact, gone. This makes little sense on their part; they could have made some extra money as I would have immediately purchased more from them. I can only assume they weren't servicing the pool as contracted or just didn't care. Finally, rain may cause algae growth but not to the extent I saw in the pool when you are vacuuming, brushing, and shocking it weekly. I told Dominic I had lost all confidence in his firm's ability to effectively fulfill the duties for which they had been hired and that I would seek an alternative. He offered me several free weeks of servicing and, after I requested it, a 10% discount on the required chemicals. As I mentioned at the beginning, I'm a pretty reasonable, easy-going guy; I thought maybe he just had a string of bad luck with bad employees. That and the fact that by mid-July other pool companies were not accepting new clients led me to give Aqua Techs one more chance.



As mentioned, I did end up buying the necessary chemicals from Aqua Techs. When they showed up on July 31, they couldn't find the chemicals they themselves had delivered. Dominic asked me where they were. I reminded him that I live out of state, that the house was vacant, and that it would be highly unlikely somebody would have broken in and stolen pool chemicals, therefore I had no idea where they were though I would suspect they remained wherever his employee had left them after delivering them. After spending over $200 on chemicals, it was not confidence-inspiring that they couldn't even keep track of where they had left them at a vacant house.



Unfortunately the house did not sell in the summer (not sure if/how the poor pool appearance affected that), so we decided to rent the house out in August. The tenant had been looking for a nice house with a great yard and, specifically, a pool for their family to enjoy. Soon after they moved in, the pool equipment sprang a leak and Aqua Techs replaced the multi-port valve. I have to hand it to them--they did a great job on the repair! Their repair work--which I believe Dominic did himself--was much different than their weekly cleaning service--the sub-par track record of which persisted for the remainder of the season. As reported by the tenants and the property management company we hired, Aqua Techs would show up sporadically on days other than regular Thursdays, would spend a negligible amount of time cleaning the pool when they did, the pool was often green and dirty, and the company was unresponsive to service requests.



The contract with Aqua Techs was such that the final cleaning for the season would occur on 10/2/2014. We ordinarily shut the pool down for the winter in early October, so this was intentional. In fact, I specifically timed it so that the pool could be winterized one week later on 10/9. I asked Dominic for an estimate on winterizing the pool which he said he would get to me. Given Aqua Techs' dismal track record, this time I had a backup plan--I would schedule to take the day off from work and travel the 8-round trip hours to do it myself if necessary. As expected, I never heard back from Dominic so I cancelled the estimate request and informed him I'd do it myself. He apologized and asked to "let him know if I changed my mind."



I made the trip on 10/10/14. I arrived at the house expecting the pool to be relatively clean, as it had been only a week since Aqua Techs' last (and final) visit. Unsurprisingly, it was overrun with algae. I checked the chlorinator--it was empty and turned off! One might expect that, following the previous out-of-chemicals episode, Aqua Techs would be proactive in notifying me of the situation--one would be wrong. Once again, I had no idea. Apparently the service rep told the tenant there was nothing they could do about the green problem, asked the tenant for Clorox bleach, poured the whole bottle into the

The work has always been top notch.   Dominic and team know their work.  One improvement request would be to communicate more frequently when they will be out next.   Often part of a repair was done and they left without telling us what to expect next.  in many cases, they were waiting for parts.   It would have been nice to let us know so we don't have to chase them down

The only issue that my wife had was that, we had a safety cover put on the pool and she noticed that there was a rip about the size of a quarter in it. So Aqua Techs Pool & Spa came back out and said they would repair the cover for us.