NEPTUNE SWIMMING POOL COMPANY

Neptune built my swimming pool 20+ years ago and did a great job. Sadly, it's not the same company today as it was then. After a couple of poor service visits in the mid-2000's I quit using them for service/repair work but decided to give them another try this fall. Big mistake! Neptune overcharges for parts; does not give estimates for repairs, and does shoddy work. I contacted Neptune in October over a leaking vacuum breaker and a hard to turn multiport valve. At the time, I sent them pictures showing the leak to make sure they had the replacement part and Neptune's service manager, Matt, responded saying the technician would bring the part. However, when the technician arrived he said he'd never seen the email and did not have the part. He replaced the multiport valve and was on site less than 35 minutes. After he left I checked the replaced multiport valve and it was leaking in two places where the technician had overtightened the screws and cracked the plastic. When he returned with the vacuum breaker he reinstalled the multiport valve using a spare I was going to return to Amazon (for a $60 credit). After I complained about the two-hour service charge, Neptune cut it to one hour, but did not offer to pay for the valve their technician had cracked. But, things got even worse after that. Neptune invoiced me for $291 for the vacuum breaker valve part, which included their standard 20% markup. That seemed like a lot for such a simple part so I checked the part number on Amazon I found the identical item selling for $59.95 w/free shipping in less than 30 seconds. When I complained to Neptune's service manager that a 400% markup seemed excessive, his response was "No one can compete with Amazon prices so using that example is a moot point to me." If he knows Amazon prices are so much lower one can only wonder why they don't buy from Amazon in the first place unless it's to over-inflate their 20% part mark up. The bottom line is that if you want good quality work done at a fair price you'll want to look somewhere besides Neptune for your pool needs.

I called to set all of this in motion in February. They came out, drained the pool, drilled holes in the pool to keep it from popping out of the ground, then left the wooden forms in the pool for months. The water kept getting deeper and dirtier, but their excuse was they couldn't do anything until the new cement was in (I replaced the deck). The cement company was waiting on the pool company, as they had to know the tile size and thickness. Neptune  never came back to check on the pool, knowing that the groundwater level was high here, and so the pool just became a cesspool. My beautiful pool that had just the one blemish in it now looks terrible. There are rust marks all over the pool, and dirt stains that will not come out. The patch that they put on the Baja bench looks like it was done by a preschooler, and does not match the rest of the gunnite. I had suggested to Chad (the person I had to deal with at Neptune) that they might use tiles in the area that was being patched. I meant install tiles to cover the patched area. They put 3 fish tiles in the gunnite, and they only serve to draw attention to the sloppy patching.

When Chad realized that he hadn't gotten my ok on any tiles, he dropped off a booklet and told me to chose. I did. No. That tile is more expensive than what he had quoted me an allowance for. Same with 2nd choice. And 3rd. So I decided to go ahead with the first choice and pay the difference. No, they weren't in stock and would not arrive until mid May. That was a long time to wait, so I finally found a tile that would work. So, the pool didn't get finished until mid June anyway, and as I have stated, it looks nasty.

The cover is fine. The pump and heater working better than before they fixed them, so I will give them that. Chad said they could hydrolyze the pool this Fall, but I would have to pay for it, and I am not sure that would get the stains out, as I can find no information on it.

I am very disappointed in Neptune, and especially Chad and his passing off of the responsibility for things going wrong, and not correcting problems in a timely or effective manner.

I have no wish to ever work with Chad again.