Crystal Pools Inc

We purchased a hot tub from Crystal Pools and after 5 years the heater stopped working. When I called to have someone come to my home I was told that they would have the part covered because the warranty had just expired. I didn’t ask about this , they offered this. The service technician came to my home and told me the exact same thing prior to replacing the part. I believe they did this so I wouldn’t check with other companies on the repair. Then they sent me a bill for parts and labor, much more expensive than other companies charge. I called, emailed and now they are sorry for the confusion. Stay away from this company they are not trust worthy!

Crystal pools is horrible. Andrew is a liar, Don Bell is a lazy good for nothing. It took a month to write up the permit paperwork. And 4 months later only 2 days of work. The grading of the yard is wrong, rework needs done and now they are going to close for the winter and leave a hole in my yard until spring. I have been lied to on a weekly basis and blame the weather even though weeks of sunshine, no one shows up. Several people have told me anout the same issues. The only thing they were prompt with was collecting the money. Horrible!! Horrible!! Horrible!! Promises made, promises broken!

There was miss communication and half of the job was completed. We aimed to have our pool opened for a family event, but they came too late. He is requesting that we pay the full amount for half the work and total of about 30 minutes of being at our property. I think the manager should consider the whole picture, not just that he expects that we pay him for what SHOULD have been done. He did not take responsibility for the lack of service. After a calm conversation with him, he told me that we should take our business elsewhere. We have since removed our pool, and do not need a pool company again. But, for those new with pools, I would also recommend going elsewhere.

Not well. There was miss communication and less than half of the job was completed. We aimed to have our pool opened for a family event, but they came too late after guaranteeing to come back early enough for the pool to open. This did not happen. The manager is requesting that we pay the full amount for less than half the work and total of about 30 minutes of being at our property. I think the manager should consider the whole picture and not expect payment for what services SHOULD have been provided. He did not take responsibility for the lack of service or miss communication. Crystal Pools, Inc. does not work well with new pool owners. After a calm conversation with him, he told me that we should take our business elsewhere. I would agree. I would also recommend for those who are new with pools to take your business elsewhere. Lastly, as a customer, I expect that most companies with good reputations would have come to a compromise that is agreeable to all parties. In the future, this manager should consider this if he wants to keep costumers coming back.

My bad for not insisting on a price because when I received the bill that one refurbished part was 413.50....a 50% discount according to the service manager. A quick Google search for the same part (new) was $515.40. So the 50% discount was total BS and when I pointed out the huge disparity in price it totally fell on deaf ears. As a result they have lost me as a customer.

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The salesman was able to give us a deal on a in stock spa, they service manager came out pre install to make sure everything was ready. Delivery day came and they installed and started the spa up, they were all great. We did have a Spa issue a few weeks in. Service came out and worked on the spa, always the next business day. It did take 2 visits to find and fix an issue with the electronics but in the end they replaced a bunch of parts to make sure an intermittent problem was solved. No cost to me at all, warranty covered the service,parts and even the guy coming back to show us why we had a leak (overflow line). The service guys even cleaned our filters on each visit!

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When we returned to Crystal Pools to purchase our hot tub after making our decision to go with them, our salesman was not at that location.   As the purchase was being written up, Bob was communicating with Mike at their other location and everything went smoothly.  They really worked with us in nailing down the price..  There are things they include in the purchase of a hot tub like steps, cover, chemicals, and cover lift.

In two weeks, we had our beautiful Jacuzzi hot tub completely installed, filled and were enjoying it the same day it was installed.   Crystal Pools directed us to an excellent electrician who was very competent and efficient.  He came out the same week we called him.  

The delivery / installation team arrived the morning of our install on time and really knew what they were doing.  There were five men who placed the hot tub, and then two who stayed to connect it and instruct me.   They all were very careful, friendly, kind and informative. 

They neglected to mention that the existing gas line and electric service would be insufficient for the new heater so I had to spend extra $$$ (30% of heater cost!) to get it operational. When the heater was installed and didn't work the service people laughed and told me that I "should have read the manual" and known that the gas and electric would need an upgrade. Next I called the owner who told me that they wouldn't do anything to help me with the cost of the upgrades and that I should just shut up and pay them for the heater. His exact words were "that isn't going to happen" and "we have thousands of customers." I was willing to be flexible but his attitude was harsh and condescending.

So I went to a local magistrate who heard all of the evidence and ruled in my favor and gave me a judgment against them under the consumer protection law of PA. Clearly the unfairness of what they did is not just my opinion.

They bottom line... they were fine for years of service (new pool covers etc.) when there was no dispute but as soon as there was trouble there was not even the slightest acknowledgement of my concerns. Go ahead and use them if you are sure that you will never have a dispute, but if things go wrong don't say you weren't warned.

The techs that came to the house were very professional and helpful. However, they were at our house for less than 10 minutes. He called me at work to tell me what the issue was.  I received a bill for $100.  When I called to ask why the charge was so high, the person I spoke to was rude and said that that was their policy.  Any portion of an hour is $100.  First of all, none of that was disclosed to me, had it been, I would accepted the charge and paid it. ( and gotten another 50 minutes of work out them) I asked to speak to the service manager, and was told he was on vacation and would not be back for two weeks. Fine, I can wait.  Asked that he please return my call.  I have heard nothing from them.  I don't appreciate the lack of courtesy and professionalism when trying to deal with a complaint.  I feel the techs were knowledgeable and friendly, however I will not spend money at a company that does not have the decency to return calls.  Prior to being this irritated with them, I attempted to schedule a pool closing. I they were booked until the end of Oct.  Again, the person in the service dept, was extremely rude and snotty, informing me that I should have called earlier since they have several hundred pools to close.  They don't have to worry about mine!

The salesmen got me the best deal possible. He made suggestions as to our needs. Installation went smoothly.

Yes, I shopped around locally comparing both price and quality. Crystal Pools definitely had the best combination of both, and the delivery/service crew was first rate.
Karl, our salesperson was knowledgeable and guided us through the process without pressure or hype. We went with a Hot Springs spa and are quite happy with the decision a week later.
Fred and his crew were right on time with the delivery, and everything was completed in a professional manner.
I would definitely do it all again and highly recommend Crystal Pools.

I called about our pool pump which had broken last fall right before we closed the pool for the winter. They went over my options for different pumps if we wanted a new one and when I indicated that we just wanted the one we had fixed, they suggested the most cost effective way to do it. The service was quick and professional and easily worth the money.

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I was very dissatisfied with the service provided.  I was overcharged for the services and have offered to pay for the services rendered, but not more than what I was given.  The man working on the pool, for example, needed to cut and re-cut pieces of PVC to fit my system.  I was charged for all the pieces of PVC, even the ones he cut incorrectly.  If I wanted to guess, I could have done that myself.  I was, of course, charged for the time it took him to place each piece of PVC, determine that it did not fit and then cut another piece.  The whole experience was very unprofessional.   I wrote a letter to the collections agency that now calls me to collect, explaining the situation and offering to pay for only what I received.  Crystal Pools refused the offer.  I understand that these large pool companies have a lot of work and I guess it is more important to collect what they charge than to work with a customer willing to pay what is fair.  I now have a small pool service company that I am very happy with.

They were punctual. performed the work quickly, and cleaned up afterwards

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Shut down the pool. Went off without a hitch!!! Very professional and experienced!

The workers doing lining were very friendly and professional.Very good job. But a manager back at office was not customer focus at all. The solar cover was to short did not cover steps. The company had measurements from there own people but the manager would not work with me on the the problem.After spending over 4000 dollars you would think he would help me over a 100 dollar solar cover.I will never deal with them again.

The dig started in very late June. 9 days later we swimming in a gorgeous pool. Crystal recommended added vendors to supply additional services. These too delivered as promised. All Crystal construction personnel were very competent, worked hard, were courteous and neat.

UPDATE: 8-1-13:
All issues with Crystal Pools in the matter stated below have now been handled very satisfactorily. One of the owners found out about my complaint and was instrumental in making me feel like a wanted customer again. She went beyond my expectations and was truely apologetic for our treatment and inconvience. NOTE: she never saw the review below as it posted AFTER she worked with me so her actions were not driven by it. I will continue to do business with Crystal Pools on the strength of her convictions as a conscientious business owner!


PREVIOUS REVIEW 7-31-13:
I have to start by saying the crew on the job very very nice and explained all they were doing; as far as I can tell the installation was done correctly and the final result looks and performs as expected. Forgive the length of my written issue.
My problem is actually with the pool service and installation manager at this particular branch. His professionalism and integrity in dealing with customer concerns and compliants is wanting to say the least. We had Crystal draw up a proposal. Receiving it and other estimates from competitors we asked if they could more closely match lower prices that were offered by others. Crystal is the company that had orginally intalled the pool and had been servcing it (opening, closing, minor adjustments)  for years so using them was preferable to and "outside" company. The manager in question said nothing could be done and had me negotiating on the phone for over an hour to no avail. A second call that same day (and another 30 minutes of barttering) netted me a "deal" - a 15% discount on the cost of the liner. Sounds great, right? However, in between my two calls, my girlfried contacted Crystal . She wasnt aware that I had already placed the first call to them.
She spoke to an assistant manager and was immediately told that she had good news; the liner we were quoted had gone on sale a couple of weeks before! You guessed it...15% off. So the first question is why was I made to beg for a discount that was actually availbale to everyone as if it he was doing me a great favor and never mentioning the sale??
Additionally, when I found out I did all that work for nothing I decided to asked for some additional service at a discount. 5 dive base bolts to be cut out of the concrete and replaced with new ones at a cost of $50.00.this was supposedly a reduction for the regular cost and I was somewhat satisied.  It was added to the proposal as "core bit and replace dive botls...$50.00. The rest of the proposal was fairly spelled out (or so I thought) pointing out how many gallons of water they would supply, the type of restoration work they would do on the walls and floor and what could be potentially extra charges if found to be sub par like the plumbing or coping, etc.
We decided to go with Crystal even though I still had some misgivings about the attempted deception..
When the work was completed I notiiced that only TWO dive bolts were relplaced. I decided to wait for the final bill to see what I would be charged for.
Well, I was charged the full $50 plus sundry other charges for eyebolts, screws and washers that I was neither informed about nor agreed to. I admit all these extra charges added up to only about $100  but when you think all is included except what is explicitly stated on the agreement confusion is the reaction.
I called the manager in question to ask why I'm still being charged $50 for the two bolts replaced when 5 was the agreement? His responce was that two were all that needed changing and suddenly he couldnt remember our previous deal...I quote "I should have charged you $165.00 but you got a good deal; besides it doesnt say to replace 5 on the quote. Only to replace the dive bolts. I talk with so many people I can't remember everything that was said"  The other charges were for things that he said "legally" had to be done. I asked about those and why they weren't included in the quote that covers the install and was my final price since he knew it would be "legally" required and he had no answer - just that it had to be done. 
So I asked for a reduction in the cost of the dive bolt R/R since not all the work was done. I was only looking for a small reduction in the name of fairness and principal. He replied with the same line about he should have charged more and I should be happy with deal and the extra charges since he didn't think it was much. I know it may seem petty but I'm also in business dealing with customers. A deal is a deal and it's the providers responsibilty to honor it; not change it later because he thought he should get more for less or he could cut coners to save money for themselve.The symbolic handshake on the deal is the pricipal good managers live by to make sure their customers remain happy.
Already long story short....make sure you get EVERY bit of what was discussed or what is expected in writing to your satisfaction before working with this location. My dissatisfaction is not with the actual work but just with how I was treated and made to feel second to the dollar. All I ask is to be informed so that I, as the customer, understand and feel part of the decision making as to how my hard earned dollars are spent and stand by that.
Unfortunately, they may lose a customer over such a small monetary amount but what feels like a large slight.

They were schedule for Friday and did not show up til Tuesday of the following week, without any call. They did not seem any more experienced then me and after 15 minutes stated "We have no idea, no way to fix it, I know where you can buy a new one" , Not happy with the overall experience.

For the servicing, they came several times while we were away to check the chemicals and make sure the pool was staying clean.  We supplied the materials, they just supplied the service techs.  Pool was in good shape when we got back.
For the pool heater, we have had to have them out various times because of leaks or it not firing.  They are always prompt and get it going again.  Once I called early on a Saturday not expecting to actually get anyone and the service tech was here in a couple of hours.  Heater is at the point of needing replacement now though.
For Pump, told me it needed to be repaired which I agreed to. However, the tech later decided it needed to be replaced and didn't convey that to me so when I found out that they had done that, I was very upset because I would have wanted to get an estimate from elsewhere just to be sure.  When I called in to say that I didn't agree to a new pump, they took off the labor charges and only charged me for the actual unit.  I was satisfied with that solution.
For Pool Lamp, it kept coming out of the wall.  Apparently a small piece had broken off.  It is in a spot where it is just low enough that you can't really work on it unless you are in the pool and that is in the deep end so it gets difficult.  Tech was here for something else and we asked him about it.  He basically got himself completely wet but fixed the issue with a special clip.  
For Major cleaning, bought the house and the pool hadn't been touched in the better part of a year.  It looked like a swamp...there were actually frogs living in it!  They helped us balance the water and came out with a giant pump to remove the debris.  Saved us a ton of labor and we learned a lot. 
Pool Bot regularly needs maintenance and charges are always very reasonable. Once it went in and apparently the problem was that a stick was jammed in the housing.  They did not charge me anything which they could have because I would never have known the difference.  
Overall, satisfied with their services, but we have had them price a safety cover and a new heater and those items were too expensive so we opted for other providers (bought equipment and did it ourselves or subcontracted labor).