Brookside Pool Service

Everything could not have gone better. Weather prevented him from coming out the first time, but they proactively called me to reschedule. He had the right part on the truck, and went straight to the problem. I will be using them for all of my service needs going forward.

Called on the Thursday before the July 4 weekend, was told no one could come out until the following Thursday which is totally understandable ) on that Thurs. we called because someone had called and left Us a message inquiring about our original call for service . When we call back we were told no one was scheduled to come out on that day . After some miscommunication the owner himself came out and replace the part on the motherboard. Very nice work was done quickly . We were referred to this company by our home warranty company .

They did a phosphate treatment and left staining on the bottom of the pool and made a million excuses as to why they could not come & fix it. i know it was caused by the phosphate treatment and i know it can be fixed b/c the pool company i had previously hired had done the same exact thing and they were able to easily remove the stains. i chose not to continue to work with them b/c they did not seem like they knew how to service a saltwater pool. brookside said we need to sandblast it and the water is too cold (this was several months) etc. he looked very puzzled as to how the stains got there and how to remove them! they also replaced the pump motor and it went out after 2 years and was only covered by a 1 year warranty so i had to pay them to install another pump and i make sure i always maintain my water levels. i hired them b/c they were the warranty company for anthony & sylvan pools so i thought they knew what they were doing but they don't. they charge a high rate for monthly service ($188) and find things wrong to charge you extra for every month and my pool is only about 12 years old. i tried to let anthony & sylvan pools know about this but they don't want to be bothered. i wouldn't recommend an anthony & sylvan pool either =(

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I absolutely hate giving negative feedback because I own a company as well. I appreciate when people take the time to post their experiences so I want to do my part.
I have worked with Brookside for about five years. They have all ways done ad hoc work for me nothing on a weekly basis. I have at times had difficulties getting on their schedule because I am not on a weekly schedule and I believe I am a bit out of their normal geographic service area. I understood this but I am letting you know. My latest experience was with a new technician.
My chief complaint is that the gentleman cleaned out the spa and the trough after he cleaned the pool filters. The mechanism he used fed the debris from both into the filters again. When I do this I use a cartridge that filters the debris before the main filters.
Both the spa and the trough were very dirty. This of course really burdened the cartridges. To their credit they cleaned the filters again at no extra charge. Neither cleaning seemed very effective and I had to replace the filters a couple of days later.
I had purchased on my own extra muratic acid for him to use and made a large trash can available for him to use. He did not use either. Of course he probably had everything he needed. I will note that the cartridges were about 4 months old. I would also note that my pool gets much more debris and silt in it than most pools. That being said I don't think the cartridges could recover from the spa, trough debris.
I was charged more than what he and I agreed to for the trough. He should have communicated with me that it was going to be more. I was not bothered by the eventual price but I should have been told what it was. I was not pleased by the condition of the trough when he finished. Mind you it was very messed up. Still i was charged double a spa cleaning it should have looked better.
Accept for not communicating with me and failing to take care of the cartridges he was pleasant and professional. I did feel like he was distracted at least when he was cleaning out the trough as he was on his cell phone. That being said, perhaps he was talking to the company and getting advice. Talking on a cell phone is not a big problem in general but missing the whole debris issue is. He should have declined cleaning the trough or asked me to speak with the company directly if he had any reservations. I did not watch the process the whole time. I only came out just after the tough was cleaned. That is when I noticed nothing had been done to filter the debris.
I feel like a gave Brookside an opportunity to make me happy as a customer. I do not like to be unpleasant and make a big scene on the phone but I did tell them I had bad feelings and that I did not feel I had a go to pool company anymore. It would not have taken much for me to feel good about them but they didn't seem to be that engaged. I'm pretty easy going but I like to feel like I am being taken care of. Being contrite and empathetic goes a long way for me in customer service. I don't think my business is that important to them. Mistakes happen all the time. The bigger deal, at least to me, is what happens after a mistake.
I hope you find this review useful.

There are a lot of fly by night pool companies out there. Brookside is family owned and they do a good jub, honest and trustworthy and I will continue using them.

Mr. Brooks, the owner, came out to my personally to troubleshoot the problems I was having with my pool equipment. Specifically my Polaris. After an hour, he uncovered all the problems associated with my system and why my polaris was not working properly. He saved me a lot of money, as I was going to replace my entire pool cleaning system, when all I needed to do was to clean my DE filter, tighten and replace a few inexpensive fittings and a small section of polaris hose---he did not charge me for the hose.

I used Brookside for a little over 2 years to clean my pool and maintain the chemistry on a weekly basis. The owner came out, impressed me with his obvious expertise and I signed based on that and the Angieslist rating. Our pool technician was a very affable guy, but did not appear very knowledgeable nor focused. The times we saw, or rather heard him, he was chatting non-stop on his cellphone while working, and about once a month we'd find a strainer bucket left out by the pool, chemicals that he had forgotten to take with him, and a couple of times chlorine tablets that he had left on the patio - forgetting to put them in the chlorinator. About a dozen times during the 2 year period he missed his weekly visit entirely and we had to call to get him to come out. Things really became progressively worse over the last 8 months. Three times we came home to find the pool 40% discolored or covered with algae as a result of him missing his appt or improper maintenance. Rick, their specialist came and said that the amount of chlorine added to the pool needed to be increased and then a few months later so much chlorine had been added by the technician that an acid condition developed. Rick came out again and said he would address the problem, but the technician did not seem to communicate with them as the problems persisted, and the technician actually asked me if I wanted chlorine to be added. I didn't have a clue and had no idea why he had asked my opinion. A couple weeks later the technician had not shown up once again so I called the office and spoke with Geri, who first assured me that he had been to my property, even though there was a batch of debris on the bottom of the pool that hadn't moved in over a week. Then she said she'd would have to get a new technician because he was causing too many problems. And then an hour later she called me back to say that he'd be out again the following week. At this time I reminded her of all the hassles we had experienced over the last 2 years and asked if she could have someone come out to treat the pool before then. She gave me an emphatic no and then suggested that she wasn't interested in having me as a client. Fair enough. I might recommend them for specific repairs if it involves the principals. Not to a sub-contracted technician.
I am adding a postscript, after having read the response of Geri Brooks, the owner. I have never and quot;talked down or cursedand quot; their pool cleaner, nor to anyone else for that matter. I am a retired businessman who knows nothing about pool chemistry. I have never and quot;insistedand quot; that the pool be dealt with in a certain way. I only contacted their office when we would come back from a trip and find 30% of the pool covered with large algae-looking stains, or when we would want to use the pool on some weekend and the pool contained a mess of debris and organic discolorations because the technician had not shown up for two weeks. It is offensive for a company to try to dissemble their incompetence by slandering a former client. Rather than waste my time or the time of potential Angieslist customers with an elaborate post mortem analysis, let me just note these two facts: I have owned this pool for over fifteen years and Brookside is only the second company I had hired up till that time, so it should be obvious that I am accustomed to long term professional relationships. And the new company we hired to replace Brookside, in only 3 weeks, has adjusted the pool chemistry to perfect conditions, something that Brookside was unable to accomplish in as many months. Caveat Emptor.

I didn't act on it because the timing wasn't right. I was just looking on Angie's List for a company that was nearby and had favorable reviews. They cam quite promptly and it was very good.

Ontime and did a good job. No problems whatsoever.

I have been very pleased with them. They are honest and always done what they said they will do. It is helpful to call ahead of time because they can get busy.

They clean the pool and perform chemical treatments. I pay them on a monthly basis.

Very easy to work with. There was a problem with the first light they purchased which was handled promptly and professionally.

Chose Brookside Spa due to listing and reports on Angie's List. I have had major problems in past trying to find people/organizations competent in major repair/maintenance of spas. Rick Brooks came out and was initially kind of skeptical of whether this was a project that his company could do (they specialize in below ground spas and mine was a above ground spa). One of the reasons I decide to go with them was that Rick had, on the tip of his tongue, answers to how to find quickly a replacement spa cover that had eluded my search effort for months. After discussion, they agreed to take on. We both understood this was a major project. I asked him to go ahead with a cost limit of $2000 (which we thought would be very high) to complete project. A project that we thought would take a week to complete took approximately a month to completely finish satisfactory with everything working as required. Most problems encountered were electrical in nature.

They initially forgot to call me back on the scheduling, then pool person didn't show up on the day of the appointment without a call. Had to reschedule. When pool person came they did a great job. Pool looks great.

They did the work as promised and it turned out great. The plaster on the pool looks brand new. My only complaint is that they don't communicate very well on the timing of the work. For both the estimate and the scheduled work dates, they did not show up. I had to call them both times to ask why they didn't show. They eventually did fit me in the schedule to do the work.

EXCELLENT. Rick came out when he said he would and accurately estimated the work to be done. After getting two other estimates (both higher) I call Brookside back. They came out the next day with the parts they needed and a two man crew. They performed the work perfectly and professionally. They carried the cost of the pump on warranted even thought they had not originally installed it. They improved the plumbing (hydraulics) significantly for little or no cost. We now have a clean clear and warm pool and spa.

Responded quickly. Came out next day, checked to make sure it was motor and not a less costly problem. Brought the motor the next day, installed it. Charged price quoted.

Called from the list and got a technician to come out very next day. Rick was prompt and extremely helpful. Only replaced what needed fixing. Extremely reasonable for labor charges. Explained what he was doing each step of the way. Explained why we were having problems and what the former service company had not done. I'm extremely pleased.

PROMPT, COURTEOUS, HONEST SERVICE. SHOWED ME EXACTLY WHAT WAS WRONG, EXPLAINED WHAT HAD TO BE DONE TO FIX IT. WHEN REPLACING THE WIRING, SHOWED ME WHAT WAS TAKEN OUT, WHAT WAS REPLACED, AND HOW THAT FIXED THE PROBLEM. SHORTING WIRES COULD NOT BE PURCHASED SEPARATELY; WERE SOLD IN PACK WITH ALL OTHER WIRING. GAVE ME THE PACK WITH ALL OTHER WIRING. I RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY. I WILL DEFINITELY USE THEM AGAIN.

THIS IS A WEEKLY POOL CLEANING SERVICE. THEY ARE REASONABLY PRICED. THE SERVICE ALSO INCLUDES ALL POOL CHEMICALS. THE SERVICE IS PERFORMED EVERY MONDAY. THERE HAS RARELY BEEN AN INTERRUPTION IN SERVICE.