Murphy's Pools & Spas

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Based on a recommendation from a co-worker I called and left a message to have someone come and give an estimate for pool repairs. I did not get a call back so I called a few days later. They did finally return my call apologizing that they lost the sticky note with my number on it. They said they would have someone come out today but that no one had to be home. I explained I had dogs and asked what time they would be able to come give the estimate. They could not give me a time but said they would call. Well, I was home all day and no one came or called to let me know they weren't coming. I guess customer service or their reputation is not going to change. Definitely not using them if they ever do call or come.

After interviewing several pool companies and receiving quotes, we chose Murphy's to re-plaster our pool, convert it to salt water, install a Polaris system, balance the chemicals and replace the pool light. After the job was finished, the pool was leaking. When Murphy's was unable to locate the leak, we had to hire a leak detection company. For some reason, when the pool was being re-plastered, the plaster pulled away from the tile causing the leak. So on top of the initial quote, we had to pay the leak detection company and then we had to pay to fix the leak. That was only the beginning of the problems. At the time we were receiving the quote, Kevin, the owner, told us not to get a salt water system and tried to sell us a Nature 2 System. After making several phone calls to pool owners and supply stores, we decided to go with the salt water system. We paid Murphy's to balance the chemicals after the work was done. They say they came out once to do so. Less than two months later, we noticed a brown staining on the bottom of the pool and the plaster was very rough. Murphy's told us that the staining was because of metals in the water and the roughness was because we had decided to go with a salt water system (and that all salt water pools had this problem). We took samples of the pool water as well as fresh tap water to Leslie's Pool Supply and were told that our water does not contain high amounts of metals and that it is not metals that stain the pool plaster. They also said the balance of our water was fine. After telling this to Murphy's, they came back, drained the water, and told us they acid washed the plaster to get rid of the stains and the roughness. They also assured us this would not shorten the life of the plaster. It was already Fall at this point so we weren't able toget in the pool to see if the plaster was still rough, but the staining was gone. We refilled the pool (another $300 water bill) and balanced it ourselves (Murphy's refused to do this without charging $450) by taking water samples in to Leslie's and following their instructions. Because ofthe Fall and Winter, we had not been swimming but continued the maintenance. In April, we noted a very rough look to the plaster as well as nodules on the sides and bottom of the pool. We hired another pool service company to come look at the problem and to begin weekly care and maintenance on our pool. The pool maintenance person said the chemicals were fine and compared the feel of the plaster to 20 year old plaster. The pool maintenance person said it looked like bad plaster was used. (He also noted that the booster pump to the Polaris was installed incorrectly). We contacted Murphy's and told them about the problems. The owner, Kevin, said he looked over our fence and agreed the booster pump was incorrectly installed (guess he didn't bother to check it a year early after it was installed, and we never would have known had we not gotten a second opinion). Regarding the plaster, he said that he was not even going to look at it because he already knew the problem (it was because we had a salt water system he claimed) and he was not going to do anything about it. He was very rude and abrupt. He said he had a PhD in swimming pools when we told him we had gotten a second opinion. He also claimed that we signed some sort of waiver which we later confirmed was not true. We had yet another pool company come out and they said the plaster looked like it was 10 years old and that it needed to be re-done. This company said that the plaster should not have been acid washed, that cheap plaster was used, and this was the source of the problems. So basically we paid money to Murphy's for a plaster job that was not done correctly. Murphy's eventually corrected the booster pump but not when Kevin said he would. He would tell us he was coming on a Monday, so we would leave the gate unlocked but he wouldn't show up. When we would call, he would say he tried to come on Wednesday but the gate was locked (it was locked because he was supposed to come on Monday, not Wednesday). What we thought would be a simple re-plaster job has turned into a year-long nightmare, costing us much more money than anticipated to fix the problems cause by Murphy's.

They did a great job though it took longer than expected. Everyone showed up on time and came back to fix things that needed work. They were very competitive with the price as well. Overall they did a very good job and were well worth the price.