Back in August, a pool company that I’ve used in the past was offering $50 off their pool closing fee if I booked early. I accepted the offer and scheduled my pool closing for the week after Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving came and went, and so did the week that my pool was scheduled to be closed.
The closing never happened. Let me recount the series of (unfortunate) events.
Tuesday morning, following Thanksgiving, I called the company to ask which day they would be coming to close the pool. The person answering the phone didn’t have access to the schedule but took my info to have someone from the scheduling department get back to me later that day.
As the morning progessed to afternoon, I remembered getting a text from someone in the company so searched it up, found the contact, and texted them asking about what day to expect them.
No one returned my call or text that day.
Wednesday was a repeat of calls and texts.
With the temperatures getting into the single digits at night, rather than risk this company not coming out to close my pool, I searched on my neighbourhood Facebook group to see if I could find the consensus of my neighbours as the most trusted pool company. Here is what I found.
Diplomat LeisureScapes Pools Spas Hot Tubs
3.7 stars 88 Google reviews
Hot tub store in Pickering, Ontario
Service options: In-store shopping · Curbside pickup · Delivery
Address: 637 Kingston Rd, Pickering, ON L1V 3N7
Hours: 9a.m. ⋅ Closes 5 p.m.
Phone: (905) 839-8399
I put a lot of weight in Google reviews. Anything below 4 stars leads me to the lowest ratings to find out why. Here are a few of the 1 star rating reasons:
- My neighbours were right! they warned me about the diplomat.. (esp the lady who owns it the business!) And my neighbours has owned pools over 20yrs.. Just imagine the REPEAT customers they lost because of bad customer attidude
- Wow talk about bad customer service. Overpriced product and extremely poor customer service.
- The store employees give wrong chemicals to do business and when you come back to talk the owner threats to call police. Stay away from this store. She doesn’t know I work with city and calling police to citizen of this country. Worst store
- “Customer Service is the deciding factor of the success of a business”
- I had multiple bitter experiences in Diplomat Pickering but today’s was the
- Terrible service, push customers to buy chemicals you do not need. Over priced on chemical costs. Owner says i need to buy the pool heater and the salt generator first before they send someone over to qoute me the labour cost for
Looks like poor customer service and upselling from a crotchety owner are the issue with this pool company/store. On to the next listed company.
Bremner Pool And Spa
4.9 – 88 Google reviews
Swimming pool contractor in Pickering, Ontario
Service options: Online estimates
Address: 637 Kingston Rd, Pickering, ON L1V 3N7
Areas served: Toronto and nearby areas
Hours: Open 9 a.m.⋅ Closes 4:30 p.m.
Phone: (905) 831-2498
I’ve used Bremner pool and spa before to buy my pool safety cover and install the safety grommets. They came out on time. They were competitively priced and had great follow-up service when one of the grommets came loose.
The reason I didn’t choose them right away is because they are a little mmore expensive than what other people tell me they pay for closing a pool.
I guess the old adage is true, you get what you pay for. I gladly pay for profesional and conscientious service.
Pool Mates Pool & Hot Tub Inc.
4.6 117 Google reviews
Swimming pool repair service in Toronto, Ontario
Address: 4191 Kingston Rd, Scarborough, ON M1E 2M5
Hours: 9 a.m. ⋅ Closes 5 p.m.
Phone: (416) 282-0999
Lots of reviews and they average well above 4. I gave them a call to see how much they charge because one of the comments was they were a little more expensive than the others but they don’t mind paying for peace of mind after a shit-show with a discount pool closing company.
I was told that the price of closing was $430 plus tax and chemicals. That didn’t sound unreasonable to me, but the fact that they don’t have an all-in price, makes me think it will be over $500 when all is said and done.
Maybe it’s trust issues, but what’s to stop them from simply changing for stuff they didn’t use or didn’t need to use?
4.7 rating from over a hundred people should be strength enough for me to use them, but why would a stray from Bremner who charges about the same price.
Other companies mentioned,
- Snow Pools – a local West Rouge and Centennial pool company that advertises in the Facebook group but has never returned any of my calls – skip
- Some random dude, Shaun, that had a plug because he charged so little to close a pool – skip
Tecum Pools and Spa LTD.
5.0 28 Google reviews
Swimming pool contractor in Toronto, Ontario
Address: 19 Degrey Ct, Scarborough, ON M1G 1N5
Areas served: Toronto and nearby areas
Hours: 9 a.m. ⋅ Closes 5 p.m.
Phone: (416) 990-7665
28 reviews and all of them 5 star? I had to look into them further.
My call went to voicemail. I’m normally put off by voicemails and hang up rather than leave a message, but this one was so pleasant and professional that I felt like I had to leave one.
About a minute after leaving the voicemail, I received a follow-up text:
Hey! Sorry to have missed your call. Please try calling us again nd leaving your name and number and the reason for you call and we can get back to you as soon as possible. Or for a faster response you can also reply via text. Thanks! – Tecum Pools LTD.
This. Is. My. Type. Of. Service. I’m even willing to look past their gammar mistake (…reason for you call…)
Their website was easy to navigate, I just wish they had thei rates listed. Then again, none of the pool company websites had the rates posted.
Other notable Pool companies referred by people living in West Rouge and Centennial:
Rand Pools & Spas Inc.
4.0 57 Google reviews
Swimming pool contractor in Pickering, Ontario
Address: 906 Brock Rd, Pickering, ON L1W 1Z9
Areas served: Toronto and nearby areas
Hours:
Open ⋅ Closes 5 p.m.
Phone: (905) 839-6180
Colonial Pools & Recreation
4.6 68 Google reviews
Swimming pool supply store in Ajax, Ontario
Service options: In-store shopping
Address: 795 Westney Rd S #1, Ajax, ON L1S 3P8
Hours:
Open ⋅ Closes 7 p.m.
Phone: (905) 428-7665
I found that Pool Mates was recommended the most, followed by Bremner Pools and Spa.
In the end, after searching through the recommendations, and discovering so many highly-rated and trust-worthy pool companies, and even though I have used Bremner in the past, knowing I can trust them, Tecum left such an impression with me that I ended up hiring them to take care of my pool closing.
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