Leslie’s Swimming Pool Supplies

When I entered the store, Nick was knowledge and helpful in finding a floater. He gave me a tour of other pool products that I also enjoyed. Andrew was helping a customer with the ph balance of drops and a detailed comprehensive understanding of the knowledge of pool upkeep. I was impressed with both young men representing the compony with great pride in their field. 100% quality and care, stop into the stoor

Poor quality

I’m with David, the previous reviewer. I’ve absolutely had it with Leslie’s.
My husband has called it perfectly — he says Leslie’s is Old School in the worst way. They’re a pain in the neck when it comes to returns, and they don’t back what they sell.
I recently bought an inflatable ring that is supposed to be a solar heater for your pool. It’s just a big pancake-​like thing that you put over the water to help heat it. OK, looks like it might work, but I asked the guy if he’d heard anything about them. «I’ve never had one returned,» he says. Sounds like an endorsement to me.
I bought just one, because I wanted to just heat my hot tub’s water. If I’d wanted to heat the whole blasted pool, I’d had had to buy about ten of those things. At $ 30 a pop, that’s an expensive thing to have, especially if they don’t work — which they don’t.
I’ve been out of town, so I couldn’t return the thing until today. The guy behind the counter says, «Sorry, we can’t take this back. It’s been more than fourteen days since you bought it.»
Really?
What store — that backs what they sell — has a fourteen-​day return policy any longer? If something doesn’t work and you return it in a reasonable amount of time (25 days in this case), a store should take it back, especially a large chain like Leslie’s.
This isn’t my first bad experience with them and returns. I bought two rafts from their Yorba Linda store last summer, and one of them sprung a leak in it the first time we used it. We didn’t jump on it or over-​inflate it – the thing was just junk. However, because it has water spots on it, the guy said, we couldn’t return it. That meant we’d used it! Well, duh! We put it in the water, my son got on it, and within five minutes he’d sunk. How many people fill up rafts, let them sit in a clean and dry place to see if they leak, then return them? Uh, no one.
This tells me that Leslie’s just wants to put something right back on the shelf and resell it even if it’s defective.
Don’t go to Leslie’s. Ever. As David, the previous poster wrote, they like to take advantage of people who are new to pool ownership. Every time I’ve been in there for any other reason, they try to sell me something I don’t need. I, too, bought that Phos-​Free stuff, and it has done nothing for my pool. However, I was able to return that the next day, because I found it on Amazon for much less than Leslie’s $ 99 price.
Stick with the smaller stores — they treat you much better. I prefer Nohl Ranch Pool Supply on Orange-​Olive in Orange. It’s quite a haul to get there, but Louis an Daniel have never steered me wrong, and are honestly happy to come all the way out to my house, even though it’s pretty much out of their area.
(I first went to them because I live off Nohl Ranch and Serrano and thought they were close by. I was wrong. They’re off Lincoln and west of the 55. Still, you go to a pool supply fairly infrequently, so it’s not that big a deal to make a run over there once in a while.)
Nuts to Leslie’s! Go anywhere else but here!

I was going to give them 3 stars but after my experience today, it’s down to 2. Upsell, upsell, upsell!!! Oh, they saw me coming – the new pool owner. As noob, one trusts a business to not rip you off. My first visit was fine enough – a brush, a pole and a leaf net. But when I went back for chemicals as I’d decided to do the weekly service myself, it was «you need this…». «we highly recommend this…» and on and on. I reluctantly bought their suggested «necessities». The most unneeded was Pool Perfect/​Phos Free for $ 99 (on sale – wow!) of unneeded additive. I did some research and I don’t have an phosphate or algae problem and my salt generator/​chlorine isn’t even stabilized yet. I returned it.
Speaking of the return, ‘return’ is an evil word at Leslie Pool. The manager’s face turned to stone and he began with a quizzical «why?» Then, «what are you going to use» and on and on with his suggestive reasoning. I cut him off saying that I just want a hassle-​free return. He had acted like my buddy each time I came in but now he suddenly couldn’t remember my name, or anything about my account profile. The crediting to my CC was cold and unfriendly. I was ignored after that even though I wanted to buy something else.
Since John was ignoring me, a slick-​looking guy in a dress shirt comes up and greets me. He was oblivious to what had just taken place. I told him I just needed some bags of salt. «That’s it?» he asked. I told him yes and he then proceeds to ask how I’m handling this and that on the pool and what I need to buy because «they highly recommend it». He keep going on and on to the point I had to cut him off too with, «I’m tired of you guys with the upselling and suggestive selling every time I come in.» That stunned him. He started in again! I had to cut in and tell him I know that corporate is directing him to do this but he really needs to stop. That too stunned him. He rang me up but then couldn’t help himself and he started to pitch me again! This time, I was nicer and just said, «I’ll keep that in mind». Now, he was nice and carried the 3 bags of salt to my car and thanked me for shopping there. The latter which I won’t be doing soon.
BTW, I found a small, independent pool supply a half block from there that is super nice and didn’t try to sell me anything (Titan Pool and Spa Supply). I want to close with this: each time I visited, why did I see so many Leslie’s customers complaining of green water after they did what Leslie recommended? Perhaps a good way to sell more chemicals?