A Affordable Pool & Spa Services

A-​Affordable has worked on my ancient pool for all 12 years I’ve been here (the pool is 35 years old). As expected with an aging piece of property, it has required its share of work over the years — cleaning, heaters, pumps, filters, etc. Although AAffordable may be a bit more expensive than some of the other companies in the area, I have always felt that their work was excellent, their communication solid, and their prices fair. I travel often, so having Daryl come out every week and keep everything sparkling is a huge bonus for my family. He is always friendly and efficient, and takes the time to explain what’s going on if he sees anything out of the norm. We appreciate that…

I was lost in Carrollton last afternoon while trying to meet up with friends when my phone ran out of batteries. I ran into their shop to desperately ask for directions and their employee, Nick, went as far as to print a map and walk me through the directions since I’m not from the area. If the rest of their employees are even half as helpful as he was, they must be a great company.

Owner is a full on shyster. Buyer beware. Note that there are zero false statements or misrepresentations in this review. Hired A-​Affordable to work on a spa a few years back. Owner doubled the hourly rate on the last bill, took two weeks of sporadic work hours to get to where they said they couldn’t do any more. Half of the jets were not getting air, despite them reworking all of the air lines. Ended up having to go to court to resolve. Plenty of other reputable places out there that deserve your business. This is not one of them.
UPDATE: Owner or their rep just called me at my work to inform me that they were going to sue me for this post. Understand that this company seems to rely on a litigious approach which certainly infers quite a bit about how they relate to their customers/​victims and what you can expect if you contract their services and end up in a dispute.
UPDATE #2: In response to the owner’s statement about the small claims case, I ask you, the potential customer, «What would you do if the work was shoddy, not complete, and if the final bill showed an hourly rate TWICE what was billed previously?» You wouldn’t pay and in return would welcome having a court review the matter. In this case, the judge did side with A-​Affordable in that there was a sum owed. However, the judge did reduce the requested amount by 50%, acknowledging that the A-​Affordable had incorrectly inflated the final invoice. Note also that only the final payment to A-​Affordable was withheld. Again, you engage this company’s services, in my opinion, you are taking a HUGE RISK.
To answer the question about why after 9 years i bring this up: Unilocal was not available nine years ago. I saw this company the other day and after seeing that it was under the same ownership, I felt it was my duty to forewarn any potential customers of the pitfalls I experienced in my dealings with, in my opinion, this unscrupulous and incompetent service provider that seems to prefer using strong-​arm tactics, such as litigation, to resolve customer disputes, instead of working with the customer and admitting that sometimes the provider does make mistakes.

I tend to use this place for water testing and chemical purchases only. We used to use them for cleaning service, but they are very disorganized.
We paid for the weekly service but noticed that the person they sent would frequently have a ‘personal issue’ come up that made him unable to show up on the normal day. Often times he wouldn’t let us know of this and would just skip a week. When the person did come, we noticed that he never took actual chemical readings, rather just cleaned the pool up, added chemicals arbitrarily (without checking whether it actually NEEDED them), and left.
At one point the technician left his truck in front of our home for several hours and was nowhere in site… this made my wife very nervous as to where this person was (turns out he went to another job with a colleague for several hoursand just left his truck out front). The tech would often bring his child with him as well (without asking whether we were ok with this), which wasn’t a big deal, but made me very concerned from a liability perspective as to what would happen if that kid drowned or got hurt on my property (since the kid wasn’t covered by a business policy). I also didn’t like that our technician would smoke while working — not a huge deal, but really takes away from the professionalism of the company.
Eventually we decided to dump the ‘service’ since all we were paying for was for someone to arbitrarily dump chemicals in our pool without checking it first. Now we do our own pool cleaning & chemical service which takes 20 minutes /​week and we get much better results.
We decided to give the company another chance by scheduling a pool heater service call (in person) a week in advance. The tech never showed up. I called the company on this, and they said they no longer had availability for me, despite the fact I booked this a week in advance. That was the last time we used them for service.
I will say, however, that their «pool school» was very helpful. As a first time pool owner, we appreciated the time the technician spent with us to learn how to use and operate our pool. I also really like their free water testing, and the cashier /​water tester (can’t remember his name) is incredibly helpful, polite, and professional.
Bottom line — use them for chemical/​supply purchases and water testing only. They need to get their act together on coordinating technicians and service schedules. Once they get the ‘business’ side of the house together, I think they will be one of the best. Until then, we’ll do it ourselves.

If I could give a rating of less than zero, I would. The person I have been working with at this company named John has been the best example of unprofessionalism that I could dream up.
I had received a quote to have re-​surfacing and new tile installed in my pool. We had both confirmed that the project was to start on April 13^th and we had re-​confirmed that date a couple of weeks prior. Come April 13^th and no call from this company. I called John late in the afternoon to discuss the plan and wonder why he had not communicated with me and he said that since it was raining, they could not come drain the pool. I understand that but a call explaining the situation would have been the proper course of action.
Two days later, I receive an email from John stating simply that the person will be out on that day to drain the pool. I emailed back asking for an approximate time and received no response. Late that afternoon, the person arrived and started the process of draining the pool. He had plugged the machine into an outlet that was not working and the unit was not draining. I simply plugged the unit into a working outlet and the pool was drained by the next morning. The next day, on Thursday, the pool person came out to get his equipment and as he was leaving he mentioned that he would call John and let him know that the pool was drained.
I also called John to let him know that the pool was drained and to get an idea for next steps. He said that now that the pool was drained and the plug was pulled, he would have the guys come our to demo the old tile either that afternoon or the next day. He said that part could be done rain or shine now that the «plug» was out of the pool. He also said to just «tape a check» to the back door for one third of the cost of the project and he would come by on Saturday and pick it up. I would not have had an issue doing that but no one showed up either Thursday afternoon or Friday and of course, no one called. No communication.
I was very concerned about the lack of communication as well as the lack of professionalism. I emailed John and advised him that I would be willing to pay for the time of the first pool guy who came out and «drained the pool» even though I am not sure he had pulled then plug since the pool was still holding water from the night rains that had occurred. I also informed him that I was canceling the rest of the project as I had lost all confidence in their ability to complete this job to my satisfaction given their history to this point.
Sunday I received a voicemail from John that was loud and insulting, calling me names and advising that he would be canceling the service and sending me a bill for the first guys time.
Buyer beware with this company. I would not hire them to skim my pool much less make major changes.

I have a 30 year old pool and some pieced together equipment that has been installed throughout those years. I understand that and have become accustomed to having to drop, what is a lot of $$ to me, on the pool every few years. First of all in my experience with the old pond over the last eight years is I have found that most pool service guys are like carnie’s (you know the ones that advertise on Craigslist). They try to do as little work as possible while charging the most they possibly can every time they come to your home. I don’t feel that way with these guys. First off I have a pretty good working knowledge of the pool equipment and if it’s something that I can disconnect myself and bring to them they offer free bench labor at the store which has saved me some money a few times. They are professional and helpful in the store and a few days ago when my multi-​port valve gave out they seemed to understand I was a little low on funds at the time (just had to put in a new A/​C condenser with Air handler to boot) and offered me a ten percent discount as a returning customer. They gave me what I consider a fair deal on parts and labor and the pool runs like a champ now… for a few years more at least. Perhaps a little pricey compared to the carnie’s I mentioned but you get what you pay for.

I went to Leslie Pool for many years and after many attempts and hundreds of dollars they we unable to remove the algae from my pool.
Luckily I found A Affordable Pool and Spa. They came to my rescue and told me exactly what I needed to do as well as explained why I needed to do it. I have the bluest pool now in the neighborhood and would highly recommend Jeff and his team at A Affordable Pool and Spa.
I could not be happier with this team of experts.
Victor

Be cautious with your credit card information here! They misused my credit card number, which was apparently on file and charged it without my authorization. They used the card for another service several months ago and used it when I had already paid by check, which resulted in a double change. Good news– I look over my finances with a fine tooth comb.
Rather than apologize, take ownership for the error or understand my concern for my credit card details being compromised, Tom in finance got nasty and down right rude. Although Tom was able to confirm they were paid twice for one service and crediting my credit card for the unauthorized charge– it was grossly mishandled and no apology provided
Beware of providing your credit card details here.

It just got more amazing…
A Affordable actually made an unauthorized charge on my credit card for the invoice related to this service incident (see my original review below). They had my credit card information from when I was receiving their routine weekly preventive maintenance service for my pool. They were only authorized to charge my card for the cleaning service.
I had even reminded them in my last conversation with them that they the authorization they used to have did not include anything other than the routine service and instructed them to remove all records containing my credit card information. Not only did they ignore my instructions and reminder, they have now added unauthorized credit card charging to their growing list of disgusting business practices.
I am seeking resolution to the original invoice and their unauthorized use of my credit card through avenues available to all of us. But, I at least wanted to warn the public about this company, their abhorrent business practices and the non-​existent integrity and ethics of the couple of individuals running the company.
Please save yourselves from these clowns and seek out a reputable and honest small business instead.
— — — — — — — Original review below:
After a routine weekly pool maintenance service call, A Affordable called and informed me that my pool pump needed repair. Before agreeing to have them perform the work, I asked what the worst-​case scenario would be. I was assured that the most it would cost, and only if I needed a new pump replacement, would be $ 700. Based solely on their worst-​case assurance, I agreed to hire them for the repair. After the repairman arrived, he called to inform me that my pump was «seized» and I needed a complete new pump. He said this will cost me $ 1,250.
When I reminded him of the worst-​case scenario quote I received before authorizing the work, he could not come up with numbers that added up to his $ 1,250 estimate and could not explain the jump in price. The repairman insisted I had no viable alternatives and that the entire pump must be replaced. He said he could rebuild the motor, but it would cost nearly the same and would probably just fail again in short order. Suspicious of the repairman’s intentions and unhappy about the on-​site price hike, I declined any repair work until I could educate myself on this type of problem and my options.
With a small amount of research, I discovered that, short of buying an entirely new pump (complete with the housing, basket, strainer, motor, impeller and diffuser unit as the repairman insisted was required,) I could instead just replace the damaged impeller and the pump motor itself. I purchased the pump motor and impeller kit for $ 330 including shipping. When it arrived two days later, I removed the pump motor, installed the impeller kit on the new pump, and installed the pump. The repair was extremely simple and took exactly 50 minutes to complete.
Curious about the alleged motor failure, I inspected the original motor and observed that a small piece of plastic debris from the failed impeller wedged between the impeller and the pump housing. I removed this debris, supplied power to the motor and discovered that the motor worked perfectly fine.
The vendor billed me approximately $ 100 for the service call. I wrote a letter to the vendor explaining my disappointment and frustration over the improper service and for not honoring the worst-​case estimate provided. The owner, Jeff, called me. His tone was rude and accusatory. He insisted I still owe for the service call and accused me of lying about the original pump’s operable status. He said that unless I allow him to send someone else to my home to prove that the pump does not operate when power is applied, he will not remove the charge on my account. Based on Jeff’s behavior and accusations, I have severed my relationship with his company completey and I absolutely will not grant his employees access to my home in the future.
Here are my specific complaints about the service received:
1) The pre-​sale worst-​case scenario quoted was $ 550 less than what was demanded on site.
2) The repairman only advised me of two options: 1) replace the entire pump, or 2) rebuild the motor. He did not advise me that I could replace just the motor for $ 400-​$ 500 less than buying the entire pump.
3) The repairman incorrectly diagnosed that the motor was bad and instead wanted to charge me $ 1,250 for what should have been a $ 200 service call including parts and labor for an impeller replacement.
4) Presented with all of the exact same information as contained in this complaint, the owner defended his company’s improper sales tactics and accused me of lying about the fact that the old pump still runs.
I strongly advise avoiding this company’s services. There are far too many legitimate small business in the Dallas area that work hard to earn our business through honest business practices.

While I am happy with the repair of my pool pump, I wouldn’t consider them that affordable! For about 45 minutes of work, I paid $ 135 in labor costs. The first half hour of labor is $ 90 and from then on the hourly rate is $ 45 even if it’s only a fraction of an hour. I think I could have found a better deal if I had shopped around a little, but I am glad to have the repair completed and behind me.