Very Nice Pools

I have no idea why anyone would give under 5 stars for this service. Paul, and his team are top notch with great quality, detailed workmanship and prompt follow-​up. I will use them for life.

First and foremost, this company is the worst company I’ve ever come across in my life. Not just for pool services, but overall it is legitimately the most horrible company I have ever worked with. Secondly, the owner, Paul, is scum and a crook. He took advantage of my family and charged us for services we did not ask for when we were busy spending time with our dying father… you can’t get much lower than that. If you want a respectable service to attend to your pool, stay away from this place. There’s a reason most of these Unilocal reviews say similar things and have one star reviews. If I could give zero stars I would. It’s appalling they’re still around. I’ve never written a review, and specifically made an account to write this one because I felt so strongly that people should know this company will scam you and treat you terribly.

Worst pool company ever! I had a terrible experience with this shady, unprofessional, and unethical company. A service technician repaired a leaking pipe from my solar panel on my roof and ended up falling off my roof. Had to call 911 to help this poor man. Fortunately, this technician is doing fine but unfortunately for me, when he fell he caused damage to my roof. Paul came by and said he would fix it. After one phone call the next day, Paul ignored my phone calls and emails. He wouldn’t tell me if he was going to fix my roof… nothing. Rain was coming and my roof was still damaged. After threatening a lawsuit, Paul finally responded once. It finally took him a month to repair my roof… during the rainy season!
To make matters worse, when I received a bill for the repair, I was overcharged! When I disputed the charge and said I had time records of when the service technician was at my house, I was given some BS answer about being charged for travel time! What?! They are based in Lafayette and I’m in San Ramon. I understand if I was located far away, but this is a local drive! Gas doesn’t even cost that much! Also, no where stated on the bill or when I was given a quote over the phone was I told about being charged for travel time. Don’t believe any quoted price that Paul gives you on the phone because Paul will find a way to overcharge you and add on hidden fees.
During this stressful ordeal, I looked up Paul’s contractor’s license (public information that you can find online) only to find out that his license was suspended! I wish I did my due diligence beforehand because I would never have hired him. Homeowners beware and steer clear of this company!

Very «nice» Pools should be changed to «VERY BAD POOLS». Paul who is the general manager at this pool company is not only in the business of pools but also litigation and suing his customers on unfair grounds, and is rude to his paying customers. From what I hear around the community (word gets around), he has quite a reputation for for being as such. We had a very bad experience with Very Nice Pools from when we first bought our home. We were told that we needed to spend $ 3500 for a new skimmer replacement for a leak when in fact it didn’t exist from a 3^rd party inspection. This was AFTER we had them do an initial inspection in which this was never addressed. We were also very embarrassed on several occaisions when thier technicians came to the house for weekly maintenance when we had guests visiting. Their tehnicians were imrpoperly clothed and generally non-​professional even when asked questions from the property and pool owner. Additionally, the chemicals were not properly balanced and we had to fight it after we had a better local Lafayette-​based pool company come service the pool.
They claim to be in the business for 40+ years and best in town… but in my opinion, I really don’t know how they have manged to do so based on our experience and the things I have heard about Paul and Very Nice Pools around our community.
Final conclusion: ask around town and you will hear more negative comments about this company, poor services and unfriendy staff.
IF YOU ARE A NEW HOME PURCHASER AND OR GETTING YOUR POOL READY FOR SPRING AND SUMMER LOOK ELSEWHERE!!!
There are a couple other companies in town I would HIGHLY recommend with respectable staff and technicians who are polite, respectable, friendly, presentable, and do not cheat you.
I welcome anyone else in the community to voice the same opinions… looks like there are many!!!
IF YOU ARE A NEW HOME PURCHASER AND OR GETTING YOUR POOL READY FOR SPRING AND SUMMER LOOK ELSEWHERE!!!

I was referred to Paul at Very Nice Pools by a friend in the trades. My current pump had failed seals and my Polaris 360 was kaput. My pool is adjacent to a golf course and surrounded by trees so the debris load is significant. Paul was very responsive, got me a bid in 24 hours and I had a contract in hand 24 hours later. A new variable speed pump, booster pump, Polaris 380 and Jandy Never Lube valves has the pool looking better than ever. Thanks to Paul and his team for an excellent experience!

I would definitely not recommend this pool company. They wanted us to drain our pool for a second time for what they said was a crack in the bottom of the pool. When we got a second opinion, the problem was a $ 10 valve that needed to be replaced in the hot tub. Customer service is tough as well.

Shady business practices, owner arrogance and discrimination problem. I called them for estimate. They send someone who gave me $ 110.00, who in my opinion looked like a bum, for cleaning the pool. He gave me $ 110.00 out the door no other hidden fees. After he was done I was ready to pay in cash and he said that I’ll receive an invoice and they don’t take cash or any form of payment at the end of the service. Couple days later I received the invoice which stated that I Owe them $ 152.63 where apparently only labor and pool check is only $ 110.00 and addition to that another 40.00 for Chlorine and tax. So they give you an estimate of $ 110.00 which you agree to and days later after work is done they put in fees that were not disclosed when statement was given.
Any Way I called them to dispute those charges and they basically told me to go F… my self and if I don’t pay they will put a lien on my house. Not only that but asked me where I’m from to which I did not say anything and he (Paul the owner) assumed that I am Russian (Which is way far from the truth) to which I told him that I am a customer and it doesn’t matter from what nationality I come from. To which he stated «All the Russians are the same» no idea what he meant by that since I am not Russian but I guess from all the other reviews he has problem with every single customer since he gives a very poor customer service. I DO NOT RECOMMEND USING THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT HONEST AND THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF.

This company charged $ 355 for a 45-​minute long pool inspection when I bought a house in the area. This is a higher hourly charge than my doctor, lawyer and accountant all make! They were polite, but some equipment failed within a month and they would not refund any of the inspection fee. (By contrast, for the same house my roof inspection was $ 125, the pest inspection was $ 55, and the entire property inspection was $ 200). I want to support local small businesses, and I appreciate that this company employs a larger number of people than many other pool services in the area, but I can’t help feeling ripped off.

Here we are in mid-​April and my pool still is not finished. Now grant it there has been some rain but the customer service is just plain awful. We had thought about using their pool service but no way! You can’t even get them to call back! My empty pool is almost full again and i have been trying for 4 days to get them to come out and empty it again!!! I asked the person who handles phone calls when my pool is supposed to be work on and she had no idea. We are now 5 months into it. If we don’t have this done by the end of the month we will have to seek legal help. I know if I could talk to Paul I’d get answers but you can only speak with the front desk and that’s it. No calls back, no rescheduling, no nothing… nothing but crickets.

I was looking for a pool company to install a variable speed pool pump and integrate the controls with my Aqua Logic panel. Paul at Very Nice Pools was the only company I talked to that was willing and able to make it happen. They did a great job, I couldn’t be happier. He installed a Hayward variable speed pump that is saving me $ 250 month in electric and runs 10 hours a day. I will never use anyone else.

I’ve been using Very Nice Pools for years. Paul is always gracious, his inspections seem accurate and reasonably priced and he is patient with clients as he explains the nuances of maintaining pools. Clients can then use him for ongoing, weekly maintenance if they choose which is nice. He is always responsive and prompt. Everyone I know has been very happy with Paul’s work and no one has ever had a problem in the years that I have been working with them.

Just plain bad and rude… needed legal help in the end — really. Too many good companies out there to waste any time and money with them.

Avoid this enterprise! Poor service, no supervision and worse communications.

This company is the classic «over promise and under deliver». Missed appointments, Poor follow through, poor communication, shady business practices, owner arrogance. Needless to say, I have no plans to ever use this outfit again.

I wouldn’t recommend these folks. Customer service (or potential service) wasn’t what I would say stellar let alone average. I called to get an estimate on some work done for a pool clean up and maintenance and I was told to just email the details and the owner would get back to me.
Ok, no big deal so I did. And I waited and waited. Sent a follow up email with my phone number and still nada.
If that’s how they treat potential customers I loathe to think how they treat ones that pay.