B & L Pool Supply

If you like never knowing when your pool is going to be cleaned, being lied to and having no one be held accountable for (lack of) services to your pool, B & L Pools is the company for you!
Let’s be clear, as a customer, you can give them every single opportunity in to the world to admit some fault or wrong doing and they will dig their heels into the ground and give you every excuse under the sun why they are not responsible. If the employees aren’t related by blood, the owner will tell you they are «like family» and while he doesn’t say it, he’s implying that keeping them happy is more important than keeping you as a customer, even when the employee is at fault.
I had pool service with this company for a year. First I communicated with the man who serviced the pool himself. I asked him for a time card for him to fill out each time he was here. He said the company didn’t have those. I asked for a day or two a week that he could guarantee being able to service the pool. According to him, impossible. It was whenever he felt like it and if he didn’t bother to show up, I had no way to prove he had never completed the service. Multiple times I had to request he come because it was obvious he did not service the pool that week and if he had, he had done an extremely poor job.
After a year of sending photos of my dirty pool to Eric, the man B & L enlisted to service my pool, I had an accident that caused an injury requiring physical therapy in the pool. Once I started using the pool every day, my disappointment with the lack of services I was paying for caused me to call B & L Pools directly. The phone was answered by an immature sounding employee, Marissa Benson, who as it turns out is the manager’s daughter. I told her that once again, Eric had not showed up for over a week to service the pool and once again, it was gross. She promised to talk to Eric and get back to me. She didn’t call back that day or the next morning so I called her back. Her solution was that Eric would be out later that day. No apologies or explanations for the poor service or her inability to return a call. I told her that was fine, but this kind of service needed to change. For instance, do they have a check off list or a card for Eric to leave for him to prove he was here every week? She said they did. I told her Eric had said the company did not have such a sheet. She gave no explanation or apology for why I was lied to and instead just said that she would have him bring a sheet his next service. Because her reaction made it seem like these kind of problems were standard, I wanted to let her know that I was simply not going to allow this kind of «service» to continue. I stated that I was going to be loud and obnoxious until I started getting the service I signed up for, weekly service that resulted in a pool that looked like someone spent more than five minutes cleaning it. I stated I had been polite and had asked Eric to do his job for nearly a year, which produced no results. Her response was in no way reassuring that service was going to get better. Immediately Marissa’s defenses were up and she reacted to criticism of a business in the way young people often react — as if you had criticized them. She raised her voice and said that if I was going to be loud and obnoxious, she didn’t have to help and acted as if I needed to be grateful for sub-​par pool service. She continued that they didn’t have to guarantee a day of the week for weekly pool service. I understood that I was never going to get my pool service every Thursday at 9 a.m. But I thought it was beyond reasonable to ask for service to guarantee to be completed one of two days a week that they could pick. Her resistance makes me think that the reason they don’t want to commit to service being completed on certain days allows them to scam people and do service every 10 days or 12 or whatever is convenient for them. Because Marissa was acting so childish and taking the whole thing so personally, I had to ask her if she owned the company, because in my experience, only people who own the company are that secure with unprofessional behavior. She told me she did not, so I asked to speak with a manager. She was happy to hand me over the manager, Blaine Benson, otherwise known as her dad.
There’s lot more including the owner, Dale Howard, defending all of his employees unprofessional behavior but Unilocal only allows so much space. Feel free to check out the full review on the Better Business Bureau of AZ website. But the bottom line is these guys are liars and can’t complete basic pool service. There are plenty of pool companies who actually want your business and will do a great job, B & L pools isn’t one of them.

On a Saturday — two days before we were to have a pool party my filtration system backed up on me and purged itself into my pool, which turned murky with dirt. To make matters worse my (old) Kreepy Krauly died on me at the same time. This store not only had the parts it needed, but they installed them for me. The fix wasn’t cheap (about $ 55), but it was a lot better than having to buy a new pool cleaner. I’m good to go for another couple of years. Thanks guys!

Pool stores… never a place that you ‘want’ to go to. The costs, the smells, the inadequate employees, the upsells. Yet, if you’re someone like me, who doesn’t have a degree in pool maintenance, you’re required to go to them.
I became a new homeowner in 2009, and I discovered this place wanting to get a second opinion on my pool water after Leslie’s tried to upsell me on buying several different chemicals. I took a water sample to B&L and they knew exactly what I needed, at the cheapest price, without giving me the runaround. I’ve been coming to them ever since.
The staff is friendly… always greeting you, and offering you bottled water.
They’re very knowledgeable… I had a severe algae problem. I gave them a pool water sample, they did the test, provided the chemicals needed, and walked me through the cleaning process. My pool was clean and clear several days later!
They want to earn your business… Just bought a new cleaner from them several days ago on impulse, noticed it cheaper online, came to return it, but they offered to price match for me and credited me the difference. Now that’s loyalty!
Only reason I didn’t rate them 5 stars: There’s times when customer traffic is busy, and you’ll have to wait for assistance. I try to visit them during the weekdays though. Also, not a fan of the aesthetics, as it’s a maze trying to walk through their store… yet, I’m slightly OCD (or so I think).
If you need pool products at a reduced cost (they periodically send me coupons), with great customer service, I highly recommend B&L.

My wife went into to pick up some chemicals that our pool need and was mistreated and harassed because she had the nerve to pay with a debit card for a very small purchase. Are you kidding me? I have spent hundreds of dollars at this store.
I understand the costs businesses incur when running things as debit/​credit, apparently B&L doesn’t understand the cost they incur when mistreating customers.
Do yourself a favor and and go to Perry’s Pool and Pump. They knowledgeable as well and will treat you with a bit more respect. I am not willing to give my business to any store that mistreats their customers.
*Update*
The reason why debit was an issue was because it was such a small amount, not because it was a debit card. Stores pay a transaction fee and the fee was going to essentially cancel the actual payment made. My wife and I generally don’t carry cash on us. The money a business would lose in this situation is more than offset by the purchases of mass chlorine, acid, and salt for our pool.
*Important Update*
Mike from B&L contacted me to try and set things straight and get to the bottom of what happened. That is a great indicator that they are trying to improve upon the customer service and are at least aware that in an age of social media, service needs to be top of mind for any business.
That being said, I have no interest in going back. Once you mistreat my wife, it is game over. I hope others have a better experience.