At the pool store today

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M

mynewpool

0
Mar 17, 2010
1,088
Spring, TX
And there was one person in front of me an older guy and he was purchasing like 10 bags of shock. Not sure all what he has put in there, but he asked the person is it ok to add two more. Then he was like I have put the phosphate stuff in there and something else and did not listen to much after that as he was leaving. He talked about he had backwashed and put in new DE and something else I didnt hear. As he was leaving she said bring your water back in so we can see how it is. I also heard him say I checked the cholorine and there is none in there. I am guessing he was using test strips to test.

Then I purchase my polaris screen basket for the connector to the wall and then there was a guy behind me that bought two packets of shock as well.

I was just shaking my head and wanted to talk to both of them, but just let them go.
 
It's always like that isnt it? I avoid going, because of the cringe factor, and wanting so badly to just tell everyone in there..."hey you don't have to do this !" Plus, I can't hold my tongue when a discussion starts with a clerk about anything chemical. Last time I was there with my nephew, we bought some toys, they gave me a bottle to bring water back, and said bring in a sample and we can see how your pool is. I said no thanks, I test my own...all parameters and often. She said, well we can test other things you can't like calcium, TA, Stabilizer etc instead of just pH and Chlorine.

I said I do all that with my own kit. She said "oh, I didn't know you could do that" and seemed like she thought I was lying. Sigh........I HATE going in there and always wonder why I did it. It's torture.
 
I like the idea of the cards to encourage people to come and visit the site. Lets face it, a 30-60 second conversation is not going to convince most people to convert to our method of pool maintenance or even give it a 2nd thought. They need to see one of our pools and start asking quetions or they need to come to TFP and start reading and learning. I got pool stored for over $500 before I found TFP and became educated. Once you go BBB, you never go back!
 
Brushpup said:
I said I do all that with my own kit. She said "oh, I didn't know you could do that" and seemed like she thought I was lying. Sigh........I HATE going in there and always wonder why I did it. It's torture.
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What do these pool store people live in some alternate pool store universe where they're the ONLY people who have access to a test kit? HTH sells the 6-way (5 way actually) and other than having an upper limit of 5ppm and no CC test it does a right find job with all the other tests. Available at walmart even!

Why on earth other than to sell chemicals would they even offer free testing. A proper business model means providing customers with the best product or services available. Making water testing seem like some kind of science available only through their testing methods is highly suspect if you ask me.

If they charged for the test I'd be much less suspicious. No business offers blanket free anything unless it benefits the business in some way. They'd go broke if they did.

The two pool stores locally that I've been to both offer a full range of Taylor test kits. Only one however had refills for R-0870 and R-0871. I'm kinda baffled that the mainstream pool stores in areas where lots of people have pools (i.e., the whole rest of the USA) do not even carry a FAS-DPD kit much less inform their employees that they exist. It stinks of conspiracy IMO. If the two out of maybe 7 total pool stores in the entire metropolitan area here carry the kits, why wouldn't areas with lots of pools carry them? Doesn't make sense.
 
I had my wife go to our local pool store to buy some flex hose and a another lady and her began to talk and the lady was complaining about how much she spent on chems each week, something like $150, she asked my wife "what do you use" my wife stated "bleach" the lady replied "oh, well I have an underground pool so that probably won't work in mine". :hammer:
 
I hear people talk about their pools plenty (at work), it's difficult not to be annoyed, and by annoyed I mean I wouldn't mind helping. I don't feel it's my place to tell people that they need to learn how to do things properly.

Just within the last half hour I overheard a phone call, "unless it starts to look bad sooner, we will dump the shock in on Sunday."

I've also heard that there is a device that magically takes care of your pool for you. (in reference to a swg), same guy was also complaining about how hot his pool was when we had the heat wave.

I also learned that my boss uses test strips and has no consistency when opening his pool in the spring. He also said that too much rain can throw things off. Smile and nod...

I'm not assuming I will always open my pool up to clear water, but last year I was pool stored and things worked out, from now on I'm hoping that since I'm now BBB, closing it properly will most likely guarantee a good start next season!! :)

I'm not trying to take any credit, all of my "skills" are from this forum. Such a great resource!
 
Britmandogs said:
"oh, well I have an underground pool so that probably won't work in mine". :hammer:
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Did your wife ask how they swim in an underground pool? :lol:


-- I was just thinking how happy I am to have not paid around $125/mo this year at the pool store. Pretty sure I've averaged about $30-35/mo in chlorine.
 
Speedo,

You could take a nice big photo of your sparkling pool and pin it up at your desk so your co-workers can see. Put a kid in the photo so it doesn't look like just a pool pic (we appreciate those here, not sure anyone else would understand, lol).

The difference in water sparkling/clarity between most pools and our BBB pools is very distinct, they will notice. Maybe drop something with words on it and then take the photo. Water you can read through is CRAZY clear and they all all be jealous.

Or you'll be labeled a show off... depends on what kind of people those other pool owners are of course.
 

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I'll be honest here....an underground pool would be cool to have. :D

as for the pool store, I can't talk at all. I've used the nasty "B" word in my life and thought it was working.
 
linen said:
Frog...I see your avatar...SHOW OFF!
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Hey, that's no kid...

That's mah pool slave :~}

I think the pool looks better this year if you wanna know the truth. The catfish pics from yesterday make pool slave pic look cloudy, lol. The walmart filter cartridge makes a huge difference.

(say nothing about my still not installed sand filter and SWG... if it's hard for you not to inquire, imagine how hard it is for me not to!)
 
Ha---I went to pool store to get my water tested. He recommended about 300.00 worth of chemicals. I told him I am going to use BBB method, he said "you can do that, but thats going to introduce a lot of other chemicals into the pool, our products are pure. Ive been in the pool business for 30 years" --of course he told me this while having this big goofy smile on his face like he was actually believing what he was saying and "helping" me. I told him I will take my chances with those "crazy internet people" .
*sigh*
 
My son (10) was reading thread over my shoulder. Here is the conversation:

He asked me "how does the pool store do tests for you?"
I said (though I have only been in a pool store once, and did not see any water testing) "well some have a kit kind of like ours, some don't even have that."
He said, "so you acuatully take water from your pool and take it to the store? How do you get it there? Do you put some in a jar or something?"
I said, "Yes."
He said, "Thats weird"

Thought someone might enjoy this exchange.
 
I was just talking to a neighbor who's pool turned green with all of the rain we had last week. She asked if I had the same issue, I told her we were crystal clear, no problems. She asked what I used, I normally don't tell people but I just said "bleach". She told me that I should be concerned about liner bleaching, I told her I'm not. Then she asked me again, "just bleach" I said. Then she said, "well, it's probably b/c you have an above ground and mine is inground." My response, "yeah probably." :blah: I wan't going to have a big debate b/c it was clear she thought I was crazy.
 
After my last fiasco at prior pool store (they actually yelled at me and said I'd be much happier at another pool store), I've found one that is reasonable. I have to go there as I have yet to find any muriatic acid sold in any hardware store around these parts. I did, however, have to go back to said *devil* pool store several weeks ago to get more reagents and the lady seemed to remember me and asked "do you service commercial pools"? I have no idea why she thought this or if it is their experience that the commercial pool people are better educated. I just don't know.
 
ivyleager said:
I did, however, have to go back to said *devil* pool store several weeks ago to get more reagents and the lady seemed to remember me and asked "do you service commercial pools"? I have no idea why she thought this or if it is their experience that the commercial pool people are better educated. I just don't know.
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LOL. Who but a professional would DARE to disagree?
 
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