Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told you

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Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

I was in my local LPS a couple weeks ago getting a pressure gauge and asked about liquid chlorine. He said they have some in the back but the pucks are much better, cheaper and last longer. I said my CYA was kind of high and I'll just take some chlorine but he assured me that the Leslies pucks had no CYA whatsoever. We argued for about 10 minutes when I finally picked up a bucket and asked him to read the label.
Shut him up straight away.
I got my liquid chlorine without a word after that.
 
Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

They seem to be right on many statements. You will gain more heat during the day without a cover. I've also left the cover for two-three days and even keeping the FC high after opening it was somewhat cloudy. Not sure about the "breathing" part, but often 12 hours is a good run time, and 24 is BEST. Not saying you must run it 24, but it is ideal. The two weeks for algae and such is a good statement too, as often they say "here, dump this in".
 
Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

First of all I started saying things such as "TA, CYA" ,FC, CC", etc- the store clerk said I don't understand pool lingo when you talk with initials! Then the other lamebrain working the counter was talking about my CYA. I said I was at 60 and needed to get to 70-80 based on a swg pool. He said no, 30 is good. I said ok that's fine. If I'm at 60 and want to get to 75 or so, how much CYA should I add? He said 1 lb would work. NEVER asked volume of pool nothing, just said 1 lb would work. Unreal!!
 
Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

I was waiting in line to check out...I was buying a really cool floatie...What I usually buy at the pool store...when the guy in front of me was telling the owner of the store(PSO)...he couldn't believe how quickly his pool turned green...he had two bottles of clarifier a tub of pucks and two one pound bags of shock.

Customer: I have already put two pounds of shock in my pool and it is still green.
PSO: Well Put in two more pounds of shock and then both bottles of clarifier and that should do the trick.
Me: Should do the trick? I don't know about that... how long have you been using Pucks?
Customer: 3 or 4 years.
Me: Do you know what your CYA level is?
Customer: No...
Me: My guess is that your CYA is probably around 70 or 80 because these stablized pucks are putting too much CYA into your water, and the amount of these bags of granualized chlorine product should be trippled to get to shock level. And Clarifier won't do anything...(OK...so I SHould learn to mind my own business)
PSO: It is impossible to have a shock level of 70 or 80...it won't go that high. And if he puts that much shock in his pool it will ruin his liner...
Me to Customer: Trust me...your pool is green because you are not and have not been putting enough chlorine into your pool.
PSO: THat will be $150.00 please
Me to Customer: You can get two cases of Liquid chlorine for about 20 bucks and take care of the green once and for all. And shock is not something you buy...it is something you do!
Customer pays the 150 bucks and says I will stick with what the experts tell me.

I throw my floatie up on the counter...
PSO says 54.98 (yeah I know that is expensive...but I am not spending 150 bucks on chemicals each month so I can afford it) Then as I pay him...he says, if you continue to talk to the customers I will ban you from the store...NO JOKE.

Now I wait for the poor mooks out in the parking lot and tell them what I think. SOmetimes they listen...mostly though they listen to the experts! LOL...Experts :hammer:
 
Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

toadlife said:
RobbieH said:
Experts... you know how many pool guys and pool store employees I've met who do not and never have owned a pool?
Click to expand...

All of them?
Click to expand...

Toadlife...what is funny is that they all know me at my pool store...I think in the work room there is a picture of me with a red line through it. I may be over reacting because every time I am in the chemical section standing next to a customer with a shopping cart full of stuff...two or three sales people come out of no where to pounce on the customer so I don't "HELP" them instead.
 
Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

I stopped by a local pool store to get some replacement chemicals for my test kit...

Me: "Where are your test kits?" (assuming the refill bottles would be close by)
PS: "Hanging there on the wall."
Me: "I only see strips?"
PS: "That is all we carry. The strips are much more accurate than the drops."
Me: "Have a nice day..."
 
Setting up new/used pool 3 summers ago: Store selling us Baquacil- tells me all i need is # 1, # 2 and #3. I look at all the other Baq chemical on the shelves & ask what those are for... " you don't need those. This is ALL you will ever use. This kills everything!" they write down a cookie cutter amount of san/oxidizer to put in and told me not to buy a test kit. Because if I put in what they told me, we'd never have any problems and would have perfect pool water always. ( btw: we are on day 2 of conversion)
 
Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

cubbybeave08 said:
toadlife said:
RobbieH said:
Experts... you know how many pool guys and pool store employees I've met who do not and never have owned a pool?
Click to expand...

All of them?
Click to expand...

Toadlife...what is funny is that they all know me at my pool store...I think in the work room there is a picture of me with a red line through it. I may be over reacting because every time I am in the chemical section standing next to a customer with a shopping cart full of stuff...two or three sales people come out of no where to pounce on the customer so I don't "HELP" them instead.
Click to expand...

I can just see the 10 Most Wanted sign in the break room with you picture on it :lol:
 

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Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

Well I'd have say my favorite of late is:

On requesting a CYA level after dosing with stabilizer. "Why don't you change (from liquid chlorine) to pucks, because, don't you know, pucks already contain just the right amount of stabilizer for the chlorine in your pool. That way you don't ever have to worry about stabilizer levels again". Seriously.
 
Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

Before I found this site and I was trying to follow the manufacturers instructions and the advice of the pool store I couldn't keep any chlorine in the water. The water was clear but I had some algae growing in clumps on the ground (the pool store called it moss, when I explained it). I told them I was going to try use the Chlor Brite (Dichlor) to increase the chlorine, and I was told that it isn't real chlorine and it is only good for "shocking" the pool. They said that all the chlorine from the Chlor Brite would dissipate after a day or two... Which I suppose is partially true, but so would any chlorine without sufficient CYA or in my case with the start of the algae bloom it would probably last just a few hours. I later read the side of the packet where it specifically says that you can use it for daily chlorine maintenance or "shocking" the pool.

Thank you TFP for showing me how to take control of my pool and save a ton of money and frustration at the same time!
 
Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

chumbley said:
I stopped by a local pool store to get some replacement chemicals for my test kit...

Me: "Where are your test kits?" (assuming the refill bottles would be close by)
PS: "Hanging there on the wall."
Me: "I only see strips?"
PS: "That is all we carry. The strips are much more accurate than the drops."
Me: "Have a nice day..."
Click to expand...

Yep...that is my favorite...I had an intex pool that I only used test strips on...every summer I had to drain it scrub it and refill it...It always told me my chlorine was high...yep...that is cuz it only measures TC...That wasn't helping.
 
Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

Back in the day... when I first got my AGP ... before I found TFP ... I would take my water samples to three or four different stores A DAY just to "make sure" I was doing the right thing. I was really afraid of damaging people's skin and hair with either too much or too little chemicals.

Being an AGP owner also caused problems because most big pool stores don't give us 'kiddie' pools too much respect. Even though some AGP can be seen from space! I was so glad to find the old 'poolforum' and the kiddie pool info because it saved many seasons those first few years.

So, back in the day, I found myself in what I considered a "top" pool store because they actually installed above ground pools so I figured they would be in the 'KNOW'

Well with all this input (and yes I was insecure enough to try ALL the advice the pool stores gave me - how embarasing!) can you believe I was having less than clear & clean pool water.

I expressed my frustrations of not having 'sparkly water' to this 'expert' and he told me, quite seriously, that each swimmer 'contaminates' over 500 gallons of water each time they get in the pool.

Well I did the quick math in my head and realized my little AGP at barely 5,000 would be completely contaminated by my swimmers in about a day of using it.

I mentioned this to him and he said the only way to keep a pool 'sparkly' would be to "not let anybody swim in it, ever!" Yep, that's what he said. I think I left the store in near tears.

So, why did I by a really cool AGP? oh ya, to SWIM!

I am again so THANKFUL for you all at TFP! I've brought my dumbest and most insecure questions here and have only been treated with respect and care. I still have days of less than "sparkly" water but I always know where to place the blame - me - and not those happy swimmers who keep contaminating my pool! HA!

dpool

Just to let you know, I ended up having to go back there a few years later to get a part and this guy was gone. I told the new guy what had happened and he said he was sorry and thought maybe the old guy had been overcome by the chemicals in the store. HA!
 
Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

I overheard a customer in line in front of me at the pool store tell the kid behind the counter that a different pool store employee had told him the best time to shock the pool was at 2am. The customer said he was getting exhausted from being up at night shocking his pool. I felt so sorry for the guy that I briefly explained that he could shock during daylight but that once the sun was off his pool in the evening, any chlorine he added would be able to work on algae & not get lost to sunlight.
The kid working behind the counter gave me the stink eye. I may be on a wanted poster in their workroom!
 
Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

I asked for Liquid Chlorine and MA the other day and I was told, "We can't carry them, there is a local ordinance that prohibits it." Mind you this is a chain that carries this elsewhere in the country.

What's sad is that either they are misinformed, or the local govco is... which is sadder?

My solution... bleach and drive 15 mins in another direction into a different city where the local Home Depot carries MA - 4 gallons (2 bottles of 2 Gallons each in sealed cartons) in the open at 31.45% strength...

Later I mentioned that I got MA to the PoolStoreGuy (PSG). The conversation went like this:

PSG: "15% right?"
Me: "No, 31.45%."
PSG: "Stored in the open where anyone can get it?"
Me: "In sealed cartons - you couldn't get to a bottle until you opened the carton."
PSG: "That's against OSHA - they are supposed to have that behind the counter where you can't get it to protect the customers."
Me: "OSHA? Isn't that a regulation that protects workers in the workplace - not consumers?"
PSG: :blah: :blah: :blah:
Me: "Ok, thanks. I need to pay you for my supplies." (Timer on/off tabs $3, Sale Goggles $9 x 2)

:hammer:
 
Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

tltmom said:
I overheard a customer in line in front of me at the pool store tell the kid behind the counter that a different pool store employee had told him the best time to shock the pool was at 2am. The customer said he was getting exhausted from being up at night shocking his pool. I felt so sorry for the guy that I briefly explained that he could shock during daylight but that once the sun was off his pool in the evening, any chlorine he added would be able to work on algae & not get lost to sunlight.
The kid working behind the counter gave me the stink eye. I may be on a wanted poster in their workroom!
Click to expand...


Yep...public enemy number one at my local pool store. They hate to see me...I buy two cases of chlorine...and then stand there and hold the door for the guys carrying out $200 worth of garbage to clean their pools...They got PhUp...Ph down...they have bags of shock...they have clarifier, they have stabilizer, they have everything they need except...what's that...you say I need a sanitizer...where do I get that...well you can buy those expensive buckets of pucks...or you can follow me around back where I pick up two cases of LIQUID CHLORINE!!!...

Liquid Chlorine...what does that do...Well I put it in my pool every day, or every other day, and it sanitizes my pool and keeps me from getting algae and keeps my pool sparkly clean...

well how much does it cost you...about 20 dollars for two cases...

Is that per week...

Nope...maybe lasts me almost a month.

A month...I just spent $200 dollars and he told me if this doesn't do the trick come in and we'll get you some more...Then I tell them to go on line to troublefreepools.com and learn how to take care of their pool the right way and save money too.

I have spent 70 dollars on chlorine...and had to buy some more stabilizer this year...I bought the liquid CYA...just for the convenience...needed it in fast. Worth the 30 bucks. Normally I don't spend that much.
 
Re: Funniest/ most ridiculous thing the pool store has told

2 weeks ago Before I switch to bbb I bought a 50 lb bucket of trichlor 3" tabs from internet for 110$. (I have used 3 and will use no more)
so I am in the pool store Again because my water was still cloudy. The owners daughter waited on me
PS: My dad has had no problems with his water
(our pools are about the same size)
Me: How many pucks he is going thru a week?
PS: 8-10 every 2 weeks.
Me: Wow! What is he using because I was going thru about 4 every 2 days and still have a cloudy pool?
She takes me over to the biogaurd bucket (not the softswim ones)
PS: He uses these
(they are what.. exactly the same ingredients as mine)
Me: Those have the exact same % as what I am using
PS: Well these are better because they are Biogaurd.
Me: So how is that if they have the same % of ingredients
PS: Because they are Biogaurd
Me: So how much are they?
PS: Oh. Only $199 (same size bucket)
Me: Well I think I will use what I have first.
PS: They dont work as well and that is why you are having so many problems
Me: Ok. I'll see you in a few days.

This is the same PS that told me my CYA was only 30 & 35 when my own K-2006 told me on Wed that it was 160. And I specifically remember them telling me when they installed the pool to never ever use liquid Clorax in the pool or any cheap chemicals from Walmart. I would have nothing but problems..
Seems all my problems came form them....
That was the last time I was there.
Oh.. and now after 3 days with BBB my levels are right and my pool is Crystal Clear...
You guys are so smart.
 

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