Hi everybody! I just bought an Intex Ultra Frame Pool (22x52) and I'm having a hard time getting my building permit. My county requires ANY pool to have a permit so I trotted down to the county offices and started applying. I made it past the "zoning guy" and immediately ran into a problem with the next person. He asked "does the pool meet the building code?" "Um, I don't know--what code does it have to meet?" "You need to show me something that says that the pool meets ANSI/NSPI-4-99." I
Cutting to the chase... I have the full story below just to show how bad Intex support is, but my question is this: Has anybody been able to get a piece of paper from Intex that says the pool meets ANSI/NSPI-4-99?
So, I call Intex. If you want to get a taste of what **** must feel like, call Intex support. Although almost all of the representatives are nice, their English vocabulary is limited. So, unless you speak Chinese, expect a few challenges. Anyway, I laid out the problem for the customer support representative. She was very nice, but my Chinese isn't very good and neither is her English. She kept thinking I wanted a warranty replacement part. I told her I wanted a certification that the pool meets the above standard. After that I stopped and said "do you know what the word certification means?" "uh, no". "well, it's a piece of paper that says that the pool meets international standards. <silence> Do you know what the word standards means?" "uh, no" and so on... (A short list of words that I had to explain: standards, certification, permit, building code).
Eventually, she talks to a supervisor and says that they will e-mail it to me in 48 hours AND snail mail it to me (my words, not hers) in 7-10 days. I asked to talk to a supervisor but she said that she couldn't transfer me. The supervisor would call me back in 24-48 hours. That never happened. Anyway, fast forward 2 days. No e-mail. I call again. I go through the same conversation and she ensures me that somebody will e-mail me with 24-48 hours. Two days later--nothing. This person has slightly better English but also doesn't understand my problem. She also thought I wanted a replacement part. Finally, I get her to understand my problem and she says she'll request it again. She also gives me her name (Luvina) and extension. Two days later, still nothing. I call back and ask for her extension and somehow get stuck in a crazy menu system. I end up with an operator who is clearly a native English speaker. I beg her to transfer me to somebody in the U.S. because the Chinese support clearly isn't working for me. Success!!! I speak with Mara (I believe) for 15 minutes. She leaves and comes back several times and finally comes back and explains that 1) they have to provide a "signed copy" for the county, 2) the pool does meet the standards, 3) they won't ever send e-mail, and 4) since they have to sign it and snail mail it, it will take 7-10 business days. She sends the request to the black hole that's supposed to send me the certification and we bid adieu.
Fast forward another week and I call back to speak to Luvina. It's now been 12 business days since my first request, 9 business days since I spoke to Luvina and 8 days since I spoke to Mara. Luvina expresses shock that I still don't have the paperwork but says it can take 10 business days. She keeps ignoring my point that I originally called 3 business days before I talked to her. Okay, fine, I will wait another couple of days... Nothing... I call back. I ask for Luvina. After waiting 15 minutes on hold, the first customer rep hangs up on me when I ask to be transferred. I call back and wait another 15 minutes and speak with Anna. She clearly doesn't understand. I use simple, second-grade English and she still doesn't understand. I ask for Luvina and she says she can't transfer me. I explain that I've been transferred before. She says it's against company policy to transfer me. I state again, that I have been transferred before. She sticks to her story. I ask for her name again since I wanted to be sure that I had the right name and after a pause, she hangs up. I call back one more time and Ivy answers. Like most of the others, she's very nice, but my problem is difficult enough that she doesn't understand. Finally, she gets it after 10 minutes of explanation and she says that she has done this before (then why did it take so long to explain it???). She sends another request to the black hole that accepts these requests and says they will send me e-mail in 24-48 hours.
Pretty soon, I'll probably either take the pool back or just put it up and hope that nobody reports it to the county. If my 4-year-old wasn't so excited about the pool, I'd probably just return it. I'm hoping at least somebody has been able to get these papers from Intex because I'd love know that they aren't lying to me. Right now, I feel like they are just saying what they need to in order to get me off the phone.
Thanks!
Cutting to the chase... I have the full story below just to show how bad Intex support is, but my question is this: Has anybody been able to get a piece of paper from Intex that says the pool meets ANSI/NSPI-4-99?
So, I call Intex. If you want to get a taste of what **** must feel like, call Intex support. Although almost all of the representatives are nice, their English vocabulary is limited. So, unless you speak Chinese, expect a few challenges. Anyway, I laid out the problem for the customer support representative. She was very nice, but my Chinese isn't very good and neither is her English. She kept thinking I wanted a warranty replacement part. I told her I wanted a certification that the pool meets the above standard. After that I stopped and said "do you know what the word certification means?" "uh, no". "well, it's a piece of paper that says that the pool meets international standards. <silence> Do you know what the word standards means?" "uh, no" and so on... (A short list of words that I had to explain: standards, certification, permit, building code).
Eventually, she talks to a supervisor and says that they will e-mail it to me in 48 hours AND snail mail it to me (my words, not hers) in 7-10 days. I asked to talk to a supervisor but she said that she couldn't transfer me. The supervisor would call me back in 24-48 hours. That never happened. Anyway, fast forward 2 days. No e-mail. I call again. I go through the same conversation and she ensures me that somebody will e-mail me with 24-48 hours. Two days later--nothing. This person has slightly better English but also doesn't understand my problem. She also thought I wanted a replacement part. Finally, I get her to understand my problem and she says she'll request it again. She also gives me her name (Luvina) and extension. Two days later, still nothing. I call back and ask for her extension and somehow get stuck in a crazy menu system. I end up with an operator who is clearly a native English speaker. I beg her to transfer me to somebody in the U.S. because the Chinese support clearly isn't working for me. Success!!! I speak with Mara (I believe) for 15 minutes. She leaves and comes back several times and finally comes back and explains that 1) they have to provide a "signed copy" for the county, 2) the pool does meet the standards, 3) they won't ever send e-mail, and 4) since they have to sign it and snail mail it, it will take 7-10 business days. She sends the request to the black hole that's supposed to send me the certification and we bid adieu.
Fast forward another week and I call back to speak to Luvina. It's now been 12 business days since my first request, 9 business days since I spoke to Luvina and 8 days since I spoke to Mara. Luvina expresses shock that I still don't have the paperwork but says it can take 10 business days. She keeps ignoring my point that I originally called 3 business days before I talked to her. Okay, fine, I will wait another couple of days... Nothing... I call back. I ask for Luvina. After waiting 15 minutes on hold, the first customer rep hangs up on me when I ask to be transferred. I call back and wait another 15 minutes and speak with Anna. She clearly doesn't understand. I use simple, second-grade English and she still doesn't understand. I ask for Luvina and she says she can't transfer me. I explain that I've been transferred before. She says it's against company policy to transfer me. I state again, that I have been transferred before. She sticks to her story. I ask for her name again since I wanted to be sure that I had the right name and after a pause, she hangs up. I call back one more time and Ivy answers. Like most of the others, she's very nice, but my problem is difficult enough that she doesn't understand. Finally, she gets it after 10 minutes of explanation and she says that she has done this before (then why did it take so long to explain it???). She sends another request to the black hole that accepts these requests and says they will send me e-mail in 24-48 hours.
Pretty soon, I'll probably either take the pool back or just put it up and hope that nobody reports it to the county. If my 4-year-old wasn't so excited about the pool, I'd probably just return it. I'm hoping at least somebody has been able to get these papers from Intex because I'd love know that they aren't lying to me. Right now, I feel like they are just saying what they need to in order to get me off the phone.
Thanks!
Thanks ouachita!