Leslie's Sux

[tagprod]

I'm rebuilding a Navigator cleaner for a friend and I've been up there three times over the week end. Every time I leave I swear I'll never go back, but it's close by and I relent. It was aggravating that they didn't have the most basic of parts - the little rubber shoes that go on the bottom of the cleaner among other things... but anyway. There was another customer who was looking for a small part - it cost $4.50 he was willing to pay them up front for it and pick it up next weekend until the sales clerk told him it would also be $4.50 to ship it to the store. What? Don't you have deliveries coming anyway? Another guy was getting his water tested. He has a salt system and wanted to know how much CYA to add. The clerk told him anywhere between 40 and 90 would be fine. I ended up having to go to Warehouse Pool Supply - they have several Houston Locations. They had everything I needed which makes the trip way less stressful. We're just friends for now, but if things progress I may take it to the next level and let them test my water.

 

[dudeguy37]

I work for Leslie's in SoCal. I hope this helps:

1. Shoes are a very common part when it comes to PVU and Nav., so in the middle of summer when vac repairs are at their highest, stores will run out. Even when kept very well stocked, there are times when we run out for a few days in the chaos of summer time, considering PVU's and Nav's are the most commonly brought in for repairs. So if we happen to get hit with a a few more than expected (which can be up to 15 a week depending on the store), then we have to either get a store transfer set up, or just sit back and wait for our next truck delivery. Which could be another week (or two during fall and winter) depending on when you go in. Even with a store transfer, if another Leslie's employee can't bring the item or pick it up, then it needs to be sent via FedEx, which is an extra cost. So if you order a part through us, and don't want to pay shipping, then don't expect it to be in any time soon. Our regular shipments aren't exactly as regular as say, Ralph's or Target. Even with a standard 4.95 ground shipping, depending on the availability of the item in our Distribution center(s), it could take longer if you're ordering a high demand product (i.e. - Intex "A" filters, at least for my area). Shoes would be a quick thing, but just so you know, in the middle of summer, we do our best, but with only a handful of employees per store, and the customer volume that most of our stores tend to have...well, bad things happen :/

2. In regards to the CYA comment, I'm not sure if you were asking if 40-90ppm in a salt pool is ok or not, but no worries. That's fine. I usually say 50-80, but a little above or a little below isn't a problem. Where you wanna watch out is if you're using stabilized tablets and Chlor-Brite on a regular basis. A good chunk of Chlor-Brite is CYA, so if you're not careful with your initial CYA dosage, then over the course of a few years (give or take) you'll end up with an abundance of CYA in the water. This CAN, not will, but CAN lead to chlorine lock, which is a lack of oxidation to the chlorine, therefore preventing it from working properly. This is a huge debate topic, but from my personal experience, I've seen it happen as low as 115ppm. Typical I just say that the danger zone is 120ppm+. Not everyone experiences it. As long as you're showing chlorine and holding it, then don't worry about it. Otherwise you can do a partial drain, or try breaking the lock, which I won't bother going into since I just realized how off topic I'm getting!

Anyway, I hope that helped at least a little. Sadly, Leslie's (as with any company) will end up with an employee that's just not meeting the basic expectations and making too many mistakes, and so hopefully the store manager and/or district manager are taking the appropriate steps to either help fix the problem, or get rid of it. I'm sorry you've had such a lousy experience with Leslie's, and I can understand your frustration, so I hope this helped a bit.

 

[SeanB]

Thanks for chiming in dudeguy37. It's great that we have people on both sides of the equation able to share information!

 

[duraleigh]

Dude,

Generally speaking, you will find most folks here advocate a somewhat tighter range on CYA 60-80 for SWG pools and 30-50 for no SWG. I agree with you there is some latitude but I disagree that pools above 80 are not a problem....particularly non-SWG's.

As you read thru the posts here, you find post after post of folks who can't keep algae out of their pools for two reasons....either NO chlorine or CYA so high the chlorine has been rendered ineffective. IMHO, CYA in excess of 100 in any pool is problematic.

I'll let others chime in on the "chlorine lock"

 

[JasonLion]

Ah the mytical "chlorine lock". The chemistry of chlorine and CYA is fairly well understood, see for example this rather technical post. Higher CYA levels require higher FC levels, which many sources don't bother to explain to pool owners. Failing to understand that relationship, many people call the failure of normal chlorine levels to work with high CYA "chlorine lock". In a sense the CYA does temporarily lock up much of the chlorine, so it isn't totaly wrong to call it that.

Call it what you will, high CYA requires high FC levels and the problem is solved, give or take some "complications". The largest complication is that it is difficult to acurately test high CYA levels (over 100) and so difficult to know what FC you should have. Beyond that the required high FC levels tend to make the PH test unreliable. Not to mention the absolutlely huge amounts of chlorine that are required to shock a pool with CYA over 100. So while it is possible to function with CYA over 100, levels over 80 or 90 start to cause too many complications to make it a viable long term strategy.

 

[waste]

Dudeguy, welcome to TFP!! 8)

I congratulate you on coming here to share your knowledge and hopefully learn a little.

If you haven't noticed, the things espoused here 'fly in the face' of traditional NSPI/ pool store methods. As such, there is a term we use called being"pool stored" which basically means that someone has tried to sell the pool owner lots of expensive chemicals to fix a problem that we could fix with Bleach, Borax and Baking Soda (BBB).

I've been building and servicing pools for almost 20 years and have learned almost as much from sites like this than I have actually 'being in the trenches' - I hope you stick with us!! so that you can do your job better.

Please stay with us and offer your input and learn more about pools, equipment and 'a better way' of caring for them :-D

 

[tagprod]

all I can say is that dudeguy knows more than anyone else at Leslies I've talked to.

 

[ktdave]

Dudeguy,
Spread your seed! :lol:

 

[legitmotoRcR]

dudeguy!! this site i would have never expected to existed. well no we will have more knowledge at work right shawk? lol. to everyone dudeguy knows his stuff. ive been with the company for two years and when came about i was happy to know that this fool knew his stuff

 

[JCJR]

Dude,

Generally speaking, .............

I have to take time out and LOL,

When I first read duraleigh's reply I did not realize dudeguys name, so naturally when I saw Dude, I started to crack up. It sounded so out of character for duraleigh. I thought he was talking down to dudeguy like he was a typical young kid working at the pool store.