- Dec 31, 2018
- 5
- Pool Size
- 5500
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-3)
Hi TFP community!
My Dolphin died the day after its 2 year warranty expired. Well, it was more like 2 months later, but still, I was expecting a longer life span than 26 months having paid $1600 CAD for it. Took it back to the store who’s technician confirmed the motor was fried. The store then tried to negotiate with Maytronics to have the unit still covered & replaced under warranty. No dice. Not only did the Maytronics rep not “do the right thing”, the rep blamed me for improper use of the cleaner. Rep said cable needs to have large 4’ diameter loops when stored otherwise the “electronics” inside the cable would break and cause motor failure. Also, I apparently need to take the cleaner out of the pool after each use, rinse it off thoroughly and not leave it sitting in the pool between cycles. Also, it must be stored on a caddy apparently (I have I sitting upside down on a home made supports to let it drain). And lastly, he said that by the looks of the unit, my salt levels were too high. The pool store confirmed however that my water balance was within acceptable ranges (I do my own ColorQ reagent tests but take samples to the store from time to time to verify).
FWIW, the manual says nothing about coiling the cable in a minimum diameter (obviously, don’t kink it!) or that the unit has to be taken out and rinsed off after each cleaning cycle (there’s a reference to cleaning the filter after each use, but not the entire unit).
Now, I get that it’s within their right to deny a warranty claim. But I’m taking some offence to the reasons the rep used to explain away why the motor died. I still don’t understand why it died, but I’m left with forking out another $1600 CAD for a new unit.
Now I have to decide if I buy another Dolphin from the store or go in a different direction. BTW, the store has been super helpful and offered a new S300 unit at cost to help me out, so it would be an “upgrade” for the same price as an S200. I suppose, I can keep the S200 for spare parts…
What would you do?
Thanks!
My Dolphin died the day after its 2 year warranty expired. Well, it was more like 2 months later, but still, I was expecting a longer life span than 26 months having paid $1600 CAD for it. Took it back to the store who’s technician confirmed the motor was fried. The store then tried to negotiate with Maytronics to have the unit still covered & replaced under warranty. No dice. Not only did the Maytronics rep not “do the right thing”, the rep blamed me for improper use of the cleaner. Rep said cable needs to have large 4’ diameter loops when stored otherwise the “electronics” inside the cable would break and cause motor failure. Also, I apparently need to take the cleaner out of the pool after each use, rinse it off thoroughly and not leave it sitting in the pool between cycles. Also, it must be stored on a caddy apparently (I have I sitting upside down on a home made supports to let it drain). And lastly, he said that by the looks of the unit, my salt levels were too high. The pool store confirmed however that my water balance was within acceptable ranges (I do my own ColorQ reagent tests but take samples to the store from time to time to verify).
FWIW, the manual says nothing about coiling the cable in a minimum diameter (obviously, don’t kink it!) or that the unit has to be taken out and rinsed off after each cleaning cycle (there’s a reference to cleaning the filter after each use, but not the entire unit).
Now, I get that it’s within their right to deny a warranty claim. But I’m taking some offence to the reasons the rep used to explain away why the motor died. I still don’t understand why it died, but I’m left with forking out another $1600 CAD for a new unit.
Now I have to decide if I buy another Dolphin from the store or go in a different direction. BTW, the store has been super helpful and offered a new S300 unit at cost to help me out, so it would be an “upgrade” for the same price as an S200. I suppose, I can keep the S200 for spare parts…
What would you do?
Thanks!
