Pool store scam???

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queenofmyswamp

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Jun 8, 2008
114
I called local pool store and it quoted a price of $587 plus tax for a certain liner. The same color name "Golden Beach" liner is on a pool supplies website for $399 with no tax or shipping charge. I asked pool store if they were negotiable and she said "The online liners are a different quality and installers won't even install them because the quality is not good. They are not the same as ours." Any truth to this? Sounds like nonsense to me, but I wanted to check here with the real experts! LOL I was hoping to get one installed this weekend but didn't order ahead of time so am feeling like I might need to get from the pool store anyway, but I am curious and don't want to be lied to in any event.

Also, is this a do-it-yourself project or will I wish we had hired someone? :eek:)
 
Unless there is a mil thickness difference between the two and from the same manufacturer...well.........I think you have your answer. My local pool store wanted over 3 times the price of a SWCG I could get online. Yeah.......I told them they were nuts. So much for buying local in this economy, and I bought the pool from them to boot.
 
They're the same unless, like Woody said, they're different thicknesses.

It's a DIY project as long as you're not by yourself. If you have a helper or two you'll be fine. And a shop-vac is a MUST! You'll regret it if you don't have one and you'll be amazed how easy it is if you do.
 
It makes it a ton easier to set. You can vacuum the liner into place and suck all wrinkles out before putting the first drop of water in the pool and then there's no trying to kick the wrinkles out as it fills with water.
 

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As an independent service tech, I don't normally play the web price game. The web dealer won't be there. From a sort of biased and selfish POV, I don't normally install stuff people buy off the net as a rule :grrrr: . Its great for the DIYer :party: but asking me to do it is like bringing your own burger meat to Burger King and asking them to cook it. :?:

Sometimes the rules get an exception. I learned to not say "never" quite some time ago. :cheers:
 
I bought a wonderful 20 gauge solid blue overlap liner for my 24 ft round off the internet, leisureliving I think, last fall for $135 free shipping, and it is a very nice liner. We put it in and used the shop vac and I couldn't be more pleased with it. It's all filled and doing great.
 
Yeah guys, ever hear of "overhead"? Yep the online folks can beat the pants off local folks on prices, pretty much because they have no overhead (or its MUCH lower) compared to someone with a nice, well lit, staffed, air conditioned store for you to walk into and shop. While online retailers are great for pricing, they suck for service after the sale, special requests, or anything that doesnt fit into their streamlined system of automation from order to ship.

For example:

About 8 years ago we put up a wood ceiling stained a particular shade with a particular product.

We added on this year, and guess what. 8 months ago the manufacturer stopped making the stain. couldnt find it anywhere. I went to a local hardware store where everything is overpriced, and they found some halfway across the country in one of their distributors warehouses. The last 4 cans. Took them a week to find it, and it cost a fortune, but I was grateful enough for their effort, and they were grateful enough for my every-saturday visit.

Not to say I dont order a ton of Crud online for a lower price, but value of purchase is not always in the object itself.
 
Lershac said:
While online retailers are great for pricing, they suck for service after the sale, special requests, or anything that doesnt fit into their streamlined system of automation from order to ship.
Click to expand...

Funny thing is, I could say that EXACT same thing about my local family owned community centered pool store.

If I'm gonna get a headache out of the deal, Might as well save some $$$ while I'm at it.
 
I totally get the overhead difference, but I don't appreciate being lied to. I honestly would have gone ahead and bought it from her at the higher price if she had responded with something like what Lershac said above, but was really unhappy she told me what appears to be an outright lie. Ugh. Oh well.
 
One thing to keep in mind is that pool store personnel get the majority of their training from their vendors and sales reps. Vendors and sales reps are going to skew the training in favor of their product. Sometimes that leaves the impression that other products or sources are inferior and the employee accepts that impression as fact and runs with it.

It is up to you whether to decide if she is intentionally misleading you or if she is just uniformed.
 
It's a hard thing to do to look someone in the eye and tell them that you charge more because: 1. It's in stock. 2. They have support. 3. They are local. 4. They have the other stuff you need RIGHT NOW when the internet means either a 3 day wait or special handling. I build decks and porches and tell people up front that I'm not going to be the cheapest. If that is really the only criteria, I'm outta there!. But service, quality, support all has a value. And a price.
 
wmshay6 said:
Funny thing is, I could say that EXACT same thing about my local family owned community centered pool store.

If I'm gonna get a headache out of the deal, Might as well save some $$$ while I'm at it.
Click to expand...


Well just like there are crappy places online where you dont dare purchase from, there are crappy brick and mortar stores. Behind the crappy places there are usually crappy people driving the crappy service. Crappy crappy crappy. I just had to get it up to 7 times I said crappy.
 
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