Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/14/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I requested work to get my pool heater running. I was told that the pump needed fixing in order to get the heater working (get the "bubble" out of air chamber and stop gurgling). New Wave removed my pump to work on it and billed me for work, parts, and visit; did not fix the bubble issue or get heater working. 7/20/2023 They continued to focus on the pump vs. heater. They ripped out all of my plumbing to pump, filter, and heater and replaced with wider PVC. Pump actually runs more air than when they started (worse). Pump was never the issue and none of that work needed to be done. They diagnosed the heater and it needed a new board and gas regulator. I had that work done myself, paid for own parts, and got the heater working. They have my $1000 deposit, but are now also trying to collect $1500+ additional dollars for labor and parts that were not required at all in order to get the heater operational. Even though I got the heater running, the work they did on my existing pump and plumbing made my flow less efficient and more labor intensive to maintain. Furthermore I now have bubbles being pumped into my pool, which I did not have with the same pump prior to NWP working on it. Upon discussion, NWP wants payment of the remaining balance with no intent to fix the issues caused from the work they did. I do not want this to impact my credit score, but have not paid the remaining balance. They have the $1000 deposit, which is much more than the cost of a simple diagnostic on the heater would have been. I will now have to have someone else get my pump back to the level of performance it had previously been at.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/05/2023

  On 8/17/22 we were contacted by the customer to provide him with a heater estimate. We asked the customer to provide us with details and pictures of the current heater which the customer did. We told the customer we would need additional information to provide the quote and that we had technicians in the area the following day that could gather this information at no charge. The customer did not respond until 8/23/22 and asked if we were still interested in bidding the heater replacement. An estimate for replacing the heater was sent on 8/24/22. The customer responded the same day telling us he had placed an order for a new heater the night prior and wanted to know if we install equipment that was not purchased from us. We responded by telling the customer due to warranty issues we do not install equipment purchased online. This ended our correspondence about the heater.
  
  On 6/21/23 at 10:56AM, we received a voicemail stating I was hoping to schedule an appointment to have our pressure checked in our filter. We have an air leak at some point in our system. (This message has been saved for further litigation). On 6/26/23, we contacted the customer by phone and scheduled the appointment for 7/11/23 to look into the issues described by the customer. Next are the notes from that appointment and the following appointment. 07/11/2023 Service Call 4:50 p.m. - 6:05 p.m. X 1 technician. Pump at half prime upon arrival. Checked basis possibilities for causes. Checked skimmers, backwashed,checked fittings. Put system on recirculate, no change. Poured water over all suction areas, no change. Took pump apart and inspected impeller, clear.Reassembled pump, possibly a smushed O-Ring for pump lid. Will pick up new O-Ring and return to property. 07/13/2023 Return Trip 12:30 p.m. - 2:10 p.m. X 2 technicians. Replaced Pump Lid ******* no difference. Pump is a 3HP VSF.2.5" in and out, plumbing is all 1.5", non pressurized. Length in front of pump is approximately 5". Pump cavitation? Recommend replumbing all suction lines and Valves to 2". Spoke with ****** rep- ***** bought and installed heater himself. Wiring to heater was incorrect- did not attach red/white wire to neutral. Diagnosed issue- main *** Board is fried. Need to replace. RayPak Avia. Will email estimates for repairs separately. An invoice for the services provided was sent at this time.
  
  On 7/17/23 we then sent estimates for replacing the *** board on the heater and replacing the non-pressurized plumbing. The customer ordered the *** board and replaced it himself. Next are the notes in the estimate for the plumbing replacement. The current plumbing is drain PVC and not pressurized sch 40 PVC. There are Fernco fittings on the suction manifold which is not recommended. The booster pump for the pool cleaner is plumbed in after the pump and should be between the filter and heater. There is not 4 to 6 times the pipe width of straight pipe in the front of the pump. All of these issue lead to the pump not priming fully and running with air in the pump. We recommend replacing all of the plumbing and placing the equipment in better locations. Estimated time to complete the repairs is 2 technicians x 4 hours. At this time the estimate was accepted for the plumbing replacement and a deposit was made. The appointment was scheduled for 7/20/23. Next are the notes from that appointment and the following appointments.07/20/2023 Service Call 10:35 a.m. - 11:25 a.m. and 12:04 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. X 2 technicians, only charged labor for 1 technician. Removed steel stone which had pump on top and Booster pump on bottom. Removed all plumbing. RE-staged pump and booster pump. Rebuilt entire plumbing system. When finished -pump still had air in basket. Called ****. Possibly Seal leaking and pulling in air? Replace Seal? Pressure Test - Not losing water. 3hp vsf. 20' x 40' pool. 07/27/2023 Return Trip 1:25 p.m. - 6:32 p.m. X 2 technicians, only charged labor for 1 technician. Took pump apart. Replaced Seal. Reassembled pump. Started equipment, no change. Pressure tested both skimmers. Deep end skimmer held at 15 PSI for 18 minutes. Shallow end dropped from 15 PSI to 13 PSI in 10 minutes.Removed existing 3HP VSF and installed Supermax 3/4 HP single speed pump -started equipment. Pump ran well with no cavitation. Spoke with customer.Showed him that the new 3/4HP pump runs fine. Gave option to leave new pump installed or reinstalled his pump. Customer opted to have his pump reinstalled.Reinstalled customer's pump. Customer bought and installed new board for his heater. Heater still not firing. Called RayPak. Diagnosed. Took Manometer readings. Static Pressure was at ****" WC!! Should be 14" WC at maximum. Advised customer he needs to call gas company to rectify and adjust gas pressure. Uncertain if there is additional damage to heater, until gas issue can be resolved. The invoice was sent to the customer.
  On 8/9/23 and 8/10/23 we received voicemails from the customer stating that he wanted to discuss the invoice. We returned the call to the customer multiple times without success. Once we were able to talk to the customer he said he was not going to pay for the services we provided. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/05/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  [Please type your response here.]
  Prior to New Wave working on my pump it maintained a 7/8 prime and never lost prime. I wanted to eliminate the last of the bubble that was in the pump and the gurgling coming into the filter. I was told this air would need to be out of the line to get the heater to work. After what New Wave considered "complete" my pump only had a 1/2 prime and continuously lost that prime. It was very difficult to get it reprimed each time, where I did not have any issues or have to spend inordinate time previously. 

  I hired New Wave to do the job so I did not have to spend my time on it. Upon their own admission the re-install of my pump was at 1/2 prime. I have since been able to improve this flow back to the 7/8 level I had it at before, mitigate the gurgling at the filter myself, and get the heater working myself. New Wave refused to come back and get my pump back to even the original working state it had been in, and kept my deposit of $1000.00 leaving me to finish the job myself. I verbally confirmed that they would not fix the problem prior to starting any work to get my pool running again on my own.  Their solution was to rip out and replace all of my plumbing and then try to sell me a new pump, when mine was only 2 years old. Clearly neither of these hypothesis was the solution. The value they added was the diagnostic informing me I needed a new circuit board and reduced gas flow. I'd say $1000 deposit more than covers that visit. 

  Additionally, they threw away hundreds of dollars of plumping that again was proven to have never been the problem.

  Regards,
  
  *********************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/23/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Last spring (May 5th, 2022), on their advice, we changed the pool's pump. From the beginning it seemed to us that it wasn't working right, but the tech said that it was normal. Turns out, they probably knew it wasn't right, but didn't want to be bothered, because this year, half of what the pump pulls in is air. There is no suction, which prevents us from washing the pool (and heat it - with the pool heater we also bought from them). And now because we changed companies for our opening this year, they won't even send to someone to look at the pump, and it turns out, there is no warranty on the pump they sold us.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/05/2023

  Please see attached

  This is in response to a complaint we received. **** having reviewed said complaint, please see below for our wri?en response.On May 6th, 2022, we installed a new 1HP SuperMax pump. The cost of the pump was $795.99 pre-tax,plus the cost of the labor. The complainant listed $1,800.00, which is not accurate.On May 10th, 2022, the technicians returned to the property and installed a Thro?le Valve, to help with cavitaOon in the pump, and sucOon while vacuuming. CavitaOon to the pump, with the type of system/set up they have, is enOrely normal.On August 20th, 2022, we returned to the property and installed a new heater. The pump funcOoned properly the enOre Ome; both while the technicians were onsite, as well as, from the Ome the technicians installed the pump in May unOl now.On October 13th, 2022, the technicians returned to the property to provide the seasonal closure of the pool. The pump sOll funcOoned properly. This is now five months aOer the pump installaOon. The pump operated/funcOoned properly for five months, clearly not defecOve, nor installed improperly.On October 17th, 2022, the complainant complained about the cost of the pool closure (all costs were explained up front, prior to the appointment being scheduled), and refused to pay her bill.On April 13th, 2023, the complainant sent an email to us asking us to open the pool. Her email was responded to on April 13th, 2023, and we provided a date for her pool opening, and explained the costs associated with the pool opening appointment.On April 20th, 2023, the complainant responded to our email, and advised that we are too expensive.Subsequently, the complainant contracted Water Works Pool & *********** to open her pool.On May 20th, 2023, the complainant emailed and stated that they had concluded that the pump is defecOve. DefecOve pumps do not run/operate properly for five months.On May 22nd, 2023. The complainant emailed staOng that her husband dug down, found a broken pipe,and repaired it, and that he also resealed all the joints, and that he found a loose drain plug that he fixed. Again, we did not provide the seasonal opening of the pool. The pool was opened by Water Works.Furthermore, in this email the complainant stated that:Whatever the tech did to make it work last year doesn't work anymore - or we don't know what he did so we can't do the same, and neither did the other technician. This enOrely contradicts the fact the pump did not work properly.The complaint also states that they wont even send someone to look at the pump, this is not true, I advised the complainants husband, on Tuesday May 23rd, 2023, during a telephone conversaOon, that our earliest availability to schedule an appointment, was aOer July 4th, and the following morning we received mulOple negaOve reviews from the complainant. Then the following day we received this complaint.AddiOonally, the complaint states that there is no warranty on the pump they sold us, this is also inaccurate. During the aforemenOoned telephone conversaOon on May 23rd, 2023, with the complainants husband, I never said that there was no warranty on the pump, I advised that any issues they are having with the pump are not issues that would be covered under a warranty, because the pump is not defecOve. AddiOonally, manufacturers void their warranOes, when repairs are completed by someone other than licensed/cerOfied pool service professionals (i.e., homeowner, pool guy, etc...), so any warranty that had previously existed with the pump is now void.To conclude, the pump is not defecOve, nor was it installed improperly. The pump ran/operated properly for months, without issue. The complainant self-diagnosed the issue as being the pump, aOer having the pool opened by a different company. Based off the informaOon provided by the complainant, it is our professional opinion that they allowed the pump to run for an extended period, with a leak in the plumbing, causing an air sucOon issue. The pump is not the issue, and the pump is not defecOve. The pump operated properly for all last year. The issue with the pump presented this year, due to an air leak,the complainants husband discovered. This is not a warranty issue, and furthermore the complainant is negligent for conOnuing to use the pump with the air issue, causing damage to the pump.I appreciate your Ome and a?enOon to this ma?er. If you have further quesOons, I can be reached at the phone number provided above.Thank you,********************* OperaOons Manager New Wave Pools LLC 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/11/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

  
  While New Wave Pools describes in great detail the services they were hired for during the last summer season, this does not in fact resolve the problems we have with their pump.
  And they admit they wouldn't even come and see what the problem might be before July 4th - more than a month later, with half the pool season gone, and  a pump that by that time would probably have exploded, or my pool would have become a swamp.

  Because of this we continued to try and find and fix the problem ourselves, which led us to visit the Mid-West Pools store, where we spoke to the pump specialist. He asked us a couple of questions and right away he was able to tell us: while the pump is not in itself deficient, it is the wrong pump for our pool. The cavitation which New Wave qualifies as "normal" is only happening because the pump throws out more water than it is able to get. 

  He also explained to us what the New Wave Tech did to make it work, and explained how to set the valve they installed when I noticed the pump wasn't working right - why New Wave couldn't tell us this over the phone I don't know... Because I didn't hire them to open my pool this spring? When they hiked their their prices to astronomical levels and now charge twice what others do for half the service???

  Whatever, this has partly helped. We are now able to heat the pool at least, and it is slightly easier to clean, but there is still something wrong. The something wrong New Wave Pools was supposed to fix by changing our pump.

  At this point, we would like to have the money back we paid for that pump so we can buy the appropriate one in the hopes that it can fix the other problem. We are willing to return the pump once the right one is installed.

  Regards,
  
  *******************************************