Pool & Spa Depot — Local services in Cookeville

I am rating Pool and Spa Depot based on my rocky up and down experience from start to finish. First off Mike, our sales rep was extremely friendly, not pushy, and represented the company very well. Me and my wife told Mike exactly what we wanted, how our landscape was, and what type of budget we had set. Mike designed the perfect package for us and even explained things in detail and helped us decide what type of filtration, and cleaner we wanted. After we were through with Mike initially he handed us off to Jim, the store manager (who by the way comes off instantly as a arrogant person). Jim got us set up with everything and handled all the paperwork. Jim did at least be very up front and forward about how the install would go. He advised me that our yard yes would be tore up, and that the left over trash from the installation of our pool would be left for us to deal with, also they do not back fill, they do not run power for your pump, they do not try to fix the yard, and that there would be a pile of dirt for us to deal with as well. Again yes Jim did warn us ahead of time about all this, just adding this to my review so other potential buyers or customers can be aware before purchasing with Pool and Spa Depot. A fee days after purchasing our new pool I received a call from Jim stating that the installers would be out Thursday to install our new pool, Thursday morning rolls around and Jim calls my wife right before our appointment time frame and states that there was a mix up and that our pool never arrived and then stated that we would have to wait another month before they could have another pool to install for us. I then called Jim and asked what was going on. He stated multiple excuses and kept putting the blame on everyone but himself or his store. I told him that was unacceptable and asked him what he could do to resolve the issue, he immidetly wanted to just refund me my money without even trying to keep me as a customer or make things right and I didn't even ask for my money back. He told me that they don't just give things away, I told him that I don't expect anything for free and never asked for anything for free. Jim stated that the company would rather lose a customer than give things away because there always other customers out there. This blew my mind for their lack of customer service or Jim's anyways. I called Nashville to the head office and had to jump through hoops to ever even get a resolution. Finally Jim calls me back and says that they are going to upgrade us to the next size up to keep us happy and stated they would be out Friday to install our new pool. Friday is here and the installers show up within their time frame and got started. The install crew evaluated how they were going to do everything before they started digging which I really appreciated. Within a few hours we had a pool that we wanted. The install crew amazing me with how great they did with the install from start to finish. They stayed in the same track while moving dirt, they left a mild mound of extra dirt which I was made aware of, they also stacked the left over trash from the install in a neat pile. Initially when I read a few other reviews online about the overall install I was very nervous as to how mine was going to go but this crew amazed me and I was very happy when they left my home, they respected my yard, my home, and my family, I give them 5 stars. A few days after we got done filling our pool they sent out the technician who installs the pump and filtration system. Their technician was very knowledgeable and helpful in answering all my questions and even walked me through the initial start up, give him 5 stars. 24 hours after our pool had been completely full and the pump and filter system operational I took a sample of our water to get tested and so they could tell me what I needed to maintain and clean my pool, the sales rep that did this was very helpful. Jim the "manager" was the only person that I really had an issue with during the whole process. We are very happy now, the employees are who...

Edit: I received a cash refund for the extra chemicals, so that is fine. I have adjusted my rating based on that and I won't ding the store for one bad experience with one employee, but I hope for some better customer service training based on this experience.

The first day we stepped foot in this store, we picked out and fully paid for a new pool. Easiest transaction as far as a store is concerned. The pool is installed, it looks good, and the installers were great. I am upset because we weren't really given any instruction on starting the pool (or told where to find the instructions), was sold chemicals I don't need right now, and they won't refund them. I was told by the installer to take a water sample after it was filled to see what chemicals we needed. I was not told that we had buckets of chemicals that already came with our package which were put underneath the deck. Also included was a box that had some other accessories and startup instructions that I was unaware of before taking our water sample. So we take a water sample after filling the pool and we are told they wouldn't test it until the pump had been circulating for 24 hours, that's fine. However, we tried to get instructions and a list of what chemicals we needed to add. It seemed like the counter manager didn't want to really help us as she suggested that they do Pool School every Saturday morning and that was where we should get our information. We live an hour away and I can't just pop in every time I need chemicals or a water sample so I wanted to make sure we were on the right track for starting this thing up. After pressing, she said we needed to added Step A ($99 x 2) and Step B ($40) chemicals which she sold us. However, upon returning home we find that we already had the Step A and Step B chemicals and, like I said earlier, the startup instructions were found in a box. My wife takes the chemicals back for a refund because we purchased unneeded chemicals. They wouldn't refund them. If anyone had looked at the pool package we purchased, the first interaction should have gone like this: "There is a box with startup instructions. Go home and find that (or take this printout in case you can't find it). You have the necessary chemicals at home that came with your package. Once you add the Step A and Step B per the instructions, bring us back a water sample". After my wife left again, still with unneeded chemical in tow, I call the store to get more information on why they wouldn't refund the chemicals. After letting her know of my disappointment, she offered to give store credit for the chemicals, but they should have been aware they were selling me chemicals I didn't currently need. I should be able to determine when I spend my money on chemicals, not the store. I want a full refund, not credit. If I need the chemicals later, then I need them later and I will purchase them later. Corporate is free to contact me and resolve this issue and I can adjust my rating accordingly, but we haven't felt like in-person customer service from your Cookeville Counter Manager (the title she said she has) has been very good and this has sent us looking for chemicals to purchase elsewhere. And a final weird encounter was our thermometer that was included in the accessories was broken (reading 120 degrees), so she took it to get replaced. The same girl exchanged it but not without saying "just this time". That is not something you append to your sentence to customers you expect to continue spending money with you. You mean if you provide a damaged product you are doing me a favor by exchanging it and it can only happen once? Again, just weird customer service. My wife and I both put up with bad service as that seems to be the norm on the plateau (much different than where we came from) but this both just rubbed us the wrong way (especially with the amount of money being spent), so it was enough for me to...

I want so badly to be able to write a good review, but our semi-inground pool install experience & customer service surrounding it has been an absolute nightmare. We have been given the run-around by the manager, Jimbo. He is not wiling to honor our agreement made at the time of sale. The 1 star im giving is because of Jeff our sales guy & Marci a gal in the office. They were respectful, knowledgeable & pleasant to work with. I wish them alone were reason to work with this company, but I would never ever ever recommend them after this experience. Maybe the other locations are better.

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We are in Mt Juliet & decided to go to Cookeville store because we saw wonderful reviews about this location.

Our shopping & purchasing experience was great. Of course....we were eager to buy, were cash customers and wanted top of the line everything aboveground pools offered.....so we were ripe for the picking. Our salesman, Jeff, was fantastic. He answered all our questions & educated us on lots of things since we were pool newbies. Sinking our pool into the ground a couple of feet was a non-negotiable so we were pleased to hear that was part of the package deal we were getting for up to 2 ft. Perfect!!

2 weeks later, we have a giant pile of sand and a date set for install. When the installation crew (contract workers...not official employees of P & S Depot. & mind you they were very late with zero communication after I had taken the whole afternoon off from work), they said it would cost an additional $500 to sink the pool the 2 feet we were promised. The contract was vague , but we once again checked with the sales office & they said it should be included. The manager, Jimbo, was brought into the conversation and he tried to convince us sinking the pool was a big mistake. For about an hour, we got the runaround from Jimbo...he said we got bad information---but not our fault...we weren't asking for freebies or extras...just what we had agreed to at time of purchase. Long story short...the crew would not dig without payment so we reluctuntly agreed to pay them & take it up with the office since at that point Jimbo was MIA . It was his day off & I feel bad for that..but that is the life of a manager. Finally, Jimbo said he'd make it right by us with store credit. (He said something like $250 store credit & then later reduced it to $100.)

The rest of the aftenoon was productive...dirt was moved & the pool was set up.....side note...the crew was crazy messy with the dumping of the dirt. I acknowledge that I'm a bit particular with my yard, but it seemed Mr. Bobcat Driver was being careless. The crew said they couldn't backfill until water was in the pool. That may be the case, but some of the crew was complaining about working late & was ready to leave. .& rightfully so.this was their 3rd pool of the day...but that wasn't my fault. We nade arrnagements for the guy to come back to backfill & found out it would be an additional $300 to do that & even more if we needed the extra dirt hauled off. But what do we do...we have 3 giant piles of dirt & a pool surrounded by a ring of dirt.

After the crew left, we realized boxes and what looked like spare parts were all over our yard. Going through the boxes, we found even more parts and warranties---things we figured we need. My hubby spent over an hour cleaning up after the crew.

Once the water was in, we called the office to ask what to do next...bc we needed some help with how to do the chemicals, install the stairs...bc they were not installed. The guy walked us through it & now the pump leaks at every joint....oh my lands...what have we done...we are awaiting the arival of the guy to backfill.. since this is"extra"we will be...