Swimming Pool Sales Bogosity

[PoolDoc]

When I started PoolSolutions, in 1996, I didn't yet understand how bogus much of the pool industry, and especially, the swimming pool chemical business was. But I learned.

As most long term users of the PoolForum know, there are a great many things pool stores and pool chemical companies will tell you that are pretty bogus.

Of course, the pool equipment companies don't have entirely clean hands, either! The ridiculous pump horsepower ratings - "full rate", "up rate" or above ground 'mystery rate' are as bad as anything the chemical companies have done . . . but at least the equipment companies don't make it impossible to tell that a 3/4 HP full rate equals a 1 HP uprate.

However, I thought it might be nice to have a gallery of selected screen shots and photos of bogus swimming pool claims and marketing drivel.

Feel free to join in . . . but since the companies won't welcome what you are doing, you'll need to document precisely where you found your "bogosity". So be sure to include a time and date of download, and an exact URL. I'll need to capture and archive what you submit, so some poor sales slob can't take it down, and then come back and say, "We never said that!"

If you really want to help me, make your post, but then ALSO email me at PoolForum AT gmail DOT com, and include your user ID, the URL, and a screen capture of what you found. (Irfanview (Google it!) is free and is a great screen cap and image display and edit tool -- very fast, very easy.)

Otherwise, have fun!

[PoolDoc]

Have you ever looked at the Intex pool ads? Have you noticed that there seem to be an awful lot of people, with an awful lot of room in that little 12' or 15' pool? No? Well, take a look at the photos below, from this page: http://www.intexcorp.com/index.php/home/above-ground-pools/metal-frame-pools/12-366cm-metal-frame-round-pools/56995eg.html

The first one is the Intex original, from here: http://www.intexcorp.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/5/6/56995EG_inuse_200.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Gd0-ghNqaKE/T1FdkzERbpI/AAAAAAAABfE/NOy5u8eigRQ/s800/56995EG_inuse_200.jpg

Now, look at that picture again. That's a 12 foot pool! That's a LOT of people, for a 12' pool. And, there's a LOT of room, around those people. Doesn't look right, to me!

OK, let's fire up Visio and set up a scale line. NASA has some nice anthropometric data available here: http://msis.jsc.nasa.gov/sections/section03.htm (They have to make sure folks that go into space fit the cabins and space suits! If your dress pants are an inch too short . . . well that's embarrassing. But, it's more than embarrassing, if your space suit is an inch too short!)

It turns out the average adult male is 22" from the outside of one arm to the other. Take a look a the dude at the back of the photo. Now, he looks like a swimmer, and I'm pretty sure HIS width is more than 22", but we'll use 22". However, he's turned to the camera, so we'll need to correct.

OK, 30 degrees off parallel from the camera plane gives us a 19" width on parallel. So we'll use that. You can see the marks I made on the guy.

Copy and paste, copy and paste . . .10 TIMES! That's a total of 190" plus OR 15' 10"! That does not look right.

OK, make a 12' pool outline, using the man-ruler to size it. Nope, something's not right!

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-5ZbgFBZ6_-A/T1FiFsFATeI/AAAAAAAABfU/vmAmA49ROR8/s800/Drawing1%2520web.jpg

Oh, dear. How can that be? I can think of two possible explanations.

1. Intex may have bred a team of special pool midgets they can use in their swimming pool photography. (It's a Chinese company, so they're allowed to do things, like giving Syrian president Assad a hearty pat on the back as he bombs his cities, and breeding pool midget teams!)

2. Or somebody took a picture of a group of people in an 18' round (outside, 17' round INSIDE) above ground pool, and used Photoshop to cut and paste those people into Intex's little 12' pool.

I'm going with #2. After all the pool midgets are Anglo, and I'm not sure even China could get away with breeding a pool midget team using British expats left over from when the UK gave Hong Kong back.

The irony here, is that I LIKE Intex pools. I think they are a great deal. For someone on a tight budget, or who wants to try out pool ownership before they commit serious dollars, I think they are an excellent choice.

But, I don't like deceptive sales.

[kelemvor]

You might consider submitting the site(s) to the wayback machine for archiving. It will scan the website and let you browse it as it was on a particular date. For example, I can go see exactly what poolforum.com looked like on June 21, 2004. http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

[PoolDoc]

That's a good thought. But, I think the WayBack already scans every fairly high traffic site . . . but you can block their robot in the webmaster's "robots.txt" file. Also, WayBack does not archive a complete site, and keeps a somewhat spotty selection of pages.

So . . . if I want to be sure of keeping links and sources, I have to do the archiving myself. That used to be tough. But, today, with 2 terabyte drives for under $150, it's not so hard. I could have archived every photo and every reference ever used on PoolForum and PoolSolutions in less than 500 Gb, and if I had, I'd still have them.

This year, I've begun a new policy of archiving all links, references and photos in a thread by thread archive. I may not be able to keep up, once the season gets going, but I will at least get the data from my posts, and those of the moderators.

[CarlD]

Gee, Ben, you worked too hard!
Having had a 15' Intex Donut as soon as you said it looked to be too big to be 12' I said to myself "that's because it's a 15' pool"
Then I figured the panels are clearly 4' panels...there are 12 of them...48' circumference, divided by PI is...15' 4"...

I'm just lazy! :)

[PoolDoc]

I still think the water and people are still Photoshopped in -- in other words, those people weren't photographed in that pool. And, the water body the people were in, was 16+ feet in INSIDE diameter.

It may be that they put a cut-out of swimmers in an 18' (OD) x 40" AG pool into a photo of a 15' x 36" pool. However they did it, when people buy an Intex 12'x30" pool they won't be able to get real-life friends and neighbors in the pool in the manner shown.

[CarlD]

Could be, but my donut was 15'x3' and looked about the same size, even with people in it. But your KEY point is the important one: No WAY is this a 12' pool!

[alisonquilts]

I just want to say how utterly hilarious your analysis was! I am still wiping away the tears...

Alison

[Poolsean]

http://www.intexcorp.com/index.php/home/above-ground-pools/metal-frame-pools/small-rectangular-frame-pools.html
This answers your question. Exactly the same people, placement, and shadows, but in two different sized Intex pools.

Not sure why I spent 10 minutes trying to find something else in their photos...thanks Ben