Contact info, BBB reports & Reviews of Intex, Summer Escapes & Bestway pools

[PoolDoc]

Thanks for this information; it helped me track down the info updated above.

It turns out General Foam was the contracted US customer service agent for Polygroup till a couple of years ago (2011?), and apparently handled things well. Polygroup took it back recently, and has acquired a truly terrible customer service history since then.

Like many Chinese (or non-Japanese / non-Korean Asian) products, both Summer Escapes and Intex seem to have decent products, but poor quality control. Intex does seem to address legitimate warranty problems, if somewhat slowly. Summer Escapes apparently does NOT do so, and is selling a lot of defective goods via Walmart and Sams Club.

Both retail outlets WILL accept return of defective pools within 30 days, so do NOT purchase one of these pools if you can't check it out promptly, and return it quickly if there's a problem. From what I've been able to tell, pursuing a warranty claim with Polygroup is likely to be a waste of time!

[singingpond]

Another difference between Intex and Summer Escapes which I have noticed recently --

I don't know about smaller Intex pools, but the larger ones seem to come with plunger valves at the suction and return connections -- this kind of device:
http://www.amazon.com/Intex-Above-Gr...ef=pd_sbs_lg_1

That's obviously useful for servicing/replacing the filter, for example.

The 18' x 48" Summer Escapes pool we just bought doesn't have any valves (instructions just tell you to jam plugs into the ports, from inside the pool, when you want to change your filter). With the smaller Summer Escapes pool (10' x 30") we've used over the past several summers we haven't thought much about this issue -- we just lift the pump/filter unit up onto a lawn chair or some other lowish platform, so that the pump is above the water level of the pool, before opening the housing. Using those plugs in the pool wall every time would be inconvenient, and unnecessary.

However, with a bigger pool (deeper water), it's not really practical to lift the pump unit up above water level every time you have to fiddle with the filter. Nor do I have any enthusiasm for using the interior wall plugs -- you'd pretty much have to get into the pool to put the plugs in. The return fitting also has a diverter, and the provided plug doesn't fit in the diverter (instructions call for unscrewing the diverter fitting, inside the pool, before putting in the plug -- yeah, right...).

Anyway, the upshot is that owners of larger Summer Escapes pools probably have to spend some additional money on shutoff valves to make this aspect of pool maintenance reasonably convenient. We certainly plan to get such valves. It's not a terrible additional expense -- circa $40 to get both complete fittings, with valves -- e.g.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=A2JKSOUYOKW13

However, it does look like an example of Summer Escapes leaving out a pretty necessary feature in order to cut costs.