My Dolphin: Now I'm getting rid of it

[poolbee]

Sorry about your Dolphin. I really hope it is repaired to your satisfaction because I have a Diagnostic. I'd like to know I can count on the customer service should I ever need them..

Blue diamond makes a less expensive Blue Pearl. I saw it on ebay but couldn't find out if the Blue Diamond people made it or not before I ordered the Dolphin. I emailed the Blue Diamond people and yes, it is theirs but it doesn't appear on their website. They directed me to another site www.pooldrstore.com/BluePearlpagenewsite.htm I have heard good things about the Blue Diamond, but the Pearl is new. Hopefully you won't need to look into a new one.

[CarlD]

Now I am ROYALLY ticked off!

The Dolphin was returned yesterday from SmartPool where they allegedly found NOTHING wrong.

I guess they didn't look, or they have a 9'x9' pool. That's because in the first few minutes my Dolphin went to a couple of walls, climbed one, didn't climb the others, then went to the deep end hopper. This is a flat-bottomed rectangular area about 10.5'x14' that is 5.5' deep. It has ramps on all 4 sides.

The Dolphin then proceeded to patrol a 9'x7' box for the next 8 hours. It would go to the base of one ramp, then go back across, stop in the MIDDLE of the flat, and return.

All d*** night. I started it at 8:30, checked it at 11, at 1:35 (don't ask), 2:10 (ditto) and at 6:30, when it had stopped--guess where.

I guess Dolphin can now be counted as another take-your-money-and-run company. Put it with HTH, BioGard and Nature2. I can kiss $1250.-- good--bye. Like one of those cartoons of a bill with wings on it.

I will call them again today, and I will try to escalate it, but I can see I'm going to get nowhere. It's clear they have no intention of diagnosing or fixing it, but intend to use the "Bigger Sucker Theorem".

The "Bigger Sucker Theorem" is this: There's always another and a bigger sucker around the next corner so don't worry about the repercussions from the one you just conned.

The remedy is this:

In my PERSONAL and HUMBLE opinion, buying any Dolphin product is A MISTAKE! I will NEVER buy any Dolphin or SmartPool product again. I will NEVER recommend and Dolphin or SmartPool product again. I APOLOGIZE to anyone who bought a Dolphin product on my say-so. I say to anyone who is considering buying a Dolphin,
DON'T--BUY SOMETHING ELSE INSTEAD!

If you have a Dolphin and still have a window in which to return it, it is my opinion that you should try.

That is my personal opinion. It is not the policy of this forum and it is not opinion of this forum. It is not the opinion of the administration or of the other moderators. It is solely my own personal opinion and reflects my own experience and exasperation.

If, somehow, magically, against all logic, they reverse this and actually fix it, I will let you know. Even so, they will have STILL made me ship it to them twice and put me through all this nonsense.

Meantime, I still have my Polaris 165 and PoolBuster to take care of cleaning duties. Both those have given me trouble in the past, but in both cases, THOSE companies responded as I would expect and hope, and both units now function perfectly--without any run-around.

Carl

[Water_man]

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear your Dolphin horror story. I just recieved mine and it's working great. I didn't get the Aquabot because
the Dolphin seemed a better machine, plus they were the original developer. I suggest you contact the manufecturere directly (maytronics.com). Don't forget to mention you belong to a 17000 member pool owners organization. I'd follow up with a call too. They are 7 hours ahead of EST.

Good luck.

Now I am ROYALLY ticked off!

The Dolphin was returned yesterday from SmartPool where they allegedly found NOTHING wrong.

I guess they didn't look, or they have a 9'x9' pool. That's because in the first few minutes my Dolphin went to a couple of walls, climbed one, didn't climb the others, then went to the deep end hopper. This is a flat-bottomed rectangular area about 10.5'x14' that is 5.5' deep. It has ramps on all 4 sides.

The Dolphin then proceeded to patrol a 9'x7' box for the next 8 hours. It would go to the base of one ramp, then go back across, stop in the MIDDLE of the flat, and return.

All d*** night. I started it at 8:30, checked it at 11, at 1:35 (don't ask), 2:10 (ditto) and at 6:30, when it had stopped--guess where.

I guess Dolphin can now be counted as another take-your-money-and-run company. Put it with HTH, BioGard and Nature2. I can kiss $1250.-- good--bye. Like one of those cartoons of a bill with wings on it.

I will call them again today, and I will try to escalate it, but I can see I'm going to get nowhere. It's clear they have no intention of diagnosing or fixing it, but intend to use the "Bigger Sucker Theorem".

The "Bigger Sucker Theorem" is this: There's always another and a bigger sucker around the next corner so don't worry about the repercussions from the one you just conned.

The remedy is this:

In my PERSONAL and HUMBLE opinion, buying any Dolphin product is A MISTAKE! I will NEVER buy any Dolphin or SmartPool product again. I will NEVER recommend and Dolphin or SmartPool product again. I APOLOGIZE to anyone who bought a Dolphin product on my say-so. I say to anyone who is considering buying a Dolphin,
DON'T--BUY SOMETHING ELSE INSTEAD!

If you have a Dolphin and still have a window in which to return it, it is my opinion that you should try.

That is my personal opinion. It is not the policy of this forum and it is not opinion of this forum. It is not the opinion of the administration or of the other moderators. It is solely my own personal opinion and reflects my own experience and exasperation.

If, somehow, magically, against all logic, they reverse this and actually fix it, I will let you know. Even so, they will have STILL made me ship it to them twice and put me through all this nonsense.

Meantime, I still have my Polaris 165 and PoolBuster to take care of cleaning duties. Both those have given me trouble in the past, but in both cases, THOSE companies responded as I would expect and hope, and both units now function perfectly--without any run-around.

Carl

[rak70]

Carl sorry to hear of your problems. Just curious what is your water temp?

[CarlD]

Thanks for the tip on Maytronics.com.

My water temp is just above freezing so it's banging into the ice chunks...

JUST KIDDING!

My water was 85 F when I put the Dolphin in. Dolphins are supposed to work in water above, I believe 55 and below something in the 90's.

If you can't use the Dolphin unless the water is 78.37 degrees, and the pH is 7.19745, then it's USELESS!!!!!

[rak70]

I agree.

Reason I ask is I just bought a Dolphin and have ran it 5-6 cycles. I am underwhelmed with its performance and the da** twisty power cord that retains a memory. I am in Florida and my water temps are in the low 90's so I thought that may have been a factor. Warm water = less bouyancy. I called tech support and they sent me a new float so that I could try it out. Not sure how I feel about using it because now I don't know if the unit is even working properly and the float may just be a band-aid fix. Out of the six cycles max it has covered is 90% and that was only once. The other times it would stay in the deep end 95%. Seems like it gets weighed down really fast from the fine mesh bag. When I remove the bag it's only brown from the dirt sediment, no leaves or anything, and it still occasionally weighs it down enough to not make it up the deep to shallow slope. Put the float on this am, didn't have time to put the mesh bag in as it's in the wash, but it seems to zip around a lot better and makes it up the slope/walls no problem. Now I don't know if I have a weak unit or just the water temp requires extra bouyancy. Confused and not too happy...

[cruzmisl]

I just got my Dynamic yesterday and it seems to work the same as my 3 year old Diagnostic. Is it perfect? No, I don't think anything is but it gets >90% of the garbage in my pool. I also plan to get a Poolbuster for the steps, spillover spa and spot cleaning.

Fortunately for me I bought mine from Costco which has an astounding return policy. Hopefully I won't have to use it.

Carl, did you send the unit to an authorized service center or back to the manufacturer? It would be really nice if another member in your area could let you borrow their dolphin. Then you could at least have verification that it's your unit and not your pool ph or temp.

[cleancloths]

I just got my Dynamic yesterday and it seems to work the same as my 3 year old Diagnostic. Is it perfect? No, I don't think anything is but it gets >90% of the garbage in my pool. I also plan to get a Poolbuster for the steps, spillover spa and spot cleaning.

Fortunately for me I bought mine from Costco which has an astounding return policy. Hopefully I won't have to use it.

Carl, did you send the unit to an authorized service center or back to the manufacturer? It would be really nice if another member in your area could let you borrow their dolphin. Then you could at least have verification that it's your unit and not your pool ph or temp.

What EXACTLY is Costco's return policy, as I just bought one from them 10 days ago and am now worried based on Carl's experience.

[CarlD]

Oh, I'd be THRILLED with +90% coverage. Right now I'm getting less than 20% coverage...complete waste.

I sent it to SmartPool, the authorized repair center.

Yeah, it'd be nice to try it in somebody else's pool, or somebody else trying their Dolphin in mine.

But it is my belief that these odd pH numbers they demand are merely a cover for other problems. Of what use is a pool vacuum that demands you adjust certain numbers to a VERY small range, that is outside of the normal range?

I don't like when EVERYTHING is "user error" and the manufacturer demands that you meet an outlandish, quixotic set of requirements and "that's what it's designed for!" I'm not wearing a tinfoil hat, scattering rosemary and marjoram at midnight under a gibbous moon to get the d*** pool cleaner working! I feel like I'm trying to get service from Groucho Marx!

[cleancloths]

I think my @#^$^% Dolphin Dynamic is about ready to go back to Costco!

It worked great the first two times I used it. I put it in the pool today after reading this thread and watched it immediately go to the bottom and then climb all the way up the wall. It scrubbed the waterline for about 8 feet then went clear across the pool to the waterline on the other side. But it quickly reveresed and went back down the wall across the pool and just to the edge at the bottom. Since then it has been working a path of about 10' back and forth back and forth barely moving sideways at all. That one section of the pool is very clean now It has been running for one hour doing this section that is about 10' long and maybe 4' wide. So, I think tomorrow I will put it back in the box and take it to Costco.

So, What should I get in its place? Anyone have any experience with that Blue Pearl unit?