Dolphin Tale of Woes takes a WEIRD Turn!

[poolbee]

Wow Carl, that is great-finally! Too bad this couldn't have been settled before you bought the Blue Diamond. Since you did buy it, it may be asking to much to ask them for a refund instead of the new Dolphin???
Sounds to me like they just want you to go away If it were me, I'd not send the old one back unless they contact you again and ask for it. You have already spent too much of your own money because of them, and that thing is heavy and I'm sure would cost quite a bit to send it, plus insurance.
After waiting a while to make sure things are settled, you could probably sell it and try to recoup some of your loss.
This has probably cost them much more than fixing the thing the right way in the first place and has really hurt their reputation. Imagine how many people on this forum would have been more inclined to purchase a Maytronics product because of excellent service you could have been given. Instead, probably many dozens have been turned off. Should be a lesson learned by them, but probably won't be.

[hzz]

What a story. What to do is the qeuestion.
I would give them a call tomorrow and see if they still want your old unit back.If they do, and I think they will, perhaps they would agree to pay the shipping on it.
Is it too late to return the Blue Diamond?If not, then try out the new dolphin and see that it is OK,then return the blue diamond.
If it is too late to return the blue diamond,then you have 2 robot cleaners.
That is no good, so I think you should send the blue diamond to me for further analysis ;-)
I have no idea what you should do.What a mess.Whatever happens, you're a lot better off today than you were yesterday!
Keep us posted!

[CarlD]

That is no good, so I think you should send the blue diamond to me for further analysis ;-)

Uhhhh---Yeah, yup, right. I'll get right on it...I've added it to the list.

[jabre]

Perhaps Maytronic is stuck in a bad position - between dealing with a lying distributor who may hold a contractural distribution agreement which may be very expensive (litigation) to get out of and direct end-customer responsibilities. I would say contact them and challenge them to step up and dialog directly with the end users of their products on this forum like others. Maybe, if they're honest, communacative and genuinely interested they can rebuild some of that trampled reputation.

[jimwnola]

Offhand, I would suggest thanking them for the new unit and return the old COD. Continue to document here, only fair. If you sell it, you came out fine.

[CarlD]

The new unit came from Smart Pools. I do not know if it was on their own incentive or on Maytronics'.

I will contact Smart Pools today and thank them for the new unit and ask if they want the old one--if not it will become the parts bin.

I still believe there is an issue with Smart Pools technicians. We've all been to good car mechanics, and inept ones. We've all seen competent pool services and incompetent, lazy ones.

When I was a kid, I worked for Singer fixing sewing machines (can't sew but I can fix most machines). The summer I turned 19, I was working for them--they sent me all over Westchester and Putnam Counties in NY fixing machines. Each store manager was supposed to be trained as a mechanic. HAH! There was ONE in all the area who knew as much as this kid did (he also taught me a lot, too). The managers would pretend to fix machines, guessing about what was wrong, and then would lie to the customer and bill them out the nose. I wouldn't do that--there was plenty of revenue in HONEST repairs. Singer was one of the early companies to have computerized payrolls--this was 1974. And they had it set up to hold back salary two weeks longer than was legal, and your check would arrive forward dated! So if you were due a check on August 1, you would get it on August 14, but the date would be August 1!

They had crookedness built all the way into their payroll software! I guess this is why the Singer company has disappeared and the brand was sold!

So I don't trust mechanics who return products that don't work, who claim repairs that aren't on my invoice, or are but clearly weren't done.

It may be as simple as Smart Pools replacing their mechs, or getting them retrained, or supervising them better. I don't know--it's not my business, it's theirs.

[poolbuoy]

Just wondering how Maytronics has faired with the war going on there. Surprised they can even do business at all...