What is the worst "pool store" info you have heard?

[DavidD]

"Under no circumstances should you keep your chlorine above 1.5 as it will ruin swimsuits and can be hazardous to your health. A chlorine level of .5 is ideal". Hummm? They obviously haven’t tested their tap water. Mine test at 3ppm....

And similar to what Michael said above and my personal favorite, “You use bleach! That will eat up all of your pool equipment and cause your PVC pipes to degrade!”

[CarlD]

Lemme see:
"Bleach adds bad chemicals to your water!"
"You need calcium in a your [vinyl-lined] pool."
"Total Alkalinity Raiser is 'different' than Arm&Hammer baking soda."
"You got a problem? You need clarifier, flocculent, pH Up, pH down, calcium, copper-based algaecide and 'Special' shock!"
"You lower T/A by pouring in a slug of Muriatic Acid. That crackpot aeration method is BS (barnyard slush)"
"A Nature2 will help keep your water clearer and reduce your chemical costs" (check out how much the yearly N2 cartridge costs--you can buy 2 season's worth of bleach for the same amount)

[aylad]

"You need to bring your calcium up immediately to at least 150 ppm, before you ruin your liner, that is, if you haven't already. It's going to take about 50 pounds of this calcium crystal--make sure you put it in all at once."

Good thing I know that vinyl pools don't need calcium--and that it makes great sidewalk de-icer!

Janet

[RocKKer]

Last year I was in line at one of the local pool stores (one that starts with "L") buying some start up supplies for the season, I listened to the salesperson "help" one customer with their problem. Salesperson suggested a bucket of CYA, some blue clarifier, etc. All without any kind of water sample, chemical testing or pool size info.

I was amazed at this ability of the saleperson to "know" exactly how much and what chemicals to sell this pool owner to fix his problem. It was truely remarkable!

Still in awe of those "abilities" to this day!

[matt4x4]

There was a woman in the local highend ritzy poolstore, I was in getting some feherguard clips for my reel, this woman had a shopping cart full of stuff, I asked her why she had all this stuff (I think it was hundreds of $ worth), she showed me her water sample printout and their recommendations.
I told her to put the stuff back, go to walmart and get the 3 B's as well, I pointed her to this forum, don't know if she ever signed up here, but she left without dropping a cent - and i don't feel bad about it!
I've stopped many from making that recommended purchase, converted about 20 people at work to the 3b's, and almost all my neighbours, so the moral is that together we can stop the poolstore madness!!!

[CarlD]

Anybody remember The Rockford Files?

There was an episode where a scam corp. is selling phony retirement homes in the desert and have a lake as part of the plan. Rockford finds an old scam artist acquaintance working as a salesman who says to him: "but Jim, I didn't invent pigeons!"

Later Rockford sends his father to be a buyer and he comes back and says "And there we were, in the middle of desert, nothing but sand and cactus, and this feller tried to sell me a boat!"

Don't be a pool store pigeon!

[sailork]

The clerk at my local pool store tested the water and said that my Ca hardness was worryingly high. His test showed 300 and it's a plaster pool so I'm not too worried about it. Then he sent me home with a Cal Hypo shock to clear up the CC. I had already dumped it in the pool when I realized that I was adding yet more calcium to the pool at the suggestion of the guy who had just told me I had too much calcium! I suppose that makes me a fools accomplice.

[PhantomAndy]

All pool stores are in the business to make money -

If you walk in the door with your pants around your ankles and your wallet out, you deserve to get taken to the cleaners.

If people would A) Do a little homework B) Quit being so lazy and looking for a chemical fix for their failure to just check their water balance daily then the pool stores would change their ways.

However that's not the world we live in. So those of us that do our homework, and take care to stay ahead of our water will always get a good laugh watching the person in front of us at the pool store stroke out at their total as they reach deep into their wallet to pay 'the man'.

Pool stores are the Car Dealership of the water lesiure world. . .

[waterbear]

My worst 'pool store info' (and YES, I DO work part time in one. some of us actually try to help people!) was when I took a water sample to be tested at a local store (not the one I work at, but it's closer to my house). I have a SWG and they tested my salt at 3400 ppm and my TDS at 4100 ppm and told me I had to drain and refill the pool because the TDS was way too high! I pointed out that part of what they were measuring was my salt and therefore my TDS was only 700 ppm! The young girl testing my water looked very confused by this and started to argue that those were different tests and had nothing to do with each other. I thanked her and bought the muriatic acid I originally came in for. IMHO, the biggest problem with pool stores is that many of the people working in them just don't really have any real knowledge of the chemistry of pool water and just buy into everything the manufacturers tell them in training and seminars. When I owned my first portable spa several years back (I was a complete newbie!) the dealer, who also sold all types of pool and spa chemicals and equipment, had me using bleach to chlorinate my spa and baking soda for alkalinity (unfortunately, he DID have me use sodium carbonate to raise ph and recommended test strips)!

[PopcornGirl]

All pool stores are in the business to make money -

If you walk in the door with your pants around your ankles and your wallet out, you deserve to get taken to the cleaners.

If people would A) Do a little homework B) Quit being so lazy and looking for a chemical fix for their failure to just check their water balance daily then the pool stores would change their ways.

However that's not the world we live in. So those of us that do our homework, and take care to stay ahead of our water will always get a good laugh watching the person in front of us at the pool store stroke out at their total as they reach deep into their wallet to pay 'the man'.

Pool stores are the Car Dealership of the water lesiure world. . .

At risk of sounding argumentative, I have to disagree with this sentiment. I'm not saying that you don't make a good point, but it shouldn't have to be this way.
Call me a Pollyanna, but I think ANY time a business takes advantage of a person's ignorance or lack of knowlege, it is just plain WRONG.
We can't all be *experts* at everything.
Using your logic:
*It's perfectly acceptable for the auto mechanic to charge me for a bunch of repairs I don't need. After all, if I'd only bother to learn more about how my car works...
*There's nothing wrong with my doctor prescribing a bunch of pills I don't really need... Hey, the internet is there and I should be familiar enough with my body & my illness to know what is really necessary, right?

I totally *get* that this is the reality, but it shouldn't be. And I *DO* believe that pool owners should become educated about their own pools (as I recently did). But just because every pool owner hasn't come to that same realization just yet, does not morally or legally justify fraud.
And you never know... that "sucker" you just sold $200 dollars' worth of unnecessary chemicals to MIGHT just turn out to be the doctor holding your test results or the mechanic handing you his bill...
Just my .02