Pool store refused to test my water...

[Carolina]

I assume you don't have a vinyl pool (hence the calcium). But you can also add calcium by using Cal-Hypo temporarily as your chlorine source and that can be had at other places than pool stores.

That's not a bad idea. I always need to supplement with calcium every now and again to keep my levels up. Does it have cyanuric acid added as tri-chlor does?

[Carolina]

Ya know, if the manager has been testing your water, and they "always ask" and you tell them what you use, it seems that the manager is already agreeable to your testing. They should know the value of a happy customer.

Lemme spew a few tidbits from my corporate 'Consumer Affairs' days...

Generally speaking, a contented customer MAY tell 2 people, a disgruntled customer WILL tell at least 4. That alone can be a compelling argument for appeasing the customer, but here's where it hits the bottom line big time:
A typical business will lose between 7% and 9% of their customers due to a bad (or perceived bad) experience. Most will simply walk away and never come back, and the business never knows about it. But some will make their concerns known, and this gives the business the opportunity to reduce this by 2-5% by just doing a little customer service. If you can 'fix' a customer's problem, they are usually more loyal to you than another customer who's had no problem at all, and they will tell a lot of people. So those 'problems' can be a major opportunity to the business, if only they are aware of them and will fix them. After all, that money is walking away, and if you do nothing, it's gone.

So depending upon the margin per customer, a substantial amount of potential profit simply walks away every year, yet by doing things like testing your water, they can prevent a quarter to half of that for next to nothing. It's the closest thing a business has to free money.
F'rinstance, if the manager not only apologizes for his boys' 'lack of enthusiasm' and any misunderstandiing, and tests your water, if he coughed up a "10% off" coupon for any store purchase, maybe up to 25 bucks total, he'd go a long way to customer goodwill, and he'd be out very little (margin-wise).

OK, customer service rant over. Sorry for the rambling.

The manager is quite a pleasant person, and has never even raised an eyebrow at my method of chlorination. I do have the feeling that he will be quite upset at his employee's behaviour. I do remember him telling me once that the turnover at the store is very high (which is one reason Leslie's does not use more sophisticated equipment for water testing as, for example, Anthony and Sylvan does.

And I do agree with your customer service assessment!

[CarlD]

That's not a bad idea. I always need to supplement with calcium every now and again to keep my levels up. Does it have cyanuric acid added as tri-chlor does?

Nope. CYA is unavoidable with Tri-Chlor and Di-Chlor because the chemistry of them is such that as they dissolve CYA is released. But Cal-Hypo doesn't have that problem. Be careful, though--Cal-Hypo is the most volatile of the chlorines.

Cal-hypo's side effects are it adds calcium, can raise pH, and sometimes can make your water go milky (rarely, and easily fixed). No CYA at all.

[Carolina]

I spoke to the manager this morning, and he already knew about this incident - it seems that one of the two employees tattled on himself. To the manager's credit, he was extremely apologetic and told me that they had already been written up. I tried not to make too big a deal out of the whole thing. As a bonus, on the way out, he handed me about $50 of free chemicals! I was really surprised - he didn't need to do that (but it will keep me coming to the store).

[Carolina]

Carolina,
They are probably tesing with DPD and not OTO. OTO (turns yellow) doesn't bleach out, which is it's one great plus. DPD (turns red) does. It will only test TC however.

Yes, you are right, they do use the DPD test. I have the OTO test at home and I got confused for a moment (sorry - mommy brain)!

[Ohm_Boy]

...As a bonus, on the way out, he handed me about $50 of free chemicals! I was really surprised - he didn't need to do that (but it will keep me coming to the store).

See?
If you can 'fix' a customer's problem, they are usually more loyal to you than another customer who's had no problem at all, and they will tell a lot of people.