We had an in-ground, salt water, heated pool installed by Mermaid this May (2016). Overall, we are very happy with the pool and the quality of the components that were sold to us. Mario did an amazing job putting the pool in. There have been a few issues with the pool, most of which have been resolved. I will be as constructive as possible, since I know that the owner, Dave, takes pride in his company and takes great pride in his company and its image.
Our installation finished just before the long weekend in May. Dave wanted to make sure we had our pool up and running for the long weekend and personally stopped by to turn it on for us. We're glad he was here, because Mario's crew had installed the skimmer upside down (meaning it shot water up into the air like a fountain) and hadn't tightened any of the pipes connecting the pool to the motor/heater, meaning they leaked at all connecting points. Dave had both of these issues fixed immediately. We do worry, however, that the one pipe running underground (carrying water between the pool and the motor) could have the same issue and we would never know without digging it up. We have noticed that we lose water in the pool much faster than one would expect (with evaporation), so we hope there isn't a leak in those pipes too! Even with our solar cover on, we still seem to lose water faster than we should...
Our pool lights were also not working (one wouldn't turn on) and Mermaid sent staff out to resolve this. Staff tried replacing the bulb and eventually replaced the whole light panel, but accidentally broke the pool sensor in the panel and had to be called back to fix that. The replacement sensor has never worked right, and we have tried to get this resolved. The difference in temperature between the sensor (which monitors the pool temperature) and the pool heater is never correct. One evening we set the panel to maintain a temperature of 82 degrees. The sensor read 81 degrees all night, but the heater temperature (which has always been accurate) read 89! Our heater ran all night long and kept the pool around 90 degrees! What a waste of energy! Now we tell it to keep the pool at 75 and hope that it will keep the pool around 80 overnight. With the old sensor (the one that was accidentally damaged) this difference was never more than 2 or 3 degrees, which meant we could trust our control panel to maintain our pool temperature. We have called and spoken with several different employees about this, all of whom have promised to get back to us once they have had a chance to "look into it" - we are still awaiting their assistance.
Following the installation of the pool, our two car garage and driveway were left full of debris, boxes, leftover parts, and other garbage. My husband and I broke down all of the boxes, recycled all of the recyclables, and threw away the garbage ourselves. The only items we couldn't dispose of ourselves sat on our driveway for nearly 4 weeks before (after much prodding), the company was finally able to come and remove it. We have had a lot of other work done this year (new septic system, new windows installed, basement renos, etc.). All of these companies took the garbage and materials with them when they left. This is the first and only time we have ever had to clean up such a mess ourselves!
We are happy with our pool, and while our service calls feel numerous, Mermaid does (eventually) attend to most issues. However, we do still have one outstanding issue: the gravel in our ditch.
Properties in our community (Greely) have very large ditches in the front. In order to safely get across the ditch, a large pile of gravel had to be deposited so that trucks and equipment could safely make it into our back yard (without running over our well pump). This same year, we had extensive septic work done to our property, and we met with Mermaid and the septic company so that they could plan their work accordingly. Both companies agreed that the septic work should be done first, and that the septic company would deposit the gravel for both companies to use, and that Mermaid would remove it. We have been asking to have it removed, and were informed that this would be at an additional cost to us, about $400 (to cover the minimum rental time for the necessary equipment of 4 hours). To us, this feels like nickel and diming on a 50k purchase. The gravel was put in so that the work could happen, we feel as though its removal should be included in the installation fee we paid upfront for the work.
We are still hoping to have this, and our sensor, resolved. We also hope that our new pool isn't leaking.
In sum:
PROS:
-Owner went out of his way to ensure that our pool was up and running promptly
-Installation crew supervisor was very professional and meticulous
-Top quality parts (from Canadian companies)
CONS:
-Poor communication/resolution strategies within company
-Installation crew did not take care in completing the installation, forcing us to follow-up ourselves several times and necessitating several follow-up service visits (some issues still unresolved)
-Garbage and stone left behind
