Bud's Spas & Pools

Swimming Pools, Spas & Hot Tubs
ON L9G5E1
Write a Review
Write a Review
HomeStars  >  Swimming Pools, Spas & Hot Tubs in Ancaster  >  Bud's Spas & Pools  >  When you deal with Buds, you're rolling the dice. They are capable of good service, but you don't always get it - and they don't care if you do. Buyer beware.
MatthewB
MatthewB
8 reviews Hamilton, ON
2/10

When you deal with Buds, you're rolling the dice. They are capable of good service, but you don't always get it - and they don't care if you do. Buyer beware.

Swimming Pools, Spas & Hot Tubs review in Hamilton

When you deal with Buds, you're rolling the dice. They are capable of good service, but you don't always get it - and they don't care if you do or not. Buyer beware.

I had some good experiences with this company last summer - spending several thousand to upgrade to a saltwater pool and install a new filter system. These jobs were fine, I even wrote a good review to recommend them. This summer was a completely different story.

I had Buds open my pool again this year and it was lacking. The unprofessional crew swore constantly, left their equipment piled inside my flower gardens (ruining new plants), and didn't do half of what they were paid to do. Leaves were thrown onto the patio or stuffed down behind my retaining wall - even though leaf bags were provided less than 10 feet away. They used chemicals that were over and above the typical service, without asking me if I wanted them. They improperly installed jets/plugs on the pool. The list goes on.

I wrote a detailed email to the service manager citing my concerns, including photos of the equipment left on top of my flowers and leaves scattered everywhere. The response I got was "Sorry, we use university students to keep costs down, and that their training is lacking because it's seasonal work and they were just getting started." When I asked about the extra chemicals added and charged for, they told me it was my fault and that I should have said something to stop the crew from doing it - because I had previously talked to them to point out where my container was. It wasn't brought up by the crew, it's just apparently my responsibility to stop them from doing EXTRA that results in more fees.

No adjustment was made to my bill, not even for the extra chemicals that weren't part of the agreed service that their crew mistakenly added.

Long story short, you might get good service... and you might not. They'll still charge you a ton of money either way. I didn't mind paying it when it was a job well done, but I most certainly do mind when it's for the second rate service and response I received this summer. Buyer beware when you deal with Buds.

Approximate cost of services:
$5,000.00
Was this review helpful?
Company Response

Thank you Matthew. It is this kind of experience we want all first time pool owners to have. Enjoy your pool and do not regret the purchase or maintenance of it. It may seem overwhelming at first but, We are here to help every step of the way. Bill

Previous versions of this review:

MatthewB
MatthewB
8 reviews Hamilton, ON
10/10

Excellent choice for all your pool needs.

Swimming Pools, Spas & Hot Tubs review in Hamilton

Bud's has been a great experience from day one. We had bought a house with a pool that hadn't been used in 4 years and had basically zero knowledge of what we were getting into with it. We started off by having a great conversation with Tracy and sent in a bunch of pictures via email - from this, we had a pretty good idea of what we were working with because of the great explanations provided. Thanks to the great explanations, we were able to do a lot of the opening work ourselves to save the money of a full opening charge. The jobs we did weren't hard, just took time! We were very happy they explained what we could do ourselves, rather than just charge for it all.

Once we had completed those jobs, we had a technician out (Andrew) who was just phenomenal. He did the rest of the opening for us (getting the actual equipment running), showed us how to use our own equipment that was left behind at the house (rather than use his own, even though I'm sure that would have been easier for him) and provided thorough explanations of all the opening and closing tasks typically required as we went through them, with the idea to take it over myself next year.

We also looked at having the pool converted to salt water as we had heard the maintenance was lower/easier. Andrew helped explain a lot of the ins and outs of the salt system, and was back the very next week (with a helper) to install our new salt cell system, and a new hayward cartridge filter system, as it was the only part of the pool not up to proper standards after we had completed the opening. (You could visibly see it not holding dirt anymore during the opening cleaning as it would come back out the jets, which Andrew explained as proof of why the change was required. No oversell here). They also followed up not long after the install just to make sure all was running well and we were happy with the products and service.

The staff at Bud's general knowledge, the great service department, and complimentary water testing have all made running the pool a breeze, even as an inexperienced operator. Our pool has been super clear all summer.

I highly recommend talking to Bud's for all your pool maintenance needs and any questions you might have. They have been a pleasure to deal with and we look forward to an easy pool season every year knowing we have them in our corner!

Approximate cost of services:
$3,300.00