Octopus Pools - A Cautionery Tale Part 2

alsuguy


Joined: 29/04/2009
Posts: 8

Message Posted:
04/05/2009 20:35

Billy subsequently bereted me and my potential for non payment for the job despite offering 40% upfront and offering a guarantee in writing for the balance which he appeared to accept.

Monday 27/4 I rang Vaughan who stuttered and asked to speak to Billy prior to ringing back. Vaughan then rang back to say he did not want to undertake the job as it was too small a job with disproportionate labour cost (Fine time to tell me). It was obvious to me that as they could not try to fleece me they had no intention of doing the work as per their intial agreement. We had a verbal agreement from our first meeting which Octopus has reneged on and there was no mention at our intial meeting of terms and conditions regarding upfront payment which is not the practice of a reputable co. in my view- would you pay for a meal before you had eaten it? Buyer beware when dealing with this company as their word is not their bond and customer service and satisfaction is not their priority - Money IS!

Tuttut


Joined: 09/12/2008
Posts: 270

Message Posted:
04/05/2009 21:07

I can say that i have had a pool by these people and are not happy with it. They advised me i would have to drain my pool, and the cost would be to me. for there mistake of wrong angles of tiles. its partulally dangerous for us to get in and out of our pool.

jay76


Joined: 17/07/2008
Posts: 532

Message Posted:
04/05/2009 22:06

Currently im having work done on my pool by billy/vaughan/octopuss pools i be honest with you it was only a repair job i am in the construction side of work back at home my self so i know when i see and hear of bad workmanship, i will update you with the result, im sure them being a reputable co they would correct any defects, as for money i payed them about 25% up front and they got stuck in,as it stands i still owe them a large sum so at mo so far so good, if you want to contact me to make sure of correct info please feel free, And i promise i do not know them.



alsuguy



Im sorry to hear you had bad experience and hope its not all bad.

AlsancakJack



Joined: 14/08/2008
Posts: 5762

Message Posted:
04/05/2009 22:20

I have to add that although Vaughan is a knowledgable guy the company has some strange business ethics.

I asked Vaughan to come out and quote for the maintenance of my neighbours pool and I was given a price. I was due to go into the office the next day and sign a contract but I had a phone call from the company saying that the price had gone up and they wanted 6 months in advance. Certainly not my way of doing business and I am now happy with another company that work on a month by month basis and if they don't perform then they are out of the frame.

AJ

jay76


Joined: 17/07/2008
Posts: 532

Message Posted:
04/05/2009 22:24

AJ if you dont mind what firm was that you used in end.



Thanks in advance

zerochlor


Joined: 03/04/2009
Posts: 4024

Message Posted:
04/05/2009 23:07

Message 1 of 5 in Discussion







in my view- would you pay for a meal before you had eaten it?



alsuguy. sorry to hear about ur problems mate.but in answering your question above.yes i have paid for a meal before ive eaten it ,and any 1 who goes into a service station on the motorway in the UK normally pays before they eat it ,and in McDonalds!!

snakes



Joined: 28/10/2008
Posts: 1512

Message Posted:
04/05/2009 23:13

message 6 ! how many times you wish you had'nt ! we've all eaten in motorway services and mcdonalds generally crapp !!!!!!

zerochlor


Joined: 03/04/2009
Posts: 4024

Message Posted:
04/05/2009 23:17

Message 7



Quite right snakes.hindsight is a wonderful thing!

fazo1


Joined: 23/08/2008
Posts: 406

Message Posted:
04/05/2009 23:20

i to have used octopus pools i have had no probs up to date thank you sorry to hear others who have

TRNCVaughan


Joined: 27/04/2008
Posts: 4578

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 08:38

I will not bother to challenge what alsuguy has to say except that we declined to accept instructions from him as he was trying to tell us how to run our business, as far as terms and conditions were concerned. alsuguy did tell me he was in business himself and that he would not allow his potential customers to dictate their terms and conditions to him. Strange, then, that he thought we should.

Alsancakjac,

The reason we ask for 6 months in advance for maintenance contracts at this time of year is because we charge an average price summer and winter. In summer we break even or even lose money due to visiting pools twice a week and putting in "double" the amount of chemicals. In winter we make our profit because we only visit once a week and use less chemicals. Last spring we had people ask for maintenance contracts only to cancel in the autumn to save money by taking their pool out of service. On these occasions we lose money with these customers.

TRNCVaughan


Joined: 27/04/2008
Posts: 4578

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 08:54

Msg 10 cont.

We now have a policy of asking for an increased rate for the summer period, in advance, WHICH WE CREDIT, at the end of the summer if the customers continues with us for the winter. Obviously if we have not performed to the customers reasonable expectations and he no longer wishes to continue we refund anyway.

After the 6 month initial contract we invoice monthly at the average rate in the normal way. As with alsuguy, customers are not obliged to accept our terms and conditions and are perfectly free to seek alternative arrangements elsewhere, but I must stress that our company is OUR company and we only work on OUR terms and conditions.

AlsancakJack



Joined: 14/08/2008
Posts: 5762

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 08:55

Hi Vaughan

I understand the reasons for your company charging in advance but what I don't understand is why you are not all singing from the same hymn sheet. You told me one thing and your office tells me another. And what happens if I wanted to terminate your company's services, would I get any of my advance payment back?

AJ

TRNCVaughan


Joined: 27/04/2008
Posts: 4578

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 09:18

AJ,

We have only just initiated this policy and in order to save confusion I usually only quote our AVERAGE flat rate so that customers can make a like-for-like comparison. Terms and conditions of payment are available from our office. Customers joining us in autumn/winter are not charged in the way described above. They are charged at the average rate, 3 months in advance and monthly in advance thereafter. As stated above, if we fail to perform then you will be entitled to the balance of your advance payment back. We currently have over 75 customers who's accounts are 60-90 days in arrears and this is a state which we are determined to do something about, hence the above.

smithy


Joined: 17/07/2008
Posts: 5301

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 09:56

Hi All

Can I say I have dealt with Octopus Pools for over 4 years and I have always found them very helpful and reliable, We are having some work carried out at the moment as we believe there is a leak, but only praise for Billy/Vaughan and crew they found the leak which was in the gulley's and was fixed, of course we paid a deposit up front who does'nt I dont expect to have any work carried out with any company without leaving a deposit, and I would expect the same, then the balance when the job is completed, what business do you know that would take a chance and carry out all your work and then wait to get paid at a later date, how can anyone expect to run a business like that.

Thats why Octopus has been up and running a long time I can only speak good about this company.

Sheila (smithy)

alsuguy


Joined: 29/04/2009
Posts: 8

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 10:25

I agree Sheila when a repair is required....Pay a deposit (I offered 40%) and pay the balance when the job was completed ( I was happy to do this) and strangely enough these are the normal conditions of business that you appear to have with Octopus Pools for a job being undertaken right now; so why do they not apply the same rules for ALL. Why were they rude, unethical and charging 100% of the fee up front?

TRNCVaughan


Joined: 27/04/2008
Posts: 4578

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 12:35

The different terms and conditions are because Sheila is a long standing account customer of ours with an excellent credit history and you are a new and unknown customer with none.

We were at no time rude to you. We were certainly not unethical in telling you our terms and conditions and letting you decide whether you agreed to abide by them or not.

R.C.T.Man.



Joined: 27/03/2009
Posts: 746

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 12:54

I can only agree with Smithy.

I have dealt with Octopus Pools for a long time now & i have to say i didn't get anything but positive vibes from the onset .

He has a team of guys which are both proffesional ,helpful & reliable.

gates


Joined: 08/12/2008
Posts: 1096

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 14:18

i have used octopus on many occations every body i have recomended them to i have found to be happy wiyh there work as to the question of payments on jobs over £800 i ask for a deposit now as on 2 occations i have benn knocked also vibes are a great thing in this and matirils also rise so they have to be ordered and paid for to get the price and the curancey up and down makes life dificult if you are arguing at the begining of the job the best thing is to use another contractor i would not like to be told how to run my affairs so i dont think i would but i was not there at the time so i dont know but i can only say this is the first time i have heard of a complaint about octopus and would continue to us and recomend them by the way i have used others but dont any more

negativenick


Joined: 10/11/2008
Posts: 6023

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 14:26

a positive post from Neg Nick...



I had had problems with my pool for months, various people had "put their ten penny worth in" but to no avail, it was driving me bonkers..



On a friends advice, I rang Vaughan and he gave advice over the phone, took about 20 minutes - found him very very knowledgable and low and behold my pool is now perfect..



Sorry, but i won't have a bad word said about the bloke....









Nick

MarkVPiazza


Joined: 14/08/2008
Posts: 530

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 14:47

We've always had good and courteous service from Octopus



Guess you can't please all the people all the time



Mark

Cyprusactive


Joined: 20/05/2008
Posts: 128

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 15:39

At Cyprus Solutions we are often asked about pools, not our speciality - we therefore always recommend Vaughan who has never let us down. Knowledgeable, reliable and fair is our experience.

Nick

ttoli


Joined: 24/03/2007
Posts: 1172

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 16:14

i too have had nothing but great service and help from Vaughan,Cyprus pools said i needed a new pump,Vaughan identified it as a capacitor and (because He was rather busy)told me where to get it fixed, He could have ripped me silly,He didn't, hence İ'll always recommend him.

zerochlor


Joined: 03/04/2009
Posts: 4024

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 16:31

i think message 1 might be a little bit of sour grapes!



onwards and upwards as they say!

TRNCVaughan


Joined: 27/04/2008
Posts: 4578

Message Posted:
05/05/2009 16:44

At 23 posts and over 650 views, some people might start to think that I am alsuguy. I can assure you all that I am not but I do thank alsuguy for starting this thread and raising the profile of our company with the kind and unsolicited compliments and recommendations that have been posted.

To those who are less than happy with the service given by us, please bring it to our attention on info@octopuspools.com

so that we may do something about it.