The Pool Doctor

Highly professional, courteous and extremely capable. Hussein really knows redwood hot tubs!

We have been using The Pool Doctor since last October, when we moved into a new home. They have been incredibly professional and helpful– particularly Kelly– who has answered many of my I’m-new-at-this questions about having a pool. I highly recommend.

I have been a customer since they changed under new ownership and I am very happy with the service they provide for my pool. They come in weekly to provide service for our pool and everything is so streamline. I highly recommend them.

I would like to thank Gary for having great employs as Kelly who works in the office and was working with me and my problem of a broken main drain pool cover. She setup the appointment to have the service manager Husein who is the scuba diver and also Stanley to assist. The people at THE POOL DOCTOR are super nice and professional. It was hard to find a company that has a scuba diver. I was doing a Google search and Unilocal and found them.
I asked my pool service company what they can do. There answer was, we will have to drain the pool to do the work. I said oh yes, in the middle of this drought in California, then what, no answer.
I had also asked Leslie’s Swimming Pool Supplies if they had a place to I could call, they said no. I was so happy to find «THE POOL DOCTOR» to help me when I needed them. So I highly recommended them to Leslie’s to keep the info on file for the next customer that needs help as I did.
I highly recommended for ALL your pool needs.

No thanks. Looks like fixing the cheaper thing and hoping it was that instead of the big thing really is the problem. If I wouldn’t have asked the guy to leave the spa on in order to warm it up, I would have had the opportunity to unclearly make an appointment again. I’m sure it was my problem when I wrote down the time when I called to schedule it. Can’t talk to anybody that seems to know anything about an open account without telling the whole story all over again.

We got a new pool last summer, and Gary has done a great job helping me understand my new pool equipment and keeping the pool in great shape. They are very responsive and do great work. I would highly recommend them.

I really like these guys. They are a small shop and sometimes cant get to you immediately, but they do get to you quickly and honestly assess the situation and give options. I have an older hottub that has regular «issues», and they have been great to work with. I highly recommend these folks to anyone.

Unfortunately I would love to leave a raving review, however I cannot. I have been receiving their services for a few years now and have been very unhappy, but trapped since there are few, almost no other companies that service our area.
Our pool is salt water and has special flooring, and if not taken care of by scrubbing weekly on a consistent basis it becomes dirty and that dirt remains in the flooring. When brought to the owners attention, they defended their employees and did nothing about trying to ensure our pool was and is being cleaned. Very nice people e owners are, and I think its commendable to do that, however if the customer is unhappy and filing a complaint, it should be taken seriously. Our pool surface continues to deteriorate, and our hands are tied, a paying customer but receiving horrible service.
I watched our pool guy, a nice guy, come service our pool, he grabbed the brush walked around the pool never even having used the brush and then went and put it back. Caught him in the act, I asked him, and he lied right to me. I told him I was watching him, and he still lied this is just unacceptable. Again, our hands are tied, because we have to have the service.
Again, the team personally are very nice, professionally they have been able to fix broken equipment, etc. However, those are one time things, lets talk continual weekly service, this is where the problem lies. I surely wish there was something more that could be done.
Hopefully others have had better servicing, this was just my experience that I want to share.

I have been using the Pool Doctors (recommeded from a friend) for well over 1 ½ years. I bought a house where the pool and all it’s equipment was not necessarily all that well cared for.
When I called them the first time to learn more about them and their service, Gary came out and brought a couple of his people with him — and the pool was UGLY. They patiently walked me through a whole bunch of stuff (but being a bit overwhelmed I caught maybe 50% of it) and they got me going with it. I mentioned I was going to have a few people over the following weekend (4 or 5 days later) and wouldn’t it be great to be able to swim at least a couple times before the end of the season (Oct 2011). Gary laughed and rolled his eyes at me (which continues to define his and my relationship) like «fat chance — the water looks like a bog!». But guess what, I had a clean, swimable pool that weekend. This experience should prepare you for rest of this review.
Our pool has had more than it’s challenges. The old single speed pump cost us two arms and a leg to run … Gary educatated me (again patiently) on my options, worked with us and I am more than impressed at the $$ we save monthly. Our solar panels had to come down so we could put a new roof up, and they worked with us to get them down and reinstalled so we could keep the costs to a minimal. I should have listened to him, as we continue to feed their staff’s family with fixing the old, patched panels, but even with that he is patient with me as we call «ok, time to replace a panel — no more patching!».
Their weekly service is great and any time I have a problem, they are on it pronto (they balance the urgency of my situation to that of other customers — which makes sence for a small business) and they communicate when they’ll be there, and they are! All of their employees are top notch!
We had the pool refinished and we had the Pool Doctor Gang do the start up service, again — they did an excellent job and kept us updated through the entire process.
Now I find the controller has gone out and OMG … far more expensive than I thought it would be. Once again, Gary is on the phone and patiently helping me understand what the options are and working with me through the process. This man is patient! I love his sence of humor … and I think he appreciates mine.
Not to leave Kelly out — she is great, and I think she gets Gary and my relationship!
I trust these guys. They have time and time again been honest, provided options and do what they say they will, usually when they say they will. Like today — that dang solar panel needs to be replaced and there’s another leak in the plumbing and they’ll be out day after tomorrow. The new controller, that will be installed next week.
We typically support local small businesses and this one definately is high on our list. We could probably purchase some of the equipment a tad bit cheaper and have someone else install — but the value is knowing that Gary and Kelly are behind their products and servicing and will be there IF anything goes wrong.
Priceless! Just as the time we spend in the well functioning pool … every warm day April — October!
If you are in their service area — give them a try!

These guys are the best. True experts in their field. We bought a house in El Sobrante in 2002 and it came with a pool. Problem was all the equipment was installed decades ago and none of it worked very well. After coming over a full evaluation, they recommended a new pump (more efficient, multi speed), a new heater, and a new control panel (all digital). Installation and parts were all supplied by them. Their offer was extremely reasonable. The pool is now updated and runs great. All parts work great and they helped us learn how to use them. Now my electric bill is less, pool is sparkling clean and warm whenever we want it.
The folks at the Pool Doctor are super nice and professional. They deliver to my door, so when I needed a new brush and leaf net, they offered to bring it to my door and bill me later.
Highly recommended for ALL your pool needs.

I have know the new owners Gary and Kelly for many years and they are top notch, honest and just plain nice people. They have put their heart and soul into this business and have made many positive changes. I would highly recommend them to anyone!

Under New Ownership! Disregard all reviews from 2010 or 2009!!!
I had no idea that Sharon had sold her company in late 2010. I discovered this last week — thanks Unilocal!
I am thrilled to have Ferris return to service my pool. The Pool Doctor service is second to NONE. In my two year hiatus I experienced total mediocre service and I am so happy to return to The Pool Doctor.

I had ordered a spa cover over the internet, which was delivered damaged (after I’d waited 6 weeks for it). After that bad experience, I decided to just buy a cover locally, and found The Pool Doctor via a Google search.
I had a lovely conversation with the folks in the Pool Doctor office, and they sent out a representative within a couple of days to measure the tub and bring color swatches. They followed up on the telephone to confirm the order… and then I got my cover DELIVERED in less than a week. The entire experience was extremely pleasant, professional, and efficient.
As an asterisk: when Gary delivered the cover, he accidentally made a slit in the side when he cut off the covering plastic. He took full responsibility, offered me the option of a repair or a replacement, and came back quickly and made the repair based on the manufacturer’s instructions, and credited me the cost of delivery and pickup of the old cover.
I notice in previous reviews that other customers reported negative interactions with the office folks — and I just have to say that EVERYONE I dealt with was pleasant, helpful, friendly, knowledgeable, etc. I’m a fan.

I was referred by another spa guy that has retired and was pleasantly surprised to find that there are new owners at this store and they exceeded my expectations. Gary the owner spent alot of time on the phone with me before the tech came out and checked out our system. They came out promptly, gave me an accurate estimate, and took away all of the old equipment. Looks great and works great.

I wish that I had read these postings about The Pool Doctor before I got involved with them a few thousands of dollars ago. I have now been on the receiving end of the argumentiveness, rudeness, and refusal to accept responsibility, the likes of which I have never experienced in connection with a home repair or service. I am now searching for someone honest, reliable and competent to repair my non-​working hot tub, which seems to be a big challenge in the Bay Area.
I will never use The Pool Doctor’s services again, and would not recommend them to anyone. They are on the list of «Diamond Certified» companies. I have learned that some of these companies choose to have a third party contact customers to find out about their experiences. Other companies self-​select what they report, and The Pool Doctor is one of them. It is up to us to let them know so that their real reputation gets out.
Update to this review: I subsequently found a very experienced, competent professional to assess the problems with our hot tub. Without our mentioning the work that The Pool Doctor did, he observed that the people who did the work on the jets certainly caused the expensive damage that The Pool Doctor (1) denied any connection with and (2) then refused to do further work on the tub. The owners of this company are a married couple and Sharon became hotly defensive when asked how damage that she insisted was pre-​existing could have gone unseen in their previous visits.
Readers, you have been warned.
A second update: The experienced professional was able to return the hot tub to full working order. We hired Miracle Method to first repair the crack created by The Pool Doctor’s technician, and they did an outstanding job for a modest amount of money. I have since heard that The Pool Doctor may have changed hands.

Bad service all around. The receptionist is rude on the phone, even before they have promised any services. What is there to fight about my god? Sharon the owner is so argumentative too, its unbelievable how they treat their customers. The services ultimately were completed with good quality, but were not delivered timely as promised and the follow-​up was poor. We have used them three times for minor and major repairs and have had enough.

made wrong recommendations, system never worked as promised, he could not operate controller he himself installed, rude,
unresponsive, jobsite messy, harrassing for payment,