Hello Pattaya Mail,
I would like to send this along, and hopefully this will be printed in an upcoming edition. This is a warning for future home buyers that want to add a swimming pool. We, my wife (Thai) and I bought a home in Pattaya, and wanted a swimming pool in the garden. We contacted several companies in the area that do this type of work, and chose one that was recommended by the builder of our village.
The pool company man, with his proposal, stated that we would have a salt chlorinator, filter and pumps made in Australia installed. The pool was completed in February 2010. I requested he provide when the pool was completed, the owners and maintenance manuals for the equipment, electrical schematics for the control box, and general layout of the piping for the pool, and to date I am still waiting for these items.
I had been working out of Thailand, and have recently retired, so I did not pay close attention to the people that came to do the pool maintenance and cleaning. I had noticed the sand wash and tiles around the pool were starting to discolor. I contacted the pool company to come and look at this, as they have been contracted to maintain and clean the pool, and after several broken appointments, I am still waiting for them to come, and now they will not take any calls or answer any text messages from my wife or I either.
I have recently found on the web, the owners and maintenance manual for the salt chlorinator (made in Australia), but could not find the pertinent information for the sand filter or pumps. I sent an e-mail to a friend that lives in Australia, to help me source this information, since I have stopped the pool people from coming to the house. I received an e-mail recently with the information, and found out the filter and pumps are made in China. Now I am stuck with inferior products that were not in the proposal or to my wanting.
This is a warning to people to make sure they gather all the facts before hiring anyone to do this type of contract work. Caveat emptor, or buyer beware!
Robert (Bob) De Angel
Pattaya
