How Eastgate Pools Differs From The Other Guy
I am a journeyman retailer that has recently come back to Eastgate Pools after a long departure. I’ve seen the inner workings and the difficulty of managing a large full service retail store. I personally have noticed that a lot of retailers put sales numbers before the customers over all experience when purchasing. It feels good being a salesman having the confidence that when you sell a product that the company is able to follow through with the high expectations that the customer has at the time of purchase. Eastgate Pools does this better then any company I’ve ever worked for. It quite frankly makes my job, as a salesman, easy. In many cases customers come in having purchased from us in the past and because of their experience they comment, “I wouldn’t purchase from anyone else”.
This was a true comment from a customer I helped this weekend.
It’s good to be back!
Scott
My New Addition
About a month ago my wife gave birth to our first child, a 7lb 6oz baby boy that we named Brandon. Brandon was born 21 inches long and perfectly healthy. So far he really doesn’t cry too much, he loves to eat, and he seems to sleep pretty well for a new baby. Since Brandon was born I have learned a lot, such as; newborn babies are a lot of fun (as long as changing diapers doesn’t bother you), sleep isn’t as important as I was once thought it was, and babies are expensive. I have also starting taking an interest in pictures, which is something I have never been overly interested in before. My phone is full of pictures of my boy; my camera’s memory card is full for the first time ever, and we have pictures printed everywhere around my house. The first month has been a lot of fun and I’m fully looking forward to the next several months that will bring a lot of challenges and a lot more fun.
Here We Go Again!
It seems like that just a couple months ago we closed down the pools on our pool lot. Oh wait! We did! They are now all open again and there for your viewing pleasure. No longer will you be stuck with the view of the sidewall and depressing sight of a winter cover where your beautiful water should be. Watch in amazement as the automatic cleaners travel around the pools and let your imagination run wild as you envision the cleaners taking the shapes of animals and science fiction characters. When you stop in here please ask one of many trained salespeople to show you around and let the kid in you come out as you think of the many wonderful times you can have in a pool of your very own.
Save Your Umbrella & Save Your Table!
I have been in the swimming pool, spa and casual furniture business since 1980, and I have seen many changes. Some things never change, though. Each year, too many people have to prematurely replace their patio furniture umbrella and/or patio table, all because they left the umbrella up when they weren’t home. Just one example is the following true story.
A few years back, I was delivering some casual furniture to a customer’s home. They had taken delivery of a patio table and chairs a few weeks earlier, but had ordered a couple of additional accessory pieces. When these pieces arrived, the customer had told me to deliver them out anytime, even if they weren’t home. That afternoon, when I arrived at the house, I noticed that the umbrella was up, and I also knew that the weather forecast had mentioned potential storms. I lowered the umbrella, and sure enough, the storms came later that day. A few weeks later, that same customer was calling to find out about ordering a new umbrella and patio table. You guessed it! They had left the umbrella up again and another storm came through and damaged the umbrella and table.
Sails move sailboats, and when an umbrella is left up and unattended in windy weather, you have just installed a big sail on your outdoor table. When I work with casual furniture customers, I always recommend leaving the umbrella down except for the times when the outdoor furniture is being used and enjoyed. A minute of precaution can save you lots of money and aggravation. David
STEEL OR PLASTIC?
There is a growing trend of pool retailers selling plastic (resin) rail pools. The ‘pitch’ is that the plastic rails won’t rust. Obviously true, but depending on the type plastic used and the process used to make it, they tend to fall apart quickly. There is extruded resin and injection mold resin. The injection mold is better, but if you have ever left a plastic jug or plastic toy outside during the winter then picked it up in the spring and seen it disintegrate, you have just unearthed the real reason retailers like resin rail pools -replacement parts sales. Most plastic rail pools will require a complete set of new rails at a fairly early state and this will usually cost $400-$600 dollars. I get a kick out of people talking about how strong their plastic rail pools are, yet every one uses a steel wall to hold it all together. And when they start building bridges out of plastic, I’ll believe the ‘strength’ story. –Max
A Rainbow of Colors
A customer of ours recently brought up a great point that I thought would be nice to share with you all. She recently had our service department come out and re-felt (re-cloth?) her pool table. They had chosen a much lighter felt color than they had previously and were shocked when their chalk left blue streaks all over their table. She, like many others I’m sure, didn’t even realize other colors of billiard chalk even existed. Those hideous marks can easily be avoided by purchasing some billiard chalk closer to the color of your felt. Black, burgundy, green, tan…we have a wide variety of different options that you can choose from to make that particular issue virtually disappear. Already have some of those chalk marks? Don’t scrub it! Like carpet you will only grind the color in further and mess up your felt. Simply use your table brush or a lint roller to try and pick up as many of the colored flakes as possible.
POOLS THAT MAKE THEIR OWN CHLORINE!
To those that we built a pool for last year: If you have a chlorine generator on your pool, don’t be surprised if the water goes a little cloudy when you turn on the pool for the first time this spring. When the water is still cold, it is common for the chlorine generator to produce a ‘milky’ look. This is normal and it will clear on it’s own without any specialty chemicals. Save your bucks for the fun things, like floats and toys. If you do have questions call us. Not sure what a chlorine generator is? Definitely call us! -Max
Your Above Ground Pool-Keep the Cover Pumped Off
It is VERY important that when excess water collects on the cover that you pump it off. Some people use a siphon hose and some choose to buy one of our electric cover pumps. Either way, it is imperative you get as much water off the cover as possible when the thaw occurs. On a standard size pool, one inch of water can weigh between one and two tons and the stress placed on top rails is tremendous. Don’t be surprised if your water level seems to drop in your pool too. This can be from two sources: One, displacement from water on the cover will force water out of unplugged skimmers and returns. Then when the cover is drained off, the pool is lower. Secondly, if you have a small hole in your cover, you will actually pull water through the cover from underneath. In effect, you are pumping your pool dry without realizing it. If this happens it might be time for a new winter cover. -Service Department
Water Chemistry Expert
Greetings My name is Chet and I am Eastgate Pool’s resident water expert, the man who answers questions about your water’s chemistry. I started in the pool business in 1980 and have worked for Eastgate since 1997. I have worked in every phase of the pool business – from sales to service, but my one real love is solving water chemistry problems. Every pool is different and each has its own unique water qualities and potential problems. It is my job to analyze your water and find solutions to problems you may be facing. Even better, with regular testing, I’m sure I can prevent the problems from ever happening. If you are having a problem bring me a water sample. I’ll go to work and help you get back to water that looks so clear you want to drink it. Come on in and I’ll give you all the help you need. In a future blog I’ll explain how to bring me a proper water sample so we can get the best and most accurate results.
Dreaming of Summer
We are now into March and, even though the cold weather doesn’t seem like it will ever end, spring is on the way. It feels as though this winter has dragged on longer than any I can remember, but there are signs of spring everywhere you look. The tree in my front yard has sprouted buds on the branches, and I found my first weed growing in my mulch bed. Normally you don’t celebrate finding a weed growing but in this case it gives me hope that the warm weather is around the corner. I find myself longing for those days of summer lazily swimming in the pool. I can still remember as a child how much fun it was when my brothers and I would get in a huge water fight, and then we would run and hide when our mother would yell at us for splashing the water out of the pool. Looking back on those hot summer days makes me smile and its luckily one of those memories my brothers and I can share with our families. Its wonderful to see my brothers and their children having the same water fights and horsing around in the pool even when we know we shouldn’t. I know that many things in my life are hectic and sometimes responsibilities seem to be a little much, but when I have those wonderful summer days with my family it all fades away.
- Thomas
