Rising Sun Pools & Spas

We had our pool installed in 2007. It was soon thereafter we realized the quality of the install as subpar.
The first issue we experienced was water pushing up the liner every winter. We learned from a landscaper that a hill next to the shallow end was the cause. We have had to have the liner surfaced twice to fix swelling which put stretch marks and wrinkles.
Last year we had to replace the booster motor which was expensive.
This year we experienced a leak in the liner. Rising Sun quoted us the highest to replace liner at $ 3500.
Now the main motor is blown which will be around $ 800 to replace.
We are looking at a minimum of $ 4200 to open the pool next spring which includes a new liner and motor.
It will cost even more to fix the hill next to the shallow end. Thoughts of filling in the pool with dirt and be done with this headache are tempting.
I do not recommend this company due to the multiple problems I have experienced.
George in Hillsborough.
EDIT– I cannot reply to Tara below and will do so here.
Thank you for the quick response and explanation. I will call you Monday to discuss further and see if we can come to a mutual understanding that could lead to using Rising Sun to repair the issues we have.

Everytime I go there they are to busy to fix my pool equipment. I dropped off a 1200 self cleaning vac and was told 250 to fix it 1 month later I call back and they say 375 to fix it and i haven’t heard anything in 2 months. This is the 3^rd bad experience this year. Ouch I don’t know where to go

I don’t know what it is about this place but I’m almost always frustrated when I go there to get something for my pool. The latest encounter was when I went there to purchase a 1−¼″ hose. A young guy attempted to find a hose that matched without much luck, another guy came by and suggested a nearby hose. The hose worked but it wasn’t long enough so he suggested buying two hoses, a coupling and 2 hose clamps to connect them, okay that works. I took the 2 hoses and met the young guy at the counter where he had the coupling and 2 clamps, as he starting ringing me up I noticed the coupling was 1−½″ (the hoses are 1−¼″) I pointed this out and showed the young guy that the coupling is too big and in fact fit over the hoses instead of inside as it’s supposed to. He went back to where he got the fitting and came back and told me the other guy said «I’m going to have to make that work» (a statement like that is just ignorant arrogance). I said it’s impossible to make that work and I simply needed a 1−¼″ coupling, he left and came back with 2 other fittings that where totally wrong. At that point I said you know what just give me back the cost of the coupling and clamps and I’ll get them at Lowes. He then handed me a piece of paper to fill out for a refund (I had just paid cash!). I went to lowes and bought the fitting and clamps for less than half the cost, simply telling me you don’t have the right fitting would have served me much better, telling me to make it work is ridiculous.

Rising Sun Pools was a good company. However, it seems they have gone way down the hill. I contacted one of the owners named Tara and told her I had to wait for over an hour for bags of salt at their Garner location. Tara told me it wasn’t her fault they couldn’t keep employees in the store to work. I had my wife go back a second time for salt, and she left after waiting for over 45 minutes. When I posted a review telling people looking for salt, they could go to Walmart Tara Emailed me and told me they would no longer service my pool or work with me.
After bad service from Rising Sun, I called and talked to John at A.B.C Pools. They were polite, easy to deal with and fast at getting the job done. A.B.C Pools charged far less than Rising Sun Pools and they welcome your business.
MY OPINION: I would highly recommend you stay far away from Rising Sun Pools, this is a bad company and a company I would NEVER work with again. I’m also not one who usually complains. I even give tips to waiters or waitresses who are rude because I feel they may have had a bad day. So if you want someone who does a good job look elsewhere. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I had them inspect a pool prior to my home purchase. $ 400 for nothing. The pool would not turn on. The «tech» said he had no idea why. I had to purchase a new pool pump the day I moved in. Another pool person diagnosed the issue right away.
Second experience: I have a problem with my pool heater. Does not kick on but the blower is on. Home warranty people sent rising sun. After much time on the phone and looking at the instructions he says the heater is fine… it’s the gas valve… says call the gas company. I paid my $ 60 deductible. Called the gas company the next day who came right away. After checking everything they said the gas and valve are fine. Warranty company is trying to get them to come again.
Repair was finished as stated by the insurance company yet the controls on the heater still do not work unless you press then 50 times extremely hard which was the purpose for the original call.
Third experience: I decided to call them to open the pool, asked if they could show me how it works. They came, $ 250 to open the pool, forget cleaning it, that is extra. They left without showing anything and did not even check if the heater works which it does not. More interested in «going fishing» than working.
I work for a 50,000+ employee company coming to Cary and doing my best to not recommend this place.

Customer service is terrible! I submitted an online request for someone to contact me about an above-​ground pool more than a month ago. No one contacted me.
Then I called the downtown Raleigh location two weeks ago on a Saturday. The representative said no one was available to help me. She said she’d take my number and «hopefully» someone would call me. Still waiting, but not for long. Guess they don’t want my business. SMH

During a recent service call from Rising Sun Pools, the technician took a full 24 minutes to find and copy a serial number from my hot tub’s pump. While I appreciate his ability to stay on task, I have a real problem with this when I’m being charged $ 95/​hour. What’s worse, it would have taken even more time if I, after 22 minutes, hadn’t asked what he was doing and suggested taking off an additional panel to more easily access the other side of the pump. I honestly wouldn’t mind paying $ 95/​hour if the person was actually working efficiently, intelligently, and in a way that didn’t have me doubting the integrity of the worker and the company he represents, but this was not the case in my situation.
When I mentioned this to someone at Rising Sun’s office, they (quite literally) chuckled and then said, «Well, yeah, he’s not our regular spa technician, but the regular guy is off for a few months so this guy is doing all the hot tub service now.» My response, «Well, that’s fine, but if he doesn’t know what he’s doing, maybe you shouldn’t be charging the same rate for his labor as you do for the guy who actually does.»
I was also annoyed when I asked to pay with a credit card, which I had done in the past, and I was asked to write down my cc number and security code on a piece of paper. Apparently only one person in the office is capable of taking the number over the phone, and she was «at lunch». In the end, I decided to not trust their handling of my card information that way (see the part above, about my doubting the company’s integrity) and paid using another method.
There’s more, but that’s enough negative stuff for now. I do bump them from a one-​star «Eek!» to a two-​star «Meh.» because a previous technician they sent out seemed to actually be good at his job, but all in all, I wouldn’t recommend using them for service calls.

First and foremost, Rising Sun is not the cheapest. With that being said I must admit I was big into the cheapest product. Now I’m tired of cheap Chinese-​made crap and I try to purchase products made in the USA. I have learned my lesson and expect to pay more for quality.
Rising Sun is no different. Definitely an instance where you get what you pay for. I could not be more pleased with the field technicians. The service dept. could use some touch-​up as it’s a pain in the arse to get service work scheduled.
Overall, I am a happy repeat customer who will continue to use Rising Sun as my «go to» store.
Support local businesses!

Recently had Rising Sun install an outdoor kitchen in my backyard. Had our first cook-​out with it last weekend and looking forward to many more in the future! Very glad I decided to take the step up to a real grill+bar setup, rather than cheap grills. Rising Sun made the process as easy as it could be.
There isn’t much they could’ve done to make the process easier, if you need some work done, they have my recommendation!

I won’t get into a pi$$ing match, but Tara’s reply is a complete lie! First off, I spoke with the technician one time to make sure I was headed in the correct direction because I had to be prepared for him to come out. At that point, he asked me to send him some pictures and he’d get back to me. When he got back to me, he asked if I was going to schedule a service call. When I told him yes, he gave me two things that I could check out in the meantime. I immediately emailed Tara to setup the service call. We exchanged 4 – 6 emails with her last email asking me if I was a new customer, and me replying that I was. I then went 11 days w/​o hearing from her.
The rest is detailed in my first post.
Tara’s service assistant never once emailed me. The only emails I have from anyone at Rising Sun is from Tara. On the phone I spoke w/​the tech, Tara, whoever answered her phone on the Saturday, and her manager.
The first delay was due to her not following up on my email, and the second delay (of 3 days) was due to her manager not calling me back after saying he would get right back to me.
I’m a DIY kind of guy, so I try not to call in techs. When I do call one, I certainly don’t expect free service as I’m doing it because I’ve decided that my time is more valuable than the cost of getting someone else to fix my problems. I made it perfectly clear to Tara and the tech that I had every intention of hiring them to come out and help me. Had I been able to get this scheduled, Rising Sun would have gotten paid to trouble shoot it, replace my circuit board, and replace my circ pump, as both were bad, and I would have my hot tub running. Instead, I have replaced the board myself and have the pump on order, but don’t have a working hot tub yet. I would have preferred to pay and been able to use my hot tub for the past month.
Edit… I can’t reply to Tara’s reply to my post post, so I’ll edit this one. I apologize for confusing Sara and Tara. That was an over-​site on my behalf. That also explains some of the confusion on the details. I heard about Rising Sun through someone who gave them a good recommendation, and truly hoped that they were going to be a great source, as I am a first time hot tub owner. Unfortunately that just wasn’t the case.

Superior pool knowledge and service than any other competitor in the local vicinity. I dropped in without notice to discuss my pool problems I was having due to a competitor’s installers. The General Manager Scot was very friendly and honest with my situation. He shared his knowledge and gave me the name and number of his Installer whom he has used for 13 yrs.
Remember one thing folks, the pool is only part of the purchase, go with a company that uses good Installers!!!
Their inventory is huge and they’re family owned and operated in 3 locations in the Triangle.