A-Professional Pool Service

A few years back James and his crew completely re-​did our pool. Since then he has been servicing our pool each and every week. He did a wonderful job with the pool and made sure that everything was done to our expectations. Aside from the actual pool work he has also put in a french drain and replaced equipment and run lines to put in a auto fill and re-​did the pool deck. I would highly recommend him.

Very knowledgable and does great work. Redesigned our entire backyard a couple years ago. Still looks great and James’ crew services weekly.

James sold his business and moved to Nevada. Left my job in middle. Didn’t care to even inform me until I pinged him repeatedly. Very disappointed.

*** STOPPED SHOWING UP WITHOUT WARNING ***
James suddenly stopped showing up at our house and the pool turned green. He came throughout the winter when it was «easy» to keep the pool clear. As soon at it got warm out and algae started blooming, he vanished without warning. There is no way to contact him. He does not respond to messages.

*********NOT RECOMMENDED********
I apologize in advanced for this lengthy write up but I want to be fair to everyone taking the time to read this and accurately explain the full experience I had with James and «A-​Professional Pool Service». For me to dedicate this much time with this writeup I’m sure you can foresee I’m TOTALLY DISSATISFIED but hopefully this saves someone else future aggravation.
James came out to my house to assess the current equipment, tested my water chemistry and gave me a quote. This included replacing my Pump, Installing an IC60 Pentair Chlorine Generator, Replacing a bad gasket on my solar heating valve and replacing a failed Pentair in pool light.
He was honest and let me know I could get the equipment cheaper online myself so it would be best if I ordered it and he would perform the install. He stated he would provide everything else needed for the installation including electrical components, enough pool salt to bring the pool water to 3400PPM, and PVC components. With the list he provided I ordered all of the suggested equipment with the impression he was supplying what he said he would.
James arrived an hour late to the install which isn’t the end of the world but still slightly annoying. I provided James with all of the components I ordered, confirmed what he was going to do and left him to do the prescribed work. The first phone call I receive from James is to let me know that I now need to order a $ 100 Pentair GCFI 20Amp breaker which I was under the impression he was supplying. He also let me know how he initially wired the pump up and that «The Pump didn’t like it so I disconnected it after 2 minutes» Hopefully no electrical damage was done to the pump but only time will tell.
Upon returning home there were a few things I noticed:
1.) There was now PVC Glue and Primer ALL OVER MY CONCRETE surrounding my pool equipment which could have been avoided by simply being careful or using an old towel.
2.) The dedicated pool pump for my POOL CLEANING ROBOT NO LONGER TURNS ON.
3.) The timers for my main pool pump is NO LONGER WORKING (found this out after the pump was running for 16 hours straight and didn’t turn off at the scheduled time)
I called James about the above and he told me «Don’t worry the PVC Glue/​Primer will come off with a little Rain and Sun. I’m not sure why the pool cleaner pump is no longer working but I’ll come take a look at it tomorrow» His response to the timer issue was him asking me «did you read the literature on the pump?
James returned the next day to address the above new problems. Later in the day he left me a voicemail to tell me he was «done». I was expecting to come home to a completed project, what I wound up coming home to was and ever bigger MESS.
Now my SOLAR HEATING DOESN’T WORK and the new CHLORINE GENERATOR HE INSTALLED HAS NO POWER AND ISN’T WORKING. At this point I had enough and called James to question him as to why he didn’t check these components were functioning and he told me «I didn’t want to run up your PG&E bill testing the equipment because I would have had to turn on the pump» which I know is a just a sloppy excuse. I declined his offer to come back and find what was wrong now that I had lost confidence in his abilities to properly connect this equipment (which cost me over $ 2000 in parts alone) and frankly am now worked about the safety aspect given water and electric don’t mix well and I have little confidence in the job performed.
Luckily I had only given James half of the $ 850 CASH we agreed on. James stated «You can keep the rest of your money» (now keep in mind at this point the only thing that was completed and working was the pool pump, I now have a NON-​FUNCTIONING SOLAR HEATING SYSTEM and a NON-​FUNCTIONING CHLORINE GENERATOR). He also stated «Don’t slander me on the Internet or you’ll be hearing from my lawyer.» I let him know it wouldn’t be «slander» but rather an exact representation of exactly what my experience was.
Given that I have an decent electrical background (I have an electrical engineering degree and my father’s an electrician) I decided to have a look for myself at the wiring job James performed. I discovered HOT wires not connected to circuit breakers, wires that were cut and never capped or taped off. The Intelliflow Pool Pump wires he installed were just touching the circuit breaker screw and not even screwed down, this was also the case for two other wires I found just sitting near a LIVE circuit breaker terminal. For anyone who doesn’t know gaps between wires and terminal is what causes an electrical arc which is a big source of electrical fires.
With all of the above said my advice would be AVOID JAMES & A-​PROFESSIONAL POOL SERVICE FOR ANY SERVICES THAT I’VE DESCRIBED ABOVE!!! I can’t speak to their work when it comes to water chemistry and pool maintenance but if it’s anything like the above experience you’re in trouble.

Another recommendation I found on Unilocal,James showed up on time and gave me a very fair quote. Replaced the tile and resurfaced the pool and it looks beautiful! Thanks to James and his crew!

Was really impressed by this company. James, the owner, is as good as they get… honest, professional, and reasonably priced. He already seemed to know what the fix was to our pool pump problem when I was explaining our pool issues over the phone to him. He fit me into his schedule, gave me a courtesy call to let me know he was on his way in the time frame he allotted, and resolved our pool pump problem. Our pump works better than ever now and he also gave us a few tips on maximizing its efficiency in our pool. Definitely calling him again if I have other issues with our pool.

Had an opportunity to work with James at A-​Professional Pool Service while I was serving on our Home Owner’s Association board.
He and his team did some important safety upgrades on our community pool and spa on very short notice, allowing us to open the pool on time, much to the delight of my fellow homeowners.
The work was professionally done, and James responded quickly when we had some further questions about operation of the new equipment.
I wouldn’t hesitate to do business with him again.

James has been servicing our commercial pool for a year now. In the 7 years that I’ve worked in property management, I have never received so many compliments on how amazing the pool looks. He’s professional and knows his stuff. We’ve had our chlorinators, pool lights, pumps replaced, heater fixed (which I was told by another company it wasn’t fixable and that I’d have to replace it) and his staff provide excellent service. We highly recommend them!

Had a great experience. These gentlemen know the Pools. I had a party coming up and my Heater would not work. I had other Pool Co.‘s come out and they wanted to charge me to tell what was wrong with it. James found the problem, and explained it to me, for free-​and had it up and running by that afternoon for a fair price. Problem solved. I would recommend to all who are looking for Professionals to perform quality work.