Constant fault with Kreepy Krawly doubles the cost of it

About 18 months ago I got a Kreepy Krawly Dominator from Macro in Pretoria and I would like to tell you about my subsequent experience.

Approximately 6 months after I got this unit, it stopped working (wasn’t moving around the pool properly). So I took it to my nearby pool repair shop and when I put the unit on the counter, all I said to the man helping me was “my kreepy isn’t working”. He immediately said “ok, we’ll need to place (blah-blah) part”. I was taken aback. I asked how he could possibly know what needed to be replaced if I haven’t even said what’s wrong yet, to which he rep**** that it was a common issue with these units and they all land up having this one particular part replaced. Well that’s not great, is it….

Needless to say, a few jokes about the fact that the manufacturer should perhaps make the part in question a bit better if they know it’s a problem, plus R170 to replace said part and I was on my way.

6 months later (September last year), my unit stops working completely – wheels won’t turn at all as if they’re completely jammed. I take it back to be repaired. The pool repair shop had to replace all bearings, wheels and tyres on the unit – at a cost of R1100! My jirrrre – this thing cost R2500 brand new and now I had to spend R1100 to replace parts a year after I got it? I was horrified to say the least - but clearly I had absolutely no choice but to go ahead with the repair.

The plot thickens…..

Can you even imagine my pure disgust when, here I am, 5 months later with the exact same problem! When I think about it, I vomit a little into my mouth, to be honest… So I take it back to the pool shop and guess what – I just got quoted another R1070 to replace the bearings, wheels and tyres AGAIN. I told the guy that this simply can’t be possible considering only 5 months ago I had to do the exact same thing. They then proceeded to spend more time looking at the unit, looking at the various parts etc and eventually explained that something on the unit has since been upgraded and that this fix should last at least 2 years, but yes – it’s going to set me back R1070.

I am exceptionally disgruntled! The unit cost approx. R2500 and now I’m in a situation where if I go ahead with this repair, I’ll have spent another R2340 in 1.5 years just to maintain it. How can this possibly be? I really thought that Kreepy Krawly was supposed to be the leading experts in pool cleaners?

But wait, if you can barely believe it, there’s more……

Just so that you can understand just how difficult this news is for me, let me explain something – I am a single mom to 2 wonderful little girls who are 6 & 5 years old. Much to their delight, we obviously have a small swimming pool, and because they love it so much I do my very best to maintain it – which should never be a woman’s job in my opinion, but here we are. I need to repeat – I’m a SINGLE MOM. I can’t afford to spend thousands on Kreepy Krawlys and swimming pools when I’m trying to maintain my family by myself. So, faced with my new costly dilemma, I thought carefully about what to do with another R1100 repair quote and so I decided to shop around and find out how much a new Kreepy Krawly costs, since it’s clear that the one I have is *******. I go onto Takealot and, lucky me (sarcasm galore), there is a Kreepy Krawly “Super Sweepy” on sale for R699 (marked down from R1400). Seems legit…. I decided that I’ll rather spend R700 on a new machine than R1070 on a machine which clearly won’t last another 6 months again – see attached confirmation of order for Takealot.

I received the unit yesterday, went home and assembled it and set it off to find my swimming pool happiness again. Except… I put the machine in the pool and there it went…. straight into a corner like the naughtiest kid you’ve ever seen – never to come out again. I tried EVERYTHING. I added pipes, removed pipes, repositioned it a thousand times, took it out and checked everything, changed the weight thingy on the pipes. Basically – everything I could think of was tried. And would you believe it – straight back to the corner it went, time and time again. I won’t lie – I disconnected it, lost my sense of humor something special, poured myself a glass of wine and thought of where I was going to order the cement I would need to fill the pool with.

Finally, having calmed down to a point of half-reason, I lodged a return with Takealot (email also attached) and have marked the unit as faulty, since it clearly doesn’t work properly. They’re supposed to collect it tomorrow, then I have to wait and hope and pray that I get my R700 back so that I can go back to the pool repair shop and throw another R1070 at them to fix my half-wit of an existing Kreepy Krawly again.

After all that, I thought “let me speak to these okes that make these things – surely I’ll get a reasonable explanation….”….. You’re getting where this is going, aren’t you…. I tried to call you guys this afternoon so that I could speak to someone vs send an email. I called ********** and listened to a really lovely recorded voice telling me that I’ve called outside of office hours…… at midday….. on a Tuesday…..

So I’ve given up. I am so disappointed and just plain defeated. As a very very very last ditch attempt before I order a truckload of cement to fill the pool up with, I am hoping that I will get some feedback from you on what you think I should be doing. Because I just can’t.

Regards Kreepy Krawly Repair Pension Fund