TERRIBLE Service and follow-up from Power Plastics Pool Covers

This company is a complete joke. They installed a poorly fitting pool cover in November 2023 and despite me following up several times and over five months, this was never resolved (I provide a detailed timeline below). In the end they sent a debt collection company and I gave in and just paid. No point talking to anyone, as they do not follow up. Will never use use this terrible company again and hopefully other people will not be duped into using them.

Timeline:

08 and 09 Nov 2023: received quotes for pool (from sale representative) 10 Nov 2023: Paid deposit of R4000 11 Nov 2023: had to follow up with sale representative as to installation date and whether he had seen email with my deposit 14 Nov 2023: only received final quote after I had made deposit payment 17 Nov 2023: pool cover installed. I had requested that they call me regarding an installation time, but no one did so, which meant I did not have an opportunity to be on site when the pool cover was installed. I specifically asked in my email that I would be contacted for the installation time. All messages with from sales representative 17 Nov 2023: received first tax invoice 20 Nov 2023: received a standard after sales email from National Sales Manager 22 Nov 2023: rep**** to sales representative and National Sales Manager (with photos) that pool cover had some snags: Dear XX and XX, thank you for your follow up. Overall, the installation is ok, but there are two aspects that do not work well. You will see from the attached photos, that 1) where the cover has been glued at the one end, the fit is not well done and the glue line rises up. 2) the pool cover generally fits well on one side, but on the other side is not straight and there is quite a gap between the edge of the cover and the side of the pool; this is not the best photo, but there is a gap of at least 5cm (whereas elsewhere the wall and cover are flush). Please can you installer come and fix these two issues when he is next in Stellenbosch. 23 Nov 2023: received email (paraphrased as direct responses are not allowed to be posted and the company requested I remove my review) from National Sales Manager that stated ‘they would come to look if any improvements could be made and to do final touch ups.’

At some stage a guy came out to look at the cover and received a call to say that there was an issue with the join and he would go and talk to the sales representative about it. I did not receive a follow up call or email after this, from anyone at Power Plastics.

27 Jan 2024: received email from Debtors department with threatening debt collection agency. 09 Feb 2024: received an email from sales representative regarding the outstanding amount. 12 Feb 2024: emailed sales representative to say that I still did not have feedback from the visit last year and then received this message to request me to send more photos (why must I do this?)? At this stage sales representative thought everything was sorted, without actually finding out whether anything had been taken care.

At this point am left questioning as to why I, as the customer, have to resend photos and why Power Plastics cannot get this sorted.

16 Feb 2024: received another email from debtors clerk with threatening debt collection agency.

Last week of March (unsure of date, but can check), I received a call from someone at Power Plastics finance to ask about the outstanding amount. I explained to her the challenges I have had and that I never had any follow up from the sales representative or anyone else. This lady was very sympathetic and said she would follow up with sales representative to ask what was happening. AGAIN, THERE WAS NO FOLLOW UP TO THIS FROM ANYONE.

18 April 2024: receive an email from debtors clerk at Power Plastics telling me that my outstanding debt would be handed over to debt collection. I reply to this as follows: This has not been sorted from your side; when I spoke to a lady a few weeks ago she said she would follow up with XX, who installed a poolcover that did not fit well. Despite numerous attempts from my side to get someone to have a look and fix the cover, NOTHING has happened from my side. If you send debt collectors, I will take legal action for harassment.

18 April 2024: receive an email from ACCOUNTABILITY, threatening all sorts of legal action. I reply to this email copying sales representative and National Sales Manager as follows: Dear PowerPlastics, funny that you use a company called Accountability, given that Power Plastics have absolutely none whatsoever. I am just going to give in and pay, but note that you have not done your job, despite the ball being in your court since November. I am disgusted by your company, its inability to actually come and fix a problem and you not taking care of your customers. Leaving you 1 star on Google Reviews, because that is about the only thing I can do. May I never hear from you again, because it will just be another totally pointless conversation.

18 April 2024: receive two missed calls from Power Plastics and an email from National Sales manager, who would like to resolve this. Strange how it takes an email in response to a debt collection company letter to get someone to contact me. I reply to them as follows: XX, I am now getting these threatening letters. Your company and its inability to deal with this matter since last year November is absolutely disgusting. I am just going to pay so that you stop hassling me. Will never recommend you guys again. Absolutely no service.

I then paid the outstanding amounts, because clearly I am never going to get resolution from this company with regards to actually fixing the pool cover. I leave a 1 star Google Review for their company.

19 April 2024: received this email from National Sales Manager in response to my Google Review, again which is paraphrased as I am not allowed to post her direct reply, but which stated that “I am bringing their company into disrepute and that they will post a response if I do not respond within 48 hours’. According to National Sales Manager my pool cover is now free of kinks and everything is sorted’. I am not sure how she can come to that conclusion given that no one has been to look at the cover since November 2023. There are definitely still kinks and the fit is poor on one side. I am still unsure as to how Power Plastics can ascertain that the pool cover has no fault, as no one ever went to look at it. Power Plastics are using bullying tactics to try and get me to remove the review, as per the email above. There is no accountability on their part and I am deeply disappointed that it has come to this, but my review is a true reflection of my experience with this company. From reviews on both Google and Hello Peter, there are many excellent ones (which is why I decided to go with this company), but there are also a number that mention poor service and communication, so I am definitely not the only person this has happened to.