June 2022 by Amanda M.
Owner of the store is very knowledgeable. Luckily, he has been there both times I visited. The first time I came by was in response to a mailer I received. I was in the market for a new pool cleaner. I had seen their ads and googled a few of the options to see what would fit my pool best. I stopped in to purchase the Polaris Atlas XT. The specials at that time included a $50 gift card to any Pinch a Penny store, and the manufacturer was offering a $100 rebate and a leaf catcher with registration of the product. While I was there, I chatted to the owner about my pool turning green in the past. He mentioned I may have a phosphate issue and to bring some water in for testing. I finally received my rebate and leaf catcher in the mail, approximately 6 weeks later. I took a water sample to the store and waited in line to get it tested. FYI, have some idea as to the dimensions of your pool as well as if it's made of concrete, fiberglass etc. I was a bit caught off guard by that, since I did not build this pool. When the printout of my water test came out, my water sample totally checked out. But something was missing - no phosphate test. I explained to the employee that there was something else... something I needed but I could not think of the name. I mentioned my pool guy does this exact same testing every week and there has never been a problem. I told him I was going to wait for the owner to come over and help. While waiting, the employee prepared the chemicals for a subsequent test, and the squeeze bottle overflowed and shot up into the air and chemicals sprayed on the trash can in front of me and possibly my shoe. It was hard to tell. He asked if he got me with it, to which I said I was unsure. When I asked if the chemicals were hazardous, he said no. But I was not very confident in his answer. I have no idea what just got on my sneaker. I hoped it wasn't acid. When the owner was available, he remembered me. He reminded me I needed a phosphate check and that is not routine. I asked the employee to run the test and he had already tossed my pool water in the sink. Ugh. I'm not sure why he did that, knowing I was still waiting for answers AND there was no one else in line for testing. But I was slightly annoyed. The owner reassured me that if the pool looks clear and not yellow or green or cloudy, that it was probably fine, especially since the water test checked out ok. He said if anything changes, to bring another water sample in. Next time I'll remember the word phosphate because I wrote this review. And I'll be sure to roughly measure my pool.
