Bud's Spas & Pools

We interviewed about 4 pool contractors before choosing Buds. We looked at online reviews (both positive and negative) including the pricing breakdown. Buds won us over simply because they gave us the most honest and straightforward breakdown of the cost. We excluded a couple of contractors because one wanted to charge us $4,000 for pool maintenance training, and the other basically refused to accommodate any of our ideas. But when we met with Gord at Buds, he listened to our ideas and answered all of our questions without any pressure sales tactics, which we really appreciated. The owner of the company, Bill, was on site throughout the whole building process, and was available to answer our questions. Our pool was completed in the late Fall 2013. There were issues with our patio that really concerned us, but Buds and Jeff from Regional Curb addressed all of our concerns. What we really appreciated about the company was that they worked with us to solve all of our concerns until we were satisfied with the results, and for this, they get a Gold Star for customer service!!!

I am disgusted with the service I've received from Bud's Spas and Pools and would strongly urge anyone I know to not use this company. I sought their services to open my hot tub in a house we have recently moved into. The technician came out, opened the tub when I wasn't home(my mistake not being there to supervise) and charged me for a few replacement parts(I have no way to verify whether they were actually installed or not). When I went to use my tub a few days later, most of the water was gone. When I followed up with Buds to see if they could at least send a technician to my house free of charge to see what the problem was, they were very defensive and refused to waive their service fee despite the tub not being used at all since they were last there and the tub was supposedly working well. I'm not at all surprised by the mass of negative reviews posted below, I will be seeking out other companies to service my hot tub in the future, as well as any future pool needs we will have.

Moved into house 8 months ago and were told by previous owners there were no issues with the tub. Hot tub was serviced for an OH malfuction during a Winter cold-snap and the technician removed the heating source we had placed below the tub, claiming that he had 'fixed' the issue. However, he had NOT fixed anything. The tub OH reading went again and because the technician had removed our precautionary heating source, the pipes froze, which then caused a major leak issue, a leak unlike anything I have EVER experienced before. Buds is claiming the pipes did not freeze but this is inaccurate. There were icicles hanging from the pipes and the pipes were frozen solid. We replaced the heating source and the pipes thawed back out by the time (a few days later) the Buds technician returned.

I have since argued with Buds service staff for 2 months, while the owner has been on vacation, and they refused to take action saying it is up to the owner. In the meantime, a large pool of continually freezing water formed a lake under my deck. Temperatures rose and my basement flooded. The flooding is a direct result of the pool of frozen water underneath the hot tub. No where else in the basement are we experiencing flooding except for the area directly situated by the pool of water that formed as a result of the leaking hot tub pipes. Buds' owner returned from his vacation but he was very rude and dismissive, accusing me of not wanting to pay the bill. He also refused to cover the costs of fixing my hot tub leak, even though the leak is obviously a result of his technician not properly fixing our tub and then removing our heating source.

When my partner went to Buds in person, the owner agreed to winterize the tub and we are awaiting a decision as to whether Buds will fix the damage done to the tub as a result of the technician removing the heat source and our pipes freezing.

I have to say, I am very surprised to read all the negative comments about Bud's Spas and Pools. We installed an in-ground liner pool in August 2011 and we are extremely satisfied. Our positive experience began when we met Gord. We discussed what we were looking for and, without any pressure, put together a beautiful design. The complexity of our project was very high and he assured us that it can be done. We did look at other companies but we decided to go with Bud's for 2 reasons. Firstly for the years of experience in the pool industry and secondly, they are a local company. Once we signed the agreement, our experience continued to exceed our expectations. We met the owner Bill Bell who was on-site the entire time of the project. His employees are highly knowledgeable and polite. As promised, they delivered a very high end product on a complex project. We commend Bill and his staff on a job well done. On a service standpoint, Stacey, Kathy and Adam are always available to listen and help. The lab employees are very enthusiastic and helpful. Congratulations Bill on a great staff!!! I would use Bud's again and would recommend them to anyone!

I was NOT SURPRISED to see all the negative comments about Bud's Pools. I just realized that they ARE NOT BBB accredited. Check it out yourself before you deal with them. Their after sales service is terrible. Arrogant, condescending attitude when you have a concern. GET EVERYTHING in writing!! Don't be surprised if they try to gouge more money from you AFTER they install the pool, and you have paid. Their prices are very high, you expect professionalism for this and don't get it. "Caveat emptor"-"buyer beware"!!!.

The service dept and mgmt is extremely frustrating to deal with. I have had a number of issues where calls are not returned, I have visited the store and the front staff is freindly. In general their prices are higher which I don't mind if they backed it up with reasonable service. I would not recommend this company

This company is an absolute gem - honest, accurate and quality work all the way - this is my third pool so I have been through this before but never was it as easy as this one. The design was fabulous, the heavy construction done with little impact on the yard and surrounding area and they executed immediate and smart adaptation to the issues we found in the dig site (rocks, rotting stumps. etc.).

All of the finish recommendations that Bill made were just perfect for this project - the stone deck, the fence style and choice, etc. were just the right touches for this pool to have such wow factor to it.

And four weeks to the day after the project was begun, my yard is simply a gem - every request I made was honored and the quality of the workmanship is above standard. What a great experience when its your home involved and a lot of money.

Bill Bell, his crews, and all the subcontractors went beyond my expectations and previous experiences. They really did a superb job on every aspect of this project.

Without a doubt my home value has increased as a result of this build and my family and I are totally enjoying this sanctuary ourside our side door. It has changed our lifestyle in such a positive way.

Thanks to Bill and all the folks at Buds Pool and Spa for a phenomenal pool project - I wouldn't hesitate for a second in recommending this team to any of my friends and associates.

firstly we had black spots on liner couldnt be diagnosed , then green algie cost 400 water was still green , then called 3 times to winterize and the cover kept sagging in and they charged us the first and third time and the latest fiasco was they ordered a skimmer and it took 2 weeks only to find out it wasnt in and i had the wrong dates, it was suppose to be put in 3 weeks from going into shop and wed called them 3 times and left messages with no call back so i went in. adam couldnt have cared less that he gave me wrong date and that skimmer wasnt in , he said he would call and he didnt, also they checked the pool lines for 350 only to tell us to get canadian leak detectors to come and they charged us another 350 and found the lines all testing good , a total waste of time and money with these people and aloof and pathetic customer serives they could care less and i have no idea how they can stil be in business with horrific customer service that they pathetically provided .. disgraceful and i am sickend by the fact that we actually payed these people alot of money .

We had heard good things about Bud's Pools and tried contacting them to arrange for the installation of a Radiant pool. Unfortunately, that's as far as we got and we are definitely not happy with the service that we have received during the last two weeks.

After confirming during our very first phone call with them that we were in their service area (about 30 mins from their store), we proceeded to get a verbal estimate over the phone for the pool plus installation. We were informed that the next step would be to have someone come out to the house to inspect the property and give us a formal written quote.

The installer was unable to provide us with a date when they would come out to the house but promised to call us back. Almost a dozen unreturned calls later, we were finally able to reach the installer again only to be told that the owner had decided that it wouldn't be worth his time/money to come out to our house.

While I can certainly understand his position (even if I don't necessarily agree that 30 mins is "too far" for this type of service), I don't appreciate the run-around that we received over the last two weeks.

Had we been told during our first call (when we specifically asked) that it was too far, that would have been perfectly fine. Likewise, there were several opportunities during the last two weeks (when we were on the phone with them or if they had returned one of our messages) where they could have mentioned this information.

Unfortunately, they chose to ignore our messages and not return our calls and were seemingly try to hide from us instead of just calling back to tell us that they weren't interested in our business. It almost seems like a fluke that I was able to finally reach the installer today only to be told about their decision.

Definitely not a good customer service experience and I'm almost glad that we'll be going with a different installer as I can only imagine what their post-sales support would be like given how poorly we were treated before giving them any money.