I rarely leave negative reviews, but my experience at Leslie’s Pool Store in Quakertown was honestly one of the most frustrating customer service experiences I’ve had in a long time.
My boyfriend’s family has been super busy lately and the pool has kind of been put on the backburner between life stuff going on. I finally had a free moment yesterday and thought, you know what, let me take this into my own hands, get the water tested, buy what’s needed, and help get the pool ready for the season. Since Leslie’s advertises free water testing, I figured this would be quick and easy.
When the employee came over to help me, he asked for the phone number or email attached to the account. I explained that I was helping out my boyfriend’s family and wasn’t sure if they had an account with Leslie’s. Another employee then chimed in saying they need the account for the pool sizing and information “and all that kind of stuff.” I immediately responded with, “Oh! I have all of that information, can I just give it to you?” and the employee shook his head and said no, that they needed an account and someone would have had to purchase from them before.
Okay… weird, but fine. So I call my boyfriend’s mom (which completely ruined the surprise of me trying to take care of this for them) and ask if she remembers any phone numbers or emails tied to an account. She said she’s definitely bought stuff from Leslie’s before, but couldn’t remember what it would’ve been under. We tried two phone numbers and an email — nothing came up.
At that point, I hung up and started just giving the employee the pool information directly. I literally said, “It’s an above ground pool, 4 feet deep, 16 feet round, Intex, sand pump—” and before I could even finish, he cut me off AGAIN just to repeat that they needed an account.
I’m sorry… what? I’m standing there trying to hand you all of the information needed to create the account, test the water, and BUY products from your store. I genuinely could not understand why they were making something so unnecessarily difficult. Ultimately, they refused to help me and basically sent me on my way.
Obviously frustrated at that point, I stormed out. And here’s the craziest part: I got to my car, went onto Leslie’s website myself, created an account with all the pool information in less than five minutes, and immediately called the Leslie’s location in Allentown to see if they were still open for water testing. The gentleman there kindly answered and said, “Yes of course! Swing by anytime before 5!”
So I made the 25-minute drive to Allentown. I handed him the water sample, explained the whole fiasco in Quakertown, and told him I had just made the account myself online because I just needed something to go right after a long emotional week. The employee there was COMPLETELY baffled by what happened. He apologized on behalf of the company, and I even told him, “It wasn’t you, you don’t have to apologize,” but he said it was still wrong and made no sense. He even mentioned that I was the first new customer he had EVER heard of making their own account and entering all the pool info themselves instead of the store just doing it. Interesting… because apparently Quakertown couldn’t figure that out.
Allentown Leslie’s tested the water immediately, explained every step I needed to get the pool ready for summer, grabbed all the supplies for me, and checked me out with absolutely no issues. THAT is customer service.
Allentown Leslie’s gets an 11/10 and they’ll absolutely be getting their own positive review after this. Quakertown Leslie’s, however, seriously needs to do better. Horrible customer service, unnecessarily difficult, and just not welcoming or helpful whatsoever. I have gone to pool stores with my parents for YEARS and have never experienced anything even remotely like this. Quakertown Leslie's.. please do better.