Waterco
9 reviews
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- +5
If there is a negative or no star, I would put it for WaterCo products, service and complaints response time! I purchased a WaterCo heating and cooling system for a 9000L fancy goldfish pond. For the first 5 months it worked perfectly. Since June 25 the control panel started to have an error and causing the water temperature to go up and down by 6… Read more
degrees whenever the machine felt like it. Causing so much stress to my fish, more than half are dead as the result. We tried to calling and emailing, with absolutely no response for 2 weeks. WaterCo then incorrectly advised us is the flow issue and my pond designer came back to install a valve even though he did not believe it was a flow issue. Since the valve was installed there was no difference with its error code and the water temperature was continuously going up and down. After numerous calls, emails and even filling out the online warranty form the WaterCo technician finally came and said it's the control panel issue. This was eventually replaced, then the same day the error occurred again. There is obviously something very wrong with the machine… and it also starts to make loud noises which is definitely not normal. After many more phone calls and emails for another 2 weeks WaterCo finally agreed to replace the machine. The ‘New’ Machine was not in a box… which made me doubt if it is a “New" replacement machine. Two days after it was replaced, “New' machine is not de-icing and is now not working. The back and inside of the machine is full of ice! We reported this to the WaterCo technician and there is absolute silence from WaterCo. Tried calling service, sales, even higher up and no response. It is beyond stressful to see my fish dying and being sick and stressed over the temperature variation. After 2 stressful months I have totally lost faith in WaterCo products, service and maintenance. I demand a quick solution at Waterco's cost and I will also be seeking compensation for fish loss, invoices from the tradesman who look after my pond due to WaterCo's machines issues. WaterCo’s behaviour is beyond disgraceful, it is dismissive, rude and inhumane as they do not seem to care that my pets are dying.
bad product – bought a hydro storm 200 only had it four years , our pool has been undergoing renovation so pool pump would of only been operating for 2.5 years and the other day compactor blew and cooked the whole thing , sent photos to Waterco 2 weeks ago and no reply , rang them 3 times ,and they told me a technician , would ring me straight away , still… Read more
haven’t heard anything 3 weeks later , worse company i’ve ever had to deal with , so now going to take to the Accc to take action
My compressor issue now resolved – **I am pleased to update this review with some positive news. Sometimes the pen is mightier than the sword . In this case once my problem product was elevated out of the warranty/service departments and onto senior decision makers desks things started to happen. Thankyou to Jonathon Hatfield the NSW Branch Manager for stepping in to resolve the… Read more
situation personally. From the start Jonathon took a proactive interest in resolving this issue . He told me this model ElectroHeat Ultra MKIV was normally very reliable and they were just as baffled as I was on why it was failing. After some extensive tests of the unit onsite he and Waterco confirmed that the compressor had not completely failed but had developed some intermittent issues causing it to trip . Most probably because an associated flow valve was faulty and had driven the unit into over temperature too much. As a result Waterco agreed to honour the warranty and replace my Electroheat Ultra Compressor free of charge which I appreciate. I can say that once Jonathon stepped in the level of service was definitely 4 star. I would also like to thank Simon Quinn of Swimart Shellharbour who helped resolve the situation.
Expensive product not reliable and has bad customer service – It's the worst company I believe. The machine is not too old, just because it's out of the warranty a bit. And I called customer support, they said they could not provide any help even technical call support (Sound like none of my business). My machine said low salt level. I tested my water salt level which is good but Chlori level is low. I will replace the entire chlorinator not just the cell because it's not a good company for my pool life. Show details
Crap product and misleading assistance – Mineral chlorinator. Had this pool 3.5 years and nothing but issues. (Installed by Freedom in 2019) First few months the timer broke and had to be switched off and on manually, so since then we have been using an external timer as the replacement cost was too much. Now we have the box flashing "no flow" and "low salt" even though there is flow… Read more
and salt in the pool. I've cleaned the sensors, and even had electrician friend check that there's power and current with a multimeter. Some days (1/7) it's fine, others it's not and the pool starts to turn green. Absolutely frustrating. For the price you pay they need to have longer warranties. And with the rising cost of power I just cannot afford a whole new system. Will probably end up shutting down the pool now because of this. Reading the previous reviews it seems this is common and the manufacturer should be recalling this faulty product.
Purchased in May 2019 at Freedom Pools for $23,995.
Just an update for those reading. We have been dealing with Gary in Perth who is claiming there is no on site service technician to come and have a look. Instead he wants us to remove everything and travel the 2 hour return journey for a 5 minute inspection, this was advised after giving us the assumption he was going to replace everything out of the warranty period, as I quote his email "This equipment normally comes with a 3 year warranty but I will speak to my manager about “extending” this in this instance"
After much back and forth he then advises the cost of replacing parts would be discounted. To quote his email "I was happy to do this with no labour charge and be considerate in relation to the cost of these parts". Very sneaky of Waterco to suck you in with assumptions of it being extended only to advise it would cost you $400 for a new cell plus parts. May aswell spend the money on a completely different brand - so we are going with K-Chlor who have 5 star reviews.
Worst Service I have EVER come by – We had a new waterco spa pump installed less than twelve months ago, since it has been installed we have had nothing but issues with it. Our first warranty claim we ha to wait 8 weeks before anyone got back to us. They then replaced the faulty pump with another faulty pump. When we did another warranty claim they took 4 weeks to get back to us and… Read more
they have now just taken the pump away to look at leaving us with a spa we can't use. This has been ongoing for over three months now, for over three months we have not been able to us our spa. If this issue is not rectified soon we will be going to the ombudsman - their service is DISGUSTING!!!!
Waterco Warranty – I purchased a house with a pool that was 12 months old. They had installed Waterco filters, Electroclor Mineral Chlorinator, Heat exchanger as well as a Reltech Pump which Waterco supplied. We had issues with the pump and Reltech replaced the circuit board but recently we have had issues with the Chlorinator. I spoke to Waterco when we first… Read more
bought the house to discuss the warranty on the various components and there were no issues until we submitted a warranty claim (which they advised we do) and then they responded with an email to say the warranty wasn’t transferable and to get a pool shop to attend to it. Be very careful buying Waterco products if you haven’t purchased them yourself and if you’re in a position such as ourselves don’t expect any warranty support.
- +2
Waterco Heat Pump doesn't heat the pool – I purchased and installed a Waterco MKV 9kW Heat Pump, and a Daisy 525B Solar Pool Cover for my pool in October 2020. The size of the Waterco MKV 9kW Heat Pump was recommended by Central Solar Systems, Bundall Qld. In June/July 2021, I was running the heat pump my Waterco MKV 9kW Heat Pump for 17.5 hours per day whereby I found it was incapable… Read more
of reaching and maintaining 28 degrees water temperature as detailed in the Waterco brochure sizing chart...the highest temperature I achieved was 26.1 degrees for 2 hours only.
On 21/1/2021, and a few days prior, when the ambient temperature was not very high (around 24-26 degrees), the pool struggled to get the 27.8 degrees and the heat pump was running all day.
When I checked the pool temp on the morning of the 21/1/2021, according to the Waterco temperature digital read-out, the pool temperature was 27.1 at 8:30am. By 5:00pm, the temperature had reached 27.8 degrees. It didn’t go any higher.
I tried an exercise whereby I ran the heat pump over a period of 21 days commencing the 26/6/21…16 days for 17.5 hours per day and 5 days for 10 hours per day. Throughout the 21 days of the exercise, the heat pump only managed to heat the pool water up to a maximum temperature of 26.1 degrees for a period of 2 hours on the 12/7/21. Most days, the heat pump only managed to get the pool water temperature in the range of 25 to 25.8 degrees between 3:00pm to 5:00pm. The daily average ambient temperatures during that period ranged from 14 at night to 21 during the day.
Furthermore, there is no information on the Waterco brochure which provides any information in respect of the period May to August. The Waterco brochure is very misleading to the average purchaser or even retailer/installer for that matter. Also there is no mention in the Waterco brochure that retailers or installers should use the Waterco ‘heat pump calculator’ for the purpose of accurately determining the correct sizing of a heat pump for a specific pool as stated by [Name Removed], QLD Sales Operations Manager.
The Waterco brochure (page 10), states that a 9kW system is suitable for a ‘warm location (Brisbane) where minimum average daytime temperatures between September to April are not less than 24 C for pools up to 50,000 litres, which have a pool cover running for a period of 10 hours per day. Additionally, there is no mention in the FAQ section on the Waterco brochure (or anywhere else for that matter), where it states that a heat pump will not heat a pool up to the 28 degrees during the period May to August.
Even during the months of Jan, Feb, March and April, there were many days whereby the heat pump struggled to reach 28 degrees even though the ambient daily temperature reached 25 degrees.
Given the disappointing outcome of the exercise, it is abundantly clear to me that the Waterco MKV 9kW Heat Pump is incapable of reaching and maintaining 28 degrees as detailed in the Waterco brochure sizing chart nor is it capable of achieving my desired goal of maintaining my minimum water temperature requirement of 28 degrees. I believe the Waterco brochure is misleading and misrepresentation of the capability of the heat pump to heat the capacity/size of my pool of approximately 45,000 litres (i.e. Waterco brochure states up to 50,000 litres in a ‘warm location’).
The worst part about dealing with Waterco is that they will not do a warranty call to determine if there is a problem with the heat pump...their Customer Service staff and the Qld Sales Operations Manager state that the heat pump is operating as it should.
My question is...how would they know if they haven't even bothered to investigate the problem and do a warranty call to see if the heat pump is operating correctly?
Appalling customer service!
The bottom line is that I will never purchase a Waterco product again.
Good company - Great service – I recently contacted Waterco regarding failure of an LED pool light , the light was a year out of warranty but I had purchased two lights, they were reasonably expensive and one had failed. I am very pleased to say Waterco were friendly, professional and best of all stood by their product. Very pleased with the service and the understanding, a replacement light was sent promptly - no cost. Well done Darren from Waterco and thank you.
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Updates - waiting for Fair Trading to get back to my complaint!!! It had been 6 weeks and said they are dealing with all the backlogs.