After my mother passed away, her house had to be sold. The backyard had an in ground pool, and it…read morewas covered from the previous fall. I delayed opening it until I knew the house's listing was going live. Staff from Vliestra Bros. uncovered the pool, put the heavy cover away in the basement, and got the pool chemicals up to speed so the pool was sparkly clean just in time. Vliestra Bros. is also where my mother bought all of her pool chemicals for decades.

We had high hopes of finding someone to maintain our equipment, open and close annually, and…read moreperhaps sell and install a new liner for us. Let's start with our first impression: Back in August or early September, we stopped into Vlietstra Brothers Pools & Spas to ask a few questions and schedule our closing. The woman working the front counter was obviously very tired and didn't really want to deal with us. I asked about ordering a custom spa cover. No, they can't do that. Hmm... pools and spas, right? Ok, what is your payment structure for pool services, such as a fall closing? She had no idea what I meant, and was insulted when I asked my husband if I had said it too politely... snapping at me before I finished my sentence, like I was going to call her stupid or something. Nevertheless, we gave her the benefit of the doubt. We all have off days! So, we scheduled our closing for the 22nd of October, 2021 and she wrote it into their schedule book. Fast forward to Friday, 10/15: I received a call mid-afternoon from a woman named Michelle (not the same woman, I am told). She wanted to know if she could schedule the closing for Monday, 10/18. Well, we weren't prepared and it's 5 days early, but hey, why not? I was told they work hourly, so we'd just throw a few more bucks their way for closing, as we hadn't finished everything we'd hoped to have prepped for them yet. However, we did spend a large part of our weekend getting as much water drained as we could in the time we had left, laying out the cover, and prepping the deck area for them. 10/15, 10/17, and 10/18: I called and left messages with 3 different extensions asking that someone call me ASAP. I just needed someone to call me before they came to my address. All we wanted was to discuss where everything was located, and what we had done ahead of time. Maybe even what we expected of them, since no one had asked us what exactly we wanted done.... By the time I did get in touch with someone at Vlietstras, I was informed my pool closing was completed and the service tech had already left. This was Monday, 10/15, at 9:27am. I work close by and ran home, as I had intended to do to speak with the service tech. Here's what we found: 1. My diving board, which had never been removed, was sitting in the back corner of my detached garage. This is not where the pool equipment is located. This is not where anything for the pool is located. What business did this tech have being in that building, let alone traversing a mountain of equipment to sit my diving board in the back corner??? So, in hindsight, this still absolutely infuriates me. This person went into a closed up building, saw there was no pool related equipment, and continued in and around. 2. After removing part of the now installed safety cover, we discovered the jets had not been blown out, and that the water level still was above them. If you're reading this, it's probably because you have a pool. You probably then know that water left in those pipes over the winter will freeze here in Michigan. No anti-freeze in anything. That can crack the pipes, fittings, your filter, your pump, and any other hardware connections that are in the way! 3. They installed my safety cover that I've used for 4 winters, with new connections in my cement - not using existing ones. Yes, you read that right. They put several new anchors into the cement that surrounds my pool, even though the anchors that have been there for years and working were extended by us for them to use. 4. At this point, we're wondering: Is this some sort of master plan to get more business in the spring?? The phone calls: If you've been paying attention, I'm sure you can imagine we had some questions for this business. Michelle is apparently the scheduler *and* office manager. She admits she knows absolutely nothing about the workings of a pool, closing one, how pipes freeze, what a winterization or pool closing entails, etc. etc. As a result of her inability to discuss what we found had happened here, we asked that her boss (the owner) please call to discuss.... Michelle called us 3 times instead, to tell us this is how the do pool closings. Mind you, she didn't understand our questions and certainly couldn't answer how this wasn't causing loads of angry customers. As of 10/25/2021, my husband is still waiting for the owner to call him. So, after everything: We uncovered half the pool, drained the water down below the jets, added winter chemicals, blew out the pipes with our air compressor, dumped rv/marine antifreeze into the filter, pump, and all pipes, plugged the jets and skimmer pipe, and re-covered the pool ourselves.

After making a few calls they came out and filled in the chip marks and corrected the divots, they…read morearen't noticable in the counter type that I purchased so I am thankful I didn't go white with flecks or it would have shown.

they are great at selling their products but once they have your money good luck getting service!…read morebought a new self propelled toro walk behind before it was even 2 years old the self propelled quit working! They said they could look at it in a month until then just push it. really a rude guy I talked to in the service department. last penny I will ever spend with those clowns.

This place is horrible. I went in to buy a new John Deere tractor with a bucket on the front. I've…read morehad John Deere for decades. The sales guy would not give me a price. He started talking about radial tires and comfort. Who the heck cares about comfort. I asked him for a price range just so I know if I wanted to afford it. He refused to do that and started talking about interest rates. I said I'm not so sure I wanted to finance it as he hadn't given me a price yet. I had a blank check in my pocket. I finally just said nuts to ya! I walked out. I will go buy from someone that listens when someone asks for a price. Just an FYI....Those are a buying words. The selling was over.

Wow! These guys know paint! Great product selection, extremely knowledgable and helpful in trying…read moreto match some old deck stain. I'll be back!

Everytime I repaint a room in my home. I always come to Douglas & Sons to pick out the perfect…read morecolor with my fabric. Their associates are experts. I came in recently intent on light gray for my living room. I asked what they thought when I showed them my chair fabric and they immediately picked out a light creamy beige with gray undertones and I was amazed that it was perfect. I had the same experience a few years ago with my bedroom and they found the perfect color to compliment my bedspread. Douglas & Sons is a Kalamazoo institution.

This place is the best around, bauoght a new wright mower a couple years ago and worked with Chris,…read moretop notch service and warranty repairs. Zack put a new spindle on as mine went bad .I am a busy man but there team took care of me not knowing it's 30 minutes away. Got it fixed in about 45 minutes. Went back to my route . These gentlemen are great, won't go anywhere else for equipment.

Awesome professional service. I had my chain saw service after non use of 5-6 years. I works great…read moreafter the service was performed.

Kalamazoo Pool has been cleaning our pool weekly every summer for 15 years. They've also maintained…read moreall our equipment, replaced our pool liner, and last summer installed a new pool fence for us. Overall we've had a great relationship with this local, family-owned business. In general the pool looks fabulous when they are done cleaning it. More than a few times it has been jaw-dropping sparkling clean. Jan is always responsive to our phone calls with questions and issues. They've responded quickly to a few emergency needs. We've always relied on their knowledge and competence with pool problems. We are pool owners who are smart enough to know we would rather enjoy our pool but leave pool care to the experts. Thanks, Kalamazoo Pool.

Jan and the team at Kalamazoo Pool are great. They really helped to educate me a lot on my pool…read morewhen I first bought my house 3 years ago. They are there to teach you how to do things yourself, or they can take care of everything for you which I appreciate. I'm somewhere in the middle so they price accordingly if I do a lot of the prep work for opening and closings. They also really know their stuff when it comes to pool chemistry and do free testings on your water. Bottom line is I trust these guys and they are the only company that I go to for advice or to service my pool.

I brought in a very old pump lid and basket, plus equally old chlorinator lid ten minutes before…read moreclosing. Nicole graciously told me no problem and proceeded to carefully research what part number the unmarked pump lid was. I was filled with joy to leave with two new lids, thank-you very, very much!

Great place great people they work with you all the time, even when they don't have the product,…read morethey will work to find it for you

Dropped off a mower on Saturday for repair. Was greeted at the door and a gentleman helped me…read moreunload and push it into the store. Was told that there is a $25 fee for looking at mower, but that would be paid when I pick up after repairs. Received a call on Monday morning that the mower is fixed and total cost is $36. Quick service (it is an off season, but quick nonetheless) and an enjoyable experience. Would certainly use Struble's again!

My husband (84 years; disabled veteran) took a power washer in for repair. He was charged $25…read moredeposit and gave permission to have them look for the problem. Was called told it would be $156 to repair--but not sure they could guarantee it would start. Decided to not do repair and asked what we owed for their efforts. Told $39 and we went to pick it up. My husband went in paid the bill and asked where it was--told over there-in pieces. He came back to the car to find a box; put the pieces in, dragged the rest of the cart to the front door--I jumped out of he car to open the door and helped him bring it to the car. We struggled but loaded it in--a rag was stuffed in it to sop up the gas. No one helped him and no one put the pieces they took off back together. Never been treated so disrespectfully at any store in Battle Creek. Not a store we would go back to sadly.