I am a former client of the owner of Eco Advantage Sun and Security. I am here to warn you about the type of business they, Tony and Brett Gambino (father and son) practiced in their previous pool company business.
The way I measure a good business/company is not by if things go wrong but how it is then handled, here is my experience.
Being a long distance landlord the only complaint I ever had was the condition of the pool, which I was paying to have cleaned weekly. After a year and a half of complaints from my tenants, I called the son, Brett, in mid Dec 2009 and told him I needed to cancel service. He begged for my business saying he would take care of it personally and he would give me 3 weeks free. He claimed he had to fire the previous guy and I wouldn’t have any more problems, which I did hear one other time as well.
Early in January 2010, I got another call from my tenants and pictures to follow of a green swamp of a pool. Keep in mind a pool does not get this bad in the winter unless it has been neglected for quite sometime. I called Brett, when he realized it was me he hung up the phone. He had a lady call me back and say they sent out noticed in Nov that they were going out of business. Obviously Brett was dodging me knowing he had done wrong.
#1 I received all bills, yet no notice…weird.
#2 Why didn’t Brett let me know this then when I called in December wanting to cancel??
#3 Why cash my check in December? What happened to my 3 free weeks?
I then called his father Tony, owner of Big Island Pools and EcoAdvantage. I explained the bad service I had all along and my call to Brett in December. I said I would expect them to go get the pool back in an appropriate condition or pay to have someone fix it. Tony then said he would send me $100 because he was certain I could get a “green” clean done from any company for that. I was pretty certain it would cost more but appreciated his acknowledgement and didn’t want to take the time to make this any more of a hassle.
A month later I still hadn’t received a check. I called both, no return call. A few days went by then I’d realize I hadn’t heard back and I’d try again. Then I’d realize it had been a week so I’d start calling multiple times a day. Who wants to get this type of run around?? I am a VERY patient person, which is why I gave them so many chances over the year and a half. Really I should be re-imbursed more than $100 but again I was letting him off easy for addressing the situation, so I would think he would follow through on that at least.
Do you want to know what has happened instead?? Well they have let me know that they are putting a restraining order on me and that they will file harassment charges. Imagine that, they basically rob me, cashing my checks and not delivering service, leave me with a cesspool and now I’m harassing them because they I’m a consumer standing up for myself. I told them, on voicemail since no one wanted to answer a call, that I wouldn’t have any problem sharing my experience if they didn’t want to handle this business matter appropriately. I also told them I could step up the number of calls to them if that what it took to get a call back. I think these are very acceptable comments to make. It is amazing to me that someone would take so much effort, getting an attorney and a private investigator, supposedly, instead of running an honest business and following through on one agreement to help mend 1 ½ years of poor business practices.
I think they need a new attorney/private investigator if that is the advice they were given. I doubt that is the case; I think it is again an example of their poor judgment and bad business habits.
I hope this helps you decide whether to use Tony and Brett Gambino’s company, EcoAdvantage. My advice would be to go with a more established reputable company.