Maintenance Service Changes 2020

To our valued Kirby's Pool Service Clients,

We would like to thank all of our loyal clients for your continued trust and patronage with our business now going on 20 years. We are writing you all to inform you of some changes coming this year.

2020 is going to be a year of change due to new California legislation dictating labor laws/wages/overtime and independent contractors. Some refer it by the “Uber Laws”. These changes increase our costs substantially along with ongoing increases in costs of doing business. First off, we will not be increasing our monthly rates in most cases at this time, but instead will be restructuring the way we bill/invoice and will be charging for certain services.

We are trying to find creative ways of keeping our service excellent, at the lowest cost possible, in addition to paying our workers what they demand while staying compliant with current labor laws and practices that were voted in last year regarding wages, independent contractors, and employee rights. This is a developing legislation and currently in the courts being discussed, so we may need to further adapt as we know more. Our goal is to provide great service, fair prices, and good jobs for our employees and independent contractors.

A few changes that we will be implementing right away will involve filter cleanings, web-payments, and heavy debris charges. We will continue to include all chemicals in our weekly service.

Filter Cleanings: We will no longer be able to include the bi-annual filter cleanings in the service at our current rates, due to the time and labor involved for our technicians to do this work. It takes approximately 1 to 2 hours of labor to clean a filter. This is extra time in the workday, and we must charge accordingly to comply with current laws and pay structures and workers' demands. All future filter cleanings will be billed separately at a flat rate, which will be $125 per filter cleaning, plus parts if needed. Filters need to be cleaned about two times per year on average. All-Inclusive Service Some of these changes do affect our long running and more preferred option of all-inclusive service. We don’t want to eliminate this option all together, to our many customers who like everything to be included on one monthly bill. This option will always be the best value and most convenient overall.

Continuing with all-inclusive service will likely add $15 to $20 each month to your current bill, but Filter cleanings and wind charges will be included. If you would like to continue with our all-inclusive option, please respond to this email letting us know.

Autopay and Web-pay: We will be implementing a $5 convenience charge for anybody wishing to use autopay or web pay for monthly invoices. Convenience fees will also be applied to all web-payments. The costs involved in this are very high and we can no longer absorb those fees. To avoid this charge, send cash, money order, or check to our PO box and you will not be charged this fee. You may also use Venmo or ACH payments which have lower fees. Send payments by using the username @Kirbyspools or email address kirbyspoolsoffice@gmail.com. You must include the invoice number when sending payments.

By Default, current autopay users will continue with the new fee added to the next bill. You Must opt out to discontinue autopay if currently enrolled. If you are currently on autopay, and no longer want to take part in those automatic web payments, please let us know and we will stop the automatic payments.

Auto Pay Users: Beginning in March, you will see a “Convenience Fee” already added to your invoices. No further changes are needed. If you are paying with cash, check, Venmo, or ACH then you will need to send the payment minus the convenience fee. Please see below for an example of what your invoice will look like.

Wind/Heavy Debris Charges:

This will be a case by case basis; and possible after any high windstorm, it involves time we spend during or after windstorms or periodic heavy debris weeks. Up until now we have stayed up to an hour or more at no extra charge while also paying our technicians more out of our pocket.

Going forward we will be charging an additional $10 per half hour above the normal agreed upon time to clean the pool, and it will be on the next bill following a heavy debris event. We will still normally stop cleaning after 1 hour in most cases. We will be requiring our service techs to take photos of the pool before and after cleaning and record the time spent in order to be transparent. We can forward these photos to you if request.

If you would like to avoid additional wind/debris charges, make sure baskets are cleaned out daily during wind weeks, maintain minimal debris around pool, trim nearby trees before the wind season, keep a trashcan nearby pool and accessible. This makes us able to clean the pool quicker and makes our technicians jobs more manageable after frustrating windstorms.

Reminder: normal service is up to 30 minutes. If you have extended service, you are already paying for more time.

If we notice that our pool tech is having to spend more than an hour cleaning your pool, we may suggest trimming your trees surrounding the pool area. If not, we may need to begin a temporary extended service or twice a week service to maintain your pool adequately (additional fees apply).

You can avoid extra charges by making sure there is a trashcan nearby and accessible, make sure to clean the baskets daily, and trim back extra vegetation.

We will be updating our FAQ on our website and we will be posting more in-depth blogs regarding these changes. Look out for those in the coming weeks.

If you have any questions, please email us. If you haven't already, we also ask that you reply to this email confirming you have read and understood the service changes.

Again, we thank you for your continued patronage and understanding with these changes.

Kirby’s Pools Service