Leslie's Pool Supply. Price gouging if you ask me.

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M

Mesamav

0
Jul 16, 2011
190
Mesa Arizona
I gotta tell ya. I'm really ****** at Leslie's. I know they must make a profit and that the profits on pool stuff is pretty high but what happened today just set me off.
I have a Hayward King Ray pool cleaner. It stopped working and today so I figured the diaphram went bad. I didn't know how to take the thing apart so I went to the Leslie's on the corner to have them look at it. Two guys, one the store manager and they couldn't figure it out. They had never seen one of those before. Ok. There are a lot of pool cleaners out there so I can understand that they don't know about every single one so I just said that I'd pull it apart tonight and more than likely it's the diaphram. How much would one be? I asked. What they said just disgusted me. Ready for this? $73.68 plus tax. So it was going to cost me eighty bucks for a cheap rubber part that probably cost them little more than $5.00.
I went home and got online. They are all over the place for between $12.00 and $15.00. I know Leslie's needs to make a profit, I realize that profit will be rather large since it's a pool supply and of course there is the convenience factor but still, making a $56.00+ profit on a part that obviously costs them far less than 12 bucks is outright robbery. I consider it price gouging. I'll go there for Chlorine if I can't get to the cheap bleach but that's all I'll be buying from them and I've written a not so nice email to their corporate office here in Phoenix. I doubt they will even respond because I'm just a number to them. I'll go to the mom and pop pool store down the street.
Ok, that's my rant. :rant:
 
Just-a-PB said:
I'll go to the mom and pop pool store down the street.
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Thats the best idea, plus it keeps more of the money here.

Do you find it strange that the CEO's last name is Hayward. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
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I'm Ok if he is affiliated with Hayward as well. This is America and he can have associations with as many companies as he wants. My problem is pricing things like that. I know of no other business where the profit margin has such a high percentage. I'm guessing around 900%????? That's an unfair profit if you ask me but what do I know. I'm just the guy that is paying for it. Why would they care about that......
 
I don't know Leslie's product catalog, but if your cleaner is one that they don't typically carry, then they may be having to do a special order to get it for you. I've had this happen in automotive as well. Typically, in automotive at least, if you can find the part cheaper, the mechanic will still install it for you.

I agree that that price would still be quite a bit high. Is it possible the price they quoted was for something like a repair kit where it came with the diaphragm and some other parts too?
 
I went to Leslie's to replace an O-ring for my Jandy filter and it needed to be ordered as they didn't have it in stock. I asked for 2 expecting the price to be $5ish each at most, but he said that will be $50. I was in shock as this O-ring is no more than 15 cents. I said no thank you and did a little more researching and found out that this O-ring could not be ordered by itself from Jandy and that it was part of an O-ring kit. The kit has 8 small O-rings included for $25 per kit. I looked up the O-ring from a tool supplier that my company deals with and I can get a bag of 100 O-rings for $15 delivered. Niget2002 might be right in that there were other parts that you were getting along with the diaphram.
 
DBfan187 said:
sometimes the prices you find online are waaaaaaaayyyyy lower than what some of us in this industry can buy from a distributor, hence the markup...
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Hey, I understand that there will be a mark-up and that a special order part might be a little more expensive but I doubt a small part like that would cost them, 40 or 50 dollars. Even the comparable diaphrams on the shelf were in the 50 to 60 dollar range and that's just insane.
I'm not in the loop so I can't say for sure but a small rubber diaphram doesn't take much to produce. If this was a kids toy, it would sell far 6 or 7 dollars.
25 or 30 dollars I could expect for a part like this from a pool store but 73 is just plain excessive.
Even as a special order part with the associated extra costs to them as one of the largest pool suppliers in the country, you would think that they would get a pretty good deal. It's from HAYWARD. They have a pretty good relationship so this isn't some completely random part that is hard to get.
Anyway, I'm over it my rage and I ordered it online for less than 15 dollars.
 
This is America and he can have associations with as many companies as he wants. My problem is pricing things like that. I know of no other business where the profit margin has such a high percentage. I'm guessing around 900%????? That's an unfair profit if you ask me but what do I know.
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I like how you believe in freedom in America, and in the same paragraph say it is unfair.

This is the great thing about our country:

They can charge what they want to.
You buy where you want to,
You can ***** where you want to.
Its a great system.
 
I was checking prices of Hayward Cartridge filters and ran into the same thing at Leslie's. Their price for the filter ws $649. I found the same filter on-line for $329. I wrote to Leslie's (twice) to see if they would match the prices because I would use them for the install. I never heard back from them. I also asked in the store, but they will only match Leslie's online prices, no other retailers. I guess I will look to take my business elsewhere for everything else I buy. Their prices are getting ridiculous.
 

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Ditto's for Just-A-PB.

No such thing as an "unfair" profit in a free market place, your not required to shop there - so don't.
They are free to charge whatever they want and you are free to go elsewhere - it's awesome, and we/you certainly don't need some centralized gov't run "fair profit" agency determining what people can/can't charge.

:-D
 
cramar said:
Ditto's for Just-A-PB.

No such thing as an "unfair" profit in a free market place, your not required to shop there - so don't.
They are free to charge whatever they want and you are free to go elsewhere - it's awesome, and we/you certainly don't need some centralized gov't run "fair profit" agency determining what people can/can't charge.

:-D
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The one place they have us by the***** is gasoline prices, there is no where else to get it.....

It can be frustrating to only have one place locally for sales and service. Sure you can order products off the Internet but its much harder to repair something yourself.
 
Just-a-PB said:
This is America and he can have associations with as many companies as he wants. My problem is pricing things like that. I know of no other business where the profit margin has such a high percentage. I'm guessing around 900%????? That's an unfair profit if you ask me but what do I know.
Click to expand...

I like how you believe in freedom in America, and in the same paragraph say it is unfair.

This is the great thing about our country:

They can charge what they want to.
You buy where you want to,
You can **** where you want to.
Its a great system.
Click to expand...


Absolutely true. They can charge anything they want. I just thought that kind of percentage (if I'm close to correct) was an unjust profit but sure, they could charge whatever they want and they do. I guess I can't really blame them. It's a free market system so if people like you and me will pay it, then who am I to say they can't charge that much.
Being a free market system, I have the right to shop and buy where I want and with whom I want.
That said, I just wanted to vent my frustration which I'm free to do.
So go ahead and charge whatever you want. I'm not going to pay it. I'll shop elsewhere and find it cheaper. Hopefully others will do as well. If their sales slow, then prices will come down to attract more customers. Yes, that's a free market.
I doubt anyone will give a Crud so I'm just venting.
I'll get my $15.00 part this week and all is good.
 
cramar said:
Ditto's for Just-A-PB.

No such thing as an "unfair" profit in a free market place, your not required to shop there - so don't.
They are free to charge whatever they want and you are free to go elsewhere - it's awesome, and we/you certainly don't need some centralized gov't run "fair profit" agency determining what people can/can't charge.

:-D
Click to expand...

I certainly wasn't thinking of any kind of intervention at all. Anytime the government gets involved, it just leads to bigger problems.
You're right. There is not such thing as an "unfair" profit. If they get that price, then good for them. Free markets at their best. It doesn't mean I have to like it but in no way was I suggesting they should have a governing body do anything. I was just venting my frustration at what I felt was a much larger profit on their parts than there needs to be. I'm all for companies, any companies making a healthy profit. I just thought that was a bit over the top is all.
 
Mesamav said:
cramar said:
Ditto's for Just-A-PB.

No such thing as an "unfair" profit in a free market place, your not required to shop there - so don't.
They are free to charge whatever they want and you are free to go elsewhere - it's awesome, and we/you certainly don't need some centralized gov't run "fair profit" agency determining what people can/can't charge.

:-D
Click to expand...

I certainly wasn't thinking of any kind of intervention at all. Anytime the government gets involved, it just leads to bigger problems.
You're right. There is not such thing as an "unfair" profit. If they get that price, then good for them. Free markets at their best. It doesn't mean I have to like it but in no way was I suggesting they should have a governing body do anything. I was just venting my frustration at what I felt was a much larger profit on their parts than there needs to be. I'm all for companies, any companies making a healthy profit. I just thought that was a bit over the top is all.
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Mesamav - You're right the markups are ridiculous. They have a right to charge what they want and we have a right to voice our annoyance and take our business elsewhere. A complaint about a price doesn't mean your asking for or want government intervention. This forum is a great resource for information. If people think twice and shop around before paying over inflated prices at Leslie's, then your posting was well worth it.

That said, I told the local Leslie's store manager how out of line their prices were and she said she has received a lot of complaints and they are losing business. She also said the store managers have been complaining to corporate that their prices were uncompetitive and it was hurting business.
 
Leslies prices go all over the place, but cleaners and cleaner parts seem to be crazy there. It may be part of their business model... that is be reasonable on chemicals and regular supplies, but make big profits on the specialty items. Another factor may be, that they are paying for overnight shipping so that you can get up and running the next day. For all but chemicals, I usually buy online. Ironically, I needed a motor starting capacitor just a few weeks ago. Six years ago, I got one from Leslies (stock item) for about $13. Now they no longer carry them, nor does any of the other pool stores in the Tampa Bay area. Leslies could have one to me by late Monday for about $45 (this was a Saturday). I got the specs and measurements from my old one and ordered 2 from an E-Bay online dealer for $16.00 shipped and no tax. They came Tuesday and the motor starts pefectly. I felt it was ridiculous that I had to wait 4 days for such a simple item. Leslies would have gladly sold me a new motor for about $325. I would have been fine paying $20 for a capacitor just for the convienence of getting the job done Saturday, so in a way, they shoot themselves in the foot for gouging; forcing the customer to buy online.
 
I don't mind paying a few extra dollars at a local place, maybe $10-$20 at the most, depending on when I need the item. I do understand that internet pricing is based off of volume from sales all over the world, and it's hard for a local place to compete with that. I'd much rather support a local business over an internet based business. But, with the OP, I agree it's too much.
 
I got a phone call yesterday from the district manager for my area. As it turns out, we talked for about an hour and a half. He was pitching a few things and I quickly came back with the reasons that I don't use that particular product. He said a few things about their "shock" and I told him that I haven't shocked since last year so I have no need for any kind of "shock" product.
Anyway, long story short? He was a nice guy and I felt vindicated because I had the correct answer for everything he threw at me and how I got that answer. I'm fairly certain that he either thought I was some kind of chemistry expert or some kind of pool geek. After speaking with him, I feel like a little of both.
One thing of note? I taught him something. We discussed at length about the CYA in the tabs. I told him that I use them very sparingly. If I'm out of town or I need to raise the CYA a little and that I can adjust my CYA with just the tabs. I told him I calculated (actually you guys did this, thank you very much) that each tab adds a little over 2 ppm CYA to my water based on the volume of my pool. He said he didn't know that or know anybody that has ever figured that out. I don't know how true that is but it made me feel good.
If I was going by their advice and used, say, 50 tabs over the course of the summer, I would have effectively raised my CYA by more than 100 ppm minus splashout and backwashing.
He finally admitted that if what I'm doing now is working for me, then there is no reason to change things.
How 'bout that.
 
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