EZ Understanding of Swimming Pool Warranties

Swimming Pool Warranties Explained

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Despite claims of a 10-year, 20-year and 30-year warranty, the swimming pool industry has for years, mislead the public into thinking these warranties are for real.

The very best customer is a well-informed customer. Before they buy, they research their choices, compare and begin to examine which swimming pool is the very best choice for them. Through this research they invariably compare warranties. On the surface, our 5-year warranty seems very light – even small compared to the other companies that offer 10-year, 20-year, and 30-year warranties. But when you compare the details of these warranties and read the fine print, you begin to see that the value you thought was there – is not.

The US Federal Trade Commission has a very detailed description of product merchantability as well as a very descriptive section on “Understanding Warranties”. Briefly, there is an implied warranty and an expressed warranty. An implied warranty of merchantability is a merchant's basic promise that the goods sold will do what they are supposed to do and that there is nothing significantly wrong with them – “Fair money for fair value.”

Whereas an expressed warranty is a written warranty that states specifically what exactly is covered and what is not covered – as well as the duration of the expressed warranty. Though the pool industry advertises warranties as high as 30 years these warranties have very specific limitations. Most swimming pool warranties only provide a very small portion of a warranty as a true warranty. Meaning that if a part or portion of your purchase breaks, the warranty covers most, if not all the costs. In most cases, the duration of this part of the warranty is only three to five years at best or as low as 90 days in some cases. Then the rest of the warranty is what is called “Prorated” – which means that the warranty only covers a very small portion of the costs.

As an example, a 30-year warranty could have as little as a 3-year period that is not prorated, so most or all the costs are covered during this portion. With the balance of the warranty being prorated. The length of the warranty dictates the rate of the prorated portion. Again, as an example with a 30-year warranty, the first three years may be full coverage, but the next three years may be at 30%, the next three years is 50%, with the last twelve years at 75%. These percentages are related to your portion of the cost for the repair or replacement. This percentage is based on the full retail value. So if something fails in year 4, you have to cover 30% of the full retail price. Even if you purchased the whole package at a discounted price, the warranty will be based on a full retail value. By year 6, you are paying a full 50% of the cost as well as all shipping costs. But here is a hidden secret: regardless of the percentage of the cost you are paying, some states may require you to cover the full tax portion of the full retail value.

Are you confused yet? Well if we made the pool EZ, then we decided to make the warranty just as EZ. Every EZ Pool warranty is five-years and your only cost is the cost of shipping the item back to us – we cover everything else, including the return shipment.