Aquatic Equipment and Design

Cost me $400 and lots of time!
I contacted Aquatic Equipment and Design in April 2021 to purchase Dryden AFM for my residential pool that I had just finished refurbishing. They were helpful in determining the correct amount of each grade to use and arranging shipping. However, the support after that has been lacking.
In June, after loading my filter with AFM as directed, I contacted Aquatic E&D to ask about how to commission the filter as the products (AFM grade 2 and AFM grade 1 NG) had conflicting directions, and it was unclear whether I should be begin with a backwash before filtering, and additionally if the product needed a period to soak. I was transferred to a gentleman who, upon being told my application and products being used, advised me that I should backwash before filtering and that I could do so immediately. After getting off the phone with him, I began a backwash. After a few minutes, I stopped the backwash and happened to check my discharge pipe (which runs to a ditch with sitting water). The surface of the water was almost entirely covered in floating AFM beads, and they had dispersed over a roughly 40 sqft area. An equally substantial amount was sitting on the bottom as well. I called Aquatic E&D back and was able to be transferred to the same gentleman again. He was unsure as to why that would have happened, but asked that I send pictures of the floating AFM so he could investigate. I sent the pictures to Amy and Wendy on 6/24, asking that they please forward the pictures to whoever I had spoken to. I never received a reply. I called a few days later to make sure they had received the pictures, and (I believe Wendy) confirmed that they had and would be forwarding them. Again, I received no reply. Many weeks later, still having heard nothing, I reached out to another Dryden AFM distributor who was kind enough to advise me on what had happened. He said that AFM NG is hydrophobic and does require a 24 hour soaking period before backwashing. He said that NG is fairly new, especially to US distributors, and that the individual who advised me to backwash immediately likely wasn’t familiar with the product yet. After hearing this, I wrote Aquatic E&D again on 10/11, providing the pictures again and with a brief synopsis of the event, also adding what the other distributor had told me. Amy replied this time, asking for my order number. I provided it. Having not heard back, I emailed again on 11/2. Now, on 11/24, I began to write again with a polite reminder, but decided 5 months of waiting and little to no communication was enough, hence my review. All that being said, with the amount of AFM I lost due to the incorrect advice, I will have to start over entirely this winter or spring rather than try to guess how much I need to replace. Obviously, I’ll be buying my AFM from the other distributor.