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“Don't let Anthony Sylvan Pools fool you with their...”

Written on: 26/09/2006 by NM67512 (1 review written)

Good Points
None, with the exception of the representative I worked with in the customer complaint department. She was the only person who actually followed up with what she had committed to, and was the only person who could make things happen. She ought to be teaching her bosses!

Bad Points
Where to begin! From the start, we had met with three other pool manufacturers before deciding on Anthony and Sylvan. Our decision was based on their claims that they had the years of experience, and they dealt with experienced sub contractors, and could commit to start their 'dig' in Nov of 05, if we agreed to go with them, what a sucker I was! We went with them, and guess what? Long and short-the dig did not happen until March of 06, the delay had nothing to do with weather conditions, we had a mild year so don't let anyone try to fool you that we are complaining about something they had no control over. It probably would have been longer than March, but we 'threatened' to pull out of our contract unless the original sales rep and head mgr agreed to meet with us. Our ask was twofold, follow through with your commitment to have our pool completed by June and communicate with us every step of the way, not unrealistic!

Next disaster...
The contractor who came to lay the gas lines, ran over our PVC piping that was installed by our landscaper for drainage and didn't tell us about it, and then refused to offer to repair the damages, saying that they weren't responsible for any damages that they caused! Hello?!

Now comes time for the deck to be poured and the contractor never checked the plumbing, as would be standard procedure by experts before pouring the deck, if they had, they would have found out that the contractor who dug the hole for the electrical work, ran over and crushed the PVC pipe work for the plumbing to our sheer descents. We found out about the disaster when the time came to turn on our pool, nothing but mud came out of the waterfalls, so they had a plumber come out and 'fish' the pipes thinking there was a 'little' debris in the pipework. Afterwards one of the two sheer descents worked ok, and the other one dribbled down the side of the pool. A representative from A & S was asked to come out and inspect the work and offered nothing other than the comment that "everything was fine, and that he didn't see a problem", yet after further 'negotiating' agreed that the pool design was flawed, but it was the way it was. We then decided to bring the issue 'higher up on the food chain'; a plumber was assigned to come out and evaluate the situation, and at that time it was decided that they would need to cut through the deck to expose the pipes and ID the problem. Three sections of decking had to be dug up, and subsequently re-poured. The problem was to be solved, but we still had one waterfall running at a different rate than another. It was after that time that I went back to the head contractor, and said that they needed to fix the falls. I was shuffled off to the customer complaint department. Honestly, I wish I had met them earlier, it wasn't until I worked with my contact, that things were assigned a sense of urgency. The deck, after three months, was dug up again, the PVC pipes were replaced and finally, all is well.

Funny thing was through all of this, they called to schedule someone to come and measure for a cover. I told them that giving more $ to A & S was the last thing I wanted to do, but if they wanted to send me an estimate I would compare it to the other one I was receiving from Carlton Pools. They never sent anyone out, after I received a quote from Carlton, I gave them a second chance to come out and no one called and guess what? They lost the business. I'm assuming the free closing they offered us and coupons for $$$ to spend in their store is a bribe to encourage us not to speak ill of the 'experts'.

General Comments
Don't let Anthony Sylvan Pools fool you with their claims of being the experts. They don't care about establishing a good reputation with their customers, only getting signatures to dig pools. You only get one chance to do this right, listen to what you hear from the other dissatisfied customers. There are other pool companies to choose from and in this instance the name should mean only "trouble'. If you are foolish enough to fall for their 'lines', get cozy with someone in the customer compliant department because they are the only ones committed to your satisfaction and getting things done.