Complaint Review: Express Pools and Spa - Medina New York

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HERE IS OUR STORY: Monday june 17th we were supposed to have a pool installed by Express Pool and Spa in Medina NY. We figured wed support new business in Medina. We were told it would be a 1 day job.. 1.5 days at worst. Here is a timeline of this neverending nightmare leading up to now (July 9th):

MONDAY they didnt show til 11am and left without it finished claiming my filter was on back order n wouldnt be in until wednesday. They didnt have a "sand guy" so they put some foam down instead...no sand and no cove. They left at 3 for food....came back at 4 left again at 5 (I dont know why) then came back, worked for 30 mins and left leaving me with a bunch of excuses and promises for it to be done tomorrow (Tuesday) said theyd be back first thing am to finish.

TUESDAY they didnt get here until about 12...the owner came with his brother and a friend who openly admitted he knew nothing about Pools and was not a true employee. This was his crew. They left at about 5pm pool liner was in and he explained that the wrinkles would smooth when the sun heated it up and water pulled it down...said the filter would be in wednesday and promised for it to be done for a sleep over my daughter had Saturday which I stressed was the deadline.

WEDNESDAY they never came back and patrick and i started to notice the pool was filling twice as high on one side in comparison to the other. This Is when we realized how UNLEVEL the ENTIRE POOL was....POSTS WERE LEANING, some not even on concrete blocks, the wall was not in the tracks all the way around and that some of the LINER WAS NOT smoothing out. I contacted several employees only to finally get a reply in the late evening from the owner saying he would be by to check it out after his last job and that he was dedicating ALL DAY Thursday and friday to fixing this. We waited up til about 10pm that night to find the owner to be a NO SHOW NO CALL.

THURSDAY, which was meant to be dedicated to fixing this major problem...he didnt show until about 5pm after claiming to have forgotten "a meeting with the mayor that went longer than expected" and he and two others began straightening the posts...shaking their heads and talking about how sorry they were over the awful job their crew did...how they had given them "1 too many chances". Why the owner would allow them to work unsupervised with this lack of confidence is beyond me. They left thursday night with a few posts still uneven and not on blocks, solar cover and 10 bags of salt we purchased still not in our posession, caps and bottoms still not put back and the filter not hooked up. He promised a water truck the next day to ensure it would be full for my daughters sleep over.

FRIDAY (also supposedly blocked off and dedicated to us) the owner started the day off at 8am with a texted excuse...."if I'm not there directly this morning dont worry I'm coming, I just have a new guy starting". WE WAITED UNTIL 11AT NIGHT AND HEARD NOTHING FROM THEM AND THEY NEVER CAME...IGNORED OUR CALLS AND TEXTS. A woman from Express Pools and Spas did call at 7pm to tell me the water truck was on it's way and she was coming to pay him, i explained it was nearly full now n that we expected it much earlier but that if they wanted to fill it the rest of the way fine. She said "well ill be there in 20 mins and Josh is on his way from another job in Getzville" NOT A SINGLE PERSON SHOWED...not even the water truck! We continue calling and texting to find the owner turned his cell off. We all went to bed angry assuming we were stuck to finish it on our own.

SATURDAY one of the workers calls me BY ACCIDENT in the morning trying to call the owners wife to tell them I posted on Facebook looking for pool service techs. I tell her "this is mandy what's going on!?" if it wasnt for this accidental phone call I doubt I ever would have heard from them again. She tells me the owner told them all he did come to our house last night and this morning and I wouldn't let him work on the pool. LIES. HE NEVER CAME EITHER DAY. I call another professional and send him pictures and he tells me the entire thing has to come down bc the bolts are exposed and not hidden behind a post that the filter wont install with it this way...this is besides the pool still being uneven and the liner still wrinkled.

The owner finally calls and admits the entire pool has to be taken down due to the bolts connecting the wall being exposed and not behind a post so the filter wont hook up, also the entire pool is off center some posts not even being on blocks and unlevel. He tells me he blocked out monday and tuesday to take it down and put it back up. Promises hell be here at 8am and his crew will be about 9am. He also promises a winter cover and an upgraded liner to make up for all this. I explain I'm nervous theyll even show on time and we agree he will bring over a written agreement listing the extras we discussed so we could sign it. He never came to sign the agreement that weekend. I spoke to the owners wife and this was probably the only positive experience I had with this company. She apologized greatly and promised she would get him here to finish this and make it right.

MONDAY he shows at 930am and he drains the pool....flooding our neighbors yards. He leave at 1130 and doesnt return until almost 2pm with two other men. They work and all leave at about 6pm with a number of things to finish still explaining the water truck should be here tuesday between 12 and 3 "but weve been playing phone tag so I'm not sure" also (more good news) the solar cover we paid for is on back order.

TUESDAY the men show at 915am ish and begin straightening posts and leveling again. They worked until about 6pm. They left without saying anything to me so I had to call to find out if they were coming back. Owner came back at almost 11pm to put in our filter and ground the pool.

WEDNESDAY I woke up and saw the skimmer still wasnt installed so I called to see if they were coming back. I was told theyd be right over. They showed at about 230pm, finished putting skimmer in and told me they didnt have the salt we paid for and they owed us 5 bags. He almost left without cutting the liner from the skimmer hole. When my daughter finally got in this pool shes patiently waited two weeks to be finished...I noticed the wall was off its track and the WALL WAS BOWING from the water pressure. **The grounding job he did...this is important** he took the copper wire left some exposed, cut the wire placed it under some dirt to make it look like it went under ground, then put another wire half way around the pool to create the illusion that it was properly grounded. this put our children and us in serious danger! This is when I notice ITS STILL NOT LEVEL....POSTS ARE LEANING AND ENTIRE THING IS STILL NOT THE WAY IT SHOULD BE LET ALONE SAFE FOR OUR CHILDREN TO BE IN...AND ITS NOT EVEN PROPERLY GROUNDED!!! This is when we decided we wanted our money back and the pool removed.

THURSDAY we were told our refund was processed.

WEDNESDAY all funds were back in my account.

SUNDAY my husband took down the pool in order to prepare for the new pool we purchased because they hadnt made any real attempt or planned a date to remove the pool from our property even after I begged them to remove the water before it collapsed and destroyed our home!!

TUESDAY the owners wife saw the pool was down which I explained it was taken down and organized for them to pick up. She said "we actually sold your pool" and started asking me to gather any documents they left us (which really means left in boxes in our yard because they never even picked up after themselves not even after working in our yard 11pm to 1am unprofessionally)...she seemed annoyed I wasnt sure where they were because I wasnt personally given any papers. My husband left a post on his page warning his FB friends not to make the same mistake we did. The owner and his wife then messaged me upset over the post and I didnt reply. The owners wife said they would be by to pick up the pool that night and never showed.

WEDNESDAY the owner messages my husband angry saying theyll be by to get the pool...never showed again. Then messages again at 1030pm angry text messaging him and making threats of a lawyer, saying his crew will be over to get it tomorrow. His wife txt me threatening a lawyer and the husband text my husband threatening the same. HOW DID THIS GET TURNED AROUND ONTO US? WERE CUSTOMERS WHO HAD AN AWFUL EXPERIENCE, STRESS, MONEY AND TIME WASTED...WE GAVE THEM TWO CHANCES AND WE WERE LIED TO AND BLOWN OFF NUMEROUS TIMES. WE LEFT A REVIEW OF OUR EXPERIENCE AS CUSTOMERS AND ARE NOW BEING THREATENED WITH LAWYERS.

Our pool was very poorly installed then we got pushed to the side all the while being promised to be put first. Promised and blown off for other jobs after we ALREADY PAID IN FULL NEARLY 3 WEEKS BEFORE IT WAS INSTALLED.

I have never been so sick to my stomach. My daughter is crushed and upset and my family is on edge this business turned our lives upside down for weeks. I'm on MAT leave and decided to get this for our family on a whim and now I dont know how I'm going to make it right. I contemplated installing ourselves but paid so we wouldnt have to worry or stress...but I paid 6500 to stress and worry anyways and then we were stuck with a pool that was likely to cave in! Then treated like we did wrong by leaving a review!

The only positive experience I had with this company was with the wife and I honestly believe if it wasnt for her wed still be waiting for a refund, and probably a return phone call from the owner (her husband).

This owner was given two chances to do it right and messed it up both times. He was not prepared to do this job he didnt have the crew or the means and he took it on anyways I assume over greed. NOW THEYRE THREATENING LAWYERS ON US because we shared our experience. SERIOUSLY ?? Dont risk it. Find another company.