On July 10, we initiated a contract with Gary Pools (GP) to begin construction of an in-ground, gunite swimming pool. With the understanding that the pool would be completed for use by September 22,1012, in time for my sons first birthday party, my husband and I agreed to pay a certain price for a product AND a service to be provided by GP. The driving factor in building a pool was schedule. The caveat in not making schedule, which we conceded, was weather permitting. With the exception of a rain day in September, which fell on a Saturday, there was no adverse weather that would have impeded progress. If we were told that the pool would not be completed in time, we would not have initiated a contract with GP, and would have postponed building a pool until the spring of 2013. A red-flag from the beginning should have been the hesitation in providing an itemized invoice of the price and tax for the pool and the price and tax for the spa. My husband is a retired, disabled veteran, and has a prescription for hydrotherapy. Having an itemized invoice would be useful during tax season in claiming the portion of the spa taxes that are applicable. This invoice was requested the day we signed the contract and paid the deposit. However, after hesitation, we were provided with a breakout of two line items: pool price and spa price. No tax information was included at all; we were informed that prices are inclusive. Though our request was understood by the designer/sales personnel, our request was not adequately addressed. We should have seen this as an indicator of the service that was yet to come. While the product was delivered in that the swimming pool was eventually completed, it was not completed by September 22nd. As a matter of fact, the pool was not completed until October. We have had tweaking done to the spa up until the beginning of this month, December.in addition, from the onset, and on multiple occasions, customer service and responsiveness provided by GP was unprofessional. We quickly became dissatisfied with responsiveness, communication, and service, and attempted to address our concerns to the appropriate GP personnel early on. We began phone calls and emails in late July to multiple GP personnel (ranging from the designer to the Sales/Marketing Manager to the Operations Manager).incidents addressed ranged from lack of communication with GP personnel, to product delays that were not weather-related, to no work/no-shows for days at a time. We believe that all these contributed to the delay in the completion of our pool by September 22nd. We've attempted to address our concerns and dissatisfaction with GP directly. We met with the Operations Manager and Construction Managers on November 26th. We presented them an itemized list of our concerns/questionable events, a calendar of effort events performed by Gary Pools, emails sent to Gary Pools personnel that went unanswered and unaddressed, and call logs to reflect the number of times we called Gary Pools inquiring about the effort. During our November 26th meeting, we requested that GP complete the open items left on our effort, as well as consider partial refund or concessions for the lack of service and unprofessionalism displayed during our effort. Despite our notes reflecting the lack of service provided by GP, we were verbally notified by the Construction Manager on December 7, without explanation or expanding further, that our request for partial refund/concessions/consideration was not approved. So GP expects us to pay full price for a product/service that fell short, and was not completed by the intended date. The bottom line, schedule aside (though it shouldnt be since it was our driving factor in initiating a pool build contract to begin with), is we received subpar service. We dont believe we should pay the full amount agreed to when we didnt receive the service we expected.By their own accounts, some of our concerns, and situations such as the no-shows, should never have occurred, and were unprofessional. Why should we pay full price for service and communication that was lacking? The amount we pay should reflect the product and service received. We are attempting to address this matter via BBB.org so that our concerns and requests can be addressed and taken seriously. I doubt it will make a difference to a company that had no respect for us, and lacked professionalism, to begin with. Below you will find the cover letter presented to GP during our November 26th meeting. Though the meeting went into detail, the following highlights our major concerns and disappointments. BUYERS BEWARE! * To Whom It May Concern:
Our priority was to get a pool built as quickly as possible. We accidentally walked into Gary Pools (meant to visit the fiberglass store next door). Since our initial visit, our primary driver was schedule. We made this apparent to everyone we spoke to, and at every phase.
After speaking with Diane and Gordon, we were sold on the following: Schedule.in order to get a pool built in time for our sons first birthday, we would need to sign a contract, and pay the deposit, immediately. Doing so would get us staked out and on the dig list as soon as possible.
Swim season. That we would have 6-8 weeks of swim season left, given a completion of 22 September
Spa. That while the hydrotherapy spa was the same cost as the traditional spa, it wouldnt be as long of an effort to build because it didnt have to be built from scratch on-site. It would be an ordered item, and ready to go for facing once delivered. (In other words, it wouldnt be the long-lead effort.)
All of these were with the caveat of weather-permitting. And up until the end of September, there was no inclement weather in the area. Our frustration revolves around the facts that we were sold on what we were told during our initial visits, did what we were supposed to do, obtained the approval we needed to obtain, paid when we were supposed toall in an effort to meet schedule. Our emails were ignored, and most calls were initiated by us. We paid at the end of each phase, as requested. We did what was expected of us, but feel slighted on what weve expected from Gary Pools. Below is a quick summary of the instances we feel couldve/shouldve been handled differently. Also attached are copies of the emails submitted, a calendar of events, as well as call logs so you can see that there are many more calls to Gary Pools numbers than we received. July 10: Appt with Gordon for design; paid deposit; requested receipt for hydrotherapy spa, independent from pool for tax purposes; amounts given, but not sufficient.
August 3: Jimmy contacts me to say he received the file; one week and 2 days passed between when Gordon said the file was turned over to Construction and when Construction actually called me to notify me that my file was in hand. That was a week and 2 days lost.
August 13: Pool dig begins over two weeks after City of Cibolo approves permits. September 12: Mr. Zapata called stating that the spa would not be in for another 2-3 weeks. I asked when the spa was ordered; no response. No further efforts could be completed until the spa was in place. Then, in a turn of events, told the spa would be delivered the 13th, then 14th. Finally delivered the 17th. Overall, 4 days of no work done. September 20-22: Told rebar work would be initiated and completed; no shows for three days despite being told work would be done. No calls either; WE called to find out what was going on. September 22: After leaving a phone message to the foreman with no response, made trip to design store; voiced concerns to Sean. September 24: Emailed laundry list to Sean so that he could forward. Never heard back from anyone, including Sean, regarding concerns. October 2: Emailed Gordon asking about pool volume; never received reply.
October 5: Received Pool School training. Were told that we were the first hydrotherapy spa installed and faced with a pool; learned that service and supplies for spa were TBD. Had we known we were guinea pigs, as well as how long the spa wouldve taken, we wouldve approached the build differently. Because of the learning curve, as well as any potential hiccups, we wouldve expected a price break. A used spa cover was left behind for us to use while the custom one was ordered. We were told the custom cover would be cut to fit the spa shape.
Also voiced concerns to Larry, who has been the most responsive Gary Pools personnel to-date. October 18: Spa cover delivered; nothing custom about it. Same cover as before, only its new. Took almost two weeks to receive a new spa cover. Spa cover mounts also installedall have already fallen off, except for one. They are also black in color, nothing custom about those either. Completely clash with the tan/neutral stone facing. I am a project manager myself, and understand project slips and hiccups. But I also understand mitigation and transparency to the customer, as well as concessions and considerations for a product or service that is not performed or not delivered satisfactorily. We have voiced our concerns throughout this effort, and would finally like them addressed.
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