Atlas Pools was hired to put in an in-ground swimming pool. After excavating our backyard, it was found that we have high groundwater and can't have an inground pool. They suggested putting in a pump and draining the water down our driveway. This would have had to go down our driveway, down the street several houses and then cross the street to the drain basin.
The county informed us that all it would take is one neighbor complaining and the pump would have to be turned off. Needless to say, we couldn't take a chance on this happening. Atlas also suggested we hire an engineer for his/her opinion. This we did, for $350.00, to which the engineer agreed that the groundwater is too high. The engineer also informed us of a percolation test which could have been performed (which he said is a nominal cost) and this test would have told us we have high groundwater. If we were told about this test, we could have prevented having the hole dug in the first place.
Now we are left with a huge hole and dirt piled up high around our entire back yard. It is a mess! Atlas told us they would fill the hole back up but would have to charge us. As if we haven't given them enough of our money, they want more to fill up the hole.
We paid Atlas $1,880.00 down and then $7,520 at excavation, as they requested. When they sent our refund check, they kept $2,000 of our money.in checking around, we have found out that excavating companies charge $100 to $150 per hr. The men were out here for 2 hours. We feel that $2,000.00 is too much for this company to keep. They say it is for the excavating cost, clerical, sales commission, etc.
We hope that by filing this complaint we can help another poor consumer from having this happen to them. We are now out $2,350 from this unfortunate incident and we feel like this company is benefiting from our misfortune. We encourage anyone reading this and looking into putting in an inground pool to please have testing done in their yard, especially if the yard sits lower than the other homes around theirs. The engineer mentioned to us that he felt our yard looked like a bad place to put a pool, due to the way the other yards sit higher up and water drains from their yard into ours.
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