12 EMPLOYEES.
INSTALLATION OF VIKING and Blue Hawaiian FIBERGLASS POOLS. Service of In ground pools and equipment.
INSTALL OR SERVICE ABOVE GROUND POOLS.
Yes
Yes
Yes
.5%
Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
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67% | ||
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33% | ||
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"Dear Sir, My name is John Laney, General Manager of The Pool Guyz in Virginia Beach. All of our Florida calls come to the Virginia Beach location. First, I am very sorry about your experience and would like to get more information on who you talked to and what was said. Please understand, we only sell pools and at least for me and my family, I never would tell a customer I was too busy to speak to them, as they is the only way I can get paid, is by helping people buy a pool. I would really appreciate a few minutes of your time too better understand what happen and if there is any questions you have I would be happy to talk to you as long as you need to answer questions and help me understand what we could have done better. I will wait for your response and below you will have the office number and my cell so whenever is convenient with you and your schedule. Sincerely, John Laney office: 757-463-0600 cell: 512-565-6313"
"Dear [Member Name Removed], My name is John Laney and I am The General Manager of The Pool Guyz of Virginia Beach. I am so very sorry if there was any communications issue between you and our company. I sincerely apologize and would like to ensure this is not a normal occurrence. You now have my name and number and if I can be of service to you please do not hesitate to call me or emailing me as both are below. I assure you customer focus and service are my #1 priority. Thanks-you for communicating your experience and we hope you will allow us, whenever you my need assistance, to call and ask for me. Sincerely, John Laney Office: 757-463-0600 [email protected]"
"We are surprised as to the scope of your claim. It appears there were several misunderstandings in your mention of our subcontractors. For your pavers, we contracted a company that we have done significant quantities of business with, and they are very experienced with doing pavers. As for your mention of starting the job 2 weeks late, my paperwork shows the contract was to start the 12th of May and be completed by the 12th of June. Your completion date according to your post is May 16th 2014, and my install checklist that was signed by [name removed] on May 18th 2014 when the pool and rough grade was finished, before the pavers were installed. The delays in the pavers appear to have been caused by multiple additions to the job, and use of special order pavers. As for the final inspection, we made attempts to complete the inspection, including a recommendation by the city inspector, and other suggestions by our company to rectify some minor drainage related issues that do not affect the usability of your pool. Your pool was cleaned on multiple occasions and serviced by Arnold, and at that point we were told everything was acceptable and you and your family were using your pool. We had no reason to believe you had not completed the required step to complete your inspection, as it appeared you had all fencing in place and even your slide was installed, functional and being used. We strive to make sure that our customers get their pools completed as quickly as possible. Please contact us, as we would like to make sure this is taken care of as quickly as possible. We look forward to hearing from you, very soon. Thank you."
Beginning three months after installation, the concrete installed by The Pool Guyz began failing. The Pool Guyz refuses to rectify the situation.
Ric (the owner of The Pool Guyz) utilized Luke McGhee as a concrete sub-contractor. Luke was a disaster! Ric is well aware of this, which is why he described him and his team in texts on February 21, 2014 as the ?nightmare that never ends? and on September 28, 2013 as ?the clowns?. These are not references to a satisfactory sub-contractor. If nothing was wrong with Luke?s workmanship why is Ric is no longer utilizing Luke?s services? From day one Luke was a problem, as he walked off our job for a week over a payment dispute with the Pool Guyz. He continued to show he was not suitable for the job when he began pouring a large concrete job at 5pm! This resulted in a visit from the Virginia Beach Police Department at midnight demanding that he stop working due to the noise and lights! Imagine our embarrassment with our neighbors! Because of this, Luke had to jackhammer and remove a section of concrete that was not usable. By Luke?s own admission, he secured concrete for our job from two different concrete suppliers and did not utilize a proper ?stamping mix? for the second batch because it was not available. Throughout the job Luke was argumentative and unreliable. In the end we are paying for this with the poor concrete we have.
The concrete was finished in October 2013. We did not believe the quality of the work was what we expected, or paid for, but ultimately had no recourse to fix any of the issues that we were concerned about. Ric indicated that this was the best we were going to get.
In February 2014, we notified Ric that the concrete was failing in multiple places. The top layer of the concrete has failed and chipped off in a variety of areas, in addition to cracking, discoloration and settling issues. We believe this is a direct result of the work performed by the concrete sub-contractor of Pool Guyz. In fact, Ric indicated in a text message on February 21, 2014, that the sub-contractors ?Luke'sconcrete is doing this all over. We are looking into the situation...?.
In March 2014, Ric sent over a new contractor to evaluate the damage. Ric indicated that they were working on a solution for us. We never were provided an estimate or evaluation from this contractor and in April 2014, the contractor recused themselves from any activities associates with Pool Guyz and this situation.
In April 2014, we received a letter and legal settlement document from the Pool Guyz. In this letter, Pool Guyz did not take responsibility for the failing concrete. In the interest of ?customer service? they offered a settlement of $2,500 in exchange for us signing a waiver and release of all claims regarding the concrete. Included in this waiver was a ?gag-order? type clause that prohibits us from discussing this matter, including on-line postings and reviews. We rejected this settlement offer.
In September 2014 we were finally able to speak with the repair contractor Pool Guyz sent over. The settlement offers Pool Guyz provided to their customers were way below the estimates the contractor had provided to the Pool Guyz. This was causing friction with customers who were rightfully expecting the settlement to cover the full cost of the repairs. Based upon our conversation, I believe he stopped working with the Pool Guyz because he he did not think the settlements were the proper way to handle this and no longer wanted to do business with someone that was not standing behind their work.
After receiving the settlement letter from the Pool Guyz, we had multiple contractors review the concrete and provide estimates for repair, replacement or covering of the failed concrete. These estimates were well over the cash settlement offered by Pool Guyz.
In June 2014, we responded to the Pool Guyz indicating that the settlement was not sufficient and provided the estimates. They responded by asking to send over their own 2nd expert for an estimate. In July 2014, their own expert indicated that the concrete ?is not structurally sound and is of poor quality?. They recommended ?demolition, removal and replacement? of the concrete at a cost of $15,384.
In August 2014, we sent a letter to Pool Guyz indicating that we would accept a settlement from them using their expert?s estimate plus incurred attorney fees. We asked for a response by August 15, 2014. We never received an acknowledgement or response.
At this point we feel that we have been abandoned by Ric and the Pool Guyz. They have not replied to our communications. Ric has failed to return multiple phone calls and text messages regarding this situation. In fact, even after multiple requests, Ric has never come to our house to view the extent of the failure.
We believe the failure of the concrete is a direct result of the Pool Guyz sub-contractor?s failure to perform the work in a workmanlike manner or use the proper materials. In addition, Pool Guyz failed to properly monitor their sub-contractor (which Pool Guyz subsequently severed ties with) while he performed the work.
Every construction type contract includes an implied warranty that the work is performed in a workmanlike manner with appropriate materials. In addition, the contract also includes a standard one year VA contractors warranty on all workmanship. This additional warranty does not have an exclusion related to concrete issues. Ric is hiding behind an invalid contract exclusion to avoid the responsibility of dealing with the poor workmanship performed by his sub-contractor.
All we are asking is that we get what we paid for. In fact, we have already been negatively impacted with stress, embarrassment and additional costs associated with this situation. If Ric has a better and cheaper solution to permanently solve the issue we are more than willing to discuss options. We have only been relying on the recommendations of multiple contractors on how to permanently resolve this situation, including Ric?s own expert. Ric led us to believe he was working on a solution for us; instead he was working on a solution for himself. He cut off contact and engineered a settlement document to protect his interests, instead of the interests of his customers. In the middle of the construction when we were having all of the problems with his concrete sub-contractor, Ric told us not to worry and that although things seems to going poorly that he ?had our back? and was ?going to make sure things would work out satisfactorily?. We are just looking for him to be a man of his word and honor that commitment. We trusted him and paid him a lot of money for a job for which we are sure he would be too embarrassed to show to any potential customer.
I met with Louie from the Pool Guyz while going through a review of the local pool builders in the Hampton Roads area. After spending some time reviewing builders and options, my wife and I decided to have The Pool Guyz install our pool as we were very impressed with their Viking product line. The Viking product is a superior fiberglass pool and is even backed with a transferrable warranty! There is a greater up front cost vs. liner pools, but the lifelong and yearly maintenance costs will be significantly lower.
Arnold and his crew showed up on a Friday to begin the install by completing a layout of the backyard with me. We discussed where and how to layout the pool, and how they would access the backyard with their equipment and materials.
The dig began the following Monday with Arnold moving/replanting an in-the-way tree in the backyard. The dig and install went quickly and I cannot offer high enough praise for Arnold and his team. They worked quickly and effectively, without a lot of downtime and had the pool in the ground inside of three days (it would have been two if not for a shipping delay caused by the wide-load size of the pool on the roads). The excavator driver backed over a 3'-4' foot section of our neighbors backyard. Arnold and his crew spent time to working on his yard to ensure there was no lasting damage.
Since the install, Arnold had personally been back to monitor the activities and status of the final phases of the build which were being completed by our other contractors (electrical/gas/paver/fence). We now have a sparkling, crystal clear pool and the backyard of our dreams (once we add some landscaping).
The contractor ordered a pool with the wrong size design. He blamed us but ordered another pool. He continued to bring up the pool he had to "resale" for a loss, whenever we brought up any other promises he made and did not keep.
Now after 1.5 years the concrete around our pool is falling into the pool. Our dream of a "backyard Oasis" was merely a dream with this company in charge. I called the owner 11 times and he finally responded after threating to call a TV station. He promised to remedy the problem. After two weeks we received a letter stating he would give us less than $3000 to take care of a problem that will cost at least $10,000 and we paid $16000 initially!
Sorry to say, I would recommend that you stay away!!!
"This member actually was speaking to two separate stores of the company. The Chesapeake store which she called did not have an outside sales rep at the time. This member actually did speak with the Virginia Beach office once and was told that we did have a sales rep that could come see her. When she called back to schedule an appointment she apparently called the wrong office which did not have this service at the time. Shortly after this incident we actually sold a $ 50,000.00 pool project very close to her location. This incident is rare and should not have happened. If anyone provides good old fashioned customer service it is The Pool Guyz. We all wish her the best of luck with her pool install and would like everyone to know we install pools all over the Commonwealth of Virginia and have hundreds of very happy customers."
"The member was sold a Gas Heater that we did not have in stock because he did not want one at time of contract or install. It was explained to him that it would take a while to be shipped to him. It was also clearly explained to him that we do not do gas work, but would refer a gas contractor to him. The idea that we did not do a site visit is ridiculous as we had just installed the pool. We told him he would need to pay for a gas line and that he would need to work with the gas contractor for this. It is unfortunate that the member did not do his part in adding this heater. We showed up the day it was recieved and installed it. He failed to schedule the gas work and get the thing hooked up. We sell hundreds of heaters and everyone is handled the same way. I have not had anyone else complain about there experiance with this. As we are for all of our customers we are here for the member if he should need us. Ric Reineke, President"
"WE ARE VERY SURPRISED BY THE MEMBER'S COMMENTS ABOUT THE INSTALLATION OF HER POOL. IT IS COMMON TO HAVE A POOL SOMETIMES REQUIRE MORE THAN A ONE OR TWO SET FOR INSTALLATION. THERE ARE MANY FACTORS IN SETTING A POOL. WEATHER CONDITIONS AND THE VARYING THICKNESS OF THE POOLS CAN PLAY A ROLE IN SETTING A POOL SUCCESSFULLY. OUR INSTALL TEAMS WILL CONTINUE TO SET THE POOL UNTIL IT IS SET TO THE MANUFACTURER'S GUIDELINES. AS FOR OUR ROUGH GRADING OF THE PROPERTY, WE DO EXPLAIN AND PROVIDE OUR CUSTOMERS WITH A ROUGH GRADE AFTER THE INSTALLATION OF THE POOL AND BEFORE THE CONCRETE DECKING IS INSTALLED FOR DRAINAGE PURPOSES. WE HAVE NO RECORD OF THE MEMBER EVER CALLING THE OFFICE TO DISCUSS HER DISSATISFACTIONS OF THE INSTALLATION OF HER POOL. WE ALSO PROVIDE OUR CUSTOMERS WITH CONTACTS FOR CONCRETE, AND IT IS UP TO THE HOMEOWNER WHO THEY DECIDE THEY WANT TO INSTALL THEIR DECKING. WE DO NOT WARRANTY CONCRETE UNDER OUR CONTRACT, CUSTOMERS SIGN A SEPARATE CONTRACT WITH THE SUBCONTRACTOR FOR CONCRETE, ELECTRICAL, ETC. WE DON'T WARRANTY ANYTHING UNDER OUR CONTRACT THAT WE DON'T ACTUALLY DO. WE HAVE THAT STATED IN OUR CONTRACTS AS WELL. WE ARE SADDENED TO HEAR THROUGH THIS REPORT NOW OF THE MEMBER'S DISSATISFACTIONS. WE STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE AND COMPLETELY SATISFIED CUSTOMERS. WE APPRECIATE ALL COMMENTS FROM OUR CUSTOMERS AND WILL CONTINUE TO OFFER THE BEST SERVICE WE POSSIBLY CAN."
"WE APPRECIATE ALL COMMENTS FROM OUR CUSTOMERS. WE CONTINUE TO STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE AND COMPLETELY SATISFY CUSTOMERS. WE ARE PROUD OF OUR WORK AND ARE ALWAYS HONORED BY OUR CUSTOMERS HIGH REGARDS FOR OUR JOBS. THANK YOU! IT WAS A PLEASURE WORKING FOR YOU!"
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Sunday: | Closed |
Monday: | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
Tuesday: | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
Wednesday: | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
Thursday: | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
Friday: | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
Saturday: | Closed |