AMERICAN POOL & SPA

Let me start by saying that the finished product looks nice and we get lots of compliments on it. Demolition started on December 15, 2011. It is now almost six months later and there are still issues that haven't been resolved.The bulk of the initial work went smoothly. Demolition was quick and efficient. Plumbers came next, then rebar and shotcrete, then the deck pour. All of this was done by 01/11/12, so right on schedule. Tile was installed and looked good. This was where the wheels began to fall off. Kenny had informed us at the beginning of the job that there was no need to pull permits for any of the gas or electric. He claimed all his work was done to code and that the whole permit process was "just so the city could make money". As it got close to the time to fire everything up, we decided that we'd like to have permits pulled just to cover us in case anything was ever to happen. Things begin to slow down here. It turns out that the work was NOT done to code. All of the trenches for the gas and electric runs needed to be dug deeper, and there were a few other 'gotchas' that needed to be addressed. The trenches were dug deeper, but then Kenny disappeared for over a week. He finally got the gas runs done, but the inspector wouldn't approve without electric permit. So after another week or more of dragging of feet, Kenny finally got the permit pulled and got everything through inspection. If his work had been done "to code" in the first place, this would have been a two day process to get the inspector out. Instead it turned into three weeks. At this point, we're almost to March and the "six week project" is up to ten weeks. There's still a punch list of a dozen things, mostly finish stuff, that needs to be accomplished. On 03/01/12, Kenny assures us that the rest of the punch list items will be done by the following Tuesday (03/06). No one shows up and we received no communication. This would be a recurring theme from here on. I finally had to call him and he assured me that the rest of the issues would be addressed timely. Most of the punch list was finally completed toward the end of March. We were, however, not nearly finished. There were three issues that were still lingering: - The in-floor suction was terrible. The drains would literally not pull in a leaf the size of your thumbnail from two inches away. - The grout along the top of the pool tile had pulled away from the deck, leaving gaps ranging from an eighth of an inch to a quarter of an inch. - A number of the spa jets would randomly detach and shoot off of the side of the spa. Throughout April, Kenny tried many things to address the suction issue. None of them were completely successful, but it seems that it's as good as it's going to get because Kenny hasn't been in contact since the last time he said he would call. One of the spa jets is still coming off. He fixed the other two, and knows what the issue is, but (see above) he hasn't been in contact or finished the fix. On May 10, I finally called Kenny to address a problem with the in-floor system (screen clogged due to his workers bypassing the filter). He came out to clean out the screen and "fixed" the grout by applying silicone caulk to the top of the tile all the way around the pool. This "fixed" the issue for about two weeks, and then the caulk started pulling away as well. So it currently looks as bad or worse as it did before the "fix". As of today (June 6, 2012) , May 10, 2012 was the last day I ever heard from Kenny. When he was leaving that day, he said he would schedule an engineer to come back out and look at the in-floor suction issue, and call me to let me know when that would be. He said that he would also, at that time, come back out to fix the last spa jet, and also check a spot where rust was staining the spa just under the light. I haven't heard from him since. Other issues: - Kenny does little of the work himself - he has subcontractors that do the work. That's fine, but the subs that he uses don't seem to be the best in the world. In addition to the tile/grout issues above, there are parts of the deck that don't look great. There are places where there is concrete that was dropped on the deck, not cleaned up, and allowed to harden. There are rust spots and other stains on the deck. Almost all of the subs were slobs - they left their trash littering our back yard - fast food wrappers, empty drink cups, etc. - You will see nothing on paper. Ever. Kenny keeps everything in his head. Most of the time this is ok, but often stuff "slips". There were never any plans to show us, it was always just "the spa will be over here", and "you'll be able to picture it better once I mark everything up with spray paint". We forced him to hand write on the contract what the warranties were going to be. - His communication skills are horrible. If you use him, don't ever just say "ok, let me know about that". You will never hear from him. The only time that I was able to get him to call me was when I specifically said "so you will call me by 10AM tomorrow?". Otherwise he says he will call and you don't hear from him. - His followup is non-existent. He will tell you "I'll have that done by Thursday". Thursday will come and go, and he will not have shown up. I lost count of the number of times this happened. When you finally call him, he'll have some excuse like "I was waiting on a part that hasn't come in yet". That's fine, but he never bothers to call you and let you know that he's waiting on the part, he just doesn't show up. - We were never shown how to run anything. The system has a remote control which is fairly complicated. Everything was just "set up", but there was never any education as to how anything works. So now when something needs to be changed, it's a trial and error process to do it. Same with everything else that came along with the pool - pump, valves, etc. Nothing was ever explained. Pluses of American Pool: - They use high quality components (pumps, electronics, filter, etc.) according to other pool professionals that have looked at the system. - Kenny is a nice person and would probably make a good friend for someone. Unfortunately, his business acumen is terrible. So to sum up: - As of today (June 6, 2012) we're nearly six months into a six week project, and there are still outstanding issues. I haven't heard from Kenny in nearly a month. I could call him, but truthfully, I'm curious to see how long (if ever) it takes him to contact me. We haven't paid him the final installment, so I find it somewhat surprising that I haven't heard from him. It seems that after the six to eight weeks that he had allotted to the project was up he American Pool completely lost interest in completing our job. - Workmanship is ok as long as you don't look too close. - Kenny's subcontractors leave a lot to be desired. - American Pool's business practices are unorganized and unprofessional. - Communication was at best poor, and at worst non-existent. Also, the pool store that I've frequented for ten years were the ones that referred me to American Pool & Spa. I've discussed my issues with them, and they agree that the service has been horrible. They are no longer referring people to American.