Anthony & Sylvan Pools

I contracted Anthony & Sylvan Pools in February of 2023 for an custom in-ground pool. This pool would cost approximately $300,000 to build. The first person I spoke with was Rudy Dermo, who had committed to a May/June 2023 start date. I returned back to Pennsylvania in July of 2023, only to see the pool had not even yet been started. After contacting A&S, the process had finally started. The original contract we signed stated completion by August of 2023. After the still (to this day) unexplained delay to construction start, I was still assured the pool would be complete by September of 2023. After a never-ending list of excuses and delays, ranging from "we can't find concrete for your pool" to "we can't locate the tile you selected", along with multiple brand-new, top of the line equipment malfunctions, I am now writing this review on April 20th of 2024. The pool is still not complete. This is well over a year from the time I signed the contract with A&S. The project manager, Mat Hill, seems to be "bothered" by coming to my property. Imagine that. Someone gets a contract for a $300,000 pool and is "bothered" by it. Communicating with A&S Pools is like pulling teeth. You constantly get shuffled around from scheduler to scheduler. You never seem like you're the priority to them, but instead, you're more of an inconvenience. Sometimes, weeks will go by before you hear from a single A&S employee. Your job site will sit, vacant, without any work being done, for the entirety of that time. This company is dishonest, disingenuous, cookie-cutter, and absolutely the worst professional experience I have ever had in my 40 years of life. When you contract a company for a job such as this, you expect (and utterly demand) professionalism. You expect a certain level of care. A certain level of responsibility for the money they've taken from you for the job. What I received in this particular case was the exact opposite of those things. I am dismayed at the lack of professional standard. From Rudy Dermo, to Harald Bottke, to JR Goldberg, and all the way down to Mat Hill. This company should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. A lawsuit is being drafted in Pennsylvania court. I will be suing Anthony & Sylvan Pools for the entire balance of the $300,000 contract that I signed with them. I fully intend to win every penny of this contract back.

Beware of Anthony & Sylvan Pools. Despite their professional sales pitch, our experience was filled with mismanagement and disappointment. Advised to build a retaining wall, it later hindered their plumbing work, leading to extra costs with minimal compensation. Staff departures, like their electrician quitting, caused delays and additional expenses. Promised completion by October 2022 stretched to August 2023, disrupting our plans. The coping installation was poor, and their promise to reimburse for corrections was unfulfilled. Financially, we paid 90% upfront but are still fighting to recover over $25,000 for unrendered services. Additionally, their managers pressured us for premature 5-star reviews, questioning their online reputation's authenticity. This two-year ordeal was far from the hands-off service promised, leaving us regretful.

*****ABSOLUTELY THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE*****MINIMAL ATTENTION TO DETAIL***** Anthony & Sylvan Pools (A&S), Doylestown/Warminster, PA began our pool build in the summer of 2022 with the excavation scheduled for 06/24/2022. The Project Manager assigned to oversee the construction of our pool was Harald Bottke. With all pool builds, the homeowner will find that the process involves a series of construction steps progressing across several weeks/months until reaching the final stages of plaster and water. On July 15, 2022, A&S Project Manager Harald Bottke completed a pre-shot inspection of the rebar and plumbing phase of the pool build. Project Manager Harald Bottke failed to identify a significant oversight by the plumbers involving the location of the main drains in the deep section of the pool. The drains were not centered and placed in accordance to the specifications of the pool design. What homeowners will find with A&S Project Managers is that they are not, or in my instance were not present while their sub-contractors were on site completing the work phases of the pool build. A&S Project Managers come after the sub-contractors complete their work, either later the same day or in a couple of days, just prior to moving onto the next construction phase. And yes, A&S utilizes a series of sub-contractors for the pool build. One of the most significant issues to date with our pool is the aesthetic issue that will remain with the pool for the remainder of its life (20 years +). The main drains are off-center and not straight with the center line of the pool design. (See attached photos). Second significant issue occurred during the construction phase for the stonework. In early September 2022, I reached out to Project Manager Harold Bottke to inform him of persistent issues I was observing regarding the sub-contractor for the stonework around our pool. The sub-contractor crew represented Raymond Surderski, owner of Rasyco Masonary and Landscaping, Douglassville, PA. Raymond was never on site with his crew until I personally requested he come due to the ongoing issues as noted. First and foremost, Raymond never contacted us to schedule an in-person consultation regarding selection of the stone for our spa and coping. I received a couple of emails from him with photographs attached, however I never saw a physical product until after his crew showed up at our home to begin their work. The first day his crew showed up, they arrived in a pick-up truck and started unloading a pile of what appeared to be left-over veneer stone into my yard. They then began installing this veneer stone onto my spa. I never approved this stone for application on our pool or spa. As such, I had A&S contact Raymond to have the veneer stone removed. Within the next couple of days, I personally went to a local Stone Depot to identify a suitable veneer stone for our spa. I soon realized the stone I wished to purchase was a special-order product which would add 2 to 3 weeks lead time for delivery of the stone. Despite beginning conversations with Raymond on or about August 2, almost a month prior to their phase of the construction process, our pool construction would now have to be significantly delayed if we were to select the special-order stone. I ended up having to opt for a different stone veneer. I also had to pick out pallets of stone for use in completion of the coping around the pool and the spa, as well as making my own arrangements to select the jump rock. Despite numerous conversations with Raymond saying he had already purchased our stone, (again, without consultation with us on the style/color/type), I later determined his statements were not true. Raymond never purchased any stone for our pool. This was a blatant example of dishonesty during the construction process. Despite bringing these issues to the attention of A&S, no observable changes in workmanship occurred; it appeared business as usual with A&S. I wish I could stop here regarding the issues with Raymond and his crew, however, they continued. I came home one day to three guys standing at the front of my pool looking dumbfounded. Although at the time I paid it little attention, I should have gone down to see exactly what they had on their minds. The crew was supposed to pour a footer for our dive rock. As this requirement is standard for dive rocks, one would assume Raymond’s crew would have known what to do, as that was their business and they work for a pool company. However, Raymond’s crew took some wood that was lying around, some broken pieces of gunite, small stones, and dirt and put it in a square area where the dive rock footer was supposed to go. You can see for yourself what that looked like in the enclosed pictures. More concerns came to light as days went on, because Raymond’s team went and buried scraps of stone in holes around the pool where ultimately the decking was to go. This would have been an issue for getting a solid base under the decking. OH, and where was A&S Project Manager Harold Bottke, remember, they were not present while sub-contractors were on site, they just show up when the sub-contractor says they are done! Moving on to the next phase of construction, decking, I will give much credit to the sub-contractor that completed my decking. Al from Yanes Concrete made an appointment to come out to discuss the process for pouring my decking, was respectful, and genuinely interested in taking into consideration my opinion on final the outcome. A&S was not part of that process, they just did a visual inspection when Al’s crew was done. Next up, plaster and water. Well, I was initially under the impression at near completion of my pool in early October 2022 that we had made it, the pool was finally done! Wrong answer. I had an individual from A&S come to my home to provide us with a start-up introduction for all of the pool equipment and chemical maintenance requirements. His name was Jeffrey Harrison. Jeff drew my attention to some items he would be notifying A&S of as a result of his visit, one in particular was a mention that he removed return caps installed on the floor of the spa that were not the correct. That was it, very minimal issue…..fast forward to today October 26, 2023, my third significant issue and now an outstanding warranty claim that remains unresolved. Several weeks ago, A&S contacted me to schedule the repair on 10/27/2023. A&S Warranty Customer Relations Coordinator Melissa Hollerbach called today, 10/26/2023, and said due to many scheduling conflicts, she would have to reschedule my warranty repair to late November 2023. This is not the first time I got that call from Melissa regarding a rescheduled appointment. That is what she does, Melissa calls to tell you A&S is inundated with repairs and that yours is no longer important and will have to be rescheduled. While Melissa did not say that exactly, when you get that call, you know the real story. Let’s get back to Jeff. Jeff Harrison significantly minimized the oversight by the plaster crew when he came to give me my orientation. Turns out it was determined there was a significant oversight by the plaster crew when completing the floor returns in the spa. Despite the gunite being correctly applied with a recessed area to allow for proper return covers being applied, the plaster crew filled in the recessed areas flush with the PVC pipes. This led to an inability to install the proper return covers during the build process. In my opinion, I don’t think the plaster crew had the proper covers when applying the plaster and as a result installed the wrong ones. Per A&S, the repair would involve a technician hammering out the plaster and then installing the original covers. This process would require the technician to fill the gap around the covers with new plaster. The technician stated this plaster would be different in color and not match, thus visibly displaying rings around the return covers. This to me was an unacceptable solution, however, what other options do we have? NONE! Last but in no way least, Anthony & Sylvan Pools Customer Service. What customer service? You don’t have to take my word for the following information, try it for yourself. Please try calling any of the phone numbers associated with A&S Pools Doylestown/Warminister, 215-489-5600. You will go through some phone prompts and will always end up at a recorded message asking you to leave a message and that a representative will call you back. You won’t get to an actual person no matter how hard you try!!!! Believe me, I called the number and went through all the enumerated prompts. Bottom line is, once Anthony & Sylvan Pools gets your final payment, you are forgotten! Here are several other issues we experienced over the course of the pool build: 1. Saw cut in tile in spa (Ray’s crew made all their stone cuts inside my pool, despite having over 4 acres of space to make the cuts anywhere else but inside my new pool.) 2. 1 1/2 in pipe finish caps in spa are still needed (warranty issue noted above) 3. Plaster finish in spa flooring looks off 5. Pool cover had a burn hole in it likely done from a cigarette during installation. (Pool cover was never ordered timely and thus wasn’t installed until late December.

DO NOT HIRE ANTHONY SYLVAN The crews were supposed to replace the jets and they plastered in the old yellow jets, chipped them when trying to fix the situation, and put on white directionals. I now have jets with yellow base, white top and one is chipped. They left raw pipe with thread in pool jets. They left garbage. Here is the kicker. The team of guys took a poop behind the pool shed. It stunk. My dog found it with old dirty underwear poking out of rocks. I have emailed and called the company and my sales team almost every other day. Nothing is fixed yet.

Quality of the work was excellent. Working with Matt our Project Manager was great as he was very responsive to all of our questions and concerns.

The job has been a nightmare. The pool is leaking and has been since the finished plaster and it was filled. The demo and coping went well. The finish is bad aesthetically and has been leaking. The wrong fixtures were put in different places. Yard left a mess. I have had aweful customer experience. I would recommend another company as has been a bad experience. I paid everything up front and now have a leaking pool with no customer service and can’t close for winter. I have hired an attorney.

Anthony & Sylvan did an exceptional job. The pool was completed precisely as it was drawn up. All phases of the job were done professionally from design, to permitting, to construction, to pool start-up and training. All of the subcontractors used by Anthony & Sylvan were excellent and professional. Anthony & Sylvan assigned a dedicated Project Manager that was routinely on site monitoring the job site and the work that was performed by the subcontractors. I would highly recommend them.

Worst experience in my life. I have been crying every day because we saved for so long to have a pool and this company made this experience such a horrible experience. We signed a contract in March of 2021 and were told we would be swimming end of May 2022. It is now July 15, 2022, and nowhere near done. I have been lied to & threatened that if I complain and give them a hard time they will not do the work to finish. I have to be my own Project Manager on this job. They do not answer your calls. They say they will call you back and do not. My project was abandoned for months in the spring when they were supposed to be working. I paid 80K to this company for them to subcontract the work out to other companies. Had I known this in the beginning, I would have hired another company.

From the start till…..well I’d say finish but that still hasn’t happened it has been a very disappointing experience. There’s no communication between you, the consumer and the company internally itself. If you want to do more work than the pool contractor, have a mediocre product, spend a ridiculous amount of money and deal with a top down corporation of incompetent people then Anthony & Sylvan pools is the one you want!

The service was terrible, they attempted to fix the problem on the pool/spa heater that wasn't working, numerous times, I lost most of the use of the pool/spa heater on summer due to the pool heater not working. They closed my pool and they didn't put back in the chlorine tablets, they just left it on the ground, they didn't tell me that they left the tablets on the ground, and it was dried out, I just found it out now.

All individuals involved were very respectful and timely. A few issues did arise, and I was immediately contacted by upper management who made things right. My family loves the pool our new pool.

It went great! We got our new pool sooner than expected and we couldn’t be more happy with it!

Awful, awful, awful. Finished product has stains & cracks, which A&S reps claimed was "normal." Then they blamed the water . . . which they never tested, either before or after the job. (Our municipality has received awards for the high quality of its drinking water.) Project manager finally visited after weeks of complaining, suggested we add a "heavy dose" of a sequestering agent . . .at our expense. Did exactly that, with no improvement. They referred me to the pool service company we use to recommend solution . . . at our expense. If Angi will allow posting pictures, I'll do that and you can judge for yourself. Your first clue to A&S's way of doing business will be when they tell you to sign a 12-page contract. Even if the contract contains errors and language that essentially states, "if you don't like the final results, go pound sand." THEY WILL NOT ACCEPT CORRECTIONS OR MODIFICATIONS for your own self protection. Find another vendor.

They did a great job. Communicated well. Job was quickly done.

Extremely well... Very professional crews. No scheduling issues. The work itself was outstanding.

Thoroughly and efficiently. Great job.

My pool renovation work was completed expertly and with no aggravation . Anthony Sylvan’s experts removed the old and put in the new.

Super Job ! Everything was as promised. Done right and on time.

They put a new pool cover on for me Perfect fit.No issues at all.Two workers came made sure it fit then rolled it up and put it in the bag until needed.Could not have gone smoother.

We had an excellent experience building our pool with Anthony and Sylvan! Our design consultant, Rob was great, easy to work with, honest, trustworthy and knowledgeable. We love our pool!

Buying and building a pool is a huge decision for any family. That was no different for us. Our team at Anthony Sylvan made the process feel seamless and even fun each step of the way (and there were many steps!) With so many moving parts to the process, other people told us to expect delays and problems but that was NOT our experience with Anthony Sylvan. Except when the pandemic brought a halt to the proceeding of the building process. Fortunately they picked right up where they had left off as soon as restrictions permitted. Thankfully this allowed for our pool to be up and running by Memorial Day weekend. Our project manager - TJ Lathbury was amazing. This is our first pool and we had a million questions and we must have called him many times but he was very patient and taught us everything we needed to know. A couple of times... From Jack Stubbe our salesman/designer, construction managers Greg Janowicz and Tara Wojcik to TJ Lathbury and all the subcontractors in between we cannot recommend this company more highly. You can see for yourself on Instagram @bittersweetknoll !

We relied on Anthony & Sylvan to build our 16,000 gallon free form in-ground pool. We're happy with every facet of the project (from the initial design consultation thru each of the construction phases thru the final product). The entire group of teams were professional and true experts at their craft (excavation, steel, piping, patio & hard-scaping, plastering, etc.). Overall we are very happy with the entire project and would recommend Anthony & Sylvan to anyone interested in a complete pool package (pool + patio + more).

I could not recommend a company more highly. Every crew that came through our property was courteous, professional, caring, and incredibly good at what they do. At every phase of the renovation, each crew gave us more than I possibly imagined. I send my thanks to each crew, to Matt Morrison, and to Tom Casey. You are all awesome. thanks for leading the way, Matt!

We had an overall great experience. Our pool could not have turned out better. Our project manager, TJ Lathbury, was great to work with. He kept us informed through the construction process and helped with design to ensure our pool turned out perfectly. After the pool was completed he also helped to explain the upkeep and maintenance that goes along with pool ownership. To this day, many months after completion, I can go to him with any questions I have knowing he will be happy to help. Cant say enough how happy we are with everything. I certainly recommend A&S and TJ to anyone looking at building, upgrading or servicing their pool.

Very hard working skilled people. I’m very pleased with their work.