Complain about a product or service

Anthony & Sylvan Pools

Chris of Riverview, FL September 14, 2009

I am the second owner of the house as of May 14th 2009. The original owner was the person to purchase this pool from Anthony and Sylvan. I recently, as of 09/05/09, has some settling of my pavers around the drain pipe from the pool and called out a paving company to remove them and tell me what is happening. I was told by the paving company that the pool piping was installed and the dirt replaced however the area was not water-piped properly to keep the area from eroding.

I called Anthony and Sylvan on Saturday the 12th of Sept. 2009 and received a call from them on Monday the 14th. I started to tell what was going on and as soon as I told this guy that the pavers were sinking because of the area not being properly water-piped he went off on the phone on his tangent. He told me that the paver company was not qualified to make that kind of comment, now he does not even know what company came out to fix the problem, then went on about what they are not covering and what they will not do.

He was very rude and disrepectful and left me awe about how unprofessional they can be. He even told me that he should not talk to me at all because I am not the original purchaser and that he has not reason to continue the phone conversation and then rudely says I will tell you what we cover but it will do you no good. So he begins to tell me what is covered which all he could say is cracks. Well nothing about the surface coating being applied incorrectly or water seaping through the concrete, just cracks.

Now I understand that I may be liable for somethings since the pool was put in around August or September of 2006. He told me that I can not even have the warranty information because the original owner only have 5 years where he can transfer the warranty over to me from original install date. I may be wrong but August or September of 2006 to September of 2009 is no where near 5 years.

All I can say is please dont waste your time with a pool company of this character, you are investing a lot of money for something you should enjoy for years to come and if something was to go wrong then you have to deal with this headache. The warranty is suppose to be in place to make it painless to get something corrected, however it is just there to get the company exposure that "they stand behind their product." Well dont be fooled. I will not use them in the future for any pools that I may want in any of my future homes.

Diana of York, PA August 27, 2009

STAY FAR AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE! The complaints are all the same and I can add mine to theirs. No Supervision, Trash everywhere, Tore up my ENTIRE backyard and left me with 2.5 years of headaches. Every year when the pool is opened there are missing tiles, the pool cover is messed up, (it is Automatic), the Spa is trashed and the people from the company who shut it down from the Winter always forget something. Their response is "NOT MY FAULT", or "NOT COVERED CALL ANOTHER DIVISION"

We were stupid, stupid, stupid going with these guys. Check your local people first. They at least can be gotten a hold of and if they mess up, you can get some restitution.

Tammy of Colora, MD August 18, 2009

I entered a contract to purchase a pool with Anthony & Sylvan in April 2009. Here it is, mid-August and I still do not have a pool. Contract states that pool will be completed 50 days from breaking ground which was 5.13.2009. I am so upset with these people I don't even know where to begin to describe the heartache I feel when I look at the giant whole in my yard that was my summer dream. Now, to make it worse, they deck person who works for Anthony & Sylvan poured my desk it cracked and now they don't want to fix it. The desk cost me about 10k. I paid 34k for pool and I don't have one. Please help me...

Susan of League City, TX August 12, 2009

They sold us and we feel like a couple of FOOLS! My husband and I are in the process of finishing a pool with AnthonySylvan Swimming Pools. Our first mistake was to use them. Houston has been incredibly HOT with just a mere trace of rain so A-S cannot use this as an excuse. We signed our contract based on a maximum of 6 weeks completion. We are 10 weeks into the pool and it is not complete.

They are virtually non-responsive once you sign the contract and pay your deposit. That goes for the OH So Friendly Salesman as well as the #1 PM in the Region. Quite Frankly, they both lie thru their teeth. We have lived with an increasing section of our backyard filled with Construction Debris which just gets bigger day by day. All the trades that come to your home, leave all of their trash behind in your yard- Construction debris and food debris. A-S response "leave it , I will make them come and clean it up" No one shows up.

Main issue is the lack of Supervision in the quality and progress of the subcontractors by A-S. It just doesn't exist. And they continue to lie about it! As of this morning, my pool is scheduled to be plastered this Friday, Aug. 15th. The final clean up was supposed to be done today. Again- no EXAGERATION - A-S has once to inspect or look at the pool for integrity.

We have a plumber who screwed up the Sprinkler system in our Front Yard-A-S says "not our problem." One of the electricians fell thru our garage ceiling - A-S says not our problem. We will live thru this and learn from our Stupidity. We will never recommend AnthonySylvan nor will we use them at our other properties.

SPRINKLER SYSTEM FOR FRONT AND SIDE YARDS DAMAGED - CEILING IN GARAGE DAMAGED BY ELECTRICIAN FALLING THRU - HOME IS 2 YEARS OLD.

Bill of Silverdale, PA August 7, 2009

I am the President of a High-End Landscape Design and Installation company. Our firm has been serving the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware area since 1984. For many years, we referred our clients to Sylvan Pools, now Anthony and Sylvan, headquartered in Doylestown, Pa. Since we thought so well of them, we even had them install a pool at our own home, about 11 years ago.

We always talked them up, about being the best company to call, when our clients would tell us they were interested in getting a pool, and we have given A&S many excellent referrals over the past twenty plus years. Well, let me tell you, these days, Anthony/ Sylvan, has become the one pool company from which you should….. RUN , AS FAST AS POSSIBLE! Under the leadership of Jerry Strauss, who is their Vice president and General manager for the Northeast Division, this company has lost it’s way, and has been on a downhill slide.

Maybe it is a result of the downturn in the economy, but they are now routinely trying to find ways to cheat their subcontractors, and not stand behind them, rather than focusing on building a quality product. These guys are nothing but a bunch of clowns! Through their own arrogance and stupidity, they have lost the ability to attract and keep the best quality subcontractors, who are the backbone of any good pool company.

Like the saying goes, garbage in… garbage out! I highly doubt that this company is going to be around for very much longer, at least in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Robert of Silverdale, PA August 5, 2009

I am the President of a High-End Landscape Design and Installation company. Our firm has been serving the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware area since 1984. For many years, we referred our clients to Sylvan Pools, now Anthony and Sylvan, headquartered in Doylestown, Pa. Since we thought so well of them, we even had them install a pool at our own home, about 11 years ago. We always talked them up, about being the best company to call, when our clients would tell us they were interested in getting a pool, and we have given A&S many excellent referrals over the past twenty plus years.

Well, let me tell you, these days, Anthony/ Sylvan, has become the one pool company from which you should….. RUN , AS FAST AS POSSIBLE! Under the leadership of Jerry S, who is their Vice president and General manager for the Northeast Division, this company has lost it’s way, and has been on a downhill slide.

Maybe it is a result of the downturn in the economy, but they are now routinely trying to find ways to cheat their subcontractors, and not stand behind them, rather than focusing on building a quality product. These guys are nothing but a bunch of clowns! Through their own arrogance and stupidity, they have lost the ability to attract and keep the best quality subcontractors, who are the backbone of any good pool company.

Leslie of Cedar Park, TX August 1, 2009

Do not use this pool company!! They will lie to you throughout the entire process of building your pool. Do not believe what they tell you unless you get it in writing. They tell you one thing and do something (or nothing) else. We've been waiting for them to finish repairs on our pool for the past 2 weeks but nobody will show up. They also will not return calls. As far as I can tell they won't ever finish our pool and we'll have to hire another contractor to finish what they won't show up to do. Tim Lookabill (the construction manager) is rude and too busy to do a good job. Dave Rothwell (Salesman) lied about numerous things and is extremely unprofessional (bad language, inappropriate conversations). Nobody else from A&S will call us back about getting the job done either.

We were warned to not use Anthony & Sylvan by another pool contractor. We thought maybe he was just trying to get us to use his pool company instead; we should have listened to the warning because our experience has been troubling. We will never use this company nor refer any friends to use Anthony & Sylvan ever again.

Robert of Austin, TX July 21, 2009

Contacted A&S and spoke with sales rep who was a very good salesperson. Told us that they used there own employees to build pools and that the heavy euipment is owned by A&S. All of this turned out to be a LIE. The hole was dug quick but everything after that turned into a disaster. We were told on mutliple occassions that people would be out to correct problems or get started on the next phase and we were absolutley lied to. All we recieved were excuse after excuse and fiannly we had had enough. they wanted there money and that is all that they cared about. the straw that broke the camels back is when no one showed up at our house for over a week and we were told that the Deck builder would be out on Thursday. He even came out and told my wife that he would be out the next morning ( Thursday). NO SHOW.

We called and got no response from our saleperson construction manager. Friday I finally got ahold of our sale rep who said the following after I asked where was the deck guy who was supposed to be out yesterday. I quote " I'm not a FU----- babysitter to a grown man" close quote. I asked wher our construction manager was and he said that they had just finished laying out and measuring a pool that they had just sold.

He said that he would talk to the manager and call me back. Of course no phone call back I guess that they were drinking a few beers after measuring the new pool that they had just sold. Saturday afternnon after no shows again I called the sales rep and fired A & S and told them to stay off my property. Of course when that happened everyone under the sun started calling me. I was just told that today they were going to enforce the contract on me and go legal. This is what you can expect from this company. DO NOT HIRE ANTHONY SYLVAN POOLS!!!!! RUNNNNNNNNNN!

Calvin of Bear, DE May 28, 2009

We decided to buy our pool from Anthony and Sylvan because of the wonderful promises of quality workmanship. WRONG! We had problems from the beginning. 50/50 they told us - half built in the fall, and the finish in the early spring. It was August before we passed inspection. It was a horrible experience. Our pool deck had to be dug out and the replacement is inferior. Calling A&S was a joke.

After three years, the tile began to sliver or chipped out. Having called A&S, we were told that the tile was a three year warranty. Our warranty expired May, I called in June. This year, the tiles have chipped out enormously. I persnoally believe that the tiles were defective. Anthony and Sylvan will not be accountable for this nightmare. We're not sure just how much the tiles will cost to replace, but something needs to be done.

The customer service is awful! It seems that their representatives are reading from a script. There has been no result when contacting them. Oh yes, our pool light stopped working within three years. They sent someone to fix it when no one was at home to check behind them. The pool light still does not work, it is stuck between the colors red and clear. Terrible! My advice, NEVER BUY FROM ANTHONY AND SYLVAN. My husband and I have concluded that we can't make or break them, but we will never reccommend them to anyone.

Michael of Pearland, TX May 26, 2009

Within 1.5 years after having a pool designed and built by Anthony & Sylvan the tile surrounding the SPA started falling off. The warranty period was 1 year and Anthony & Sylvan refused to correct the problem. Also they mounted the pool controller equipment directly above the pool heater causing the enclosures to melt. Shoddy workmanship is also not covered by their warranty. We hired a pool repair contractor who showed us how the tile was installed incorrectly. Tile replacement, water (23k gallons), and pool chemicals cost approximately 1,500.

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