Island Recreational

Medford, NY

Dale of Lindernhurst, NY, writes:
We received a circular in the mail from the above retailer. Tthey offer a promotion to become a VIP member and save on all future purchases. You have to pay $100.00 and then you may use the voucher of $100 for your first purchase -- not immediately, you must wait until the beginning of the following month. We did as required.

On June 1, we went to the retailer to purchase a liner for our pool. The ad ( which is good through June 15) had a replacement liner that we were interested in (full print, and it had pictures next to the price list) for a VIP price of $127.99. We purchased the liner that we wanted, went home and realized that we had paid a price of $195.00. My husband went back to the store and questioned the sales help.

He was told that those liners were not the ones for the price listed. He showed my husband a liner that was not of the same quality and then told my husband that they did not have any of these anywhere.

I feel that this is bait and switch and fraudulent advertising. I am now stuck with a $100.00 voucher because I refuse to purchase the one in the ad for the inflated price. I want the liner in the ad for the advertised price. My plans were to install the liner this weekend.

We received this response from the company:

The ad mentioned by the consumer specifies that the full print liners are "Blue Vinyl" liners. They carry a 15-year warranty against defects. The liner that the customer purchased was a "White vinyl" liner, carries a 25-year warranty against defects because it is a much thicker material. There is no bait and switch here. The ad specified blue vinyl at one price and the white vinyl at another. Even if the consumer did not understand the ad, they were explained the differences, and could see the liner sample at the store before making their purchase. They were not forced to buy any particular liner. All liners are available to purchase and if their size was not available, it could have been ordered and received in 7-10 business days. They obviously liked the pattern and quality of the more expensive liner. Bait and switch means we advertise one item, and when you get to the store, you are told we don't have it. That was not the case here.

Steve of Bay Shore NY writes (5/8/03):
I was shown a pool "package" which consisted of an inflatable pool, a filter, a ladder and some chemicals in a "starter pack." I was told that they did not have the "proper" filter in stock at that store but they would call another store which had it in stock and I could pick it up there. Seemed like a reasonable situation so I agreed. When I got to the other store they gave me quite a different filter than the one I had been shown. It was NOT the proper filter although the salesman tried to convince me that it was.

He said, "either take it or leave it." When I balked he then told me, O.K. we'll see if we can get you the proper filter tomorrow. In the meantime take everything else home and open the boxes and examine the other parts of the package. I did this. The next day I called the store to speak with this salesman. I was told he was "off" that day. Someone else spoke with me. I told him what happened. He told me that the other filter was "discontinued" and that if I did not like the filter I now had I could bring everything back for a full refund.

I told him that everything else was in good shape and I wanted to know why the first salesman promised me that he would get me the proper filter! He asked, "How do you know that everything else is in good shape?" I told him that I had opened the boxes, as the other salesman advised me to do to check the other pieces of the pool package. He said, "Well, now that you've gone ahead and opened the boxes you'll have to keep what you have because we do not, under any circumstances, take anything back after you have opened the boxes!"

I told him that the first salesman TOLD me to open the boxes to check everything. He said, "He wouldn't do that!" I said, "Well, that's what he did!" We went back and forth a few times with this and he finally said, "Get out of my store or I'll call the police!" Subsequent efforts to deal with Island Recreational management have proved futile!

Michael of Coram, NY, writes:
I bought a pool 18' x 33' which was installed on 4/30/99. After maintaining the pool as per instructions, on 7/7, the water turned green. When i went back to the store, I was told to purchase additional chemicals and restart the pool. After getting the pool clean on 7/10 a pool expert told me the water returning to the pool from the filter is minimal. He informed me the water should be returned at a high pressure rate.

Since I have done everything I was told to do, the pool expert informed me that he thinks the problem is the filter. I tried calling the store's help line.they told me to bring in the filter. I said that there is no way I could bring it in to their repair shop which is located in Massapequa, which is quite a distance. In addition, the water would ruin my car. 

I offered to pay for a repairman to come out to my house. They refused. I asked for a filer replacement according to warranty, they also refused. Right now I have an unusable pool. I am out over $5,000 in purchasing the pool and related chemical equipment.

We received the following response from the company:

Per the manufacturer's instructions, you can use any size filter on any size pool. If the pool is very large, as it appears Michael's pool is, then a bigger filter will have to work less to get the job done. Green water does not necessarily mean that the filter is not working. Green water is caused by many different things (rain, low ph, low chlorine levels ect)

If all suggestions were made to the customer, based on our training and experience, and it did not work, then the only other option is for him to bring the filter into our service center to be looked at. We do not offer an in-home serviceman to come there and fix it, even if he did offer to pay for it. At our service center we have technicians who can fix the filter and have the equipment there to do that.

As far as water ruining his car, he obviously has to empty the filter and let it dry before bringing it down. VIP Members do not pay labor, just parts, so if he was a VIP, he would have been taken care of right away. He chose not to.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.