Backyard Leisure LLC

It was definitely worth the hour drive to Backyard Leisure Pools and Spas. Unlike other busy stores, they immediately acknowledged our presence and actually made time for us to be able to sit down with an associate. John gave us a generous amount of time showing us our options and answering all our questions. There was no pressure to purchase on the spot. We even called a few times with follow up questions, which were answered without hesitation. A week later, we returned to buy the pool. Again, John was very informative and walked us through the purchase process. Highly recommend.

My husband and I bought a new spa for our backyard and we love it. Chris was our salesman and he was very helpful and informative and each time we go in the store we have a friendly person to help us.

We feel Backyard Leisure did not provide us what we agreed on and did not allow us arbitration as stated in the contract to work out our differences. On 9/19/15 we made a $1000 deposit to Backyard Leisure to survey our yard for an in ground pool. On 10/2/15 Ryan Smith emailed me with an itemization of the pool platinum package with pricing which we agreed upon. The email stated they would be able to start construction early January 2016 with favorable weather. We made an additional deposit of $5000 10/28/15 agreeing that they would start in January, and we would make the remainder of the deposit on 1/4/16 of deposit $8725.30 which we did. Continued to be told delays. Spoke with Ryan 1/28/16 and he said we were pushed out until March because they were working on two other pools. This was unacceptable to us because we paid a deposit to get on the calendar for the first of the year. They did not start until 3/28/16 when they delivered the backhoe. We questioned the workers and they said they did not work on in ground pools in January or February; they had been installing hot tubs or above ground pools. We met with Alberto on 3/28/16 and he said they would work on the shell and the grading of our yard for about two weeks so we thought we had time to order our money from my husband’s pension to make our next scheduled payment. On the second day the workers cut our waterline and we were without water until line was repaired. When they dug up the ground for the pool they damaged our drainage piping. When they repaired it they didn't put it back in ground. Piping is still above the ground even after months of complaints. The shell of the pool was installed in the ground. Alberto asked my husband on 3/31/16 to pay $8458.20. We called Ryan and told him we had ordered our money and based on what Alberto told us we thought we had more time. It would take a week. Workers continued with the pool and put in the liner. The day they were supposed to put water in pool they walked off job. Money came in mail that day but workers would not return for another week. So, 4/11/16 we made $8458.20 payment. They returned on 4/19/16 so we made another payment of $8458.20. Workers started concrete around pool. During May, I emailed Ryan about workmanship and problems we were having with mess workers were leaving in our yard. Concrete all over the yard and in the pool, and nails and screws in the yard. We were having to go behind them and tell them to fix something. They even got backhoe stuck in our yard and made a six foot hole. They left the hole in our yard for over 3-4 weeks until we complained so much they finally filled it in. I sent Ryan email with checklist of everything that was problem and how we wanted things to be fixed. We spent hours getting concrete/rocks/Styrofoam/nails out of pool and yard because workers would leave for days and not clean up behind themselves. I sent emails to Ryan that if they did not clean up mess and we had to clean it up I was going to start charging him. They got concrete all in our yard. We are still picking it up from our yard. They also go concrete on our driveway. Alberto power washed our driveway but he took some of our driveway surface with it. When pump was installed we were having problems with it. I read contract again and found out we only got a 1-speed pump; we were supposed to get a 2-speed pump. We sent email on 5/31/16 and said if someone does not come fix pump system we want it replaced. We contracted for 6 ribbon waterfalls and workers installed only 4. Ryan said he would give $400 credit if they did not have to install other 2. Contract states 2 skimmers but the workers only installed 1. We were told they would begin construction of the retaining wall the latter part of May. After many frustrating phone calls and emails, they did not start until June and finished June 11th leaving rocks in the yard and concrete and debris in the pool. Wall is darker on one side than the other side. There are also areas in wall that rocks need more mortar. There is also a very large crack running down the top of the wall less than one month after installation. Alberto said after the retaining wall was completed his crew would come back and smooth out the side walk cement that met up with the retaining wall. He never came back even though I continued to request it from Ryan. We asked Ryan per contract to have arbitration to work out our differences many times. Last time in his office we were told the owner, Chris, had the discretion for arbitration and chose not to allow us to have it for our problems. Through all our frustrations we have had appointments broken, workers showing up when not expected, damage done to our property and yard, pool not completed as promised, 2 missing ribbon waterfalls, 1 missing skimmer, wrong pump installed and not working properly, exposed draining piping not buried, and delays causing problems with our other contractors, and many unnecessary 45 minute drives to Backyard Leisure because they will not pick up the phone. We have been making phone calls to Ryan letting him know we have been having more electrical problems with the pump and generator and now the generator has completely shut off. Ryan finally had Alberto come to our house on Friday, 9/23/16 with a 2-speed pump but it was a cheaper ‘knock off’ and not the one we agreed upon so we would not let him install it. Alberto agreed we had electrical problems and would let Ryan know. I also showed Alberto the concrete issues around the pool and the cracking in the retaining wall and he said he would let Ryan also know about these issues. At this time we have completely shut down our pool for the season without getting anything resolved with Backyard Leisure. We have a balance of $1691.70 due to Backyard Leisure. We feel with all that still needs to be done we do not want them back in our yard. We do want the 2-speed pump per our agreement or monies for the pump. We actually feel they owe us monies because we paid over $12,000 for installation that they did not do and we did not get all the services/products we paid for. Not everything was completed and damage was done, and we had to do a lot of the cleanup ourselves because we could not get the contractors to come back. For a 30 day project, it took over 85+ days and we still are not satisfied.

Backyard Leisure equals backyard nightmare when installing an in ground pool. I would not be able to recommend this business to anyone reading this review. During in ground pool installation(which was started mid-April and was still not complete (on June 10), 1. Dirt was placed approximately 20 feet high against my fence causing 3 fence panels to dislodge, as well as 2 posts to loosen. A fence company will need to come out to properly repair this damage. 2. No backwash plumbing was installed. Another pool company installed this plumbing at my expense. 3. The filter installed is not the appropriate size for the pool (too small). 4. Excessive mud left on pool bottom (which was dropped into pool during backfilling by employees Jason and owner's brother). Another pool company has had to vaccuum the excessive mud out of pool manually. Again, this was at my expense. 5. No concrete was installed. I paid $3000 for it. 6. No waterfall was installed. I paid $2500 for it. 7. Backyard Leisure damaged wedding cake stairs from my previous pool. These stairs were to be used on one end of new pool. The plastic appears to have been damaged by a shovel during backfill. I have pictures. I spoke with BYL employee Aaron about the damage. No restitution has been made for this damage. 8. 8 plywood panels have been laying in the side of my yard since mid April (and were finally removed in mid July when I paid someone else to do it). That area will need to be re-seeded. 9. Backyard Leisure's website states they will obtain necessary permits, (for in ground pool) which is what I was told in the store by employee Aaron at time of I signed contract. This was not the case. 10.Backyard Leisure's website also states "getting an inground pool installed by BYL could not be easier. They offer "turnkey installation handling ALL aspects of pool installation." This was not the case for my pool installation. NOT AT ALL. 11. Due to BYL NOT obtaining proper permit by city in April, inspection was not made until mid June and pool completion work (by another pool company) was delayed...well into the summer. 12. The bottom of the pool is rough and bumpy. Additionally, one end of pool floor is higher than the other. The pool bottom was not properly graded. This would be a significant cost now, and should have been done prior to installation of liner. 13. There are two gaps in the top metal coping on either side of installed stairs. 14. The water does not circulate properly around the entire free form shaped pool because only one jet was installed. Pool manufacturer recommends two jets minimum for size pool I purchased. When I questioned why no backwash lines had been installed, I was told by manager Chris to just use a flexible pool hose.,,,,, Employee Jason also installed initial plumbing lines backward, and those had to be redone correctly. The too small filter was installed on a 12 by 12 garden stone, rather than a poured slab, and filter was leaning significantly shortly after installation. Multiple, multiple calls placed. Many days and weeks of not showing up, even after being told they would be there. My backyard has been one big mud pit from mid April until mid July. I never once heard from owner of business, and any contact I had with this business was at my initiation. No once did owner or manager actually drive out to my house to see what was going on. As of Aug 10, they agreed to pay me a "refund" of $3500 to make me go away, and only because I threatened legal action. Avoid this business at all costs........or that's what you will be stuck with .......