Bartels Pools, Inc.

Brand new pool liner is damaged from water leakage caused by improper filling of a hole made to repair a water lone.I have been a customer of Bartels Pools since 1996.In Oct. Of 2013 I had a new liner installed in my inground pool. The original liner was seventeen years old. In all that time, there was never a liner problem. At the same time there was a repair done to fix a leak in a return line. This required the workers to dig a hole under the concrete deck around the pool. They left the hole unfilled and I made a call asking them to please fill it. The hole was filled and appeared to be ok. The swim season of 2014 was the first time the pool was used with the new liner. There was a very heavy rain storm in August of 2014 and my family and I noticed the liner was pushed out with lumps and bumps in it. It looked horrible and was clearly stretching out the liner. My sons and son-in-law walked over to the filled in hole and the ground was sunken in. When we stepped on it the dirt went down eight inches. The hole did not have the dirt packed in so water just flowed it and went around the pool and pushed the liner out. [redacted] disagrees with this. He blames it on the heavy rain. I told him that in the seventeen years we had the original liner, there were heavier rains and the liner was fine. We had one storm that flooded or basement, which is only a few feet from the pool, over eight inches. Even with that, the liner was fine. He also blamed it on water run off from a hill across the street from us. However, my neighbor, three houses down on my street, has an in ground pool with actual large hill in her yard that ends right at the base of her pool and her liner survived that rain.The new liner cost was $3395.00 and the water cost was $1189.00. To fix this liner, all the water must be drained and the liner pulled back and the sand fixed. [redacted] will not pay for the new water and will not give me free labor. I must note that the contract I signed for the liner had the amount of $2395.00 on it. The bill I received was for $3395.00. When I called about that, [redacted]'s wife said the contract was a mistake and would I please pay the higher amount. I did pay the higher amount because I felt it was the right thing to do, but I did not have to. Even with that, I feel [redacted] is not treating a long time customer fairly. I should not have to pay for the repair and the water for their mistake.Desired SettlementI would like the liner repaired in a timely manner, not late in the season, and the water replaced with no cost. [redacted] had indicated that he would not be willing to fix it until June even though he knew about this last August. I really believe that I am places on the bottom of the list because he disagrees with my assessment. If he cannot do that than I would like to hire another pool company to do the job and sent the bill to [redacted].Business Response In September 2013 we contracted with [redacted]to replace her pool liner. The agreed price was $3395.00. Because she has a well, it was also necessary for her to have trucked water to fill the pool that she paid for on her own. The existing liner was removed on 9/27 the sand pool bottom was re-smoothed to original specifications and a new liner was installed. The job was completed on 10/04/2013. It was determined that the pool had a leak from a cracked return outlet in the shallow end. The options were to breakup the concrete deck, make the repair and then re-pour new concrete or to hand excavate under the deck to repair the break. [redacted] chose the latter. We hand excavated a 3' wide x 3' long x 2' deep area, made the repair, filled in and hand compacted the area, and pressure tested the lines. This was done at the time of the liner replacement and the job was completed on 10/04/2013 and the pool was closed. The contract was paid in full.In May of 2014, the pool was opened for the season. At that time there were no issues noted. All lines were fully functional and the liner was in place with no erosion. In August after a severe thunderstorm we received a call from [redacted]that something was wrong with the liner. Upon inspection, there was no damage to the liner, but minor erosion in the bottom of the pool's deep end was noted. Erosion is caused from saturation of the ground due to heavy rain and runoff from the road causing flash flood conditions. This was not the result of mistakes or poor workmanship but an act of nature.In more than 20 years we have had no complaints to the Revdex.com. In an effort to maintain good customer relations, Bartels Pools, Inc. has offered to go back, repair the erosion under the liner and reset the liner at no charge. [redacted] would be responsible for the water. Consumer Response (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)The issue of the work being done in a timely manner was not mentioned in the response.we had a verbal agreement that the work would be done within three weeks.Final Business Response This is in response to [redacted] complaint about the repair being done in a "timely manner". It was explained to [redacted] that the damage was caused by a high water table and that is the concern for scheduling. At this time we are unable to come to an agreement on a date to make the repair, therefore, we are retracting our offer.