Advantage Pools of Lake City, FL & National Pool and Spa Institute, Region VII Deception *Consumer Suggestion

I must respond to the allegations by Mary

Mary Milton called Advantage Pools and met with Ray Lussier to remove an existing liner pool and install a fiberglass pool. Mary lived in this home for some years previously and was familiar with pool maintenance and yard conditions. Mary Milton's yard was quite wet, with a retention pond behind her home, an old swimming pool and more than one failed septic system. There was little elevation change, less than two feet over the one acre lot.

Mary Milton decided on purchasing a new pool and putting it in a new location in the back yard. Mary Milton wanted to minimize the impact of rain water to her porch that flooded and did not want to step up to her pool. Ray Lussier and Mary Milton agreed on the new location and elevation. The yard was in need of landscaping and a general redo and the old pool had been left in a state of great disrepair. The muck and abandoned septic system debris excavated from the area for the new pool was used to fill in the old pool. Mary Milton purchased 90 cubic yards of sand which was used in the installation of the new pool.

Advantage Pools is in the pool business and to that end we promise to leave the yard clean and graded 6 ft around the pool. Landscaping and yard work is left to the homeowner. This information is in the contract and is plainly explained before the parties sign a contract. The pool was finished in the agreed time frame with no delays or cost overruns. I collected the final payment from Mary Milton. She was happy with the pool, the deck and the elevation she chose.

There was a problem with a swim jet installed at the factory. The factory did replace the jet twice but both times the problem occurred it was repaired within a week from the date of notification. There was also a blemish in the step which was also repaired in a very timely fashion.

Disgruntled, Mary Milton contracted a bad case of buyers remorse, and called to ask for all her money back and asked that we remove the pool and relandscape her yard. Of course we were unable to comply with her request. We did try to help with landscaping beyond the scope of the contact for no charge and we did put acrylic deck coating on the deck for no charge. It ended up being the wrong color. She became obsessed and set off on a mission. She came up with the idea that the pool was too low. The whole yard and house were too low and the pool was on an even elevation with the house. It would not be too difficult to convince a number of pool professionals the pool could have been installed higher. She figured it would be too great a task to raise the pool and someone would have to remove the pool and return her money.

To Mary Milton's dismay the county court would not here her request and the decision by the arbitration board was to have an engineer evaluate the back yard and determine a "proper" elevation for the pool. The arbitration decision was binding on Advantage Pools and Advantage Pools set out to try to please all parties, as it turns out an impossible task. The engineer surveyed and plotted the whole yard and chose an elevation to prevent any dirt from going in her pool. It was suggested by the engineer that further landscaping would likely help with the drainage problems but the arbitration board had made a decision to raise the pool and at this point Mrs. Milton would hear none of it anyway.

When Mrs. Milton was notified of the start date of construction to comply with arbitration she became hard to find and tried to postpone the start date by saying she would be out of town and we would have to wait for her to be home, etc. etc. Advantage Pools started on time, followed the plan, finished in the allotted time and received final blessing from the arbitration board. To finish the job the employees had to endure swearing and other profanities from Mrs. Milton. We had to call the police after Mrs. Milton kicked the workers off the job and refused to allow them back after the concrete was poured and before it was finished. She blocked her driveway to prevent the workers from retrieving their equipment. We have the records from the police and concrete company to corroborate this amazing story. There are many more ugly facts but let it suffice to say that there are always at least two sides to every story.

After the pool was completed the second time Mary Milton's plan to get her money back with the pool removed seemed to be out of reach. She was very unhappy with the whole situation and she predicted she would fall on the step. She claims she did fall on the step one night. This fall caused carpal tunnel syndrome, deteriorating "sexual performance" and many other problems. She placed all the blame on Advantage Pools and she filed for another arbitration with the NSPI and sued Advantage Pools for her maladies. Allegations that the pool was out of level, too rough, too slippery, scratched, dirty, had lumps, and leaking were presented at the second arbitration.

Arbitration was decided in Advantage Pools favor with no faults found and the suit was negotiated to a small nominal sum as the lawyers all decided it was the best interest of all parties in light of the circumstances.

In summary, the first suit was thrown out by the local County Judge. The first arbitration board of three pool professionals would not agree to give Mary Milton money and remove the pool. The arbitration board understood that Mary Milton originally wanted the pool set where it was. The arbitration board determined that it could have been set higher. The arbitration board recommended that when a pool was to be set at a level that could be controversial, a pool professional should get a letter from the home owner confirming the elevation decision. (This was the big error on our part.) The arbitration board decided a professional engineer, to be paid by Advantage Pools, determine the optimum elevation. Following the recommendations of the professional engineer, Advantage Pools removed the pool from the ground and reinstalled the pool ten inches higher, at Advantage Pools expense, on time and in full compliance with the arbitration board. The first arbitration board inspected and signed off on the new installation.

The second arbitration board consisting of three different pool professionals heard more allegations. The president of San Juan Pools attended the arbitration to hear the allegations. Mary Milton's expert witness could not show to the board any evidence of the alleged problems with the relocated pool. It was thrown out like the first frivolous suit. The second suit involving insurance companies and lawyers and doctors settled for minimum amount. Lawyers! Many pool and non pool professionals were involved with this operation. It is unlikely everyone is wrong and Mary Milton is right.

I believe any reasonable person would find that the house, yard and the pool are maintained in the same fashion, a big mess. It is hard for any pool company to regulate the way someone chooses to live.

Advantage Pools finds it unfortunate that Mary decided to dislike having a swimming pool in her back yard, however, we feel we did the best we could under the circumstances.

Thank you for reading the other side of the story.

for Advantage Pools

I must respond to the allegations by Mary

Mary Milton called Advantage Pools and met with Ray Lussier to remove an existing liner pool and install a fiberglass pool. Mary lived in this home for some years previously and was familiar with pool maintenance and yard conditions. Mary Milton's yard was quite wet, with a retention pond behind her home, an old swimming pool and more than one failed septic system. There was little elevation change, less than two feet over the one acre lot.

Mary Milton decided on purchasing a new pool and putting it in a new location in the back yard. Mary Milton wanted to minimize the impact of rain water to her porch that flooded and did not want to step up to her pool. Ray Lussier and Mary Milton agreed on the new location and elevation. The yard was in need of landscaping and a general redo and the old pool had been left in a state of great disrepair. The muck and abandoned septic system debris excavated from the area for the new pool was used to fill in the old pool. Mary Milton purchased 90 cubic yards of sand which was used in the installation of the new pool.

Advantage Pools is in the pool business and to that end we promise to leave the yard clean and graded 6 ft around the pool. Landscaping and yard work is left to the homeowner. This information is in the contract and is plainly explained before the parties sign a contract. The pool was finished in the agreed time frame with no delays or cost overruns. I collected the final payment from Mary Milton. She was happy with the pool, the deck and the elevation she chose.

There was a problem with a swim jet installed at the factory. The factory did replace the jet twice but both times the problem occurred it was repaired within a week from the date of notification. There was also a blemish in the step which was also repaired in a very timely fashion.

Disgruntled, Mary Milton contracted a bad case of buyers remorse, and called to ask for all her money back and asked that we remove the pool and relandscape her yard. Of course we were unable to comply with her request. We did try to help with landscaping beyond the scope of the contact for no charge and we did put acrylic deck coating on the deck for no charge. It ended up being the wrong color. She became obsessed and set off on a mission. She came up with the idea that the pool was too low. The whole yard and house were too low and the pool was on an even elevation with the house. It would not be too difficult to convince a number of pool professionals the pool could have been installed higher. She figured it would be too great a task to raise the pool and someone would have to remove the pool and return her money.

To Mary Milton's dismay the county court would not here her request and the decision by the arbitration board was to have an engineer evaluate the back yard and determine a "proper" elevation for the pool. The arbitration decision was binding on Advantage Pools and Advantage Pools set out to try to please all parties, as it turns out an impossible task. The engineer surveyed and plotted the whole yard and chose an elevation to prevent any dirt from going in her pool. It was suggested by the engineer that further landscaping would likely help with the drainage problems but the arbitration board had made a decision to raise the pool and at this point Mrs. Milton would hear none of it anyway.

When Mrs. Milton was notified of the start date of construction to comply with arbitration she became hard to find and tried to postpone the start date by saying she would be out of town and we would have to wait for her to be home, etc. etc. Advantage Pools started on time, followed the plan, finished in the allotted time and received final blessing from the arbitration board. To finish the job the employees had to endure swearing and other profanities from Mrs. Milton. We had to call the police after Mrs. Milton kicked the workers off the job and refused to allow them back after the concrete was poured and before it was finished. She blocked her driveway to prevent the workers from retrieving their equipment. We have the records from the police and concrete company to corroborate this amazing story. There are many more ugly facts but let it suffice to say that there are always at least two sides to every story.

After the pool was completed the second time Mary Milton's plan to get her money back with the pool removed seemed to be out of reach. She was very unhappy with the whole situation and she predicted she would fall on the step. She claims she did fall on the step one night. This fall caused carpal tunnel syndrome, deteriorating "sexual performance" and many other problems. She placed all the blame on Advantage Pools and she filed for another arbitration with the NSPI and sued Advantage Pools for her maladies. Allegations that the pool was out of level, too rough, too slippery, scratched, dirty, had lumps, and leaking were presented at the second arbitration.

Arbitration was decided in Advantage Pools favor with no faults found and the suit was negotiated to a small nominal sum as the lawyers all decided it was the best interest of all parties in light of the circumstances.

In summary, the first suit was thrown out by the local County Judge. The first arbitration board of three pool professionals would not agree to give Mary Milton money and remove the pool. The arbitration board understood that Mary Milton originally wanted the pool set where it was. The arbitration board determined that it could have been set higher. The arbitration board recommended that when a pool was to be set at a level that could be controversial, a pool professional should get a letter from the home owner confirming the elevation decision. (This was the big error on our part.) The arbitration board decided a professional engineer, to be paid by Advantage Pools, determine the optimum elevation. Following the recommendations of the professional engineer, Advantage Pools removed the pool from the ground and reinstalled the pool ten inches higher, at Advantage Pools expense, on time and in full compliance with the arbitration board. The first arbitration board inspected and signed off on the new installation.

The second arbitration board consisting of three different pool professionals heard more allegations. The president of San Juan Pools attended the arbitration to hear the allegations. Mary Milton's expert witness could not show to the board any evidence of the alleged problems with the relocated pool. It was thrown out like the first frivolous suit. The second suit involving insurance companies and lawyers and doctors settled for minimum amount. Lawyers! Many pool and non pool professionals were involved with this operation. It is unlikely everyone is wrong and Mary Milton is right.

I believe any reasonable person would find that the house, yard and the pool are maintained in the same fashion, a big mess. It is hard for any pool company to regulate the way someone chooses to live.

Advantage Pools finds it unfortunate that Mary decided to dislike having a swimming pool in her back yard, however, we feel we did the best we could under the circumstances.

Thank you for reading the other side of the story.

for Advantage Pools

I must respond to the allegations by Mary

Mary Milton called Advantage Pools and met with Ray Lussier to remove an existing liner pool and install a fiberglass pool. Mary lived in this home for some years previously and was familiar with pool maintenance and yard conditions. Mary Milton's yard was quite wet, with a retention pond behind her home, an old swimming pool and more than one failed septic system. There was little elevation change, less than two feet over the one acre lot.

Mary Milton decided on purchasing a new pool and putting it in a new location in the back yard. Mary Milton wanted to minimize the impact of rain water to her porch that flooded and did not want to step up to her pool. Ray Lussier and Mary Milton agreed on the new location and elevation. The yard was in need of landscaping and a general redo and the old pool had been left in a state of great disrepair. The muck and abandoned septic system debris excavated from the area for the new pool was used to fill in the old pool. Mary Milton purchased 90 cubic yards of sand which was used in the installation of the new pool.

Advantage Pools is in the pool business and to that end we promise to leave the yard clean and graded 6 ft around the pool. Landscaping and yard work is left to the homeowner. This information is in the contract and is plainly explained before the parties sign a contract. The pool was finished in the agreed time frame with no delays or cost overruns. I collected the final payment from Mary Milton. She was happy with the pool, the deck and the elevation she chose.

There was a problem with a swim jet installed at the factory. The factory did replace the jet twice but both times the problem occurred it was repaired within a week from the date of notification. There was also a blemish in the step which was also repaired in a very timely fashion.

Disgruntled, Mary Milton contracted a bad case of buyers remorse, and called to ask for all her money back and asked that we remove the pool and relandscape her yard. Of course we were unable to comply with her request. We did try to help with landscaping beyond the scope of the contact for no charge and we did put acrylic deck coating on the deck for no charge. It ended up being the wrong color. She became obsessed and set off on a mission. She came up with the idea that the pool was too low. The whole yard and house were too low and the pool was on an even elevation with the house. It would not be too difficult to convince a number of pool professionals the pool could have been installed higher. She figured it would be too great a task to raise the pool and someone would have to remove the pool and return her money.

To Mary Milton's dismay the county court would not here her request and the decision by the arbitration board was to have an engineer evaluate the back yard and determine a "proper" elevation for the pool. The arbitration decision was binding on Advantage Pools and Advantage Pools set out to try to please all parties, as it turns out an impossible task. The engineer surveyed and plotted the whole yard and chose an elevation to prevent any dirt from going in her pool. It was suggested by the engineer that further landscaping would likely help with the drainage problems but the arbitration board had made a decision to raise the pool and at this point Mrs. Milton would hear none of it anyway.

When Mrs. Milton was notified of the start date of construction to comply with arbitration she became hard to find and tried to postpone the start date by saying she would be out of town and we would have to wait for her to be home, etc. etc. Advantage Pools started on time, followed the plan, finished in the allotted time and received final blessing from the arbitration board. To finish the job the employees had to endure swearing and other profanities from Mrs. Milton. We had to call the police after Mrs. Milton kicked the workers off the job and refused to allow them back after the concrete was poured and before it was finished. She blocked her driveway to prevent the workers from retrieving their equipment. We have the records from the police and concrete company to corroborate this amazing story. There are many more ugly facts but let it suffice to say that there are always at least two sides to every story.

After the pool was completed the second time Mary Milton's plan to get her money back with the pool removed seemed to be out of reach. She was very unhappy with the whole situation and she predicted she would fall on the step. She claims she did fall on the step one night. This fall caused carpal tunnel syndrome, deteriorating "sexual performance" and many other problems. She placed all the blame on Advantage Pools and she filed for another arbitration with the NSPI and sued Advantage Pools for her maladies. Allegations that the pool was out of level, too rough, too slippery, scratched, dirty, had lumps, and leaking were presented at the second arbitration.

Arbitration was decided in Advantage Pools favor with no faults found and the suit was negotiated to a small nominal sum as the lawyers all decided it was the best interest of all parties in light of the circumstances.

In summary, the first suit was thrown out by the local County Judge. The first arbitration board of three pool professionals would not agree to give Mary Milton money and remove the pool. The arbitration board understood that Mary Milton originally wanted the pool set where it was. The arbitration board determined that it could have been set higher. The arbitration board recommended that when a pool was to be set at a level that could be controversial, a pool professional should get a letter from the home owner confirming the elevation decision. (This was the big error on our part.) The arbitration board decided a professional engineer, to be paid by Advantage Pools, determine the optimum elevation. Following the recommendations of the professional engineer, Advantage Pools removed the pool from the ground and reinstalled the pool ten inches higher, at Advantage Pools expense, on time and in full compliance with the arbitration board. The first arbitration board inspected and signed off on the new installation.

The second arbitration board consisting of three different pool professionals heard more allegations. The president of San Juan Pools attended the arbitration to hear the allegations. Mary Milton's expert witness could not show to the board any evidence of the alleged problems with the relocated pool. It was thrown out like the first frivolous suit. The second suit involving insurance companies and lawyers and doctors settled for minimum amount. Lawyers! Many pool and non pool professionals were involved with this operation. It is unlikely everyone is wrong and Mary Milton is right.

I believe any reasonable person would find that the house, yard and the pool are maintained in the same fashion, a big mess. It is hard for any pool company to regulate the way someone chooses to live.

Advantage Pools finds it unfortunate that Mary decided to dislike having a swimming pool in her back yard, however, we feel we did the best we could under the circumstances.

Thank you for reading the other side of the story.

for Advantage Pools

This email is a rebuttal to RipOff #6417.



Advantage Pools of Lake City, FL & National Pool and Spa Institute, Region VII Deception (#6417)



They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:



Their name: Mrs. A.

Their phone number: n/a

Their relationship to the company: Consumer Suggestion



Rebuttal:

PLEASE contact all of the consumer reporters at your local television stations (Tampa, Orlando, and everywhere else) and get somebody out there with a camera--This situation is ridiculous, and a picture is worth a thousand words. I suspect that once video footage of your "cement pond" makes it to the local television news, something may happen. If not, at

least others considering pools in your area will hopefully remember the names and run from these people when their time comes to build a pool. And shame on the NPSI for supporting these losers. Good luck!