Anthony & Sylvan Pools Reviews

May 22nd they come to drain pool and demo tile and it’s completed same day. Great! Then they call to schedule crew for tile install, again great! At this point I have already paid the bulk of the job and that’s typical, but they inform me that I have to pay the final installment/ balance (albeit minor in comparison to what I already gave) before they come to tile and finish. So I had no choice but to pay. I foolishly thought to myself ‘they wouldn’t take advantage of me, right?' They knew from the beginning that I am a single mother with a special needs child and the pool is a true lifeline for my daughter and that she gets OT water therapies in the pool. Anyways, they cancel tile install. Ok that happens, then they cancel again.

Then a few weeks go by and they tell me that they don’t even know where their crews are, and at least they were honest and said “we don’t know when your pool will be completed”. At this point I start to feel very concerned about my pools well being. They drained it and although I have never emptied my pool before, I knew the cardinal rule of never letting your pool stay empty for too long.

20 long hot days went by and many more no shows at my house and they finally installed the tile. Great, right? No. The installers had no idea what they were doing and they installed the tile with sharp tile edges exposed everywhere and over 1” thick grout put under the coping instead of mastic/sealant! I wish I could make this up, but it is literally what a national pool company did. I immediately raised all of my concerns with corporate and with the additional concern that delamination is starting to happen on plaster.

Now as I wrote this it is 46 days that my pool had been empty. Only today 46 days later after begging and pleading did A&S begrudgingly agree to have some one come and look. 46 days of stress, lost sleep, watching my pool become unsafe and I’m praying it is not structurally unstable by the end of this, but we have had so much rain that I’m terrified my pool won’t be able to weather the pressure of water in the ground. Major summer holidays have already come and gone, no 4th of July with family visiting. Cancelled. No Father’s Day here. Cancelled. I had to cancel my daughter's pool birthday party as well, and all for what? Because of negligence by every single team member assigned to my project.

It is utterly baffling to me that they would rather have a pool be in complete disrepair than to have come back quickly to retile. They still have a chance to turn this sinking ship around. And if they fix everything? I can’t wait to take this very accurate account (and I also did not mention other really problematic practices they did, but don’t have time to get into it) I don’t like saying bad things to harm a business, but I implore you to please, please stay as far away from this company. I do not care if their prices are better or you liked your sales associate. Get a loan or CC and use only a local vetted pool company, or anyone but never ever use Anthony & Sylvan.

One of the most significant issues involved the plumbing work. The plumber was working multiple jobs simultaneously and, at one point, did not return to our project for approximately two weeks during November and December. This delay pushed construction well into the spring. Throughout this period, communication from our first project manager was virtually nonexistent. To make matters worse, Anthony & Sylvan laid off that project manager and never informed us, leaving us wondering why we were receiving no updates. Job site cleanliness was another recurring issue. Subcontractors routinely left the work area messy, often requiring us as homeowners to perform cleanup ourselves. On one occasion, subcontractors used a leaf blower to clear construction sand and debris directly onto our vehicle.

The quality of workmanship was also concerning. Multiple errors were made during deck installation and concrete work. The socket for the shallow-end pool railing was initially installed inline rather than perpendicular to the pool edge, requiring the newly poured concrete to be cut out and repoured. The diving board was also installed incorrectly, necessitating additional concrete cutting and rework. Even after correction, the diving board remains visibly misaligned. Additional workmanship issues involved both skimmers. They were installed out of alignment with the deck, and excess concrete overflowed into the skimmer openings, making removal of the skimmer baskets difficult. A subcontractor later returned to remove some of the excess concrete from the deep-end skimmer, but these issues should never have occurred in the first place.

In the end, the overall experience was frustrating and disappointing. Communication was poor, scheduling was inconsistent, and the fit and finish of the completed work did not meet expectations for a project of this size and cost. The one bright spot was our second project manager, who worked hard to address problems and make things right after taking over the project. Based on our experience, I would not recommend Anthony & Sylvan Pools.

Mike was responsive and accommodating and gave us a fair price for this refresh mastic repair including a three year warranty. The coping work pool plaster work and mastic took a total of four days. We are in our pool already. The teams were expert and technically solid. I was very happy with our project manager Tyler Mayer who stayed with us every step of the way. He was 24/7 which was incorrect because the pool water targets are different. Thank you Tyler and Mike. They coordinated with Weather Chester Sylvan, thank you Tara W. Looking forward to a great next 15 years

• Repeated delays with no valid explanation (not weather-related)

We have been extremely patient, but we constantly had to follow up and push the project manager just to get basic progress. Even then, concerns were brushed off or ignored. We often had to repeat the same issues over and over before anything was addressed. When we escalated concerns to the salesperson, scheduler, project manager, and even the area manager, we were given the same runaround: “It’s scheduled.” We would take time off work to be present -- only for no one to show up.

At one point, we even requested in-person meetings to resolve ongoing issues, but weeks would go by with nothing scheduled. Only after repeated reminders would anything happen. We’ve built a pool before, and it took less than 3 months. This experience has been the complete opposite. With summer approaching, it’s incredibly frustrating to say that we likely won’t have a completed pool in time. We’ve even had to postpone our vacation just to try and keep this project moving. We have no confidence that this company will complete the job correctly or stand behind their work. If you’re considering them, pay more and go with someone else -- it will save you time, stress, and disappointment. We are currently consulting with an attorney and exploring our options.

Mark & Susan **

Once we read the contract, we did not see the fence, pavilion or garage in it. She told us this was no problem because they had a contractor, they vetted that would handle that separately. We told her that we expected an all-in-one contract and that Anthony&Sylvan would oversee the entire build. She convinced us that there would be no problem using their contractor. We requested a meeting with the owner of MCR Marin Construction, Rockwall, TX and she set it up. Long story short, there was no co-ordination between A&S and Marin during the pool build. A lot of the irrigation piping was cut during the dig, this was supposed to take care of by MRC Marin and it was not done. The gas, water, drain and electrical for the pavilion was not completed before the trenches A&S dug, which Marin could have used were filled and covered with travertine pavers or filled and graded smooth.

The fence was 90% built with no gates. The garage foundation, framing and the roof was built but the roofing was the last thing they did after receiving a $30,000 draw to continue. We never saw them again, found out Marin did this to at least a dozen other people. We hired an attorney who advised us it would be difficult to sue A&S or to recover any money from MRC Marin Construction. So, we had to find another contractor to finish the project. After two years, we are just now finishing the fence and the garage. No pavilion and had to hire someone to fix the irrigation system.

I am not happy with the pool equipment being on the south side of our house where the sun is the hottest. I wanted it on the north side but they said it was better on the south. Better for them but now a problem for us with freezing weather from the south and the sun in the summer. Two rain downspouts that were supposed to be tied to a drain system they ran along the back side of the house was not done and they said it was not in the contract even though we walked the project down before they started and this was agreed on verbally. It seems a verbal commitment means nothing these days. What shame that we have to be so meticulous and ensure every little detail is noted and in writing. We love the pool, but with a grain of salt.

By the time anyone showed up a month later, the pool was filthy, even though it had been acid washed. I agreed to pay additional money to have it washed again just so they could proceed with the work. They installed two new skimmer baskets, which sat unfinished in two stone filled pits, dangerously open for anyone to fall and get hurt. Calls left unanswered, no shows, and lots and lots of emails sent by me. Please do not use them unless you want real aggravation.

In the end we are told that it is our responsibility to cover these renovations and that we are well beyond the warranty period. My brother-in-law has had his inground pool for 25+ years now from a different builder and only recently had to replace a short stretch of tiles. 3 surrounding neighbors with pools not installed by Anthony Sylvan experiencing these problems. Anthony Sylvan will not accept responsibility for any fault in the construction. I find it extremely disturbing that this company sells an expensive product that apparently has a lifespan of only 5-6 years before major problems begin to appear.

I have read about similar issues occurring with other Anthony Sylvan pool owners and only wish I had seen these types of reviews before I contracted with them. The “buyer beware” saying seems quite appropriate right now. I would not recommend this company to any family or friends contemplating purchasing a pool. Please read the reviews on the web. The news media needs to do a segment on these issues since it seems to be a systemic problem with this company.

There was delay after delay. One of the things that upset me the most was that they had us start the full loan (meaning that the job was complete) and THEN told us that there was another $5,000 worth of work that needed to be done. They hadn't known that was needed because they hadn't seen the opened pool before (even though they'd gotten all of the inspector's reports, including photos). And then, since our loan had already started, we had to pay that $5,000 directly out of pocket.

Oh, and then, when we opened the pool this year, we found out that our pool could electrocute us because the way that the light was installed didn't have any kind of grounding on it. Now, the electricity itself isn't Anthony & Sylvan's fault exactly, but the project manager, Benjamin, even told us that it's standard procedure to cut the grounding wire on that kind of light installation. So that's another several thousand dollars of work we have to do to make the pool truly safe.

There were a bunch of small issues, such as not having the pool jet returns have covers (we still don't have those, by the way, despite being told many times that they would get those to us). And not having any kind of railing installed (I'm disabled and they knew that, both from being at the house multiple times and because we had originally asked about the possibility of installing a ramp instead of stairs). They told us after it was all done that that kind of thing has to be done additionally, but they'd never mentioned it until we brought it up after they were "done." (We spoke with Benjamin about getting a railing added after-the-fact and, despite many reassurances, we haven't heard anything from them about scheduling or planning for that.)

Overall, I'm extremely frustrated. Yes, the pool looks nice, but it came at lots of extra cost and stress and things still aren't "done" even 7+ months after the project was "complete." (I was also waiting to do a review until we'd seen if these problems were handled or not in the new year, but as things have remained unfinished, I finally decided to write a review.)

Once again, they are denying any responsibility. They want to know if we want a renovation specialist to come out. No thanks. We've already spent 10s of thousands of dollars with this company. I'm not going to give another cent for shoddy work. We didn't even get 10 years out of our remodel. The service of this company has gone downhill over the years. If anyone has any recommendations for a company that takes pride in their work and stands by their product, please let me know.

We then brought in multiple independent engineers, all of whom confirmed that the damage was due to poor materials and delamination — not anything we did. Even with those expert opinions, the company refused to accept responsibility. It wasn’t until we hired a lawyer and made the issue public that they finally responded. But even then, their offer of a partial repair came with strings attached: we had to sign a non-disclosure agreement and remove all public reviews.

The repairs should have taken two days. Instead, the process dragged out for months due to legal back-and-forth. Anthony & Sylvan seemed far more interested in protecting their brand than fixing the problem. In our experience, they deny valid claims, shift blame, and use legal tactics to silence dissatisfied customers. I would not recommend them to anyone.

1. My pool was supposed to be 400 square feet, but when the Town rejected the permit, Anthony took it upon himself to change our contract to 300 square feet without my consent. I discovered this discrepancy and, although they offered me a free heater as compensation, I believe I had grounds for a fraud claim.

2. The pool was installed too low in the ground, causing mud and debris from the surrounding grass and dirt to damage it every time it rained. They provided me with $1,500 for drainage, but I had to spend over $70,000 to completely redo my yard with pavers to resolve the issue.

3. After enduring all this stress with the pool company, they offered me a discounted plaster job for $6,500, which I agreed to after the work was completed. While the plaster initially looked great after filling the pool with water, I soon noticed numerous cracks and black marks throughout, resembling concrete seeping through the plaster. The quality of the job is subpar and not professionally done, with rough areas in the plaster. When I contacted them, their warranty department stated they could not assist me, claiming it was not covered.

This company does not stand behind its promises. I strongly advise against using them, as they seem to look for excuses to avoid fixing problems and often settle for small compensation. It appears we may soon be in court over these issues. There are many other pool companies that provide better service and stand by their warranties!

Update 12/21/24 I finally received a response, a boilerplate email. It basically said for me to do a bucket test. Then, if I see it’s leaking for me to contact a leak detection company. If a leak is detected in the shell then I can re-contact Anthony Sylvan to determine the next steps. Otherwise, if it’s outside the shell, I’m on my own. This pool is less than three years old. I received no phone call, no communication to determine how bad the leak is. It’s just their terrible customer service on repeat. So here are some pictures. It was completely full on Tuesday, these pictures are taken on Saturday.

UPDATE 12/19/24!!! My pool is leaking. I noticed the water level very low on Monday morning. Spent the entire day and half of Tuesday filling it. Wednesday morning, it's low again. Low enough that it's below the skimmers. I'm not sure where the water is going. I don't see any drainage from around the pump or the pool. Still waiting to hear from warranty. Again, buyer beware!

If you are considering using Anthony & Sylvan I highly, highly recommend that you do your due diligence and look at other companies. Unfortunately, A&S is more focused on sales versus quality of construction. The sales people might be great, but the follow through with the construction process is horrific. And it shows!

4. Added the wrong size seat wall and had to fix.

8. And finally today, all but 2 of my large flagstones that were to be used in a step project are gone. Site cleanup either covered them up or removed them

At every mistake all I got was the excuse that they were swamped with business.

I have looked a hundreds of inground pools and never have seen one you step up into. There is also an issue now with the water level being about 2" difference from one end of the pool to the other. I am waiting patiently for a response from them on this issue. This experience with them has been terrible and I would not recommend using them at the League city, Tx location.

It was issue after issue with the project manager. There was NO communication initiated on there part during the pool build. We would always have to call and figure out when they were coming out. They would show up unannounced and we have a dog that goes in the back yard. The workers would not knock on the door, they would just start working. This is unacceptable! David **, the General Manager, needs to make this right!

After that flurry of activity there was a long lapse to wait for the other phases. A&S is a pool *general* contractor. They bring in other companies to do the work and do very little of it themselves. Apparently, they had difficulty getting contractors to work on my job and what was supposed to be 14 weeks stretched into 6 months before startup as we were delayed for gunite, and then even further delayed for plaster because I chose Pebbletech, and there was only one certified contractor in the area that could do it. But startup was the beginning of many more challenges.

Throughout the entire engagement I've had considerable difficulty with communication from this company. The project manager assigned to my job was unresponsive to text and e-mail and only responded when I threatened escalation. There was a stretch of a few weeks where the PM told me another PM was taking over, but then the other PM didn't take over, and the original one apparently stayed on my job. It was especially frustrating not knowing who was responsible for my job. On the week of my pool startup, the original PM told me he was going to a different pool company, so I can see now that he was totally disengaged with his current customers and didn't really care what happened.

At startup, the pool heater didn't work. The PM said it was a simple electrical issue and said they would send electricians to fix it. A few days later an electrician showed up, but it wasn't fixed. The heater did not work for over three weeks. I complained to A&S and they said they were working to replace it. They didn't. Instead, they submitted a warranty claim on the heater and a local pool shop that services Jandy heaters was supposed to come and make the repair. It took over a week to get them on site once the repair was scheduled. So, a month after startup, the heater finally worked.

The cover has been a disaster. I bought a removable, insulating cover as part of the deal so that I can use the spa in the winter on a regular basis. When it was time to make the cover, the manufacturer said they couldn't warranty it. I don't know why - they gave no reason. The salesperson had been so sure it would be no big deal, but here was a major problem in usability of the spa. Eventually, A&S just refunded me an amount which I assume was the line item for the cover and I have had to shop elsewhere to find one. That activity has been a huge waste of my time and something a good pool company would have spared me instead of just throwing up its hands and saying "oh, well!"

The pool also had leaks where the pipes had sagged in the gunite wall. To their credit, A&S corrected this quickly and the technician they sent to do it was very helpful. He also helped me get a message back to the office that my job was not going well, and it did seem to help as I started getting e-mails from others in the office to push things along.

Then there's the county code fiasco. The PM told me I had to have the gates in my fence reversed so that they opened outward in order to meet code. This had to do with children trying to get into the pool area and strategies to keep them out, as expressed in the county code. So, I got the fence contractor to reverse the gates.... and failed inspection.

A&S clearly doesn't know and didn't research the residential pool code for Montgomery County, Maryland, though they do business here. At least, the PM didn't but spoke with authority on the matter when he shouldn't have. After I failed the inspection, I found out the code says nothing about the direction of gate swing. It requires auto-closing gates of at least 5' height and auto lock/latch on each gate at or above 4'. Now, back to the fence contractor for upgrades and further delay of finalizing the permit. I'm probably another month away from finalizing the permit because of bad information from A&S.

I would never use this company again. It's been nothing but a headache. National companies like this have the advantage of lower cost and perhaps more influence with delivery contractors, but that latter benefit I didn't really experience. I think I would go with someone local if I did this again that really understood the code and had more personal interest in the business. I ended up paying more in the long run to have work redone by others because A&S advised me so poorly.

We explained to the first person on day one, where to park and to be careful of driving on our driveway, which is long and windy. We also asked that they not back down our driveway. Every time a new subcontractor showed up, they drove on our grass, blocked us in, backed down and parked in the wrong place. Their subcontractor used our well water, without even as much as a heads up, to "wet blast" the pool. Within one hour, our well ran dry. I had to contact them and not so much as an apology or a warning in advance, knowing we were on well water.

Their contract says they MAY use subcontractors at their discretion. In this case, everyone was a subcontractor. Their scheduler sends boilerplate emails asking for money, she pushes you to send them money before they will schedule the next leg of the work. The dates and schedule changed multiple times which I find to be disruptive. Once I received an email asking for a $4K payment. When I asked about it they said it was a mistake and to ignore it.

Finally, they require money paid in advance. I should have pushed back at contract signing. I would say if you are going to work with them, do NOT sign their contract this way. You should never pay a contractor in full until the work is completed. We are super disappointed. We interviewed several small local reputable companies but believed in A&S's sales rep. We regret choosing this large, bureaucratic national company.