About 2 years ago they did an estimate for me. The salesman looked at my lot's survey and stated that I was restricted to a small area in the yard due to back-sets. A year later, I had A&S come out and their salesman showed me that the survey was not to scale, thereby giving me a larger area to work with. I then called Md pools (and several others) to get different estimates. I told Md. pools about the lot survey mis-read on their part. The salesman said he'd call me back and never did. Well, he lost a sale cause now I'm swimming in an A&S pool.

We used MD Pools and our project is almost complete. My complaint with them is that they don't have a MD Pool rep at the site when the sub-contractors come in. Consequently, the plumbers left sludge from their truck, electricians scheduled with BGE and then didn't show up, pebbletec crew left white spots on our pavers. Until the pavers are cleaned, we won't be making the final payment. The landscaper they recommended for our retaining wall, pavers and landscaping was awesome tho - I would recommend them in a heartbeat. All in all I think they were fine, I just wish they were a bit more hands on.

MD Pools was an absolute nightmare for us. One of those stories you think cannot happen to you. Nothing went right from the start, and once finished we experienced problem after problem with the pool.

Later, when we tried to get them to fix the problems, we heard, in confidence, from a couple of their guys that we were not unique. Their MO is to let the service phone ring off the hook with angry customers (they certainly never returned any of our calls, certified letters, nor calls from our attorney later on).

I also, after the fact, found a couple other neighbors that had used them, and had similar experiences to ours.. and each unhappy customer seemed to know of a few others.

And don't trust their moderate BBB record. Our complaint never made it onto their BBB record, despite following their full complaint process from start to finish. Later we found out that their former president is on the board of the local BBB chapter...

It still makes me feel sick, when I think of what we went through. I wouldn't wish this process on anyone, ever.

Oh, and re the survey issue above... one of our very first red flags with this company was that they moved the location of the pool without telling us. Our house was under construction and we didn't live in the area, but I stopped by the day before the dig and the stakes seemed to be wrong - so I called them, and they told me -- yes we moved it because we had to.. they said they realized the decking had to be some distance from the septic tank, whereas initially we (they) thought the regulation was based on the distance from water's edge. I asked why they hadn't notified us, and they said there was no choice, and therefore no discussion. So we reluctantly agreed to the new positioning.

Later, when the inspector came, he confirmed the original plan was correct - we could have left the location as we wanted it.

In the scheme of things, our pool was off by 10 feet - not such a big deal. But this same lack of communication, follow up, and knowledge was consistent all the way through the process.

MD Pools came out and cleaned the pavers yesterday to our satisfaction. I have to say one thing in they're favor - they have been very responsive to every call I've made. I'm surprised to hear buildinginpa had problems with the location of the pool - what a bummer!! Our salesman came out and we had stakes all over the back yard until I felt we had the right placement and elevation. Then we met with him again with formal plans in hand while they outlined the pool. As I said, our only problems were with the subs and they really were minimal in the scheme of things.

I strongly recommend you get an estimate from Atlantic Pools. Ask for Dave Edmunds. I have an inground pool in Columbia, MD that I have had for about 18 years. Needed some work and finally got the recommendation for Dave. What a find! They build, service what they build, repair, etc. Competent, responsive, reasonable. Can't say enough good things about them. I wouldn't make a decision until you talk to them. Phone # 302-829-4004. Terri

OOps. Wrong number. It's a 301 exchange NOT 302

Thanks everyone for the input. We received an estimate from MD Pools. I asked about a rep being on site and the salesman said that he's only there for the first part of the contruction, so I can see where there could be problems with no one watching the subcontractors. He said that they always use the same crews for the work. I'm sorry to hear that you had so many problems with them buildinginpa and I'm glad everything turned out okay with your pool rachelacey. I still need to get another estimate before I make a decision. I'd like to go with a company that has been in business for a while. I'm probably going to stop by the permits office to see which company other people are using and give them a call to see how things went.

Rachel,
When you get time, please post/e-mail the name of the landscapers that Maryland Pools recommended and that you had such a good experience with.
Thanks!
Teresa

Sorry for the delay in replying soivos - I've been on vacation (actually just playing in the pool all week)!!!
We used Heritage Custom Lawn and Landscape (410.682.6688). They were great and, in fact, just stopped by on Tuesday to do a walk through to see if we needed any plants replaced. They'll be back this fall to replace them and said they'll bring more topsoil and reseed the areas of grass that aren't filled in.

Our complaint with MD pools is that there is no overall project management and since they leave you with their subcontractors it can become a nightmare. We are just finishing up our pool project now. We have had to work directly with contractors for decking and grading, and electric. There is no one person to oversee the whole project. We are constantly badgering the admin. person there and she just defers to others who do not return calls. To emphasize: senior management does not return phone calls!

There is no organization relative to all the steps to go through to finish out the project, or which contractor is doing what.

On the positive side the sales person was knowledgeable and helpful in laying out our design options. BUT- after the sale closed he vanished.

All in all we would not use MD Pools again.

I HATE MARYLAND POOLS! They put in the pool in our old house and we were somewhat satisfied. They never told us it took two hours to clean their cartridge filter they used, but I chalked that up to my own ignorance. We used them again for our new house and are totally dissatisfied with the work and the follow up service. We've had ongoing problems with the filter system not cleaning the pool. Their stock answer was to clean the filter. I finally drained the pool to show them the bottom drain was clogged with sediment from the lousy plaster job they did. The pool is less than five years old and we now have tiles falling off. They refuse to come fix them. We have a spa that has been leaking since day one. They refuse to fix it. I'm about at the point of having it filled in.

Yikes, I was considering MD Pools but afer reading some of these posts I am not so sure! Seems like there are people unhappy with EVERY single pool builder...so HOW DO YOU CHOSE A BUILDER??

We moved here from the west coast 8 years ago and were quite anxious to get our backyard into shape. Maryland Pools was recommended. What a disaster.
Construction began in about April and they said we would be swimming by Memorial Day. It was not until AFTER LABOR DAY when we finally could fill it up ! It was a constant string of delays and incompetence. We used their recommended pool service company. Year after year ( for 7 years ) we have dumped money into this. New equipment, bad equipment, bad finishing, and now we have a leak due to poor concrete. They indeed came out and STARTED the repair in November saying it would take a few weeks. We are now at about 6 weeks and have a huge mess, it is freezing, we have no water in the shell, there is dirt and construction debris still inside from the re-pour. They never got to the plaster. So now what ??? We are thinking legal action at this point.

MD Pools is simply a disaster. I would recommend to everyone to avoid dealing with them. They are unprofessional and not responsive at all. We have been working with them and signed a contract back in April but we are in July and we have not even started digging the pool yet. They messed up the grading plan that they used for the permit. When they finally show up in late June to start digging, the contractor who does the pavers for the pool deck told them that the grading plan does not work and that we have to add two additional walls to contain the water from going into the pool (the pool is supposed to be built down from a little hill on our backyard). The additional cost for us was $10,000.00 for which we did not budget. We told MD Pools that we can't just absorb a $10,000.00 of additional cost because of their mistake. They proposed to revisit the layout of the pool and after losing yet another couple of weeks, they came up with something that does work either and they just told us that we need to do it and eat up the additional cost. We decided to go with exposed concrete instead so we can stay on budget. We informed MD pools and asked them to proceed. Then, again after losing yet another week and after many calls, emails and texts, they told us that their drafting department has to revisit the plan and that they don't have a date for us yet. Basically very incompetent and creating delay after delay after delay. Here we are in July with no commitment or even a concrete plan for building our pool. We finally decided to pull the plug and asked for a full refund. It was a nightmare and we have even started yet. Reading this blog, I thank God for not pursuing with them. I told them that may level of confidence in them is negative and this was just the beginning yet! My advice, stay a way from MD Pools.

I could not agree more with Bill's comment. Maryland Pools is the worst. We have a pool that is maybe half done and there is no end in sight. The word out there is that MD Pools has closed their doors on Friday so everyone is out of luck that has a pool started with them. We had another pool company call us Saturday to tell us this and to see if we wanted them to come in and give an estimate to finish. This means we would have to pay twice!!! Saw a printed out email from their secretary Julie Chyat to Bob Spero that listed over 25 last names of people who are calling the office and leaving messages asking when their pool will be finished! The email was basically her asking Bob what she should tell these people. Oh and to make everything even worse the other owner, I won't mention his name for his family's sake, allegedly committed suicide on May 17th! This information was told to us and confirmed by Bob Spero, Jim Spero and the other Bob who is the construction manager. There are huge problems here and unfortunately my family and a lot of other families were completely screwed by this company! They can't pay their suppliers...the company has no money! I guess we need to find an attorney. It's pathetic that they continued to sign contracts and take money from people knowing that they had no money to finish any project.

They closed their doors and went of business, with 42 projects unfinished... and we are one of them. It has been a nightmare. In fact, our pool was scheduled to be completed this week, but we just have a shell with large piles of dirt all around. No tile, no decking, and no equipment. After MD pools installed the grunite shell, we found it difficult to reach anyone in the office. Everything was e-mail. They said they were waiting for the waterfalls to come in so they could do tile and stone work. Finally, we drove to the company without an appointment and confronted the Vice President Bob Spero and Construction Supervisor Bob Brucshs. This was shortly after the President's funeral. We were one of 3 couples in the lobby demanding answers. We learned they were deeply in debt and trying to recover the business. They failed. The vendors and most subs cut MDP off because they owed money. They have employees who haven't been paid either. Sadly, we lost a substantial amount of money, and while we have since contracted another pool company to complete the job, we are devastated by the whole situation. I feel bad for the employees and customers that have been taken advantage of by this company. It just goes to show that "60 years in business", A+ rating with BBB, review on Houzz, and "#1 pool builder in MD" means nothing! I want to put this entire experience behind us, but it is hard to accept losing so much money. We spoke with an attorney, and there is little recourse other than Civil action.

The company is millions in debt, so we would be very low on the list. We are just moving on...

OMGosh! I can't imagine how awful you must feel! I'm so sorry to hear this. itvhad to take gross mismanagement to run this company into the ground. I'm so sorry you can't recoup your losses.

It all worked out in the end...

Wow -- gorgeous pool!!

Pool and dog look great! Did you happen to use a Pebble finish? If so, I am curious what color you used.

Jusher1 - love this pic and you dog looks so happy! Glad to see you succeeded!

Newtopools - my water color is the same and I had white pebbletec installed.

rachelacey - thanks! White Pearl Pebbletec to be specific? We are debating between White Pearl or Caribbean Blue...very different colors, but we have not been able to find many folks that have installed White Pearl, but it is the color we are leaning towards...looks great in this pool!

Newtopools - I'm pretty sure it was white pearl (it's been 10 years - yikes!). I love the water color and it's really held up well.

Rachelacey - thank you. That looks awesome. Beautiful property and landscaping. Has there ever been an issue with the White Pebblec showing dirt?