Backyard Leisure
reviews and complaints

As the consumer, we take some of the responsibility for the very negative experience we had dealing with Backyard Leisure Pools. After much research, we decided the Radiant Metric pool was a good fit for our needs so we contacted the manufacturer who referred us to Backyard Leisure Pools as the closest vendor to us so we visited their Concord, NC store and started the process. We knew that a company that demands full payment for their services upfront is a red flag and should have been enough to tell us to go in a different direction but, after much discussion, we took a leap of faith and hoped for the best in mankind.

Things started out very well. The excavating crew arrived as scheduled on April 7th and we were impressed with the man’s operating skills. He promptly dug out the hillside right off our back porch and said he would be back on the 15th to do the backfill. Great.

As scheduled, a different crew arrived with our pool on April 12th as well as a representative from the pool manufacturer who was going to work with the crew since, according to him, this was the first time they had done this kind of installation. They worked hard and were able to get a lot done until they realized they had the wrong coping, even though we had made sure the salesperson knew we were going with a paver patio since she had told us this made a difference in the kind of coping used. They still ordered the wrong kind but mistakes are understandable. The crew said it would only take a day or two to get the right coping in and they would be back to finish the pool.
That began a month long battle to get them back to finish our pool. I don’t know if there is really an ‘Allen’ associated with Backyard Leisure Pools because, although we left a message for him to call us and the multiple salespeople we talked to between two stores said they would have him call us, we never did hear from the elusive ‘Allen’. But, he seemed to be the person from whom all blessings flowed, or did not flow’, because every time we called the store trying to find out something, they had to check with ‘Allen”.

Four weeks of sunny, beautiful weather came and went, as they worked about one day a week but, finally, on May 2nd, the crew returned and stayed long enough that time to finish their part of installing our pool. The next day the man who did the excavating called to say they were on their way to backfill but we explained that we had a heavy downpour the night before and our yard was a muddy mess to which he replied, “I will just come and take a look”. We are very thankful that the landscaper, fence company, and electrician have been so easy to work with because they had to rearrange their schedule more than once to accommodate us and, in fact, the landscaper had stopped by the day before to see when he might be able to get started. During this visit, he asked if the backfill would be tamped which he said had to be done before putting in the paver patio. As the consumer, this is not something that we had thought about but that made perfect sense when it was pointed out to us. We immediately called the salesperson in the Concord store concerning this issue. She said she would check with ‘Allen’ and get back to us which she promptly did telling us that ‘Allen’ said, “ yes, the backfill would be tamped down”. Great, something was finally going as it should!

When the man who did the excavating arrived, we discussed tamping down the backfill and he said he wasn’t going to tamp it down—that he didn’t even have anything to tamp it down with. So, I guess the non-politcally correct thing to say was that someone lied to us. And, in reflecting back over our dealings with the different people with Backyard Leisure, they often said what we wanted to hear just to get us to go away. But, he did point out that the light that had been installed by the other crew was leaking so he called somebody about the light. And, although the backfill could not be completed until the light was fixed, he proceeded to push red clay mud and rock under the pool steps and around the backside of the pool and did enough that I guess he could say he had done his job. When he left, he called back saying that he had talked to somebody about the leaking light and that we would be hearing from somebody. So far we have still not heard from anybody.
The poor customer service and lack of communication, the concrete splattered on the side of our son’s truck, the back of our car and the exposed side of the pool, the leaky light, the pool not being set at the right height (which is causing our landscaper big headaches and us more money) was bad, but what we found out next blew our minds and we still just cannot wrap our arms around how it could possibly be true!

I laid awake thinking about that clay mud and rock they had pushed around part of our pool and just felt this could not be right so I decided to call the pool manufacturer the next day. And, indeed, the technician I talked to said that clay should not be used as a backfill and told me what they recommended. I then googled ‘how to backfill against a Radiant above ground pool’ and there, for anyone to see, were detailed diagrams and clear instructions on how to backfill if doing a concrete or a paver patio. And, very clearly stated was the fact that clay should never be used as the backfill. How could it be that a company that installs these pools did not know this?!
We dumped the water we had paid for down below the level of the light and paid someone to fix it, spent Mother’s Day Sunday digging out the mud put under the steps, hauled in material for the backfill and then tamped it down. And, although our yard still looks like a war zone, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel although we are still not sure what the landscaping is going to involve.

Finally on Memorial Day weekend we were able to enter our pool for the first time and thought ourselves well even with the problem, it was worth it. Then one of our sons asked about the bumps under the liner. I began feeling around the wall and found dozens of small bumps, some of which were large enough to turn the line white where they protruded. We can only surmise that the installation crew splashed concrete on the inside walls and did not clean it off.

We have asked for a representative of Backyard Leisure visit our home and let us know what they plan to do about it. I doubt I will hear from them.

We are third generation business owners so we know how hard it is to be in business but, although we certainly do not wish any ill-will towards Backyard Leisure Pools, we certainly do not want anyone else to have the negative experience we did. This letter may not have any impact and may quickly be tossed into a circular file, but hopefully the public will learn something from our experience.