Dundas Valley Pools

While I must admit the communication was at times not great, I have to say I was and am happy with the end result of our Reno by dundas Valley pools.

Dan came by to do an initial site visit and take a look at the cracked coping I had discussed with him over the phone. We have a 16 by 32 foot rectangle pool in Burlington off of Guelph Line. His visit verified what he had told me would likely be the case over the phone that the coping needed to be replaced, and thus our concrete deck. He told us we could get away with doing a coping stone border if we just wanted to cut out just around the coping but we ended up getting the whole deck redone. This meant we could also replace the plumbing lines, which he pointed out were old (pool is circa 1987). Along with the replaced plumbing we got the pool jets and skimmer replaced brand new before they backfilled with the gravel. One of their guys screwed the skimmer piece into the wall too tightly and cracked the skimmer, but Dan did get it replaced by the end of that week. Lastly, after an inspection of the pool equipment he replaced our Zodiac salt machine as well as the cartridge filter system with a brand new sand filter with special beads inside. Overall the equipment has been easy to use and the pool seems to stay cleaner than it has in the past.

My wife really loves the difference that the coping and interlock stone makes to the backyard. The steps going into the pool make it nicer to look at and to use.

They do shoddy work. Do not show up when promised. Had to drain and fill pool three times because parts were missing and liner kept slipping down. Installers do not know what they are doing. Put filtration system where ladder system was supposed to go - patio stones platform for ladder. They put ladder system on wooden skid which was for filtration system and ladder was uneven and sloping into pool - very dangerous. Pool was not level - water is about 2" from top at one end and about 6" from top at other end. Took endless phone calls and e-mails from me, my adult son and adult daughter demanding that they come back and make ladder system level - remove wooden skid, level ground, and lay 24" patio stones for ladder platform. After threatening legal action, they finally came back and made ladder level - a shoddy job with attitude, but at least the ladder was made safe.

I have had the pool water go green twice even though I keep the pump running 24/7. It took two jugs of chlorine each time to clear the water. So I asked by pool guy who does pool cleaning, opening and closing of pools (Don's Pools and Spas) to come take a look and he discovered that they did not install the chlorinator properly and no chlorine was going into the pool. No wonder it kept going green, even though I kept adding chlorine pucks to the chlorinator. And it was those guys who recommended that I buy a chlorinator and they said they would install it. They just don't know what they are doing.

If I had of researched Dundas Valley Pools first, I would never have hired them to install my pool.

This is the worst and most unresponsive and unprofessional company I have ever used. If you're willing to pay market price for an incomplete liner and leaks after that they won't fix, and pay thousands of dollars in wasted water, this is the company for you. Please learn from our experience and stay away!!! Here is my dreadful experience

I thought we started off well with a quote for a new pool liner as we sold our home and wanted to give the new owners a great experience with our backyard oasis. We agreed on a fair price and we also had them close the pool for us last spring. All went well we thought and during the discussion of the liner they were very prompt to reply.

We had booked for May 8th to get the liner installed. I guess there was a mix up and they came the next day. They came and tire the old liner off. They said they'll have to come back during the week to install it. Our closing was May 28th, so we figured no big deal we have some time, however if we were planning on using it ourselves I would have been beyond frustrated with the weeks it took to have a liner installed that caused leaks and started falling off.

Finally after about two weeks and a dozen unread or unattended messages for the owner, they finally came. I was beyond patient as I didn't want to cause any reason for them not to finish. Install was near done and we were instructed to fill up the pool to a certain point, and after they would come to finish. Got the water to that point and it was another few days before they came back to finish, only to tell us there was an issue and we had to drain the pool again at our expense. We did so, they came back and spent another day trying to fix it. All was well we were told and so we started to fill up the pool again. There were some parts comming off the top of the liner, so we told them, and again, drain fix and refill at our expense. We are now the day before closing our house when I noticed again the liner slipping. I told the owner and said he will have to work out some time with three new owners to come fix.

The family was very understanding and beyond patient. They tried several times to get a hold of the owner after they noticed a heavy amount of water being lost from the pool. The owner would not respond. I tried phoning them and nothing. Not until I phoned from a different number, then they picked up. He claimed he sent a leak detection company and they fixed the issue, but the issue was not fixed. The new owners after several attempts had to phone another company to go and fix the leak. What a complete mess!

I was told there was a warranty for the liner and their workmanship, which obviously isn't true as they were dodging our calls. I'm so stressed about this and we are going to now have to settles this in court!! Unbelievable, please....DO NOT SUPPORT THESE CR00ks

If I could have chosen zero stars, I would have. I purchased a home with a pool. The previous owners hired DVP to install a new liner prior to us moving in. They day we moved in, the pool was half full-it's clear there was a major leak. It took about a week via text messages for Dan to address the issue. He sent me a YouTube video of the "bucket test". I emphasized that I was losing approx 8-12 inches of water every 24 hrs, but he never replied. Eventually in trying to reach him, I came across a Google instant message feature. I mentioned all my attempts to reach him and my leak problem. He emailed shortly thereafter (I know now that those messages were public, so he was trying to salvage his reputation). He didn't ever get back to me, but instead sent a contracted Leak Detector (Leak Detectives). The "repair" to the leaks can barely be called that. If I can't attach a picture, imagine 2 holes covered with chewed bubble gum that barely covers the area. That was the "fix." When my pool continued to leak, both myself and the previous owners tried to reach him multiple times. He was ignoring all text messages, voicemails, emails etc. It got to the point that we were both reaching out to him multiple times a day, every day. It took me 6 weeks to finally reach him, and it was only after I threatened legal action and negative reviews. He came to look at the leaks. He dipped his head into my pool, rubbed some caulking over the area, and said that would hold until he could come back to patch it.

Canadian Leak Detection came the next day (Buds Pools and Spas sent them. I hired them for service when Dan was avoiding my correspondence). They said the only way to permanently fix the leak was vinyl welding. Dan had suggested a patch kit from his truck.

When I asked him to pay for the 2nd leak detection (since he would have paid to send his own contractor for a follow-up, had he answered my calls), and for the vinyl welding (if he couldn't offer a fix more permanent than a patch kit), he stopped answering my texts again.

I will never use this company again, and I plan to share my story with everyone I can so nobody else has to experience this frustration and lack of service. He has some nice looking work on his website, but based on my experience, I wouldn't be surprised if it was shoddy work. (FYI, the new liner he installed has wrinkles in it and is drooping from the coping in various places. It's warranted for him to fix at closing, but I will have someone else do it and send him the bill through my lawyer).

I was not the person who originally hired him, so I don't know what gave the previous owners the confidence to choose his company. What I do know, is that he is unable to deal with conflict or controversy in a professional manner. I've been very reasonable and tempered in my communications. His reason for not getting back to me was that he's been busy this pool season and he can't keep track of his messages (even if this were true, that's not a great way to run a business). I know this is BS because the text I sent with the word "lawyer" received a reply within 5 minutes.

I could honestly write pages more detailing our interactions, my impressions and experiences, but I'd like to take some time to post this on other review sites before anyone else gets duped by him.

Seems to me he's a guy who knows enough about pools to have started and expanded his small business, but in no other way was he prepared for the actual business side of running a company. He can't cope with problems, so he ignores them.

Do not hire:

Unprofessional
Poor Workmanship
Horrible Communication
Unreliable
Evasive

These traits explain the competitive pricing he offers. Trust me-you get what you pay for. Dish out your $$$ to a competent and trusted company up front. If you go with Dundas Valley Pools, you might end up spending that "saved" amount, anyway, as you try to "put out all the fires" he started.