Complaint Review: backyard solutions

update to date july 26th 2014

we paid 3100 for a pool liner on may 30th 2014 by check with installation promised within a couple week and 1000 due at installation. mr Phillips personally drove out to my office and collected check within an hour of my wife calling to order the liner and had it cashed within 30 minutes. we waited a couple weeks and hadn't heard anything so we left 7 or 8 messages with poolmart plus - same phone number same building as backyard solutions for mr Phillips to call us to find out when he would be out. he finally contacted my wife on the morning of june 28th and told her he would be out Monday june 30th to drain the pool and install the liner. 2 men showed up that morning neither of which was mr Phillips as promised. they threw a pump in the pool and left. no one has been back since. we left several more messages that week without a return call. I finally called poolmart plus again saturday july 5th and spoke to a woman named sue who very reluctantly gave me mr Phillips cell phone number. I called him at least 20 times that weekend and he wouldn't answer - voicemail full so couldn't leave a message. on the morning of monday july 7th I blocked my phone number and called him and picked up immediately. I asked him 2 questions was the liner in and when would he be out to install it. his response was yes it was and he would be out in a day or two. he had several excuses which meant nothing to me. that was the last conversation I had with him and have not seen or heard from him since. on saturday july 19th I filed a complaint with the ohio attorney generals office and received a phone call Monday morning from the criminal investigative dept. evidently poolmart plus, backyard solutions and the former poolman from Whitehall which was subsequently shut down by the ohio atty general a few years ago are all related in some fashion. they suggested I file theft charges if I don't get a full refund of the 3100. this afternoon july 26th I paid a visit to poolmart plus/backyard solutions at 1521 alum creek drive with the presence of a Columbus police officer for fear of anything getting out of hand. craig - I assume the owner of poolmart plus but not certain - first denied of referring mr phillips  to us - an outright lie since the previous summer craig ordered a pool cover for us and had it delivered. craig was our only contact at poolmart plus and recommended we call him when we were ready to replace our liner which was needed. when we called craig this past may he told us that aj Phillips was his liner guy and you know the rest of the story. the visit with Columbus police didn't go very well, craig denies any involvement with mr Phillips, they are conventiently 2 completely separate businesses, awfully convenient for his sake now that we are being ripped off. we are still waiting for a response from mr Phillips and will be contacting an attorney as our next step. upon further research online about both of these companies that operate out of the same building with the same phone number there have been numerous complaints about bad service or no service.

update

copy of complaint with ohio attorney generals office

Complaint 815247

Attached is invoice showing we paid 3100 for a pool liner from backyard solution (also doing business as poolmart plus ) 1521 alum creek dr Columbus oh 43209 phone 614 237 5781

AJ Phillips owner of backyard solutions drove out to my office one hour after my wife ordered the pool liner over the phone and collected a check for 3100 (copy attached). 1000 due at installation. 3 weeks later and no word from mr phillips and not returning any of the dozen phone calls we left messages to call for an update he finally contacted my wife on the morning of june 28^th. He promised he would be out Monday the 30^th to drain the pool and install the liner. 2 workers showed up neither of which was mr phillips which he promised, they threw a pump in the pool and left.  The pool has not been touched since. I spoke to mr phillips for the very first time on july 7^th by blocking my phone number (only time he has ever picked up his cell phone by the way) his voicemail is always full so a message has to be left at their office which Is a complete waste of time. His cell phone is 614 394 2787.  Any way on july 7^th mr phillips informed me he would be out to install liner in a “day or two” . I asked if the liner was in and he replied yes. This was an outright lie since I found out later that day that his workers stopped by to take measurement of the pool. Something they had done on the day the pool liner was ordered may 30^th.  Obviously the pool liner was never ordered and they had lost the measurements.  I have been unable to reach mr phillips since voicemail full, he has obviously seen my 20 or 30 missed calls on his cell and has yet to reach me.  i am filing a complaint with the ohio attorney general for work promised and not done. It has been almost 8 weeks since we ordered our liner expecting it to be installed within a couple weeks as promised.  We have  already lost the summer and who knows how much longer now. We are demanding a full refund of the 3100 dollars paid for services not rendered

in an update to my previous post, correction the check for the liner for 3100 was written on 5-30-14 - i finally received a phone call on 6-21 after atleast 7 or 8 messages both my husband and i had made for aj phillips to call us to find out the status of our order. aj had several excuses why he couldnt pick up the phone and take 60 seconds to call me. he said he would stop over on 6-23 (monday) to get the pool drained and ready for installation but still wouldnt give me a date for install. on monday 2 guys shows up neither of which was aj phillips and threw a pump in our pool to drain it an left. as of today 6-28 the pump is still in the pool no one has shown up or called since. my husband finally called poolmart plus again this morning. note not certain of the actual relationship between poolmart plus and backyard solutions they may be one in the same no one at poolmart plus will discuss anything with us concerning the liner or the install we are told that is aj's baby and aj phillips receipt shows backyard solutions whatever that means. anyway my husband called poolmart plus and asked the receptionist for aj's cell phone which she reluctantly gave to him. if anyone needs it - it is 614 394 2787 atleast for now. anyway cant leave a voicemail on it sent him a text and 7 hours later we are still waiting to hear back from him. he did manage to accidentally call us back because the phone rang once and hung up and after we called back and he wouldnt answer.  to make matters even worse we just came across a review on the better business bureau website of a woman named natalie s from 5 days ago 6-23 whom paid for a liner and install in full and now has a liner with a hole in it unable to use and is also waiting for a call back or a visit back. she too mentioned how nice they were at first which mirrors our feelings. in fact aj phillips had no problem rushing to my husbands office to pick up the 3100 dollar check for the liner within 2 hours of the time i initially placed the order with him over the phone and here we are one month later and know nothing more than we knew the day the order was placed and now fear that what we receive will be more along the lines of what natalie s has received.

my husband is absolutely livid and our next phone call will be monday morning to the ohio attorney generals office to see if we have any recourse whatsoever to what is obviously a company that is good at one thing and one thing only - ripping off its customers one way or another. there are other complaints made of this company as well upon further research.  whether its the pool man - poolmart plus or backyard solutions including the ohio attorney general shutting down the pool man but sounds like family members have taken over and its business as usual just a new name new phone numbers.   we shall see what happens next but one thing is for certain if a homeowner pays 3100 dollars for a pool liner and one month later cant receive a call back from the company that is doing the work, cant be told an install date, cant even be told if the liner is in or if its even been ordered i smell a rotten fish. our 3100 dollar check was cashed an hour after it was written probably for some other use than to order our liner.  waiting on a phone call and some action from aj phillips of backyard solution craig the pool man at poolmart plus - someone anyone to address the issue but feel we are getting screwed very slowly. in addition there is a 1000 install fee due upon intall , not very certain how that will play out either - stay tuned its going to be choppy waters for this shark infested swimming pool.