A health scare accelerated a Virginia woman’s plans to install a swimming pool for her son, but more than a year later, she’s still waiting to achieve that dream.
A breast cancer diagnosis put things into perspective for Maria Silver, of Gainesville.
“It made me realize that life is too short and I've always wanted a pool,” she said.
So she researched pool companies, and Leisure Pools checked off all her boxes. She said the company put her in touch with a local authorized dealer to do the work, Apple Valley Landscaping.
Silver said the owner told her the pool would be the first they ever installed.
“I was assured that with their first pool build that they would have an engineer on site directing their work so that there were no mistakes,” she said.
She signed the contract in September 2017 and spent $49,000, and now, “Just a giant hold filled with rain that became a swamp with frogs and tadpoles,” she said.
She said there was one problem after another.
“A crane had to lift the pool over the house, and they ordered the wrong size crane, so they put the swimming pool on my front yard,” Silver said.
She said there have been permitting issues and inspection delays.
“They fed me a line after line, and I still have no pool,” she said.
Soon after NBC4 Responds contacted the company, work picked up.
In a statement, Apple Valley Landscaping apologized for the delays and said that in addition to its learning curve, it has dealt with a lot of rain and subcontractor delays.
"As a good faith gesture for the delays, we offered further savings ... we have assured Ms. Silver that she has received a quality built and installed swimming pool," the company said in the statement.
In a statement, Leisure Pools said, in part, “We are deeply saddened and crushingly disappointed in how Apple Valley Landscaping has failed to deliver on their promises with the Silver family ... This is why we are re-evaluating our relationship with them up to and including termination."
Apple Valley assured News4 they would complete the Silvers’ pool by the end of next week.
Reported by Susan Hogan, produced by Meredith Royster and edited by Perkins Broussard.