Customer ReviewsforGib-San Pools

While Gib-San delivers a quality product, they are a very difficult company to work with. We embarked on a complete reno of our front & back gardens. Our project manager was pleasant & assured us that he would take care of everything, incl permits. Weeks would go by without any trades at the job site yet we were constantly being asked for more money. (Covid was the favorite excuse but a year later, they were still trying to blame the lockdown for their lack of progress). Repeated requests for a schedule of work/timeline were ignored. Eventually, we demanded that the project manager be removed & we stopped making payments. It was the only leverage we had. Peter, the COO, stepped in & apologized profusely for the lack of progress & assured us he would get the job done. The project was completed but failed inspection on 3 points. They eventually passed the pool closure inspection but we still needed a building inspector to close the permit. For whatever reason, Peter refused to acknowledge that a bldg inspection was needed but we weren't going to make the final payment until all permits were cleared. So Gib-San had their lawyers start threatening us with a lien. Still, we made a payment to show that we intended to pay in full as long as Gib-San fulfilled their obligations. They eventually acknowledged that they needed a building inspection but filed a lien anyway. i was present for the inspector's visit, along with Peter, which lasted all of 15 minutes. As Peter was leaving I said to him, "That's all you had to do." His reply? "We didn't know." How does a so-called master pool builder not know what inspections are required?! We made the final payment but Gib-San, through their lawyers, tried to make releasing the lien contingent upon us agreeing that we would not make any negative comments about them. That was not enforceable, & the lien was released. ****** ***** ***** ****** ****** *********** ********** ** ******* **** **** ** *** ***** *** 

Feedback is very important to us. As you are a current active client, we feel your concerns could have been addressed much quicker by bringing them directly to our team. We value the relationships that we build with our clients, some of which have been in place for 50 years. You have direct access to many members of our team, in several different departments, and trust you will use these resources to your advantage in the future.

To summarize your concerns written here, we see there are concerns with the below areas:
Our payment schedule
Timing and progress of work
Permitting

Payment schedule – Our payment schedules are based on the progress of work. Each progress phase is assigned a value and this is cleared noted and discussed with our clients when the contract is signed. It is mutually agreed to and this schedule applies to all of our contracts.

Timing of work – Our business differs from other construction business as we typically cannot start and/or complete our work at our discretion - the workspace is occupied with other trades. We are often the first trade on site and the last to leave as the application of the plaster surface is the last and one of the more critical steps in the process. This final step is often regulated by the final fence inspection as we must rely on city inspectors to complete the fence inspection before we can add water to the pool.

Permitting – Our team was not under contract to take care of everything, including permits. Permitting is a service we offer however this was not a service that we were hired to complete as per our contract for this specific project. The permit referenced was opened by the homeowners’ hired Architect. Gib-San completed the work as specified within the information provided. When Gib-San was hired to build the swimming pool, there was an active approved pool enclosure permit that was submitted and completed by the homeowner’s Architect. During this project's inspection phase, the inspector did not pass the permit done by others. In addition, the other permits taken out, were not taken by Gib-San but by this Architect. 

We requested payment and invoiced for work completed. We did not receive payment until 8 months later for the balances due. Every invoice and work order is documented in our accounting system. Receiving payment was incredibly challenging - we needed to utilize and engage several members of our team to sending emails, making phone calls etc. - to no resolve or willingness to pay for contractually executed work. As per our legal counsel's advice, in order to get paid, we sought options to receive payment. We have over 150 employees whose families and livelihoods depend on payments being received. It is our fiduciary responsibility to ensure we collect money for work that we have completed. 

We care about our clients and their projects immensely. There were challenges presented along the way to all parties involved. We followed through on all the work that was in the contract.

I find it laughable that you might suggest that I bring my concerns directly to Gib-San - I was constantly sharing my concerns over the entire project and no one cared. Your COO, Peter, took over the job and for weeks apologized for the lack of progress and promised to "make it right" so please do not try and imply that you were not aware of our frustration. I had no issue with paying per the payment schedule as long as work was getting done. That's the issue - you weren't doing anything. The only way we could get your attention was to stop making the payments. And we all knew at the beginning that there was already a pool permit and we all knew that Regi, Senior Project Manager, stated that he would take responsibility for getting all permits past inspection. I think the most telling point of my initial review, though, that you chose not to address, was your attempt to get me to sign a document saying I would not make any negative comments about you in order to release the lien. The lien that you filed the DAY AFTER you acknowledged that you did actually need to have a building inspector visit the property after weeks of saying you did not. If you were confident in how you handled the project, you wouldn't be worried about negative reviews getting out there.

Very Overpriced and Extremely Poor Service
I purchased a home which has a Gib-San built pool, cabana and outdoor kitchen in January 2021 and thought it best to have Gib-San continue to maintain the installation given they had been doing so for 7 or 8 years. What a mistake. They are either the highest priced or rank amongst the highest priced services in the GTA so you would expect superior service. The technicians they employ are very good but the staff employed in the service office are terrible. Let me provide some examples.
The service staff book your opening and closing for "the week of" but will not confirm the date until late the day before their actual attendance making it very difficult to be present should you not work from home and want to be at your home when the technicians attend. I was advised by the pool opening technician that I should add 2 bags of salt immediately after the pool opening with a third bag to follow in 2 weeks which I did. The salt cell was not generating chlorine so I arranged for a service and was advised that it was not working because there was too much salt in the water. When I advised that I had done exactly as I was instructed to do by their technician Gib-San still took the position that this was somehow my responsibility and agreed to refund only half of the $220.35 service fee. Gib-San has been closing the pool and winterizing the cabana and outdoor kitchen since they built it 7 or 8 years ago but when their technicians attended to close the pool October 2021 they advised that they no longer offer cabana and outdoor kitchen winterizing services. I contacted Gib-San to find out why they had not informed me they would not be performing the full winterization and was told I should have somehow been aware of this as it was not specified in the contract. Now I am having difficulty locating another pool company that will winterize the cabana and outdoor kitchen because no one seems interested in doing this unless I agree to have them also close the pool which Gib-San has already completed. Had Gib-San informed me that they were no longer offering the full winterization service, I would have made arrangements with another service that would. Again, their failure to properly inform the customer was somehow my fault.
This is not the level of service I would expect from any one in the service industry, particularly a service that charges premium pricing for their services. I will certainly never use their services again *************************************************************** ************************************************

We only opened and closed this swimming pool. We did not perform weekly maintenance on this swimming pool. We had a phenomenal relationship with the previous homeowner under the same procedures and management. When a homeowner choses to service their own pool ongoing, weekly water testing to check chemical levels is critical to keep the chemistry in ideal ranges.
 
In terms of opening scheduling and communication: We only book ‘the week of’. This is an industry norm. As weather and staffing can influence the schedule, we do not provide specific days ahead of the week scheduled. We contact the week before to confirm as well as the day before. Our work and schedule is greatly impacted by the weather outcomes. With rain days, the schedule will get pushed to accomodate. We hope this helps clarify this concern.
 
In terms of the salt reading, our technician conversationally stated that ‘typically you add around 2-3 bags of salt at opening’ when asked how much salt the pool would require after opening. A pool must always be tested before adding chemicals to treat water. As a pool is cold and the water level is lowered, the pool must be filled, circulating, heated, and tested before adding salt to the water. A salt reading will not be accurate until the water has reached a specific temperature range. As a homeowner who chose to service your own pool, the water levels must be tested prior to adding any chemicals or product. We refunded half of the service fee in good faith regardless of this to show our appreciation for your concerns.
 
We do not offer cabana or outdoor kitchen winterizing’s. As the agreement signed for the care of the outdoor pool (which includes all al-la-carte options) did not include the winterizing of the cabana or kitchen as an option, these were not closed at the time of winterizing the pool. It would make sense that a pool company would not want to close the cabana or kitchen without the pool. It is standard that a plumber would be called to close these water lines as they are not associated with the pool equipment.

Please know that we appreciate each of our clients. We trust that the above helps clarify.