Hello All,
The full history/backstory of my experience is below. The overall question is pretty simple so skip to the bottom please if you just want to see the question.
Sorry if this is in the wrong place, I am trying to confirm some information that is being told to me and my googling has come up short. My family signed a new pool contract with a local vendor in May of 2020. At the time, it was the height of the pandemic and he was fully booked for 2020 so our scheduled install date was sometime in early 2021. The main reason we went with this vendor over his competitor in the area is because he could put in the pool about 6 months earlier then other vendor at the time.
The vendor is a nice guy and seems to have been honest throughout the process, but it is clear he is over-booked, stressed out, and quite frankly an absolutely horrible communicator. I work in construction so I'm used to dealing with these types of personalities to some extent so it really doesn't bother me that much but it makes getting information painful.
The issue we are having is that the pool manufacturer allegedly is completely shutdown due to the Texas Freeze affecting the production of vinyl ester resin and has no production schedule to provide the installer, so the installer subsequently cannot provide us with an updated installation timeline. Initially on March 17th, 2021 (approximately two weeks before the ship date of our pool scheduled to be delivered to the installer on 04/05/21), we received a letter notifying us that the pool manufacturer claimed force majeure due to a vinyl ester resin shortage and that the delay in production would be a minimum of 8 weeks due to the frozen pipes / damage caused to the vinyl ester resin plant. This was easily verifiable online so we accepted it, penciled in June 5th for the approximate delivery date and moved on with our lives.
On April 17th, we received an update from the vendor/installer saying they had a phone call with the manufacturer and that production would be down at least until the end of the month with an anticipated start date of May. This still seemed within the 8 week delay timeline previously reported so I thought it was just and update to let us know they were on schedule. The letter also said he was going to move all his gunite and liner pools up to the beginning of the season so he could 100% focus on the fiberglass pools when they arrived. It also notified us of a material increase surcharge to the contract which was completely expected as the vendor was up front that this was coming. It did not provide an amount but said it would be forwarded when it was available.
Here is where I start to get a little bit nervous. I was looking on the manufacturer's website in the middle of May and I saw that they posted an update on their production issues. It was very vague but it did say clearly they were back in production as of April 30th and provided a list of material surcharges that should be expected. I took this as very good news to getting the pool at least sometime this summer so I reached out to the vendor to ask if he heard anything. I had to call, email and text him about 8 times over two weeks before he finally called me back. He was apologetic and told me he was running around like a madman. He said there had been no update from the manufacturer on our pool lead time, he only received notice of one customer's pool coming in and he had dozens on order. He could not tell me how far ahead this person was from our order which was understandable since he was not near his paperwork to check. I told him ok and that I would check in with him in 3-4 weeks.
I checked in with him earlier this week and he sent me (and about 15 other customers on a group email) another letter saying that that manufacturer is refusing to provide any production schedule due to the inconsistent deliveries of Vinyl Ester resin and the only commitment he has from them is that all pools will be manufactured this year. He referenced July 15th as the next date where he is scheduled to receive an update from the manufacturer on what pools he can expect to receive. I started looking at this installers recent reviews and saw that they were tanking. He had about 4 stars prior to the pandemic (communication was always an issue so I knew that going in) but now he is averaging 1 star with some very angry customers.
Again, I am well aware of the supply chain issues the industries are currently facing because I am experiencing them myself in the commercial construction industry, however I have never encountered anything like this to date. The manufacturer's website presents as if everything is back to normal from the freeze, and a couple competitors in the area who also carry this manufacturer do not seem to be having the same problems, at least according to their websites and online reviews. Every pool installer is 100% booked out a year and a half ahead of time at this point so they are all over-booked and stressed out. I'm trying to not hold that against them.
Which finally leads me to my question - can any installers or customers waiting for a pool out there confirm that this delayed lead time for a fiberglass pool is accurate? Based on the original delivery date of 04/05/21, a 3-4 day transit time to my house, and the 7-10 day production process of a pool, my original production slot at the factory should have been around 3/15/21 to 3/26/21. The freeze started on February 10th, 2021, so I was about 5-6 weeks away from fabrication before the freeze. Is it normal to not even have an ETA on the pool as of July 1st considering where I was in the queue? I don't think the installer is being dishonest I am just trying to get a sanity check on what I am being told.
The full history/backstory of my experience is below. The overall question is pretty simple so skip to the bottom please if you just want to see the question.
Sorry if this is in the wrong place, I am trying to confirm some information that is being told to me and my googling has come up short. My family signed a new pool contract with a local vendor in May of 2020. At the time, it was the height of the pandemic and he was fully booked for 2020 so our scheduled install date was sometime in early 2021. The main reason we went with this vendor over his competitor in the area is because he could put in the pool about 6 months earlier then other vendor at the time.
The vendor is a nice guy and seems to have been honest throughout the process, but it is clear he is over-booked, stressed out, and quite frankly an absolutely horrible communicator. I work in construction so I'm used to dealing with these types of personalities to some extent so it really doesn't bother me that much but it makes getting information painful.
The issue we are having is that the pool manufacturer allegedly is completely shutdown due to the Texas Freeze affecting the production of vinyl ester resin and has no production schedule to provide the installer, so the installer subsequently cannot provide us with an updated installation timeline. Initially on March 17th, 2021 (approximately two weeks before the ship date of our pool scheduled to be delivered to the installer on 04/05/21), we received a letter notifying us that the pool manufacturer claimed force majeure due to a vinyl ester resin shortage and that the delay in production would be a minimum of 8 weeks due to the frozen pipes / damage caused to the vinyl ester resin plant. This was easily verifiable online so we accepted it, penciled in June 5th for the approximate delivery date and moved on with our lives.
On April 17th, we received an update from the vendor/installer saying they had a phone call with the manufacturer and that production would be down at least until the end of the month with an anticipated start date of May. This still seemed within the 8 week delay timeline previously reported so I thought it was just and update to let us know they were on schedule. The letter also said he was going to move all his gunite and liner pools up to the beginning of the season so he could 100% focus on the fiberglass pools when they arrived. It also notified us of a material increase surcharge to the contract which was completely expected as the vendor was up front that this was coming. It did not provide an amount but said it would be forwarded when it was available.
Here is where I start to get a little bit nervous. I was looking on the manufacturer's website in the middle of May and I saw that they posted an update on their production issues. It was very vague but it did say clearly they were back in production as of April 30th and provided a list of material surcharges that should be expected. I took this as very good news to getting the pool at least sometime this summer so I reached out to the vendor to ask if he heard anything. I had to call, email and text him about 8 times over two weeks before he finally called me back. He was apologetic and told me he was running around like a madman. He said there had been no update from the manufacturer on our pool lead time, he only received notice of one customer's pool coming in and he had dozens on order. He could not tell me how far ahead this person was from our order which was understandable since he was not near his paperwork to check. I told him ok and that I would check in with him in 3-4 weeks.
I checked in with him earlier this week and he sent me (and about 15 other customers on a group email) another letter saying that that manufacturer is refusing to provide any production schedule due to the inconsistent deliveries of Vinyl Ester resin and the only commitment he has from them is that all pools will be manufactured this year. He referenced July 15th as the next date where he is scheduled to receive an update from the manufacturer on what pools he can expect to receive. I started looking at this installers recent reviews and saw that they were tanking. He had about 4 stars prior to the pandemic (communication was always an issue so I knew that going in) but now he is averaging 1 star with some very angry customers.
Again, I am well aware of the supply chain issues the industries are currently facing because I am experiencing them myself in the commercial construction industry, however I have never encountered anything like this to date. The manufacturer's website presents as if everything is back to normal from the freeze, and a couple competitors in the area who also carry this manufacturer do not seem to be having the same problems, at least according to their websites and online reviews. Every pool installer is 100% booked out a year and a half ahead of time at this point so they are all over-booked and stressed out. I'm trying to not hold that against them.
Which finally leads me to my question - can any installers or customers waiting for a pool out there confirm that this delayed lead time for a fiberglass pool is accurate? Based on the original delivery date of 04/05/21, a 3-4 day transit time to my house, and the 7-10 day production process of a pool, my original production slot at the factory should have been around 3/15/21 to 3/26/21. The freeze started on February 10th, 2021, so I was about 5-6 weeks away from fabrication before the freeze. Is it normal to not even have an ETA on the pool as of July 1st considering where I was in the queue? I don't think the installer is being dishonest I am just trying to get a sanity check on what I am being told.
