Get Marty: Family Angry After Botched Swimming Pool Installation
WEST MIFFLIN (KDKA) – It's a sign that makes you wonder, what lawsuit? What pool company? Who could be this angry?
KDKA's Marty Griffin found the answers to all of those questions in Sue Grandillo's backyard in West Mifflin.
"I wanna cry," she said. "It's terrible, it's terrible."
A mud-filled hole in the ground, a kinda-sorta pool, was supposed to be finished last year. A Christmas present for the family.
"You give your children a gift for Christmas, wrap up a raft telling them you're getting a built-in pool and you've waited over a year now and this is what you have to look at every day," said Grandillo.
Grandillo points out cracks in the pool cement. All over the pool, there are bulges in the side cement, chunks of cement falling off – a ladder she claims was installed improperly. It's a pool full of problems and a contractor who she says walked away.
"I want him to come up and man up, and do the job and re-do my pool, or give me my money back," Grandillo said.
The pool builder is Ed Bakosh, Jr. Bakosh is the owner of Skyview Pools, a business with a good reputation, run by his father for decades, and now, Bakosh is the boss.
Bakosh refused to talk to us on camera and wouldn't return phone calls. His lawyer refused to speak to KDKA also, so we tried to speak to Bakosh at his business.
KDKA's Marty Griffin: "You're calling the police? Is Ed around?"
Employee: "No, he's not."
They did call police.
Meantime, the Grandillo family took it to court.
Five months ago, an arbitrator ordered Skyview Pools and the cement contractor to pay nearly $15,000 to the Grandillo family, ordered Skyview to finish the pool. The Grandillos must pay for that, they are ready. But Bakosh appealed and it's now headed to trial.
"It's been a nightmare here," Vince Grandillo said.
Vince worked in the mills for years, saved his money and paid for the pool with his retirement cash.
"I just wanted a swimming pool for my grandson to swim in," he said.
The plan is to fight until there's a pool. They plan to make more signs, even buy a billboard across the street from Skyview Pools with working similar to this: "Skyview Pools, Just Another Nightmare Job."
What's particularly confounding about this case is Skyview Pools has a good reputation. They only have three complaints in three years at the Better Business Bureau. Only one, this one, is unresolved. And they lost the arbitration hearing, but refused to settle.
If you'd like Marty to help you solve your problem, email him at GetMarty@kdka.com.
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