Wilkes Genesis Vs. Premier Monument

[SRBrown]

Can any owners of either the Premier Monument (formerly Esther Willimas Millennium) or Wilkes Genesis give me feedback of durability, problems, how many years you've owned it, decking durability, how they age, decking strenth with people on deck, etc... ANY and ALL information appreciated! I am down to these two pools, but cannot decide. I live in Western Pennsylvania. I have never owned a pool before. Thanks!

[mccahan]

We just signed the contract for a Wilkes Pool. Should be able to tell you more in a couple of weeks, they could be starting next week. I didn't compare to the Premier Monument, but did check aroudn with a few Wilkes owners. I know someone who has had theirs for nearly 25 years and I knew I would get an honest answer. He has been pleased. His deck is the wood covered in vinyl (I believe), which now needs replaced in spots but they are now using a different material on the new installs. For the past 25 years he had no major problems, just normal wear and tear he had to replace the pump and liner.

I've also looked at a few of their recent installs. I hope I made the right choice. I found it hard to compare companies as everyone recommends something different. You are never comparing apples to apples.

[RBarnes]

My wife and I purchasd a Gibraltar pool about 10 years ago and we have had nothing but aggravation. The salesman promises you the world and after the pool is installed you can't communicate with anyone. When this salesman started talking to us the and he went through his presentation he came up with a price of $18000.00. We thanked hiim for his time and politely said no thanks. He then made two (which I belive to be fictitious phone calls to his boss) and came up with a deal. They just happen to have a model on display at the mall and we could have it for #10000.00. All warranties included. Well, we got suckered in. The installation sucked. They put down as little sand as possible and in the first year we had a hole in our liner. I wanted a new liner as it wasn't even a year old. They came and patched it and said that is what the warranty calls for. The patch is very noticable and ugly. Too bad, we got nowhere. After 3 years the decking started peeling. We called and they said that we could buy their paint to redo it at a special discounted price because of the warranty. Our price was $150 a gallon. Are they crazy? The other option was to buy the new aluminum decking for a discounted price due to the warranty of $2500.00. The kicker is I couldn't install it. It had to be done by their contractor for another $2500.00. I have had nothing but bad dealings with these people. It's a shame because the pool is so easy to maintain and the kids love it. If they changed their attitude and had better customer relations they would probably be selling a lot more pools. Hope this helped.

[SRBrown]

We just signed the contract for a Wilkes Pool. Should be able to tell you more in a couple of weeks, they could be starting next week. I didn't compare to the Premier Monument, but did check aroudn with a few Wilkes owners. I know someone who has had theirs for nearly 25 years and I knew I would get an honest answer. He has been pleased. His deck is the wood covered in vinyl (I believe), which now needs replaced in spots but they are now using a different material on the new installs. For the past 25 years he had no major problems, just normal wear and tear he had to replace the pump and liner.

I've also looked at a few of their recent installs. I hope I made the right choice. I found it hard to compare companies as everyone recommends something different. You are never comparing apples to apples.

[SRBrown]

How is your Wilkes pool? We ended up with the Monument. Really didn't get to use it but for a couple times "just to say we got in" as we purchased it at the end of the season 2010. Can't wait to open and use it!! We decided against the Wilkes because the distributor/installer of them said we couldn't put one where we wanted. He said we could only get a small round and install in a different part of the yard which we weren't interested in doing. Went to another place and got the 16 x 32 oval Monument. It looks nice, and the people are really nice and helpful. I'll let everyone know how this summer works out.