As many others have said on here and google, I was referred to them by First American Home Warranty and holly molly, what a terrible service. They are rude, non responsive, late, and did not show up without notice multiple times. Wasting multiple days of my time. (See text messages) I highly recommend you do not use them for any service and save hours of wasted time/ headaches by using someone else. My experience with them went like this: I called to confirm the appointment, they declined the call and said to text them. I did and they never responded. Day of the appointment I called again to confirm and they finally picked up after the 3rd time. They said they would come that day but never showed up. I asked why they never texted back and they had excuses for everything. We rescheduled, same thing happened again. 2 days I waited all day at home for them to come and no show up. 3rd time they finally end up showing up (late by the way). And they never submit the report to home warranty. I called home warranty and guess what they said, they are not picking up calls from them either LOL read more

Ponce Construction Pools & Landscaping - Pool & Hot Tub Service Near Me

See all

If my pool pump sucked as much as Ponce Construction Pools & Landscaping, I wouldn't be in need of their services! Scheduled a service repair with these derelicts and was told they'd arrive between 0700-1700. After waiting all day for these chumps, they didn't even have the pills to call, cancel and/or reschedule. Don't go down the rabbit hole with these guys. Save yourself the headache and find another pool repair service. read more

BEWARE! Of Ponce Construction Pools & Landscaping License# 999642. Don't use them ESPECIALLY if you have a home warranty!! I submitted a claim with First American Home Warranty for my pool heater and Ponce Pool construction was assigned as the repair contractor. Darwin contacted me on a Friday afternoon and told me he could come to my house because he was close by. I was not home but allowed him to go in my backyard. He informed me the controls were working just fine, which they weren't, but to only use 1 side of the controls. When I contacted Ponce/Darwin again the following week he all of a sudden knew what was wrong and said it would be extremely hard to find the control panel. Almost 2 weeks went by of me constantly calling him and the part was found...great I thought! So last Tuesday Darwin was supposed to come to my home between 8-5pm, which was ridiculous but I made arrangements with my work to be home. I called Darwin around 11am to see what time he would arrive. He answered the phone but quickly got off because a more important call he had been waiting for just called him. That was the last time I heard from Darwin and First American never heard from him as well. 8 days have gone, over a month since my first call about the issue, and numerous calls from myself and First American they finally assigned me a new contractor. I don't know if Ponce is just a very unprofessional company but Darwin definitely is!!! Sean Ponce if you want to trust Darwin with how you handle business it won't last long, good luck and do better!! Or just don't deal with warranty companies, but since you are I will be making more complaints to make sure this doesn't happened to anyone else!!! read more

Worst service and communication I've ever experienced from any company. They couldn't even communicate well enough to make an appointment. I tried calling, got a text back asking me to text them instead. I texted asking for available appointment times, was asked for my address, gave it but go NO response. Tried texting three other days/times without a response. Called Friday and was told he would come Monday. No show Monday. Called Monday and was told that we don't have an appointment and the earliest available is Monday. All he's concerned with is planning his route to avoid traffic. His convenience is more important than meeting his customers needs. After 3 weeks of trying and zero actual success at finding a time that they could come to assess our pool issue, I've officially given up and am seeking help elsewhere. If there actual service is anything like their communication and planning, I recommend staying far away from this business. read more

I was referred to Ponce by First American home warranty. I called them to set up the appointment, they said they would be there the next day, and would call me first thing in the morning to give me a two-hour service time window. I waited all day at home until 2:30 when I called them. Response was, we called you but nobody answered so we canceled your appointment. (Neither my wife's phone or mine had a missed call from them, on top of that, neither my wife's phone or mine had a voicemail from them saying "hey we're trying to reach you for your appointment call us back.") So I asked when they could come they said we can be there on Monday, same thing will call you Monday morning... wanna guess what happened??? No-show again, I called a little after 2:00 And was informed that their guys truck broke down so he wasn't able to fulfill any commitments that day. When I asked why they didn't call to cancel the appointment, he said "why would we?" I said "because you had a customer who has now taken two days off of work to wait around for your guy to no-show twice!" his response, "99% of our customers aren't there when we come to repair or inspect" to which I responded that's interesting because in orange county I'll bet you 99% of the pools you service Are behind locked gates like ours is. He said yes ,that's true people leave them open for us, I said I believe that defeats the purpose of a lock, and we're opening me up to a lot of liability if a neighbor kid snuck in and drowned... Especially when you guys no-show. I also asked how he was supposed to know exactly what was wrong if I wasn't there to show him and explain it to him... His response - that I should call American home warranty and ask for a different service company because he wasn't interested in fulfilling our work order. Now it makes sense why there are so many shitty reviews on Yelp! ... it's amazing that in a business that 100% runs on customer satisfaction and referrals , treats potential customers like me with straight up disrespect and rudeness! I'd swim in a pool full of algae before I'd ever call these guys out to ever do any work for me!!! read more

Came out to do an estimate to fix a variable speed pump that said "drive error" right on the screen of the pump.. stated the pump was fine and continued to quote my client for their "broken cheap" automation panel that worked?!! I strongly recommend running from this unethical business as quickly as possible! You can see videos on YouTube and read all the internet that when that happens to this pump it's dead and needs a new drive.. You should be ashamed of yourself, for trying to rip off my client! Can't believe you've been doing this for 30 years!! read more

Ponce Construction Pools & Landscaping - Business card - Pool & Hot Tub Service Near Me

See all

Called Darwin through AHS home warranty for a pool filter leak. The guy spends the entire 10 mins talking to someone on the phone. Just looks at the fact that the filter is leaking and gives a damn report that it's due to high pressure. Totally unprofessional and doesn't care about fixing the problem. When asked about what does he mean by high pressure he had no answer and said that the filter was dirty even though the pressure reading was absolutely within limits and he did not care to open the filter. Don't ever use him and all the reviews about him do speak volumes. read more

First week of the month we a visit from this company to do an inspection on our pool pump ( our insurance company send them) My pump was working ( we have a leak only) About 3 days ago this company come to my property to fix my pum they decide to take our pump to their shop to rebuild it ( we are on moreno valley over 100 degrees water can't be with out the pump ) When my Sister in law ask the technician that how long will take to get the pum back the answer was " I don't know we will let you know" (Why this company after inspection didn't determine that they need to leave a temporary pump as a profesional you have to know that water will take green after 2 days with out movement.) I did contact the technician to ask him to return the pump and figue out something else he hang out. 5 min later I get a call from his boss saying that it wasn't acceptable the way that I ask the technician to return my equipment so I have to contact my insurance to figure out what's next step to fix our pump because they won't do it. I did a research about this company an find out they have a really bad reputation and same problem happen to several customers. I did contact my insurance and the company owner Sent an msg to my wife saying that he will comeback next day to install the pump and it will be our problem after that. This guys show up and leave the pump on front of our gate. ( owner didn't accomplish what we wrote on his msg) My wife call to the insurance again to see what's going on so after that the owner Sent a new msg saying that he will come back on monday to fix the pump. Not sure if that will happen but id not inwill submit a complaint to the CSLB because several violations to the Professional codes in California. 1.- Title 20 violation Single seed pump are not allowed anymore in California Code : if the pump needs to be repair the pump needs to be upgraded to a multi speed pump to meet the California requirements. This company its only running around trying to charge the insurance and get more money for the service vs fix the problem If the owner has a problem he can call me directly he have our contact number before If he doesn't want to show up on monday because this review he can let me know as a contractor I know the rules Don't let this company to play game with your house just for them to make money read more

See all

After three times, Darwin finally showed up to our house to assess/diagnose the problem with our exercise spa, which currently does not have electricity to power on. Without going under the deck, where our wires are or anything, Darwin, with his X-ray vision, saw that there was a small puddle of water and colorfully called it a "flood". This was relayed to AHS, which believed him, and did not want to cover "secondary" damage. Darwin did nothing more than look with his eyes. The 8+ foot hole in which our equipment does not have sufficient lighting. Darwin never bothered to look in the hole with any lighting, nor did he bother to go beneath the deck. I honestly don't know what we paid for -- an assessment that we already made ourselves -- that something is clearly wrong with the electrical wiring. read more

BEWARE! Don't use them! BEWARE! Don't use them! Avoid this company at all cost. I submitted a claim with first American home warranty that my filter was cracked and it needed to be replaced. Ponce Pool construction was assigned as the repair contractor. Darwin, the company owner, contacted me on a Monday morning and told me that he can only come to my property in a few hours, Otherwise he will have to push me to the end of the week. Because I wasn't desperate need to fix my filter ASAP, I ended up leaving my office to go to the house to let him in so that he can do his Repairs. It was a major inconvenience for me. Nevertheless, Darwin, got some reason didn't want to do the repairs. He pulled fake reasons to void my warranty and not do the repairs. I was very disheartened, and I scheduled a second opinion contractor with first American, and the second contractor that came to my house approved the repairs. Turned out all the reasons that he put on his report were invalid and his report was disregarded by first American home warranty. I left a bad review on Google and yelp. He called me and threatened me. I told him that I will not remove my review and he will have to deal with his unprofessionalism and ignorance. read more

Ver slow to respond It was a guessing game Do not recommend them for a bathtub!! Our home insurance has a contract with them so we had no choice First it was the pump cover, one week yo get the part but that didn't solve the problem, Second guess was the casket, it didn't work Third it was underground leak, our insurance doesn't cover it. We paid $500 to leack detection company and there was no leack. We decided to Pool Nerd we told hime what the problem, iver the phon he said it was 3 way valve and it will cost $125, he cane next day and fixed it. read more

Darwin was a no show once again. He is unreliable and rude. When he came for a previous appointment which took 2 no shows before it happened he was non communicative and relied on his less knowledgeable assistant for all the talking. If you plan on using Darwin good luck on having him show. read more

Now I see why Ponce Pools has such a low customer satisfaction rating on Yelp. Unfortunately for me, I was assigned Ponce, by my home warranty company. They came out promptly to look at the part that needed replacing, and that's were things ended. My warranty company immediately ordered the part, which they have. I have spoken to the owner, his wife and two employees about getting on their installation schedule, to no avail. They have never returned my phone calls and on the occasion I have reached them by phone, nothing was ever resolved. I have been patiently waiting for 6 weeks. My pool is now unusable, as it is turning green, due to algae growth. My home warranty company has told me that Ponce Construction has also not responded to their many phone calls and emails. read more

I had the same experience as many others in the reviews. I was assigned Ponce Construction Pools by home warranty to address my pool heater issues. Darwin never called to schedule an appointment, just called one morning and said he would be in the area in 15 minutes. I told him I wasn't home but he could go in the backyard. From that point on I was never able to contact Darwin again. I called multiple times, no one ever picks up and the voice mail box is full so you can't leave a message. I was never able to find out if the issue was fixed. After several weeks, I was finally able to speak with home warranty. Much like another review here, Darwin told them I had rats in my heater, therefore the warranty was not covered. I was able to look at the pictures he provided and do not see any rat damage, and nor did home warranty since they told me the heater replacement would be covered despite Darwin's report. Sounds like Ponce is running a scam. Ponce Construction Pools is a worthless company, avoid at all costs. read more

Horrible. He came over, said a piece that connected to my pool pump was broken and said he would order a new one. He took the part with him and drove away, never to be seen again. Disappeared. Never returned calls or texts. None of them. It has been weeks. And he has my part. Nightmare. read more

Do not let your warranty company send ponce pools/ Darwin to your property if you have a pool problem!! Darwin is non responsive, flakey, and completely unprofessional. He came out initially and diagnosed the problem, submitted it to our warranty company who approved repairs, and since then he won't return our calls/texts and emails to get the job done. It has been almost 4 weeks and we can not get a response. Our pool guy warned us about Darwin but unfortunately that's who our warranty company used. Do Not Use This Guy or His Company!! read more

Ponce pools was hired by my home warranty company to diagnose a pool equipment issue. They didn't show up to the first appointment, but after multiple calls and texts, finally got them out a week later. After that visit they left saying they'd write a report and submit to Warranty company. 3 weeks later and multiple calls and texts ignored, we're all waiting on them. First time I called the owner texted back and said lets communicate over text, but he never responds or calls back. Stay away from these people if you value your time. read more

If I could give zero STARS "0". It would be ZERO stars in BIG print! I opened a claim for my pool pump (stop working). Paid the $85 co pay. They sent one of their selected vendors "Ponce Construction Pool and Landscape" (Darwin is the Tech/Owner). Darwin checked out my pool pump and said water leaked into the pump and caused a electrical short. It's missing a cover? You can buy one on Amazon. Said most likely it was not going to be covered under warranty due to the water damage inside. He will file the report and I should get an answer within 5 business days. It's been over 7 days no answer. I call First American. The CS rep tells me no report has been filed. I call Darwin on Monday (10 days now), he tells me he filed the report long time ago and not sure what happened. He will check his online files and call First American. I call First American back immediately to find out if this is true. I ask the new CS rep to call Darwin. She puts me on hold and calls Darwin from Ponce Construction. She comes back and tells me he has not filed the report yet, he's been busy, backed up, and had issues with the online portal. (Basically he lied to me and the Warranty company). I was furious and ask to speak with a supervisor. The supervisor did nothing but tell me I needed to call back 3 times to file a complaint with a vendor. Ridiculous. Waste of time. I ended up calling a rep from Pentair (my pool pump OEM) and they sent someone out to take a look at my pool pump (mind you this was replaced a month ago under warranty). The rep tells me this pool pump is water proof and could work under water and is made to be water proof. It does not require a cover and cannot get water leaked inside. He proceeded to take a look and found that the 2watt breaker was a little warped. He replaced it ($5 part) and the pool pump started working instantly. The pump works and does not have short or water damage like Darwin from Ponce Construction pool and landscape told me. Be careful with this vendor and also First American. They do not check vendors and do not care at all. I pay all this money and this is the result. Terrible customer service from First American Home Warranty and even worse service and lies from Darwin at Ponce Construction Pool and landscape. Don't bother with this warranty company or Ponce construction Pool and landscape company. Save your money and go check out other home warranties. There's lots of options. read more

See all

I would advise to anyone that likes their service appointments arrived to on time and their calls returned to avoid this "company." After being strung along by the owner for about 2 weeks, I decided I'd had enough and contacted another company. I would call him during working hours and either be hung up on immediately, or be ignored and sent straight to his (full) voicemail - also wouldn't respond to text messages. Do yourself a favor and find someone else with a yelp rating higher than 2.5 stars. read more

Unprofessional company. They just want to collect their service fee and do nothing. They try sell you more services that you don't really need. My filter needed a o-ring ($5.00 cost) and they couldn't perform the repairs because they didn't have one. They said the were going to replace the pool filter gauge along with the manual air relief valve and he only change the gauge. Horrible appointment system, they will call you as their convenience and at the last minute. They also said they will be here one day and never show up with no notices. Horrible company. 05/23/19 Darwin Espinoza just called to ask me to remove my review. After a few minutes conversation he ended the call saying " what you sow is what you harvest", I feel he was threaten me. read more

My insurance company assigned this company to come fix my pool pump and leak. The job took over 2 months to get completed due to Darwin being unresponsive and a no-show on several occasions. I would call and text to confirm appt dates and time and wouldn't hear back for days. I had to complain to my insurance company and get them to call him to finish the work. The work was eventually completed but the service and experience was awful. read more

They are the most unprofessional company I have used, they are a rib off. They were send by First American the guy who came in before he even start the work he told me that I do not service/ clean my heater and it will cost me $250 for him to do that and there was only some leaves around the heater after he checked it read more

We used Ponce for an emergency through Our home warranty company. The company responded very promptly, solved the problem and recommended a better fix to avoid the problem from happening again. He took care of the issue on a weekend (unheard of) and when another issue happened days later not related to the original problem the Ponce Pools send a tech out on his own dime and fixed it. No charge. I would give these guys top ratings and recommend you give them a try. read more

Super responsive! Great communication and fair pricing. Tells you what's wrong I'm layman's terms. Highly recommended!!!

First of all I'm normally not the type to bother with reviews but this one is important for anyone looking for pool repair etc. Darwin is the owner and could care less about you or your needs. Home Warranty companies use him and even they complain about him. No communication at all. Avoids any an all responsibility and never follows up. If you are looking for someone reliable and capable of fixing your pool RUN THE OTHER WAY at all cost. This guy is TROUBLE!!!! read more

Made a service request to my Home Warranty company to have my inop spa pump looked at. They were able to schedule something for the next day. Warranty company assigned a time window of 7am-2:30pm. Day of service, Ponces called in the morning and narrowed window to 10:30-12:30, which I appreciated the update. Tech came toward the end of the window. He quickly analyzed the problem and had a replacement part in his tool bag. He was maybe here for less than 10 minutes and had the spa pump running again. Had no problems with this service call. read more

Darwin was very helpful, knowledgeable and easy to work with. Fixed an issue with our jacuzzi pump in a timely fashion!

I do not recommend this company at all. The service is absolutely terrible. They were assigned to me through my Home Warranty company to fix my Jacuzzi pump. The appointment was scheduled for June 30, and the technician came out to look at it. He determined that we needed a new heat valve, and he said he would submit it to the home warranty company right away for approval and to have parts ordered. It's now July 10th, and he still hasn't submitted the issue to the home warranty company or updated the service request in the portal. In other words, we are no further a long than we were 11 days ago. And to make matters worse, I can't get them to call me back. I'm being completely neglected. This is no way to treat a customer. After reading other reviews on here, it looks like it's common for this company to treat customers horribly. read more

Darwin called and said he'd be at my house on Saturday between 7am-5pm. I waited the entire day at home and got a call from him at 5.30pm that he wasn't able to make it. Thanks for the heads up Darwin. So my pool heater is still broken and was not able to enjoy it over the 3 day weekend. Ponce Pools were recommended by my home warranty company (First American). I called First American this morning and told them to please reassign my job to another contractor. I can't deal with companies that aren't accountable for their work or lack thereof. read more

Excellent service very Professional courteous and polite very happy with the service we received. Thanks Kabir Family Rancho Cucamonga. Ca read more

I was referred to Ponce from my warranty company the WORST EXPERIENCE EVER. Darwin came out to my home 2 days late from my scheduled appointment time and called me at 7am in the morning very rude asking if I still wanted him to come check my spa, when he finally showed up 2 days later he was not wearing a mask when I asked him to he said it's not required it an option. He had no idea how to fix my heater and electrical box Darwin recommended just change the whole box. This company is a JOKE!!! I declined the services and called back my warranty company. read more

First American assigned this company to me. The first time they came out to look at my pool heater, they made it "work" for about half a day. Their assessment was completely negated by the next company that we had to get on our own because they didn't provide the service they recommended. First American has now re-assigned this firm... I have called 5 times over 2 weeks and can't seem to get an appointment setup. I've lost my patience and would never recommend this company. read more

Assigned through my home warranty. Missed appointment, unprofessional... avoid at all costs!

Agree with the rest of the recent bad experience with Darwin. It was a nightmare and he is not friendly at all and not responsive. I hope that First American Warranty doesn't send him out and definitely do not hire them to do any of your work. read more

It's been 10 days since they were contacted, three times they were no shows and I only found out they weren't coming after waiting around for hours and finally calling them to get an arrival time. Very poor customer service, unreliable and overall very unprofessional, in my opinion! read more

I had issues with my pool/spa equipment. It was sucking air and not pumping or heating. First American Home Warranty set me up with Ponce Construction. Oscar called me at 7am on New Years Eve and was at my house by 8am. He fixed the issue. He did a really good job. His work was precise and quick. No issues. Pool/spa equipment was ready for our New Years Eve party. Thank you Darwin (owner) and Oscar (tech). Job well done. read more

If I could give a 0 I would. They did not fix the problem with my filter( which they made me pay $130.00 to clean to diagnose ... scam... which was previous cleaned 2 mo. prior) and heater at the time of the appointment and said they would come back. Two weeks later with numerous texts, calls from First American ignored and they abandoned the job. Why First American has them on their list in the first place is a poor business decision. If anyone refers you to Ponce, PLEASE listen to these reviews it will save you time , a big headache and ALOT of frustration. How they are in business I just don't know. read more

This company is very slow to respond, & they don't deserve the one star rating. My home insurance sent this company Ponce Construction Pools & Landscaping, to diagnosis the concern I have with my pool salt cell. I told Darwin that my pool guy said the salt cell is bad, & it needs to be replaced because it is not working properly when he arrived. He then played around with the settings on the control panel for a bit, turned on and off the main power, remove the control unit & said there are nothing wrong with your salt cell, but the problem is the circuit board itself, which he claimed that it was acting up. I was like are you sure? We never ever had any problems with it at all, & I clearly told him that the guy who service my pool for years told me the problem is the salt cell, & nothing else. He then raised his voice a little, said I don't care what your pool guy told you, but this is what I found. I was like Okay, fine.. do whatever you believe it is then, I simple just want to tell him what other told me, and funny how is that my pool guy service my pool shortly after Darwin left, & he said he had the power off the whole time, so there are no power to the control unit, so I called Darwin immediately but he didn't pick up, I texted him & told him that he had the power on "off" position the whole time, which he claims the circuit board is not working, then he called back immediately & told me the exact same thing that "this is what I found, & he already filed the claim to the insurance company, waiting for authorization to replace the circuit board for me when he gets the part" okay that was the end of the conversation for now, but deep down I was already thinking that he misdiagnosis the problem, or he was just guessing and trying to replace part to see if things works, but anyway... Two week later one of his guy called me early in the morning stated that he will come to replace the circuit board for me, I was like great, but here is the funny part. His guy came to my house, looked at the control panel, everything was working perfectly fine, except the salt cell lights are on. He told me that the control panel seems to be working, but he still performed what he was told by Darwin, to replace the circuit board for us. I was like fine go ahead and do it, few mins later, he got the old board out and new one in, the result is exactly the same, so I told this guys to give me his boss, Darwin's direct number as I wanted to speak with him about this misdiagnosis. He answered the call & repeated what he already told me "This is what I found, & I don't care about what your pool guys said" Let the system run for a few days and you will see if it fixed the problem. I was like no... the initial & the only concern I have had was the salt cell, & because he flipped the power off & reported the circuit board is bad to my home insurance doesn't mean it is bad, he literally misdiagnosis & replaced something that I don't need, & to no surprises, his guy left without inspecting the salt cell, which I can understand that, he did what he was told, so of course he would not do anything more. I had the salt cell clean, & had the system run for extra few days as Darwin suggested, the results are the same, salt cell lights are still on, so I took the salt cell off also take the "old" circuit board to a local Leslies pool supply store to get a second opinion, & the guy said the circuit board works perfectly fine, but salt cell is at the end of it's service life, it needs to be replaced. So I was like great, that clearly prove this Darwin guy played the guessing game at the very first visit, and what is the years of experiences he claims he has? sometimes being in the industry for decades don't mean you know what you are doing, & he is one of them. I called him after I got this 2nd opinion, & spoke with him over the phone for a good 10-15 mins, he still insisted of what he found, when two others can clearly prove him wrong, especially Leslies pool supply have the equipment to test the system out with. He got mad, & asked me to contact my home insurance as I have 30 days to send them out again, if the problem didn't get fixed, and that was what I did. I called to my home insurance told them exactly what happened, and the rep connected with him, but he didn't want to come out to complete the job, so my insurance assigned another company called Complete Mechanical Service to check the system for me, quick and easy to deal with, & today on May 5th, this new company replaced the brand new salt cell for me, reprogrammed the system, & problem solved. In my case, the salt cell clearly was the problem that was what I filed to my home insurance, but this Darwin guy is on another level, not sure if he knows what he is doing, just guessing what the problems may be, or he intentionally filed something we don't need to my home insurance to claim the money from them, but overall this guy is slow to respond, & cannot be trusted. read more

This company is a joke. Filed a claim through home warranty insurance who sent Ponce to come and inspect the damage. Ponce reported that I had pre existing damage to my pool equipment to which the warranty company denied my claim. The owner of Ponce then proceeds to tell me that they noticed the damage 3 years ago from a separate claim and just neglected to inform me. read more

I called to discuss putting in a pool. Before I could tell the woman what we were looking for she said, "because of the pandemic and cost of materials the lowest price for a pool was $100,000.00. WOW read more