The Great Escape Ft. Wayne — Attraction in Fort Wayne

We were interested in purchasing an above ground pool & ended up here because it seemed like a one stop shop. The first time we went to the store it was close to closing & we just kinda looked around. They had two pools set up on display. Someone came over & I asked some basic questions & we left. We were just trying to see how much they were. My husband I were going to be splitting the pool with my mother in law & it was going to be installed at her house which is about an hour North of Ft Wayne almost on the Michigan line, so we were going to have to pay an extra $100 for delivery. The following weekend we go back & talk to someone & get more in depth w/what we want. We really liked one of the pools that was on display. Turns out they didn’t have that pool in stock anymore. So we decided to go w/ the other pool on display which was same size but cost more. Then that one wasn’t available either so we went with another, again one that cost more. Since we were going to be purchasing a more expensive pool than we had anticipated we asked if the $100 delivery fee could be waived, but no it couldn’t. Then everything started to really go down hill. Ends up that pool wasn’t in stock but could be ordered but we would have to put money down to hold it. They couldn’t tell us when it would be installed either because it was all weather related which is understandable but again I don’t want to purchase a pool and not be able to use it until next year. My mother in law was paying her half cash and we were going to finance our half. The sales guy insisted that we run a check to see if we would qualify for financing. We assured him that would be no problem & really didn’t want to run it until we knew for sure the pool could get installed in a reasonable timeframe because if not we weren’t going to purchase it. He said it was just a “soft” check & wouldn’t go on our credit history until we did the full application. So my husband gave him his information & told him ok. It came back as good like we figured. The sales guy tells us that he will call the installers to narrow down a date & in the meantime we can just put something down to order the pool and hold it. We again ask to make sure if the date was too far out we could get whatever we put down back & be done, he said yes w/ no problems. My mother in law ends up giving him $100 cash to hold the pool. So we waited &on Friday the following week a lady called & said the installers could get it put up in 3 weeks & if we wanted to come back down we could fill everything out &get the process going. We get down there and the salesman says something about the address. He had our address down not my mother in laws which we told him numerous times that’s where the pool was going. Well now he wasn’t sure because that was farther away,only 15 min away from our address. He comes back & said he would have to contact the installers again & would call us by Monday. We hear nothing from him on Monday & at this point we all agree that this is ridiculous & we will just go get the $100 back & say forget it. Well Monday evening I get a call from an installer for the pool. I told them I wasn’t even sure at this point if we were still getting a pool or not because the sales guy doesn’t really seem to know what’s going on. Tuesday comes & in our mail there is a Wells Fargo credit card for The Great Escape in the amount of $6200. I am instantly furious & call The Great Escape & the guy says well just don’t use it & there won’t be any issues. Ok other than the fact that we never agreed to open the card yet & it definitely wasn’t for $6200! Even if we didn’t use it it’s still an open line of credit. I tell him I want the $100 back & I wanted to know if the pool had even been ordered yet & he said no. In the end we had made numerous trips down there in the span of 3 weeks & got nothing. Will never go back and wouldn’t...

I bought a floor model hottub, had no issues in store. It was a pretty good discount over new so i figured as long as it came with the warranty (which it did) it wasn't much of a risk. This hottub is by far the biggest regretful purchase i have ever made in my life. Everyone in the store WANTS to help me, but noone is helping me. It's now been 5 months since i purchased this hottub, and it's been broken for longer than it has worked. When i took deliver of it, the cover had a small tear, and one of the panels had a broken attachment piece. I was told by the manager it's unfortunate, and as a way of resolving the issue he was willing to get me a couple hundred bucks worth of chemicals for free, to which i agreed. (the damage was very minimal, i had no intentions of pursuing a new cover, or panel.) Needless to say i haven't gotten any chemicals for free to this date.

So i got the hottub in March, now in April with the hottub, the built in speakers didn't work, still don't. The screen wouldn't even display the audio icon to utilize the speakers. Technician came out, determined that the speaker system needed replaced. So he ordered a new audio system for the tub. The speakers are apparently ordered as of this date, and still not working.

Now May comes around, i had a house party with friends. We used the hottub, at the end of the night i shocked / chlorinated the tub and ran a cycle on the jets to clean it. Went outside the next morning to check chemicals and run another clean if needed, and the screen had stopped working over night. At this point I'm thinking this tub is just one thing after another, LUCKILY i had the wireless connection setup through the app on my phone. So i was technically still able to control all the functions (jets,temp,maintenance etc) just from my phone instead. Technician came out and looked at the tub, says it needs a new screen and he will order one, still to this date have a screen that doesn't work.

Then June comes around, the wireless connection through my app stops working. So now i can no longer even control ANY functions of the tub. For the past 2 months i have been throwing a bit of chlorine in and i have to flip my breaker off and back on so the recirculation pump will push the chlorine around the tub. Technician says it needs a new control board as well.

I have been repeatedly told, I just have to wait and be patient, it's been 5 months and I've spent $11,000. Not including the concrete, custom double fence gate and electrical and everything else i did to HAVE a hottub in my back yard. As of this date, all it is is a big tub full of hot water. I don't use it, i can't use it for anything (I WANT TO USE IT) other than sitting in hot water, and at this point its just costing me electrical, and chemicals to keep it running.

So now they have on order, new speakers, screen, and a control board. At this point i don't even want this hottub, which i have told Josh the store manager. I'd much rather just exchange it for a comparable tub, because i do want a hottub, I don't think its too much to ask for...

6/30/20. I now feel the need to update my review of The Great Escape and our experience with a pool we purchased in March 2019. I WOULD NOT recommend them for your new pool!!!! While the weather was horrible for scheduling installation, we totally understood the delay until June for the install. However, the installer, Tom Stone, made commitments he didn’t keep, wouldn’t return phone calls or text messages, and NEVER showed up to the jobsite one time. I stayed home from work on two occasions because he said he would be there, and never showed up. This was after I removed a previous review, at his request, so he could “make things right”. Justin winkelbauer and Marc Spanjer we’re both kept in the loop on every issue we had. On June 4 2019, we were told the pool would be up and filing with water by that afternoon. We had to leave for a meeting and were told The install crew would be onsite shortly. Within 35 minutes of them arriving at our house, we were told the pool was installed and water from our garden hose was running. 35 MINUTES!! I’m not very confident the quality of the install could be completed in 35 minutes to my expectations! And it wasn’t! The liner was wrinkled and sagging and there were stones poking through the floor of the liner. The pump was left open on waste setting so when the water reached the skimmer level, our yard flooded! Then there’s the fact that the aluminum deck wasn’t installed. So they came back to install the deck five days later. Screws weren’t tightened, bolts were missing, they didn’t put the handrails up, parts were installed upside down, etc. So the installer said he would pay for a new liner and water to fill it and chemicals since we had so many issues. In October, a new liner went in. Obviously no longer pool season so we didn’t really know where things stood until we got back into recent pool days. So here we are now— with a pool bottom that has too many sinkholes to count! Many of them longer and deeper than my husbands foot!! Remember my concern with the 35 minute install?? That’s what happens when you don’t get the sand down properly!! It’s absolutely horrible!! I had to go into the store at one point to pick up some parts that were damaged during the liner replacement and was treated so disrespectfully that I will never go back in there for anything ever again! So Thats my review!! Do not go to them for your pool!!! Worst experience ever! 7/26/19. Per a phone call from the installer today, I have removed a prior review and will update my review once I have met with him to discuss and resolve open issues with our pool...