NC family finally gets new pool after more than a year-long battle and frustrations

SANFORD, N.C. (WTVD) -- New details into a Troubleshooter investigation into a pool and spa company that customers say left them with unfinished jobs.

One of those customers is enjoying their new pool. As her kids jumped into the pool, Rebecca Yingling said, "We're ready to have some fun now."

The Yinglings can have that fun after more than a year of frustrations.

"It is the most relieving feeling and a huge change from the stress and anguish that we have been put through for the past fifteen months, and we were ready to just put this all behind us now and start erasing the bad memories with the good ones," Yingling said.

It's been a long road for the Yinglings to enjoy their new pool. ABC11 Troubleshooter Diane Wilson first told you about the Yinglings' frustrations in August of 2025. They signed a contract with Backyard Leisure in June of 2024, for more than $100,000.

At first, the Yinglings said there was a delay due to permitting issues because of their septic tank lines, but that got resolved, and the permit was approved in October. Yingling adds, "They started digging a hole and putting in the plumbing and the electrical, and then they ordered the shell, and they dropped the shell in November, put water in it to level it down."

Yingling says Backyard Leisure said the rest of the job, like the pump, heater, and filter, would not be done until after the holidays, but months later, still nothing, and their pool sat like this. Moses Yingling said, "We have pulled over 70 frogs out of the pool so far. We've had all sorts of larvae and stuff hatching, dragonflies.

Besides the Yinglings, Wilson heard from several Backyard Leisure customers who also left with unfinished work on their pools from Backyard Leisure. Wilson also investigated Backyard Leisure in the spring of 2024, when customers complained about delays in getting hot tubs from the company. Several of the customers did get their hot tubs delivered after her story.

With the most recent cases, involving pools, when Wilson reached out to the company, they did not respond specifically to Yingling's job but said they had had success installing about 80% of their pools this year. However, they have several projects that keep getting rained out or are just too muddy to work on. When it comes to the Yingling's job, crews with Backyard Leisure did come back in August and make progress installing the family's pump, filter, and heater. A receipt shows the Yinglings had to pay the electrician for Backyard Leisure themselves more than $4,600 to hook up the equipment to move the job forward. Backyard Leisure did not get back to Wilson when she asked if the Yinglings would get reimbursed for paying out of pocket. Once the electrical work was done, a crew with Backyard Leisure installed the waterwall, along with the ladder and handrails, and the big job, a crew also cleaned the pool. The Yinglings say they are thrilled the pool is finally done. "We can't believe it. I honestly didn't realize that it would clean up this good. They definitely put all the chemicals in it and did vacuuming multiple times, but it definitely turned around, and it looks really good now," Yingling added.

As of two weeks ago, the North Carolina Attorney General's office said they had more than 60 complaints against Backyard Leisure, some of those cases have been resolved, and that the office is investigating Backyard Leisure, but has not taken action yet.

Backyard Leisure also did not respond to Wilson about the NC Attorney General's investigation.