Do we have any recourse?

[Luvtlee]

We are not getting a large pool with all the bells and whistles. We're getting a modest sized, pool only, no spa, no waterfalls, no nothing. Not even heating. When we signed the contract we were told it would likely only take six weeks, no longer then 10.

They were supposed to start our dig on May 22nd, with a completion date of July 24th. They didn't actually start until May 31st. Taking into consideration the 9 day delay in starting, you'd think our completion date would be August 4th (9 days after the original contract completion date). But they're telling us that our start date was June 3rd (NO, it WASN'T!! It was on May 31st!!!) and they're saying that our completion date is going to be some time in middle to late August. Which would make them 3-4 weeks late finishing; if they really do finish at that time.

We're 8 1/2 weeks into the project and they just now started on the tile & coping and finishing the plumbing. They do one - three days of work and then do NOTHING for about two weeks. They don't call every Friday to give us an update like they told us they'd be doing. They also do NOT return phone calls most of the time.

We truly feel we are being jerked around by these people, they couldn't care less about us and doing a good job in a timely matter. All they care about is our money. They've NEVER once been late to pick up a payment!

At this point in time, we wish we had gone with another company. We did everything we were supposed to do when we finally picked a pool company to hire. How could we have gone so wrong? We didn't want any bad feelings about having our pool built, had hoped for a wonderful experience (who wouldn't), but having a project move along this slowly and this far behind schedule IS NOT a good experience.

My question here is, are we being too critical? It doesn't seem right that at the end of the project the consumer is left saying, "well they were only X weeks late." From what I understand, our experience is very common, but that doesn't make it right.

What can we do?!?!

[jrouse1]

I don't know what to tell you, except, "I feel your pain!"

We had all our patio and pool decking replaced earlier this year. We also felt like we had done our homework and chosen a reputable company. We believed we had found a company that could not only handle the decking project, but would be able to do an upcoming renovation on our pool.

We were mistaken. I have never been as frustrated by anything as I was by the lack of communication and poor business practices of the company we used. Much of our frustration could have been eliminated if they just would have returned a phone call, but that seemed impossible.

Shortly after our deck was installed (it took 2 & 1/2 months!), we developed a leak in a return line. We never could get the company to return our calls, much less take a look and give us an estimate for the repair and refurbishment of the then 2 month-old deck. My husband did talk to a manager one day, and all he found out was if we had anyone else do the repair, we would void the warranty on the deck.

Rock, meet hard place! We lost water from the leak for two months, and finally decided we had no choice other than to find another company to repair the leak and fix the deck. I didn't know what else to do, and we certainly couldn't just let the pool leak all summer.

We were very happy with the company who did the repair, and we've already had some discussions with them about the work we want to have done on the pool this winter. Unfortunately that work will also include some repair, because we've developed a hairline crack in the deck which has no warranty because we had the leak repaired by another company.

What did we learn? This is just my opinion, but bigger and more expensive isn't always better. We just don't feel like we got what we paid for. The customer service we received was practically non-existant. Communication was great while we were in the "shopping" stage, but once we signed a contract things went downhill fast. I think choosing a big company that focuses on building high-end pools was a mistake...our project just didn't seem to be a priority with them, and a repair didn't interest them at all. I will talk to a lot more previous customers in the future, and I'll make sure I find out what kind of projects the company did for them. That's how we found the company that did the repair...through a friend who had similar work and renovations done about a year ago.

Sorry for the rant...I just read your post and thought, "I know just how they feel!"

[dawndenise]

Like jrouse1, I, too, feel your pain. We began our pool on 2/15 and the PB finally finished just about all of the project yesterday. His contracted completion date was 6-7 weeks which would have been the end of March or early April. One small item remains and who knows if we'll ever see it done. At this point, we're just glad to see him go.

Our pool was a relatively large one with one waterfall, but no heater, no spa, no caves, no slides, no exotic rock, no special-order tile. We specifically told the PB that we didn't even want him to start until he could go from start to finish with very little down time. This was because we had large dogs that would have to be taken out on leash the entire time the fence was down for pool construction. THAT got old real soon . "Of course," said the PB, "No problem."

My DH and I have gone round and round the issue of what to do to get the project going again when the crew vanished for days and weeks at a time. The PB had a great reputation before this year and he does build an excellent pool, so we were completely unprepared for such an experience.

As long as we were seeing SOME progress, we elected to just keep a civil tone when dealing with this PB, continue to make unreturned phone calls asking what his work plans for our project were, and tell everyone we knew exactly how slowly this project was going. I know of at least 2 projects in the neighborhood he lost because of the delays on our project (they didn't even call to get a bid from him). There are also other projects he's not being considered for based on our neighbors talking about our plight to other people THEY know.

What have we learned for the future? Go with your gut - a few things prior to contract might have alerted me to problems ahead. Put in penalty clauses for EACH stage of contract completion (I realize you're past this stage) - if he misses the gunite date by more than 10 days, he's docked $X amount per day; if he then misses the decking date by more than 10 days, he's again docked $X amount per day, etc. I'd also make the last contract payment at least as big as any other (ours is reasonable, but not as substantial as it could have been).

Good luck, the pains and frustrations DO dimish a bit once you're swimming.

[Simmons99]

Gosh - I feel pretty bad - they dug the end of June and we expect the water to be in at the end of next week.

Now - I did have different expectations than you did - I expected 6-8 weeks for permitting and then 16-20 weeks for installation. Which they have done way better than that.

When I called our Project Manager - it was always on a good state. My voice-mails were always "Hey David, just want an update. I haven't seen anyone out here and I don't know if you are waiting on us for something. Call me back when you have a chance." I ALWAYS got a response in 48 hours. If I didn't - I would call the office and talk to the office manager and say - "You know - David is so busy I didn't want to bug him - but what is the status on XXX?" That way I didn't get him in trouble and he was never "afraid" to call me back - because I was never upset with him.

But - then again I drove around and found a couple of people that were having pools installed by them. I would walk up to these people and tell them I was considering using their pool company and I would ask them how the response was - if there were delays and why. So I talked with references that the company didn't know I was talking to.

[ehorn]

Well I must admit even though your builder is being a bit slow they are still getting work done. In my project I went from a dig date of March 23 and NOTHING was done for two months. Needless to say my builder is now going out of business four months later and they only got to the steel portion of the build. I'm currently getting bids from other companys to finish but it's like trying to get your kid to eat liver.

I would suggest writing them a letter to complain formally and suggest to them that you will never give a recommendation to anyone. If they care about their reputation they will try to fix the situation, if they don't then live and let learn and tell everyone you know not to use them.

Eric

[cleancloths]

I had a similar situation with a contractor that put an addition on our house about 14 years ago. He told me the job would take six weeks. I told him that would be fine, I would give him 90 days - to which he replied that would not be necessary that it would only take six weeks. Then I presented him with the contract that called for him to pay me $100 a day for each day from 91 on that the job was not complete.

At day 120 he came to me and said we had to discuss the contract as it was killing him. I told him fine, he had done many extras I had asked for so I told him we would call it even. I then asked him how much longer, he said 10 days. I told him he had two weeks, he told me not to work it would only take 10 days. I told him fine, sign here - where it said he would pay me $200 a day for each day after two weeks. At day 20 he got fired and I finished the little bit that was left and never paid him the balance due.

The moral of the story is take nothing said as binding, get it all in writing.

[esalkin]

Too late now but just for the record, do some homework anytime you get contract work done.

Here are some rules:
Make sure they are a legit contractor.
Get every detail in writing (start date, finish date, materials, etc...)
Also in Florida (and other states?) be sure and get a "release of lien" that says they have paid all subcontractors or you may end up stuck with another bill!

Here are a couple of government sites that have contracting tips. Their may be more in your area:

http://www.cslb.ca.gov/consumers/beforehiring.asp
http://www.miamishoresvillage.com/Bu...g_contract.htm

[Luvtlee]

Too late now but just for the record, do some homework anytime you get contract work done.

Here are some rules:
Make sure they are a legit contractor.
Get every detail in writing (start date, finish date, materials, etc...)
Also in Florida (and other states?) be sure and get a "release of lien" that says they have paid all subcontractors or you may end up stuck with another bill!

Here are a couple of government sites that have contracting tips. Their may be more in your area:

http://www.cslb.ca.gov/consumers/beforehiring.asp
http://www.miamishoresvillage.com/Bu...g_contract.htm

We did all this, did everything the way you're supposed to do. But, now that I've been complaining here they've really stepped up the pace. We were plastered ahead of schedule due to a cancellation elsewhere and the pool is now almost full of water. In the end we are not quite two weeks late, and I'm feeling a bit sheepish for all the whining. >.< Might want to move this post to lessons learned, huh? Lesson learned here: that just because they may get a bit slow here and there, doesn't mean the whole project will necessarily go that way. Also, staying in close contact with them via phone calls and always remaining polite while talking to them, might've helped. Who knows, maybe that is why they chose to fill that cancellation spot with us; cuz' they'd gotten tired of me calling.

[georgiapoollover]

we had to contact the BBB in our area to get help. Our pool contractor delayed our pool blaming the manufacturer for the pool kit being backordered and stuff. That was a lie. Our pool contract was signed June 12 and our pool was done. Aug 11. They told us 4 weeks at the longest. It took about 8. What a disappointment, but the pool is nice now that we have it. The pool company was way too over booked with jobs.

[esalkin]

...Our pool contract was signed June 12 and our pool was done. Aug 11. They told us 4 weeks at the longest...

Gee, my AG took that long. Of course, my wife and I did it ourselves in '04 and we were hit by 3 hurricanes!