Please keep us posted on how everything goes. I'm about to go head-to-head with my PB (a big chain) so I'm very curious to see if this might be a better route for me than a lawsuit. Thanks and good luck!

Not likely the BBB often sides with the builders, after all, the builders are the ones that pay the BBB.

We went to the local BBB on Maui for a $5000 landscaping make over. The BBB helped to get the job finished, but the quality of the work was still pretty bad. We ended up in the long run of taking most of his plants out because it was what he thought best, low price point plants or shade/ sun plants in the wrong places. The BBB was a help and he did not want to get his record marred too badly.To this day I will not reccommend him to anyone, but will warn other not to use him. Our yard looks very nice, but no thanks to him. I sugguest you do what ever means that is legal to correct your situation and to destroy his reputation, but make sure whatever you say or publish is the truth and if you have a written contract, make sure what you are complaing about is all spelled out in detail.Contractors can write things so general that the law will be on their side. We got taken on a local pool renov in Hawaii recently. Have you thought of posting a you-tube video of the work and stating who did it, but once again only state real facts. Good luck. There will always be rotten apples that ruin it for the rest of us and make us more careful in what we do in this world and who we do it with.

File a complaint with the registrar of contractors. We did that with a contractor (not a pool contractor) and we received all of our money back. It took issuing a warrant and the guy going to jail and posting bond, but we got our money back.

WOW, poolownerbuilder! How do I go about doing that exactly in CT? I have talked w/ a lawyer but he said it would cost too much money to sue and that we couldn't include attorney fees in the lawsuit; we'd have to pay those out of pocket. Since we spent our last dime on our nightmare pool, we can't come up w/ those fees. Figured it was cheaper to pay for 'sort of' fixing the problem ourselves to the tune of approx $5K for a perimeter drain instead of suing the PB. Long story short, our PB decided to pour our decking toward the pool instead of away. We enclosed our pool w/ a telescoping pool enclosure that sits on a rail system and is NOT flush w/ the deck hence it is NOT water tight. PB said he knew what he was doing and insisted on pouring toward even though I begged for him to pour away. He said we'd be fine but now every time it rains the water rushes off the enclosure roof onto the deck and pours into the pool; grime, critters, pollen, dust, etc included. It is really disgusting. We paid a TON of money to have an indoor pool in inclement weather but can't use it because we actually have outdoor conditions w/ our indoor pool. When I complained to the PB he said "guess I should have poured the deck away... oh well, sue me". We opened our pool today for the season and I have days of work to get it to swimming condition after the snow melt and nearly 10" of rain over the last couple of weeks. UGH! I'm very interested in learning more about the process you encouraged sharon2975 to try... In a perfect world I'd remove the enclosure, jackhammer the deck and re-pour. Then install the building again. Rough estimate is $35-50K. Not even close to being doable w/o PB taking on the cost. As it is we are planning on biting the bullet and putting a drain in instead...
THANKS A MILLION!
Joanne

Here is what I found online.

Here is a link that might be useful: CT complaint form.

Alfred808, would you mind giving me some details about your dealing with the BBB? Did you go to arbitration? if so what was asked and what did you bring along? Anyone else reading this I would really appreciate knowing how the arbitration process is conducted first hand. Thanks in advance for any information you can share. Also I will be sure to let everyone know the results.
If you want to send me an email with information my email is sharon@doppstein.com

sharon2975 - first thing IMO is to look up your BBB on the web (at state and local level) and see if they have an online description. We have to do this from time to time at work, but our process wouldn't apply to your case. In any event here's some info I culled from an info search that seems applicable.

Before your arbitration, should prepare an outline of your argument to help you in your presentation. You should prepare a list of questions you want to ask the other party. This would include things the builder refused to answer you when the issue was brought up between the two of you.

It may serve you to ask a lawyer what you can reasonably expect from arbitration. There's not much sense in going through with it if it won't satisfy your needs & could then work against you in any subsequent lawsuit (latter depending on if the arbitration is binding or not).

Remember, the arbitrator is trained in arbitration and may not be an expert in the area and therefore may also ask questions to to gain a fuller understanding of the dispute.

You should ask for and be be prepared to give a summary of your position (closing argument, ala Perry Mason or Law & Order). You should address any questions that did not get answered (use a checklist). Tell the arbitrator exactly what you think the decision should be and why. Keep in mind the purpose of the hearing is to allow the arbitrator to gather and sort the facts in order to make a fair decision. I recommend trying to find someone unfamiliar with the situation and see if you can convince them of your case - they should try to be against you if anything (especially if you use a friend). You NEED to convince the arbitrator of two things: 1) your position is right, and 2) that the outcome you seek from the arbitration process is fair to both sides. Without convincing the arbitrator of that you will walk away unhappy.

Summary: Organize your materials in the order you wish to present them. Clearly state the problem, include relevant facts, and why these facts should convince the arbitrator to agree with your position. This might be things such as an estimate from one or more pool builders to rectify the situation (assuming they agree their is a problem and are so willing to identify the problem on their estimate).

List in order the actions you took to resolve the issue with the builder; individuals with whom you spoke (date & time too); what they told you and/or what actions they took in response to your conversation/attempt to fix the issue; other people/companies involved (who/what/when/why); written statements from external professionals, or their presence as witness help substantiate the facts.

Have copies to leave with the arbitrator of all available written information. At a minimum include contract or other agreement; relevant warranty or written representation to include web page representation by the builder; Correspondence between you and anyone else on the issue; Other documents which may support your case, e.g., applicable industry standards, town/county/state codes, and technical information.

Try to get expert witnesses to testify or to submit written statements.

Good luck - and remember the arbitrator is bound to try to be fair - not produce an all or nothing victory for either side. You must show why your remedy is fair to both sides, or the arbitrator is likely to move the solution to something in between. Sorry for being so long in text.

Thanks to both just-a-pb and lbridges for your input...
Joanne

IBridges, thanks so very much. I have printed out your roadmap and have written a list of questions for the PB. I am now working on my closing.
Any further suggestions are appreciated.

I will let everyone know how it goes.

Sharon

Is your PB a member of you local BBB or any other organizatio? If he is a member call the BBB and get enough information on how to file a complaint with out revealing the name of the contractor. You have to be a little like "Columbo" at this point. Gather enough information thru several phone calls and get to know the person on the other end of the phone. Then file a complaint and follow the BBB's reccomendations on how to proceed. Make sure the contact person is sort of on your side and not just a yes man to the member.The BBB does not want any rotten apples in their reccomendations either. Once filed be persistant and follow thru. The contractor will come around if he wants to keep his reputation good. There are some people who will call the local BBB for a contractor,s reference. Usually the service is free and may take some time to resolve, other times a solution happens over night. Good Luck

Our arbitration against Avalon Pools of Georgia was on Thursday. We had received a packet describing the order of events. When the proceedings began the order was very different. I must say this threw me off and I was not as prepared as I would have been.
I had letters from experts and hope the arbitrator really reads them as they are in the packet I gave to him. Our PB brought three (one we had never met) of his subs and his assistant and he bullied his way thru. I was allowed 5 minutes to ask him questions and he would take 2 minutes of ranting to answer a single question. All in all it was a nightmare. I was awake all night rerunning what I should have said and feeling all the raw scabs of dealing with him in the first place. I made my request for him to compensate us for some of the additional expenses we incurred and when the arbitrator asked him what he would offer he said "nothing and I want to sue her for $15,000. This was absurd as he had admitted that we had paid in full for our pool. I asked the arbitrator if this was possible as I thought this was "binding arbitration" and the arbitrator said Avalon could not sue. I will post the outcome when I get it.

I have my fingers crossed for you.

OMG, Sharon! I'm sick to my stomach just imagining what you went thru on Thurs. I imagine my PB would be the same as yours; bullying his way thru and then suing me at the end. I shudder to think of my husband and I going thru the process; this is why most people fold and don't pursue lawsuits... ugh...
Joanne

I would have cut off his rants. If he continued, I would have complained to the arbitrator.

The unknown sub, if he wasn't there at your build, had no business being there if he wasn't involved in your build. If he was and the quality of the work he did was in question, he had the right.

If the pool wasn't engineered correctly, and several areas point to this possibility, the costs to correct these deficiencies should land on the PB. The cleanup is, while significant in the appearance and adds insult to injury, wasn't a huge deal in the grand scheme of things. Doesn't make it right though.

I'm sure the arbitrator will see through the PB's BS and award you your losses.

Scott

How many ways can I say "thank you for your support" It means so much to my husband and myself to have your input and understanding. Last night was another sleepless night. This has opened up all of the wounds from the build. I do understand why someone would not put themselves thru this. We really thought we were doing the right thing, trying to stop him from doing this to others. We look forward to the decision so we can put this to rest, once and for all.

Best of luck, Sharon! My fingers, toes and eyes are crossed for you!!! Please keep us posted!!!!!

Joanne

We got the decision today on our pool disaster with Avalon Pools. We got NOTHING! The arbitrator stated in his "opinion" that We and the wonderful pool builder who repaired the mess (Mark Reardon of Endless Summer Pools) were at fault. That due to us having our hands (we have fixed most of the mistakes) on the pool it is impossible to determine if Avalon or us was responsible for the obvious construction mistakes. FYI: we presented photographs of all the before and after issues as well as correspondence with Avalon detailing the issues as they occurred. We also had letters from experts detailing the issues. The rusted iron brackets are still on the pool and the arbitrator saw them. How the arbitrator could think we delivered and installed the wrong stone, brackets, and shot the bracket for the endless pool to high and crooked is beyond me. Avalon built our pool and was paid in full, they and the BBB somehow do not think They carry any responsibility for their work. I am heartsick to think the system is so broken. My advise to anyone reading this is to not bother with arbitration thru the BBB (I will not refer to them by their full name as there is nothing better about them) Naive me thinking they would want to identify and properly rate a bad apple. If you interview a pool builder and have any negative vibes, DO NOT use him. We learned a very expensive lesson here and I only hope that our experience will help someone else.

I'm empathize with you! Just know that they (the builder) will get what they deserve at some point in the future. A higher power than them will be the judge of their work!
Do as I finally had to do....let it go! It isn't hurting them it was just giving me the ulcer! Yes, I learned lots of good lessons...even going thru the Attorney General's office who did attempt to help me.

I am really and truly sorry to hear of this decision.

Sadly, the BBB is a piece of crap. Its a total sham that was designed to have members pay and have ratings etc.

You will notice often that some BBB members have no rating.

If they are sponsors, they will put no rating, rather than post a bad one.

The BBB is a joke. They build their "reputation" to make people think they are there for you, wrong they are there for who writes them checks, its an awesome scam.

As for that arbitration, what a joke. Get a good lawyer, find out what type of multiplied damages you can sue for and put that son of a b**tch out of business.

I wish you the best.

thanks for all the kind words. They do make me feel a little better. It is a shame for the wonderful, honest, pool builders out there that this type of thing is allowed to go on.

Perhaps it's time for a letter to the editor of the local paper - asking in an open letter format if any home-owner has successfully prevailed in a BBB led mediation - no names to be mentioned, but may be worth noting this is a pool build (everybody has a pool horror story).

Given a choice, I would go for an online letter as well as a print version - I say that since I don't think the print version will get published unless sufficient reader interest is seen in an online version - this assumes your local rag provides both formats. Send a copy to the president (or whatever they call them) of the BBB

Oh my heavens!!!!!!!! I am just sick about what happened to you. Have you had any more problems since the second builder repaired the mess?

txmom: we are still waiting for the new stainless steel brackets which had to be custom made at a cost of $2500, as the cover box was shot way too big and would not accommodate standard brackets. We had to activated our pro-edge warranty with Jandy as Avalon failed to do this. We are attempting to add the Jandy light to the warranty, however, so far Avalon has refused to furnish us with the model number of the light. Our fingers are crossed that no other issues come up as we are not confident that Avalon will honor their "lifetime warranty" on our shell. Getting involved with a bad pool builder is a "gift" that just keeps on giving.

Sharon,

Near the top of the light fixture is a single Phillips head screw. Unscrew it. The light fixture should have enough cord for you to bring it to the surface. There should be a label on it with the model number on it.

Scott

Sharon,

I wanted to let you know that recently your posts here have been an influence in our market. Even though you did not get what you rightfully deserved, others have seen what you had to endure and have based their decisions on this forum. I think that the new economy is going to weed out these bad seeds and the reputable companies will further themselves from the bad ones.

I hope they also have shown everyone just what the BBB is and more to the point, what it isn't! The BBB is certainly NOT the Consumer Protection Agency!

Chris, Thanks so much for letting me know that my posts have helped other unsuspecting homeowners to avoid the nightmare we endured. The reason we went through the arbitration was to try to resolve our problems fairly and hopefully impact avalons rating at the bbb so that other future customers would be more cautious. as of today avalons rating at the bbb shows 0 issues closed in the past 12 months. I guess we are considered as having never filed a complaint. This is blatantly deceptive information. How can this lack of honest information help consumers to make an informed decision? shame on Avalon for how they conduct their business and double shame on the BBB for their avoidance of the truth.