You need to go to the office and tell them that you are not leaving until they assure you a crew is on the way to your house.
What makes you think that doing the same thing over and over is going to produce different results?
You need to be the one calling the shots now, not them.

There is no office to go to. They run it out of their home. They are not a huge company. I've tried calling the shots and it hasn't gotten me anywhere. I'm afraid if I threaten them with me calling the Contractors State Board (which I have called but, the PB doesn't know YET) and file a complaint, it'll only piss them off and again I'll get no where.

I called them and told them I need this all done before the 21st now. I haven't gotten a call back as of yet.

I would go to the home with a laundry list of items. Be respectful but be firm with them. I don't know what your recourse is for there actions but let them know you are losing confidence in them and feel like there is no other way to rectify the situation than to involve a third party. See if they think a third party is a good idea - I'm guessing not.

Simply and calmly tell them that you have been patient and generous with your time, but if you do not hear from them in 2 days and have someone at your house to repair in 3 that you'll contact the BBB and local contractors board and file an online complaint. My husband would suggest you put your lawn chair in front of his house (on public property sidewalk or such) and hold a sign that says "Please ask me about this pool builder"....I say be firm but be kind and then get civil action going.

Wish you the best!
Tara

Despite the BS, I dont think being hard-nosed is the answer. Many good contractors get backed up and have a hard time telling people there is a delay, it is human nature to tell people what they want to hear. As long as he intends on staying in business, if you push him too far and/or try to damage his rep, he may leave you hanging. The BBB has no authority to do anything and as long as the contractor responds to the complaint, it shouldnt hurt his rating. He can simply tell the BBB that you were never there to let him in the gate and that will be the end of that. The contractors examining board could take forever if they even look into your case. I know its hard but try not to let the minor issues with the build ruin the fun you will have with the pool.

As far as the concrete stain goes, look at this thread, it looks like the exact same problem you have but with a solution.

Here is a link that might be useful: Concrete stain problem/fix

"Minor issues", I don't think so.

I would be calling them again and if no response, call the BBB and licensing and if you have a news reporter that does that type of work I would be calling there. I assume that they were done when this happened? and have their money already?

I agree...her deck is sinking! I really like how subs will tell you to suck it up and enjoy it until they can fit you into their schedule...they're no longer receiving a dime from you so you're not going to be a priority at all. Believe me the BBB is a hassle for pool builders...it's not as easy as he states it is, guess he's had some experience doing that. But, if there is a chain of complaints and if everyone who has had your experience files one then the BBB takes it very seriously and they can't just explain their shoddy customer response off. It's issues like these that make me want to contract out my own pool..I have acted as a GC on a large project and my subs were decent people, not accepting a dime until I was completely satisfied...too bad you didn't have that option...let us know what happens!

It's tough but I've done it, I had to represent myself in court and the defendant's attorneys thought this little old momma would cringe at their threats of making me pay court costs etc for filing a frivolous claim...it took 18 months but my tenacity and having the truth on my side (neighbor's doberman pincher mauled my dog while my dog was on a leash in my yard...thankful my ds was not hurt, just the emotional wreck of seeing his family pet get mauled, it took several thousand to get our 10 year old family pet walking again..) They finally settled out of court for the fees of the vet bills (over 3k) and all I was out was the $400 for court fees and gained much needed knowledge about the legal system..but you may have to write them a letter and give them a time frame (60 days..sounds like you've already hit that mark) is more than reasonable and tell them that you have already talked with another pool builder to give estimates on how much it will take to fix his errors...you will proceed and pay the other pool builder and send him the bill. You will win your case in court, that's if this pool builder doesn't go belly up by then.

They have NO reason to respond to you right now, money is their motivator...so threaten to take some away from them..it's not being a bully, it's playing by their rules.

Tara

I talked to my PB yesterday. He said they'll be here next Wed. Too bad I'm working! I was off of work for the past 3 weeks. Timing is everything!! lol I'll have to get my neighbor to let them in the gate and keep an eye on things. I'm not taking another day of work off for these people.

Sub...All the problems with my pool started last year and I've been waiting for them to "fit me in" to their schedule for a long time. It's actually all a blessing in disguise because had they fixed the smaller problems then, I would have had to call them back out anyway to fix the bigger problems. However my deck sinking and my spa steps detaching from the spa is a bit much for me to handle but, I'm dealing with it.

I feel that me asking several months back if they can get to me before my July 4th party wasn't being pushy. I THOUGHT I was giving them plenty of time to put me into their schedule.

Believe me I don't want to be such a PITA that they wont come back but, like I said, I've been patient enough!

If they don't finish the work by the time I leave for vacation....then I will be filing complaints with the BBB and Cont. state board. Who knows...maybe my PB is reading this? If they are they surely know how I feel.

The blotchy deck link that sub sent is exactly what my deck looks like!

Thanks for the support all! I appreciate it very much!

I liked the lawn chair idea that someone posted! Cute! lol

Wow, sorry to hear about the problems and I hope you get them resolved soon! Just a suggestion on the locked gate issue, I assume you have a remote controlled gate. I would suggest leaving a remote hidden around your house somewhere so that when they call and say "I'm here, let me in" you can tell them where the remote is so they can let themselves in. I do this with my sprinkler guy, I hide a remote so he can get into the garage to access the control box. My wife and I both commute 30 miles to work, so to "run home" would be a pretty big deal for us!

tresw...We've had so many problems with people just leaving the gate wide open and with my ranch situation that isn't an option for me.
When they built my pool last year, I took the entire time off from any work because someone had to be here. Especially during the excavation because then, we had to have the gate open so they could come back and forth. I just sat out there and kept an eye on the critters.

No matter how many times the PB told the workers to keep the gate shut, they still left it open. We had a problem with every sub that came in. It's basically the language problem here. No habla english. They would acknowledge they understood but, really didn't.

It's also come down to trust and people working in here throughout the years have shown me that I can't trust them to shut my gate. We even have an access door and they would leave that open. You would think that if they see a shut door, when they walk in, they would shut it behind them?

While my horses in paddocks (except for one that knows how to unlock the clip on his gate, lol) are pretty safe from running out the gate, I have free range ducks, geese and chickens that could possibly walk outside my gate and get hit by a car or cause an accident.

Thank you for the suggestion though :)

FINALLY after months of asking my PB to please repair the issues of my pool, they're here. Well...one guy is here.

My cracking beach entry, my blotchy colored deck, my suck en deck (because of a leak), spa steps no longer attached because of the deck that sunk and big long crack in the deck from the leak.

They are out there right now fixing my beach entry. They went and got some flag stone that is the same as what I used for my coping. They are chipping away at the un submerged pebble sheen and will then put the flagstone in to replace it. I will still have my "sandy beach" colored pebble sheen in the beach, just the very top of the entry will be the flagstone. The rest of my pool is Tahoe Blue.

They seem to want to blame us for the leak under the deck. They had cemented a pipe in for us, for a shower out by the pool cabana. They said from the stress of screwing in the shower pipe-head in, that it stressed the PVC pipe (3 or so feet from the shower) and it became unglued. Give me a flippin' break! That cemented in pipe has not moved! You would need a sledge hammer to do any damage. The cement around the pipe isn't cracked at all. We didn't even touch that pipe until 4 months after it was put in.

They also want to blame the blotchy cement on splashing water on the deck. I know that water discolors cement but, our deck has NEVER been even or the same in color. In fact 1/2 of the deck is white. We chose a dark beige for the color and paid a lot of money for color. I don't know what they can say about the cement being so white. Like regular cement turns when it's dry.
I showed them a path from the house to the pool, that a cement guy put in for us. Someone that we used, not our PB. We did not color the path and it's the same color as the white part of our deck.
If I knew the name of the cement company I would call them and ask someone to come out and look at it but, I can't get the number from my PB. I've been doing a search on the internet for companies, because I remember what the site looks like but, I haven't found it yet.

I've stressed quite a lot about my PB not ever coming back. They stood me up several times, told me they'll be there, blah blah blah but, never showed up to do the work. Promised me it'll be done before my July 4th party and today is the 13th. They said they were coming last Wed. I I called them...no reply, no show. I text messaged and said "are you coming or not?" I finally after a few more days got a text from them saying they'll be here this Saturday, Sun. at the latest. They didn't show up yesterday so I asked about when they thought they would be here so I didn't have to be on hold and stuck here all day....and they said (after I waited all day yesterday) they'll call me later and let me know what time they'll be here sunday. I never heard back from them yesterday so I figured they were going to stand me up again. Of course they called me from my front gate at 11:30am. No warning of we're on our way or we'll be there at a certain time.

Never again will I use a pool builder (sorry to the good reliable PBs out there, cuz I know you're out there. I just happened to choose the wrong PB.

Sorry if I seem to be only complaining but, this is the only place where some people will understand where I'm coming from.

Despite my complaints, I love my pool. I just don't like being strung along by an unreliable builder.

I hear ya! Keep on them! I hope they fix everything for you.