What a nightmare!!

After reviewing several estimates, I selected Premier Pools and Spas
(Sacramento, CA) as the builder for my in-ground swimming pool. What
a big mistake! It was disappointment from day one of construction.
The sales staff, the job scheduling staff, and the construction crews
obviously do not meet with each other as they do not know what the
heck is going on. Here's my horror story:

Salesman's final quote for a free form gunite pool, 40' length, 18'
width, 3.5' to 8' depth, $30000 if we had no problems. This was with
their Winter discount. I couldn't decide on plaster or Pebble Tec so
the quote didn't include the cost for that.

Salesman quoted $800 to $1600 extra if we hit water during excavation
as I live in a high ground water table area.

Signed the contract on Friday the 13th of Dec 2002 (bad luck already).

Jan 1 2003 - Contract is binding. Salesman said construction should
take about 8 weeks.

Feb 14 - Came and drew the pool layout on the ground. Had to shift
the pool location over 10 feet since the excavation crew needed space
to operate the equipment. The pool is now right in the middle of my
backyard. I wanted more space on one side for some kind of lawn area,
but now that has changed. Bobcat excavator was getting stuck in the
mud, so they called it quits after digging down 1.5 to 2 feet.

Mar 9 - Subcontracted out for better equipment, dug down and hit the
ground water table (at 5 feet), called it quits.

Excavation supervisor came out, said it'll be $3900 to $6000 to finish
the dig!!!! Salesman said to save money, I could just go with a
shallow pool. Bogus!!

Apr 15 & 16 - They rented equipment and finished the excavation (I
don't know what the total excavation cost will be yet).

Apr 22 - Installed the plumbing.

Apr 24 - Installed the rebar. Started the dreaded pumps that will try
to control the ground water, runs 24x7.

Apr 28 - Installed the electrical.

May 2 - Shot gunite. I picked out the tile (decided to upgrade, cost
extra $) and decided to go with Pebble Sheen (will also cost $$),
picked the color for that too.

May 8 - Installed tile on waterline.

May 23 - Installed forms for concrete decking.

May 28 - Poured concrete decking. I decided to upgrade to a colored,
stamped finish for $2450. The color did not turn out right, they
missed stamping on several areas. Said they would come out to look at
it, I'd be at home waiting 3 different days for no shows. They
finally came on the fourth try and fixed the the color and stamping,
it looks OK now.

Jun 4 - Cleaned and prepped the gunite.

Jun 5 - Installed the pool equipment. Things are looking good now,
may have a pool soon! But, this is the last major work done. I
haven't seen any work done since.

Jun 20 - Called my salesman, he said it'll be done on by next Friday.
Alright! Will be swimming soon.

Jun 25 - No work yet this week. I called, oops, no work has been
scheduled for this week for me. So I complained about the pump, it
sits right outside my bedroom window, is so noisy it hard to get a
good nights sleep. My electric bill is 3x higher. So they came out
and disconnected it from my electrical panel. They said I could have
turned it of - hard to do that since it is wired into the electrical
panel.

They still need to install an electrical outlet and fix one of the
waterline tiles (as they installed a pipe there that leads to
nothing).

Many phone calls and a letter have not been sucessful. My salesman
now tells me that the Pebble Sheen color I have picked is not in
stock! To date I have paid three installments (90% paid!!).

I have notified the Better Business Bureau and the Contractor's State
License Board.

Moral of this story, get it all in writing, keep good records, take
pictures. Good luck on your pool!

I empathize. I do not know anyone who had a pool installed without serious
issues. Builders come and go.
I think you should devote some time to seek out a competent attorney to
write company a letter, that might get their attention.
Good luck,
Seamus J. Wilson
"Monica Butler" wrote in message
om...
What a nightmare!!

After reviewing several estimates, I selected Premier Pools and Spas
(Sacramento, CA) as the builder for my in-ground swimming pool. What
a big mistake! It was disappointment from day one of construction.
The sales staff, the job scheduling staff, and the construction crews
obviously do not meet with each other as they do not know what the
heck is going on. Here's my horror story:

Salesman's final quote for a free form gunite pool, 40' length, 18'
width, 3.5' to 8' depth, $30000 if we had no problems. This was with
their Winter discount. I couldn't decide on plaster or Pebble Tec so
the quote didn't include the cost for that.

Salesman quoted $800 to $1600 extra if we hit water during excavation
as I live in a high ground water table area.

Signed the contract on Friday the 13th of Dec 2002 (bad luck already).

Jan 1 2003 - Contract is binding. Salesman said construction should
take about 8 weeks.

Feb 14 - Came and drew the pool layout on the ground. Had to shift
the pool location over 10 feet since the excavation crew needed space
to operate the equipment. The pool is now right in the middle of my
backyard. I wanted more space on one side for some kind of lawn area,
but now that has changed. Bobcat excavator was getting stuck in the
mud, so they called it quits after digging down 1.5 to 2 feet.

Mar 9 - Subcontracted out for better equipment, dug down and hit the
ground water table (at 5 feet), called it quits.

Excavation supervisor came out, said it'll be $3900 to $6000 to finish
the dig!!!! Salesman said to save money, I could just go with a
shallow pool. Bogus!!

Apr 15 & 16 - They rented equipment and finished the excavation (I
don't know what the total excavation cost will be yet).

Apr 22 - Installed the plumbing.

Apr 24 - Installed the rebar. Started the dreaded pumps that will try
to control the ground water, runs 24x7.

Apr 28 - Installed the electrical.

May 2 - Shot gunite. I picked out the tile (decided to upgrade, cost
extra $) and decided to go with Pebble Sheen (will also cost $$),
picked the color for that too.

May 8 - Installed tile on waterline.

May 23 - Installed forms for concrete decking.

May 28 - Poured concrete decking. I decided to upgrade to a colored,
stamped finish for $2450. The color did not turn out right, they
missed stamping on several areas. Said they would come out to look at
it, I'd be at home waiting 3 different days for no shows. They
finally came on the fourth try and fixed the the color and stamping,
it looks OK now.

Jun 4 - Cleaned and prepped the gunite.

Jun 5 - Installed the pool equipment. Things are looking good now,
may have a pool soon! But, this is the last major work done. I
haven't seen any work done since.

Jun 20 - Called my salesman, he said it'll be done on by next Friday.
Alright! Will be swimming soon.

Jun 25 - No work yet this week. I called, oops, no work has been
scheduled for this week for me. So I complained about the pump, it
sits right outside my bedroom window, is so noisy it hard to get a
good nights sleep. My electric bill is 3x higher. So they came out
and disconnected it from my electrical panel. They said I could have
turned it of - hard to do that since it is wired into the electrical
panel.

They still need to install an electrical outlet and fix one of the
waterline tiles (as they installed a pipe there that leads to
nothing).

Many phone calls and a letter have not been sucessful. My salesman
now tells me that the Pebble Sheen color I have picked is not in
stock! To date I have paid three installments (90% paid!!).

I have notified the Better Business Bureau and the Contractor's State
License Board.

Moral of this story, get it all in writing, keep good records, take
pictures. Good luck on your pool!


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.495 / Virus Database: 294 - Release Date: 6/30/03

Yet another reason why I will never buy or own a pool! To me, pools are a
lot like boats (acquisition and disposal being the two happiest moments of
ownership). Pools make even less sense in my area, metro Boston, which
offers maybe 8 weeks of reasonable pool weather (yet two of my neighbors are
having pools installed as I type this message).

--
(Please Note: My email address has changed; see headers).
"Monica Butler" wrote in message
om...
What a nightmare!!

After reviewing several estimates, I selected Premier Pools and Spas
(Sacramento, CA) as the builder for my in-ground swimming pool. What
a big mistake! It was disappointment from day one of construction.
The sales staff, the job scheduling staff, and the construction crews
obviously do not meet with each other as they do not know what the
heck is going on. Here's my horror story:

Salesman's final quote for a free form gunite pool, 40' length, 18'
width, 3.5' to 8' depth, $30000 if we had no problems. This was with
their Winter discount. I couldn't decide on plaster or Pebble Tec so
the quote didn't include the cost for that.

Salesman quoted $800 to $1600 extra if we hit water during excavation
as I live in a high ground water table area.

Signed the contract on Friday the 13th of Dec 2002 (bad luck already).

Jan 1 2003 - Contract is binding. Salesman said construction should
take about 8 weeks.

Feb 14 - Came and drew the pool layout on the ground. Had to shift
the pool location over 10 feet since the excavation crew needed space
to operate the equipment. The pool is now right in the middle of my
backyard. I wanted more space on one side for some kind of lawn area,
but now that has changed. Bobcat excavator was getting stuck in the
mud, so they called it quits after digging down 1.5 to 2 feet.

Mar 9 - Subcontracted out for better equipment, dug down and hit the
ground water table (at 5 feet), called it quits.

Excavation supervisor came out, said it'll be $3900 to $6000 to finish
the dig!!!! Salesman said to save money, I could just go with a
shallow pool. Bogus!!

Apr 15 & 16 - They rented equipment and finished the excavation (I
don't know what the total excavation cost will be yet).

Apr 22 - Installed the plumbing.

Apr 24 - Installed the rebar. Started the dreaded pumps that will try
to control the ground water, runs 24x7.

Apr 28 - Installed the electrical.

May 2 - Shot gunite. I picked out the tile (decided to upgrade, cost
extra $) and decided to go with Pebble Sheen (will also cost $$),
picked the color for that too.

May 8 - Installed tile on waterline.

May 23 - Installed forms for concrete decking.

May 28 - Poured concrete decking. I decided to upgrade to a colored,
stamped finish for $2450. The color did not turn out right, they
missed stamping on several areas. Said they would come out to look at
it, I'd be at home waiting 3 different days for no shows. They
finally came on the fourth try and fixed the the color and stamping,
it looks OK now.

Jun 4 - Cleaned and prepped the gunite.

Jun 5 - Installed the pool equipment. Things are looking good now,
may have a pool soon! But, this is the last major work done. I
haven't seen any work done since.

Jun 20 - Called my salesman, he said it'll be done on by next Friday.
Alright! Will be swimming soon.

Jun 25 - No work yet this week. I called, oops, no work has been
scheduled for this week for me. So I complained about the pump, it
sits right outside my bedroom window, is so noisy it hard to get a
good nights sleep. My electric bill is 3x higher. So they came out
and disconnected it from my electrical panel. They said I could have
turned it of - hard to do that since it is wired into the electrical
panel.

They still need to install an electrical outlet and fix one of the
waterline tiles (as they installed a pipe there that leads to
nothing).

Many phone calls and a letter have not been sucessful. My salesman
now tells me that the Pebble Sheen color I have picked is not in
stock! To date I have paid three installments (90% paid!!).

I have notified the Better Business Bureau and the Contractor's State
License Board.

Moral of this story, get it all in writing, keep good records, take
pictures. Good luck on your pool!

A neighbor of mine had a problem with a pool install in
a high water table..................

Watch out for this possible future problem: Because the pool
excavation disturbed the natural sediment layers a path for
groundwater escape may occur. In my case my neighbor who is
slightly uphill from me cut through a layer of clay. Now every spring
or fall or after a day of rain I get a Beverly Hillbilly "Bubbling
Crude" type of surface water. It floods my backyard. What happens
is the water trapped under the clay increases its pressure after rainy
times. If it can find a local release it will surface. I believe this
mechanism is called "sheeting". I hope you or your neighbor will
not suffer from this. I'm still looking for a solution to my problem.