Crystal Pools

"Summary: We have been in the water business for 35 years. We pride ourselves in leaving behind nothing but satisfied clients and have worked on some of the most prestigious pools and water features. We have maintained an impeccable record with the Contractor's State License Board and have been invited on many occasions to participate in the creating and modifying of California building codes pertinent to our trade. The member is withholding approximately $40,000. Despite her refusal to pay us or our subcontractors for many months we still continued and finished the job, provided everything we were supposed to and more, and received final approval from the Beverly Hills Building Dept. My main regret is that we should have stopped the job sooner and not continued with such a large balance owed. No other contractor that we know would have continued under these circumstances especially in these economic times. Appearances are that she has had no intention of paying and has strung us all on to the point of completion so that she has her pool, yard and oh yes, the garage turned storage building ultimately became a gym. The actual complaint and evidence simply does not support a reason to withhold so much money. We were given a sob story by her in July that her ex-husband had quit paying for her children's private schooling and therefore could not pay. On September 3rd, her response to our final invoice was "I have been in Hawaii with my kids for the last 2 weeks. I am just beginning to sort through everything. I will deal with this and everything you have sent me in the next few days". It is obvious in her own verbiage that our needs are of little concern to her. Also in contrast to the truth, she states in her complaint that we insist on being fully paid prior to addressing any concerns. It is obvious in our supporting documentation (available on request) that we have suggested on repeated occasion a very reasonable monetary retention until we have addressed her concerns. We have provided a quality job that in no way warrants removing or re-doing. While we seek an expeditious resolution to the matter for everyone's sake, we are tired of being victimized by this client and are not interested in mediation or negotiation as we have already invested far too much in a disappointing cause. We have had to file a lien against her property to protect our interest and the matter has been turned over to our attorney."