Mr Carlos Pools

Contract signed end of August 2020. No permits yet by January 2021 even though we paid for expediting. We finally corrected problem ourselves-Mr Carlos entered the wrong address so DWP showed there was a power line on our property (there isn't). Permits issued- but no work has begun three months later. We finally paid our own contractors to have the pool excavated ourselves. Mr Carlos charged us for excavation because their contract (which is not legal under California Contractor's LAW) charges by percentages-not actual work performed. ONE YEAR LATER-rebar was finally done but incorrectly. It was 8 inches higher than our patio and doors. We told them about it but they never sent out someone from their team. So they had plumbing installed. Inspection did not pass. BOTH rebar and plumbing had to be redone. Mr Carlos upcharged us for their mistake. For over two months we asked for our coping and tile options, no response. My husband was told that if we wanted our pool finished, then we should just do the coping ourselves. So we did. Still no tile options even though I asked for a simple 2x2 in grey, I was told we could only get a 6x6 in white. So we purchased our own tile. One year 3 months later, still no pool because Mr Carlos scheduled plaster before hooking up electrical and installing pool and jacuzzi light. So we did not pass inspection. They scheduled the light to be installed in two weeks. No date for plaster, start up and completion yet. It look like this pool won't be completed until 2022. One year and 6 months later. It is a small pool, rectangular, on a flat (no hillside) lot. Mr Carlos is unresponsive, unprofessional and dismissive. BEWARE.

If you want a pool built, I would seriously stay away from this company. I should have realized when they started 2 months later than what they said. Our plans were to have a small landing up top for a seating area. I noticed they weren't digging out for it, but only digging for the pool. I called to voice concern that I didn't think they were following the plans. I was told, they have the plans and they do this for a living, they will get it done. A few days later, they are done digging, and they didn't dig out for the landing. I called and spoke to the office manager again, she said something to the nature of, it looks like they didn't dig it out correct (yeah no kidding, I told you that days prior) so we will have to figure something out. 1 to 2 weeks later, they come with a new plan to build the pool and wall as 1, and tried to convince me it would look way better. Well you can't fix your mistake, so I had to do it. They then had to draw new engineering plans and submit them to the county for approval. This took another few weeks. They then had the nerve to tell me it would cost me more money because it was going to require more rebar and gunite. (Remember, if you sign a contract, and the contractor messes up and cost them more money, you are not obligated to pay for their mistakes). I laughed and said, "I called and tried to tell you they were doing it wrong, and you told me they knew what they were doing. I'm not paying for your mistake." That was now strike 2. Everything starts moving along. Now they start to lay the rebar for the waterfall and waterslide. Now as they formed the rebar, I noticed the opening for the slide say almost 4' above the water line. I again called to voice my concerns. This time, they sent the Foreman to look (by the way, Rick the Foreman is hardly ever out to inspect, and is not there at every new step). He stopped by my house, and he proceeded to tell me how they do slides like this all the time. I went an every site and page I can where they had built a pool and NEVER saw a slide that high. That should have been strike 3. But he said it was fine. So they continue on building. Things start moving and they finally get the pool built, and get water in it. Of course my family is excited to try it. We go down the water slide, and guess what happens? Yep the slide is too high, you hit the bottom of the pool when coming off the slide, and a family member broke their ankle from hitting the bottom. I called, I am now very upset because I told them I was concerned about the height. Well they came and "fixed" the slide by lowering it a little, but now the slide had a ledge of about 10" to 14". I did not like that because what if a chunk of cement broke off and hit someone. They didn't bat an eye and said it would be safe. Fast forward 5 months later, and the county comes to do a final inspection. I asked him about the slide, and them redoing it, and the concern I had. He looked at me, and I can tell he was mad. They didn't go through they county for the repairs, and probably because they didn't want to have to pay for new plan submittal. They inspector looked at me and said, "you know I'm going to have to redtag your pool right"? I laughed and said, "yes I do". I didn't feel safe with the way they half-assed the repairs, and I knew they only way they would do it correctly is if the county told them they had too. The county then had Mr. Carlos Pools send out Rick, the worthless Foreman out to speak with him and I. Rick proceeds to lie straight through his teeth saying things like, " we never worked on the slide after it was approved. This is how it has always been blah blah blah". I'm sitting back smiling the entire time because I took video and pictures along the entire build. Once he got done, I looked Rick in the eyes and asked him, "are you done lying, I'll show you all the pictures and videos I have". His face had the "oh ****" look instantly. Not to mention, the guy that built the slide came to my front door to talk to me about it. I also had the video where he admitted the slide was too high, and he knew it.The inspector looks at Rick and says, "so do you want to stick to your story?" Rick just stood there in silence, it was beautiful. They had to tear down there repair, submit plans, and redo it once again and the county now had them under a watchful eye. They finally got the pool built, mind you, we are now 1 1/2 years since they started. Its now February 2020, and I have never received a final inspection. So in March 2020, it finally got signed off. 2 years from when they started. Now fast forward to March 2021, the pool light went out and I called about warranty. Online, Jandy says 3 years. JJ the office manager. She tells me it only a 2 year warranty and that it starts when they install it. That's not the case. I called Jandy, and warranties start from final sign off. I gave Jandy my serial numbers and am good until March 2023. They all lie, and Gary the owner is a joke.

Super satisfied with the complete process of Mr. Carlos Pools. We finally pulled the trigger after years of debating back and forth to do it. We have had multiple bids over the years including having Steve from Mr. Carlos out to change our design a couple of times. They stayed consistent, never pushy and worked with us each time to be transparent in their pricing and stay in our budget. They had so many options and were absolutely able to do some very neat high end features that we didn't need but cool to see amazing ideas that were available outside a cookie cutter simple pool. In the end, although we kept it with our initial design, they implemented some changes to give us options of a much higher end appearance but still within our budget. The mini pebble plaster was one upgrade we went with and really gave us that wow factor and pretty neat crystal clear blue water look we desired. We also went with a modern edge coping that didn't break the bank, there were so many choices, many of which fit the budget still. They upgraded our tile at their cost as well which I really appreciated to finish off our selections and overall aesthetic. Other bids we had went from close pricing, yet less upgrades to really high bids that were 15-20k more, not sure how those other pool builders can charge so much but Mr. Carlos Pools and their team just gave us what we really wanted in the end for a fair price. A special thank you to our rep Steve, foreman Jose, project cord. Austen and design rep. Lisa. The subcontractors were all very professional and great as well but we really wanted to thank the team at Mr. Carlos. We live in Glendora and will recommend them to anyone. We know of at least four people who have used them and three other friends or family that are currently in the process, all with positive experiences. I've seen some negative reviews which I'm sure happen from time to time but think they may be competitors trying to badmouth. Sad. From my experience and others I know firsthand, this company is more than willing to deliver on their promises and correct any issues that may arise. Feel free to message me or ask directly for further information on our family's project. Literally could not be happier!zakbushey@yahoo.com

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. HIGHLY ADVISE TO LOOK ELSEWHERE If you are looking for the worst pool company to work with then look no further. Mr. Carlos pools proved themselves to be incompetent and unprofessional every step of the day. Disaster from Day 1. Highly advise to use another company. They only use sub contractors so no one from Mr. Carlos pools staff will rarely if ever be on your properly. Their project manager is a joke. There are plenty of other pool contractors to use that: 1) will not ask you to wear a low cut shirt and perfume for the inspector 2) will not nickel and dime you the entire process 3) never come to your house to see build site 4) give 100 personal reasons as to why your pool install did not happen correctly. 5) Will not make sure your choices of tile and pebble are premium colors....taht will add to your projects cost. First, we started off with tons of excuses. Someone's dads surgery and someone else's kids baseball game. Then we did not get our permit as planned...but yet suddenly after letting them know we are going to cancel or delay our pool project, they were able to get our permit with a small expediting fee of $450. We should have canceled at this point. Every step with our pool had issues...usually that would have additional costs too. Also, every step of our install had to be undone and redone. Plumbing in. plumbing out. Coping in. Coping out. Thank god for the inspectors. Kept them in line and made sure things were done correctly Gary, who masquerades as the owner, will even ask you to wear a low cut shirt and perfume for the inspector....which is not necessary if you are a reputable builder. Their schedulers are the worst. Excuses the whole time. They will not schedule the next step of your pool until the step prior is completed so you will; usually only have one step done a week...waiting. They next week they have to fix all the issues their subs messed up. The only reason my pool is finished is because I rode her and told her when everything needed to be scheduled. Also, they forgot to install simple items in our pool that were add on's we paid for such as a pool auto fill and pool tablet chlorinator. Basic items that I had to point out were missing. As I mentioned, worlds worst experience.

We have contracted Mr. Carlos pool to design and install a pool in our backyard. The sales person Stephen signed the contract with us, assuring us that they have food connections with the Los Angeles county to get the permits passed and plans approved. With a small pool/ retaining wall Stephen has designed with us, the proposed budget was for $65,000, which is in the low to mid range from all our other bids. We had decided to go with them and paid our $1,000 deposit, and that's when the nightmare began. The owner Gary and the people in the office were very irresponsible- drawings sent from my soil engineer would sit on their desks for 8 months without submitting them into the city. Whenever I had the good luck of finally getting in contact with one of them, they would lie and say that they've already submitted the drawings and waiting from the city. The back and forth between city and them and soil engineer alone took 1.5 years, and in between tis time, I have spent thousands on soil engineer revisions, city permits which we even paid extra to have them expedited, and the permit lady from Mr. Carlos pools who I have to pay to get the files to the city. We have paid close to $9,000 in total. After 2 years of miserably trying to find out what the status of my pool constructions, the permit lady told me, oh sorry, I don't think the city will approve building a pool in your backyard?! Ok, I live in Los Angeles county where 95% the neighbors around us have a swimming pool. And Mr Carlos pools assured us before and when we signed the contract that our pool is an easy job unlike any other pools they have done. So if you are planning to look for a pool contractor, don't be fooled by Mr Carlos lower bids, because you get what you pay for. Absolutely the worst experience we have had dealing with contractors/ company.

Mr. Carlos Pools did a wonderful job for us.....we LOVE our sparkling and beautiful new pool. Andrew was our project manager, and he was so professional, responsive, helpful and informative, really a true pleasure to work with. I cannot say enough wonderful things about Andrew, he was just an awesome project manager. Gary, the owner, took great care of our project, and we really appreciated the personal attention we received. Each crew that came out at each phase of the pool build were all so professional, and their workmanship was top notch. This experience surpassed our expectations. We highly recommend Mr. Carlos Pools!

Pulled up in a new BMW brought nothing but a measuring tape that he never used. He listened to what I wanted, but did not take any notes or make any measurements. He came April 8, 2015 and it is now April 20th and I have not received an estimate, email or phone call. Business must be good

After interviewing 4 contractors, I made the mistake of going with the cheapest - Mr. Carlos Pools. Every step of the way was a disaster, from the excavation to the finish work. The contract was signed in February and the pool wasn't completed until August. One of the most frustrating aspects of the project was the lack of a point person to contact with problems. I was tossed between several different "account managers" who worked out of the office and never once came to the house. Also, all of the contractors were subs. None of the workers were employed by Mr. Carlos. I would have much rather paid a few thousand dollars more to avoid all of the headaches and stress. Working with Mr. Carlos Pools was truly one of the most frustrating and aggravating experiences of my life. I would never recommend them under any circumstance.

We went with Mr. Carlos pool after a few bids and because of their A reviews on Angies list and salesperson Stephen assured me that they have good relationships with the city and will finish my project in 4-5 months. They have submitted the application for of our pool June of 2013 and to this date, September of 2014 after countless emails and calls, we have not even have our permits yet let alone any excavation. The problem is, they do not care about your project after they got the bid. There's an expediter Gale who they used to send documents in to the city. However, this expediter and Mr. Carlos Pools have no communications at all. Corrections letters from the city would just sit on Mr. Carlos Pools desk for 3 months, without even opening it and letting us know what needs to be done. And I even paid for extra expedited fee for it to be done faster, but all wasted on Mr. Carlos Pools desk! When I call and ask the progress of the permits, they would tell me to call Gale myself and find out; when I called Gale, she would say she gave it to Mr. Carlos Pools. So the result is, after 28 months, we are nowhere near having a pool. It is the most unreliable and irresponsible company I've ever dealt with!

Mr. Carlos pools did a fantastic job on building our pool. It's a big investment and I am very pleased with the final result!

Very sweet guy and everything but I just can’t afford putting up $35000. I didn’t do anything with them, so I don’t know but the consultation was fine with them. It was very pleasant and non-aggressive and everything went fine. If I decide to put a pool in, I would probably call him and consider him. They were very good. They were willing to answer questions. I am very satisfied with them.

My impression of their people that I came in contact with was fine.

A friend and neighbor used them to build there pool. He had a great experience and is enjoying his new pool.

After contacting him several times and pushing. I simply gave up and got 2 other bids. I shared with him what I had done for a complete Pool build in excess of $70k is what I ended up going with. I got the feel he is a one man show and simply does not have the ability to scale and/or respond

I was going to use them and we signed an agreement. He was supposed to give me a design and several times, he didn't show up. When we have a meeting and he never show. He wouldn't call or anything. He didn't even get me the design, so I ended up asking for the money for the deposit back. He said, I was just trying to extort him by saying I was going to give him a bad review on Angie's List and then he said that he would give his resignation in if I didn't say anything. So, he pretended like he gave his resignation in and I just never got back to write in the review yet. He ended up splitting the deposit and only gave me half of it back.

it was a good experience.

They seem pretty professional.

I was very pleased with the conversation we had overall and it was very helpful

I thought their price was reasonable but I thought there were missing details on their quote in terms of what was really necessary to build. They did not provide a very accurate quote and I was concerned about the reliability of it. The rep was good; he was professional.

We were extremely pleased with the whole process of building our pool from the design to the completion. Gary was very helpful in answering any questions we had. All of Mr Carlos' staff and subcontractors were kind and courteous during the eight weeks of building our pool. The price was fair and they helped us ease our fears as well.. Sean

He did an excellent job. I have been very happy with his pool service since.