Champion Pool

After I had heard nothing from George, I called him on May 4 to find out when they would start. He said they had to finish up another job, but would begin the next Monday, May 10, without fail. He cited bad weather as the reason he was behind schedule, even though there had been no rain for the prior month. He said the job would take 7-10 days to complete, and he never worked on but one job at the time. I agreed, and asked him to call me later in the week to let me know what time they would be there on May 10 On the morning of May 10, we had heard nothing, so I called Georges cell phone and left a message to call me. I also tried the office but there was no answer, and no voice mail. He did not call me back, but after repeated calls, I reached him at the office late morning. He said he needed another 2 weeks to finish up the other jobs. He had a litany of excuses why they were delayed, including car starter, bad weather, and snake bite. I told him this was not acceptable for reasons discussed earlier and asked to cancel the contract. George begged me not to cancel and said he could delay the other jobs. He promised to bring a crew to our house that afternoon to start. Reluctantly, I agreed. He did come with a crew later in the afternoon and began pumping out the water. He requested that I turn off the pump later in the day, so he could be present when they got it empty. He promised to be back the next morning. When nobody had appeared by noon the next day, I finally reached him in his office. Again no reply to cell phone voice mail. He said his crew had gone to pick up equipment from the other job, and should be there any minute. I accepted this, but after arriving home from work at 7 PM, learned nobody had shown up. When I called George, he acted surprised that his crew had not been there. Later he called back to say they got lost. This was the final straw. I had not only lost confidence in his ability to time manage the job, but even in his ability to supervise the complicated installation. He tried to convince me to give them another chance, but I could not risk it. I told him to pick up his pump, and offered $400 for his time and shipping back the supplies he said he ordered. He agreed and refunded $388 of the $788 deposit. This was a costly mistake for me. I had to refill, 15,000 of water, spend $200 on salt and chemicals, and am still in the unpainted pool. Next Fall I will try again with a contractor who has better time and resource management skills. I still have nothing personal against George and wish him good luck. I think his intent was honest, but he could not deliver as promised.