Crystal Clear Pools of Charleston

Extremely well

We are thrilled! We signed the contract on Saturday morning and the work begin the following Monday. Our contract stated they would finish by January 7th. The pool was completed on December 20th. Kevin Mock was our project manager. He did an outstanding job every step of the way and our new pool is gorgeous. Our home is on the ocean with the pool literally 25 yards from the sea. Winter conditions made this build difficult but Kevin and his crew labored on. After the pool was complete, Kevin came back daily to check on the maintenance. His service was beyond anything we expected. Rebuilding from a hurricane is not easy. Of all the sub contractors we hired, Crystal Clear Polls was far and away the best. I can't sing their praises enough!

Terrible experience. I have built 4 pools at 4 different homes and my experience with Crystal Clear Pools ( Eric D'Angelo, owner) is the worse pool building experiences I've had. All starts out well, he talks a good game as in "Yeah, I can do that, " and "Here's a great price" and then you're stuck. Timeline - We signed a contract in Nov 11, 2015 and the pool shell and and stell were put in Dec 30, 2015. Gunite went in 1/15/16, plumbing was roughed in on 1/8. Due to the poor selection of pool tile offered, we had to go selected our tile for another source, which cause a short delay. Tile was then set on 3/11, and the wall and coping were finished on 3/14. He began the travertine decking on 3/25. They finally completed the columns and wall caps on 4/12. Plaster and pool filling began on 4/18/16 . It took until July for the salt system to be connected. From the beginning, the filter was extremely noisy, whining, and caveatating. Repeated calls were to no avail. Once they finally came out, it turns out may have installed an incorrect part , and in correcting it they may have cracked the housing on the filter head causing a leak. We hope that filter is corrected and the leak is finally fixed. As of today July 18, 2016 , 7 months after the start, the pool is still not 100% completed as they have not completed the last bit of travertine on the deck, which has been sitting there for more than 3 weeks now. Under no circumstances would I recommend using this company. This is a follow up to my previous review. We have had even more issues with the pump and filter installed. In our contract we selected a 1.5 hp pump with sand filter. Mr DeAngelo took it upon himself to install a 2.0 hp pump. Because this pump was more powerful than the 1.5 hp in the contract, it blew out the pipe seals that connect to the filter. We have fixed this 3 times. Now it has blown out the top and are now going to have to pay almost $4,000 to replace both pump and filter. I urge every person who reads this, do not use this pool building company under any circumstances Horrible experience keeps getting worse

Eric and crew are true professionals...My wife and I see-sawed as to what type of pool would be most beneficial....Eric throughly explained benefits and set backs for various pools and his friendly demeanor allowed us to make a decision based upon various factors. Once we decided.....Eric and company always were there to answer our questions and keep us informed every step of the way. We love the esthetic look of the pool and are throughly pleased with the final product.

We LOVE our pool and had such a great experience with Crystal Clear Pools.  Eric, the owner, was so great to work with during planning and construction of our pool.  More importantly,  still almost one year later, he is available for questions or concerns whenever we call on him.  This was the second pool we have built.  The first was not in SC, but we went with a large national pool company. That experience pales in comparison to what we received for Eric and his contractors through Crystal Clear Pools.  Eric and his team were pleasant to work with at all times, professional and willing to do whatever we needed to make our pool beautiful and perfect.  If we ever had a question or concern Eric was quick to respond and rectify the issue. Honestly that's the BIGGEST and MOST important part of building a pool, knowing that if there is a problem or concern that the company will be there to "Make it right".  This is something I know Eric does for all his customers.   I would and have recommended Crystal Clear Pools of Charleston to family and friends.  

The installation did not go well. Delays
and broken promises were a source of

constant frustration during the process. The owner would say
they would be

there a certain day but rarely was he accurate or on
time.  



These wrong dates started at the very beginning with the pool
delivery. It was

supposed to be Mid-May. Several dates of delivery were made
during May...and

missed. It ended up mid-June. There were several excuses
including one of his

guys quit on him, cannot deliver a pool on a holiday
weekend, family

issues, and more. My family also took a 6-day vacation during
this month.

 We
settled on the pool being delivered the day we returned from our
vacation so they could

get started on it ASAP. We returned from our vacation 6/4.
The pool was

delivered 6/11. 



So our family just lost one month of using the pool. 



After about 2 months of the owner saying answers to appease
us we realized not to take him very

seriously anymore; that he either didn't know when the next
step would

take place or completed, didn?t care, or he was just
guessing. 



The hole was dug to install the pool 6/11. The pipes were
installed and buried.

But they leaked. We lost an inch of water a day. They dug up
and resealed the

pipes at the pool filter as that ground stayed wet. The pool
still lost

an inch a day. So the entire plumbing system had to be dug
up.

 

To CCP?s credit they did re-dig up and
install all brand new pipes and lights to address

and fix any possible leaks (the leaks were blamed on the glue
that was used). 

Still there went two more weeks our kids couldn't use the
pool we wanted for

them this summer. The 4th of July came and went and we
couldn?t use

the pool we hoped for. 



To the best of my knowledge the owner never visited our
property after this point to

check on its status or our satisfaction. We had paid for
approx. 95% of the

pool, waited 4 months to get the pool in the ground but still
did not have the

cement poured around our pool after 4 months.



The last straw was on 7/6/15 when the installation
man texted to tell me

he was heading over to our house to fix the leaking pipe
problem around 1:26pm;



He told me he was "just finishing up the job
where he was at and

would be over shortly." By 6:30pm he still had not shown
up. He texted

again 6:43pm, after my calls to him and the owner went unaddressed,

saying he NOW was just finishing up the job he had been at
and he will be over

?first thing? the next  day now. 

That
night my oldest girl fell in the big mud puddle at or pump left from the
leaking pipes that were not fixed yet.



Another day lost for our kids. 



That night I filled out a complaint with the Better Business
Bureau with this

Crystal Clear Pools after being tired of being lied to or
taken seriously. The complaint was

posted 2 days later. I also enlisted the help of an attorney
that has defended

pool companies in the past.

 

The next day I had at least 4 calls from
the owner

trying to make it right. That got his attention. He asked me
to retract the BBB

complaint. That it could affect HIS family. 



After the work on the pipes and fixing the leaks was complete
I did retract but saved the BBB complaint.

However we never did get an apology for the delay. Contrary
to the company

marketing, Customer Satisfaction never seemed to be a high
priority after he

got his money.



New pipes were eventually put in 7/7- 7/8. The cement was
poured 7/16. The pipes,

filter, and lights all worked well. The final detail was to
spread the Spray

Decking and the Cantilever surface. 



I was told I had to wait 4 weeks for this final step to allow
the cement poured around the pool to cure all the way. We

were able to use the pool at this point finally.  



That was July 16th when the cement was poured. The Spray
Decking and

Cantilever work were completed TWO months later on 9/15 and
16; 2 months

to the day after the cement was poured and only then after I had to call and text, asking when
this will

happen again. 



In the end all is well, 7 or so months later, with the pool installation,
except

that the pool is not completely level. It leans toward the
deep end and is

apparent with the water level and the cement decking.

 

 Also the water pressure gauge is filled
with water and does not work properly. The owner never offered a

concession for this poor workmanship. He just emailed a
bill 9/20/15.

Make a note to ?Customer
Satisfaction is our top priority? in the company marketing. He never once
called to see how I liked the pool, was I satisfied, etc.



In fact that is why I rated Crystal Clear Pools a 'D' in
Professionalism. The owner is very slick and professional up front but
it seems after he gets his money he is done returning phone calls or texts, or
checking on Customer Satisfaction.



Yes, he did go to the extent to dig up all the pipes and lay
and seal a new set

of pipes when the pool was losing water.

 Many of the calls and texts never got returned by
him or his staff. In my professional world I would not have a

job long if I ignored customer's phone calls and texts
looking for answers or

information. 



On the plus side, the pool man he turned the job over to when
the pool was complete was very hands on.

He was instrumental in
getting our pool working smoothly as well as instructing me, the owner, 

on how to operate the pool, the maintenance, cleaning, and so
forth. 



Professionalism:

-Pouring left over spray decking (paint) down the
drain on our neighborhood street.

-Finding the manual to the pool filter laying in the
shrubbery.

-Finding the manual to the lights on the floor in our garage.

-Unmet deadlines and arrival times. 

-Lack of empathy that the job is taking considerably longer
than promised.

-Not making an issue of something going wrong a priority.
(the CCP crew continued to

work at other projects while our project often
sat unworked)

-Multiple grease and oil stains left on our s

He told us when he was coming, he came and he did an excellent job.  The pool was actually completed last year, but needed the extra coat of paint around the perimeter. 

Eric and team did a great job.   The installation was well done, and the concrete work was top notch.  Overall coordination with entire project team was well done, resulting in a very satisfying project.  Strong recommendation for Eric and team.

unknown

It is not easy to pick a company to do an expensive project when you move to a new state. We hit a home run with Crystal Clear Pools of Charleston which we found thru Angies List. The owner of the company, Eric D'Angelo gave us all the time we needed to understand the many steps involved with the installation of an in-ground pool at our new home. He answered every phone call, came by often to supervise the install and treated us with great patience. His pricing was great and his crews were experienced, polite and hardworking. It was impossible to get the pre-formed pool into our backyard because of the size and boundary issues. Eric arranged for a crane and crew to come and lift it over our house. The whole neighborhood was in awe. The excavation and cement deck pour were done perfectly in spite of the often torrential rains we were experiencing. Since the install, he and his employees have come by to clean the pool and instruct us on the system. We would recommend this company without worry.

We were pleased with the end result. The pool is beautiful.

.

We had the pool installed last spring and the had no problems all season.  This spring the computer board that monitors the salt levels and other diagnostics started to act up.  I called Eric and he immediately sent out Phil.  Phil actually showed up on a Friday after 6 PM!  He went through the whole system and replaced the defective part at no charge.  The pool was up and running very quickly.  Phil also took the time to check any other potential issues and maintenance needs for the pool.  Received 2 follow up calls from the company owner and Phil to make sure the pool was operating properly. Service and follow up is excellent!