Complaint Review: Blue Haven Pools

I just had my pool completed by Blue Haven Pools, Morgan Hill. What a nightmare! See below. As far as the cement goes, I decided to use a cement contractor that Blue Haven suggested. They had a list of about 3 contractors. The reason I did this is because I know that if and when there are cement problems after the fact, the pool contractor might blame it on the cement contractor, or vise versa. I have been down road before with my last pool construction. So if the cement contractor is a referral from the pool contractor, common sense would make you think that they have a good relationship and that they would not point fingers at each other if a problem arises. Beware, it is not always the after the fact stuff you have to worry about. I found myself being the middleman on several occasions. I did it so I could get my pool done.

In my situation, these guys never talked to each other. The coordination and responsibilities of who was going to do what and when was pathetic.

I would suggest to anyone reading this, that is considering a pool, to make sure that you dig deep into what it is exactly, that the cement guys are going to do. Its sometimes not just pouring the cement.

On my job, these dummies argued back and forth about who was going to trim the 3 sheer descents. When they poured the concrete, the sheer descents moved and stuck out of the poured coping at least 2 inches. They looked terrible. Instead of cutting them before they plastered the pool, even though they all knew about it, Blue Haven finally did it after I refused payment at startup. I had talked to both the cement contactor and Blue Haven at least 7 times about trimming them. So instead, Blue Haven finally trimmed them after the pool was filled. Guess where all of the plastic crap went after he trimmed them? I spent literally 8 hours trying to scoop the plastic shavings out of the pool. The pieces were so fine, that they could not be picked up by the net. I ended up having to remove and clean all 4 cartridge filters, on a brand new pool. All because, of someone's laziness and or miscommunications. This was just one on the many times that the results of them not talking to each other created problems for me.
So, what about my time? Contractors are usually nickel and diming people to death. If I calculated how much time I spent playing middleman, cleaning up after them and dealing with all of the B.S., they would end up owing me quite a bit. As a consumer, we always end up getting screwed one way or another. What if the shoe was on the other foot? You know d**n well, that these guys wouldn't like it.
So with this in mind, research everything thoroughly before you sign anything. Physically look at their previous work. Don't just look at pictures. Talk to their previous Customers. Ask them to be honest about the contractor's performance. And lastly, research the Internet. Places like this are a good source of information. You know, it is easy for people to lie, especially if they are pissed off. But if you continue to see nothing but problems about anything or anyone you research, then I would ay there has got to be some form of truth. Especially if the complaints are common in nature.
Now for something you absolutely need to know about Blue Haven Pools, Morgan Hill. Read Below.

Approximately 2 weeks after the startup of my pool, on 9-20-05, my pool pump lost prime. In other words, water was not flowing through the pump at all, even though it was on. I called Blue Haven to come and check it out. I repeatedly left messages for the General Manager, Greg, to come out or call me back. Neither of which happened.

After 2 days of no contact from him, on 9-22-05, I called again and this time I was sarcastically told by his Office Manager and Wife, Kathy, that she didn't know when Greg would call me back and that she suggested that I use someone else to fix the problem. I couldn't believe it. I just spent $57,532 on my pool, and this was the treatment I was receiving. Sarcasm was something I was used too, with Kathy. Throughout all communications during the pool construction, she was very rude, condescending and sarcastic. In my opinion, she has no Customer Service skills whatsoever. The only reason I ever talked to her is because this was the only way to get in touch with her husband Greg. He does not have voicemail on his cell phone. I always thought that this was odd, especially for a businessman. But, now I realize that he probably chose not to have voicemail because he would most likely be doing nothing but listening to his Customers complain. So in reality, Kathy is the buffer between Greg and the Customer.

I had another pool company come out immediately to check out the situation. He got my pump working again and told me that the reason my pump lost prime was that the Ozinator was connected in the wrong spot. It was connected prior to the pump. He also noticed that there was no adjuster valve on the Ozinator. An Ozinator pumps air (ozone) into the pool. Without this adjuster valve, there was no way of controlling the amount of air that was inserted in the pool. To much air led my pump to lose prime. He said that the Ozinator should be placed at the pump or beyond it and suggested that I make another appointment with him to move it. He temporarily disconnected the Ozinator in fear of my pump losing prime again.

On 9-23-05 I called Blue Havens Corporate Customer Service Department and talked to someone named Barbara. She seemed very sympathetic to my situation. I explained everything that happened. I explained that I had an appointment with another pool company to fix the Ozinator placement problem. She asked me to please cancel the appointment and to give them one more chance. So I agreed. She said she was going to contact Greg and find out what was going on.

On 9-29-05 I still did not hear from anyone at Blue Haven Pools. So I called Barbara again to find out what was going on. She said she was shocked that I hadn't heard back from Greg or Kathy. I told her that I was done playing games. I told her if I didn't hear back from either her or Greg or Kathy by the end of business on 9-30-05, that I was going to file complaints with the Better Business Bureau, the State Contractors Board and Consumer Affairs. I never got a call from anyone at Blue Haven.

On 10-01-05, I made good on my promise and filed the complaints online and by mail. I also emailed Barbara, to let her know what I did.

On 10-3-05, Barbara called and said that she was going to call Greg and find out why he hasn't called me. She called back to tell me that Greg passed the information on to the Ozinator Sales Rep. and that the Rep. would call me to setup an appointment to fix the Ozinator problem.

The Ozinator Sales Rep. did come to my house and connected the Ozinator where it should have been located along with placing a valve on the end of the hose. The Ozinator Sales Rep. told me that this was the first Ozinator that Blue Haven Morgan Hill had ever installed and that they did not do it correctly. Since he reconnected it, I have not had any problems.

The above statements were only a couple of the many problems I encountered with Blue Haven. I had many other issues as well. Things like the Gunite having to be removed and readded because the shape of the radius was off by 10, valves were not installed, sheer descents that were not trimmed, and other crappy workmanship from Blue Haven contractors.

Whatever happened to The Customer is Always Right? Blue Haven Pools does not care about their Customers, especially if you have already paid them. I suggest holding back that last payment until you are 100% satisfied. Look at their contract closely though. It conveniently says that the last payment is due at plaster. Before you sign the contract, make the Blue Haven Sales Puppet agree to change that sentence. I am sorry but plaster is not the final step in pool construction. These idiots expected me to pay them the day they started up my pool, even though the sheer descents were not trimmed, and even though a one way valve was missing on the pool equipment, which caused my SPA to drain every time I turned off the equipment and even though my Ozinator was not installed, because they forgot to order it. And they want their money because my pool is plastered? What's wrong with this picture?

Here is the icing on the cake. In the very beginning the Blue Haven Salesman suggested that I get the Ozinator. He said that they work great and it is a must. So I agreed to buy it. The day of startup, when I pointed out that the Ozinator wasn't installed, their answer was, that they would just credit me back the cost of the Ozinator. I told them no way. Then Greg told me, You know, they really don't work that great anyway. So I am thinking, either he is being lazy or his Salesman is a Liar. I told him maybe he ought to consider telling that to his Salesman.

I still to this day, have not heard from Greg, Kathy or Barbara. One would think that I would have at least been contacted by Barbara to see if everything was okay. But I haven't. I have however heard from the Better Business Bureau and the State Contractor Board. I have not be compensated my expenses for having the other pool company come out to fix the pool prime problem.

I would highly recommend that you investigate Blue Haven via the Better Business Bureau and your States Contractor Board prior to considering them to build your pool. Then also type in Blue Haven Pools in any search engine and see what happens. You will notice tons of complaints, from people all across the country.

I know Cory and his family and have viewed the progress (or lack thereof) of the pool in this report. The first thing I noticed upon viewing the pool was the grading. There is definitely an uphill slope from the house to the pool (approx. 14 ft in distance). This slope is much more than one needed for drainage, I believe about 5-6 inches). When walking towards the pool, you actually feel yourself walking up hill. No pool decking I have ever been on comes anywhere close to what I have experienced with this. When placing chairs opposite each other (one facing the pool, the other the house) the person facing the pool is literally looking up towards the other and visa versa. It is an absolutely unreal sensation. Walking barefoot on the cement, one can feel the variations of the finish work so dramatically, that at more than one location the arch of my foot was easily filled by a lump of cement - for lack of a better way to state this.

Now how about that salt finish - I could have done a better job with a bag of ready mix cement and Morton's salt. Seriously, there were a couple of small areas where it looked decent, but, well really, it's one botched salt finish.

You want to talk cracks - ok, let's talk cracks: first viewing, not bad (just the ugly salt finish)After a couple of weeks there was a myriad of small surface cracks, which seemed to increase daily from that point on. However, that was only the beginning, as large cracks begin to appear at an alarming rate - a couple which I suppose can be explained away by the LACK OF EXPANSION JOINTS! I live in the same town, and know the soil conditions, yes, cracking to some extent is understandable, but trying to use that as an excuse for plain old shoddy workmanship is pathetic. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST SUBSTANDARD CEMENT JOBS I'VE SEEN, IF NOT THE MOST.

While I wasn't present for meetings between the homeowner and Blue Haven's representatives, I do know the character of the homeowners extremely well, and will vouch 100% for their honesty in the portrayal of this fiasco. And, I know, had they been offered a reasonable settlement, which would have covered the removal and replacement of the cement by a reputable contractor, they would certainly have accepted it rather than subject themselves to this ongoing nightmare.

The pictures you are viewing on this project are a misrepresentaion of the project.. This customers back yard had nothing in it to begin with.

Concerning the cracks in their deck.. They were told they were in a expansive soil area and even signed off about this concern at the sale of the pool. Concrete CRACKS. They also failed to let the people reading this report that they have had all their pool equipment installed, all their electiic finished, their timers etc. And they owe us money for these things. Its really strange that when someone owes you money, and you were offered all your money back for that portion of work ;that you wouldn't want to move forward and put this behind you and get the job done. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM I think the people reading this will think it very strange that you do not want your money back, when we were willing to do that for you, and just get the balance owed for the work that we went ahead a completed after the deck was poured. As for the slope, concrete has to slope in order for the water to drain properly. ANYONE see a DRIVEWAY poured without a SLOPE. As far a their comment that I said it was some of our best work, that is not what was said. They also failed to tell you that the concrete contractor who poured their concrete met with them and offered to replace the areas they were complaining about. They wanted a absoulte guarranty that the color would match, even the concrete supplier that manfactures the concrete said the odds of absoulte match were almost impossible, however it would as close a humanly possible. Just like color matching paint or anything else. It is as close as a HUMAN can do. They also failed to let the public know that they received extra concrete on their job and were not charged for it or even questioned about who would pay for it.

The picture of the patio table is a great one, in fact if the table was flat, the water wouldn't drain away. Anyone been on vacation and seen a patio table perfectly flat at ANY hotel. I have not! Even your chairs in your home on a flat tile floor sometimes wouble. It is with great regret that this has gone this far. However when someone is so unreasonable, there just isn't anything you can do. Please feel free to make an assesment yourselves of this situation, and realize we are only human.

The statement about not returning for 90 days is false and very misleading. We went to their house and saw that some coping(flagstone) did not meet their standards, however it did meet industry standards, and we replaced it for them. This family wants to make you believe that we are a bad company and we are not. We have gone to great lengths to try and settle with these people and there is just no reasoning with them. I hope the people who read this response will understand the not only pool customers, but customers from other national companys have problems with customersthat they can not reason with. This customer was offered all their money back, and let someone else complete their decking. It seems that no other concrete contractor wants to deal with them. Come on :all your money back for the decking is not reasonable. PLEASE. You have had the opportunity to have this project finished, but you can't seem to do anything but complain. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE FREE ADVERTISING. As stated in the trade journals, we are the NUMBER 1 POOL BUILDER in the WORLD. The battle has just begun. I welcome all consumers to respond back to this report and the real facts will come out.

This customer has been offered several settlements to correct this problem. However he is unwilling to settle on any of them. This customer also owes us money on their project and they are the only ones delaying this project due to their lack of conferming a settlement within reason.

Blue Haven Pools has not returned to complete any work for over 90 days.

Disciplinary action is NO LONGER pending against this licensee in the form of an accusation. For further information, please call the Case Management Office in your area: (916) 255-4041 Northern California or (562) 466-6021 Southern California.

Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to unanswered complaint(s). The company has resolved most complaint(s) presented by the Bureau; however, the Bureau did not receive a response to other complaint(s).

MidCal Better Business Bureau
11 S. San Joaquin Street
Suite 803
Stockton, CA 95202-3202
(209) 948-4880

Disciplinary action is pending against this licensee in the form of an accusation. For further information, please call the Case Management Office in your area: (916) 255-4041 Northern California or (562) 466-6021 Southern California.