Complaint Review: Blue Have Pools - Plano Texas

I am a Senior Engineering Manager for the Worlds largest engineering firm with over 25,000 engineers and offices in over 38 countries. I have managed construction projects from $5,000.00 to well over $500,000,000.00. and can say without a doubt that if I had known the types of practices and construction BlueHaven practiced prior to signing a contract, I would have gone elsewhere. As a seasoned professional in construction, I trusted the advertisements and supposed national reputation that Blue Haven had, but obviously I was wrong. I signed a contract in April of 2003, Here we are only days away from August and I still don't have a pool. It has been over 12.5 weeks, with a promise of only 30 days construction time and still no end in sight. I have heard more excuses and seen shoddy work which has been carefully documented and presented to my attorney for action. I have pleaded with these folks every day for the last 12.5 weeks, but still no one shows up. I am at the point where my attorney whom happens to be an assistant district attorney is going to have to swear out warrants for the New Orleans Office of Blue Haven for theft. By contract I met all my obligations and they have some 95% of my money, but I still don't have equipment, plaster, tile, plumbing and a barrage of misc. items needed for the pool.If that isn't stealing, I don't know what is. They have destroyed my yard and my childrens summer. I as a professional engineer, in my opinion, can't understand how a company such as the New Orleans Office of Blue Haven on Veterans Blvd,. has maintained to stay in busineess. They do not return phone calls, they blame everything on subconsultants and rarely show up at the job site. Everything is somebody elses fault. As a professional, I had to stop them from pouring concrete atop plumbing that was connected. The subcontractor said he wasn't aware they pluming wasn't finished. When talking to the manager at the New Orleans office, he admitted he wasn't aware they hadn't finished the plumbing. He didn't even thank me, because they would have to tear out concrete they just poured. I had to stop a deck man from pouring a deck that was in the wrong shape, even after it was reported to their office 3 times. They installed a skimmer with cracked piping. They placed some tile more than 4 inches away from the gunnite surface. As a professional in the construction business, on a scale from 1-10, I give Blue Haven a zero. I would personally recommend based on my experience, that if you are considering Blue Haven, consider someone else, or be prepared for one of the worst nightmares in construction. I hope my memo allows this terrible experience to not happen to you. As for me, since they forced me to hire an attorney, I now have no choice but to sue them in what I am sure will be a very protracted settlement. I can only hope my case puts them out of business so you won't have to deal with them.

I contracted for a pool in May this year and still have no pool. Don't take it personally--they treat all their customers like garbage. I finally had to get a lawyer---and at this point they have been fired as my contractor. Will it cost me more in the long run? Yes--but at least I will have a pool that is operational. The products you mention are all decent produsts--the problem is BH and their subcontractors don't know the first thing about installing them. They have my salt chlorinator hooked up all wrong--it will never clean the spa. They stink, Their construction process stinks, and their customer service stinks. The general manager in the West Palm office is probably the most hated man in the pool industry down here. And as for Barbara she is nothing but a paid lackey for Blue Haven. YOu should not have had to replace plumbing with in 2 years--that is not standard wear and tear. Good luck to you---you need it dealing with these crooks.

Blue Haven pools are considered the worst in the industry. I also believe those rebuttals were written by Blue Haven employees. I own a pool business in Louisiana and am very surprized not to see any postings from Louisiana here. I have heard dozens of horror stories about Blue Haven since they arrived here about 5 years ago. Everyone in the pool industry in La. figured they would have been run out of town by now. I have heard through the pool grapevine that they have had 28 lawsuits filed against them. There salesman even told me personally that they are actually having the quartz plaster they are selling "cut" with marble dust as to lower cost. They are the biggest ripoffs in our industry and give professional pool people a black eye. If you see Blue Haven coming "run don't walk" and Be Very Afraid.

We too are the recipients of shoddy work, broken promises etc from Blue Haven. We are still waiting on repairs to be made to a defective deck, still waiting on a fence to be constructed which wasnt ordered until AFTER the pool was done.(they FORGOT) Still waiting on an Umbrella set(promotional item)promised. Still waiting on a Gift Certificate from an area pool equipt supplier. (promotional item) I am sorry I chose Blue Haven...I will do my best to get the word out to others in hopes of preventing them from becoming victims.

I am wondering if the people who responded to the original complaint with happy stories work for Blue Haven Pools. We are having a pool built and we are having the same problems as the first guy. We can't get a hold of anyone, and if we do the response is always "someone will be out tomorrow". Well, it has been over a month since any significant work has been done and all we have is a big muddy hole in our back yard. I would NOT recommend them to anyone. Spend the extra money, get a good company and get a good pool completed when YOU want it.

Barbara...with all due respect, even if what you say is true, why would it be so difficult for this poor customer to be informed, educated, and given a little guidance on whether these drain and equipment issues are valid. They were not addressed appropriately. Blue Haven has their 30 to 40 grande and guess what??? Nobody is giving this customer satisfaction. So what if they are "first time pool owners" ? Even the more reason to communicate effectively. I am in the process of getting a pool and almost chose Blue Haven. I won't now. They have a great sales guy but the company has too many bad recommendations.

Our contract with Blue Haven Pools was very straightforward and it included everything we needed to easily maintain a pool. Communication was excellent. I spoke directly with the construction supervisor every 2 to 3 days. We discussed next steps and any delays. More than once, what he said would happen in the next two or three days would actually occur that day. Our pool began in April and was done when promisedMemorial Day Weekend. In all, it took six weeks. Blue Haven delivered on all it promised. I maintained the pool, instead of hiring a service, and found it simple. The stingray automatic cleaner that came with our pool (made by Hayward) is an excellent tool and made manual cleaning only a twice monthly chore. Based on our experience, I have no hesitation in recommending Blue Haven Pools.

They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report: Their email: [email protected] Their name: Barbara Turner Their relationship to the company: Advocate Rebuttal: This customer must be a first time owner of a pool. I don't believe this customer was treated unfair or that the workmanship on his pool is bad. I do believe they wanted to stir up trouble to keep up with the "Jones". #1. The 2 main drains in the deep end of the pool are the most important thing for the pool to function properly. #2. What was the main drains covered up with? The superintendent would have noticed if there were no drains because once the pool is Gunited (that would be the concrete shell) not only are the drains in the bottom there will be several holes called "weep holes" in the bottom. These "weep holes" are put there to prevent water collecting under the gunite shell and popping the pool out of the ground. 3. A clean up crew comes in before the plaster crew to get the pool ready for the final phase which is plaster. They cut the pipes even and clean out debris, they also would have noticed if there were no drains. #4. The plaster company plasters the pool and also installs the main drain covers on every pool that is built. There is no way they would plaster a pool with no main drains. #5. Last but not least. Why finish filling the pool if there were no drains? Why sweep the pool? The plaster cures underwater and one of the most important things to do is brush the new plaster several times a day. This makes the plaster smooth. Brushing also stirs up the plaster dust and this must be swept to the main drains which has suction on them to pull the dust, dirt or other debris from the pool to the filtration tank which has cartridge filters inside to trap the debris and keep it from returning to the pool. About the automatic cleaner. Jandy Industries, Teledyne Laars, Fiberoptics & Hayward Pool Products are the finest manunfacturer's of pool equipment. The customer used the sentence "Everybody in the business knows it is bad". Did he call other pool contractors personally or is this his friends telling him. Just about every pool built has one or more pieces of equipment from one of companies listed above. Two years later and a few plumbing parts needs replacing, I would say that is normal. Example: You purchase a new car,two years later you have to replace the tires, oil, wipers etc.. as with a car the pool also has maintenance upkeep. The City of Plano inspects each phase of construction and that would be a given that the pool would not have passed city inspection without the main drains.