Complaint Review: Blue Haven Pool of Charlotte NC - Pinneville, Charlotte North Carolina

Kevin Bonnema used to sell Viking Pools in Ohio. We bought a pool and spa from him in 2005.  The initial install went fine but we had problems with the jets in the spa BARELY moving water because the pump is way to far away.



The pool itself now has a defect in the crystite coating on the shallow end and I am having trouble getting warranty service from Viking because Kevin did not give me the pool's serial number.



About two years after the pool was installed, Kevin DISAPPEARED - he stopped returning calls and closed his business without any warning.  I had trouble getting anyone to do any maintenance on the pool because they didn't install it. 



Kevin presented himself very well initially, but in the long run he provided lousy customer service and abandoned his Ohio customers.

Dear Jehe or who ever you are (most likey a Blue Haven employee). For the last time I will tell you that those were my experiences! That's it. I never said that my equipment was broke. I was trying to be nice about the crap job they did. Within the first year a couple pieces of tile fell off. They did come back and re-glue them on. Six months later they fell off and my stone on top became loose. The deck had a coating on it that starting peeling off. The worst thing was my pool finish was blue and became all discolored. When Blue haven came out is was all our fault or we did not do our chemicals right. There instructions at the end were slim to none at best. Talk about construction time that's the biggest joke!!!! Kevin said 8 weeks we were 5 months, and they know that my husband had several heated conversations with them. Today I met with our attorney who for the last couple of weeks is looking into this for us to see what kind of recourse we have if any. Guess what he told us they are a franchise not one big company and they were here in Charlotte and out of business two prior times.

I'm inclined to agree this is a hoax. I've spoken to probably 15 people on this reference list since I first read this and nearly everyone had great things to say (btw, you guys might want to go through and update the list - there were a bunch on here with numbers no longer in service - and it would be helpful if you had install dates next to the contact info).

Everyone was pleased with the quality of the work done. Two people who had problems both mentioned they tried to bring in their own guys to do some part of the project (stone work or landscaping) and that the scheduling was the biggest issue (ie. it took longer than they expected) and a couple people mentioned that they had hoped the equipment lasted longer (sounds like the 4-5 yr range which is what Kevin had told us), but that was more a manufacturer's issue than Blue Haven. Everyone I talked to said that if they were going to build a pool again, they would definitely use Blue Haven. I talked to a wide range of people - some had their pool 7 yrs, most in the 4-5 yr range, some just a year, and 1 person was still in the process of building.

Numerous people mentioned Kevin was extra helpful even after the sales process and a couple people mentioned Bill Speed as a project manager and said he was great to work with too.

Some other notes which may help someone down the road (not really Blue Haven related):

- 2 people said definitely get the salt system.
- 1 person said that the upgrade to the "Phantom" cleaner is worth it.
- Two people mentioned it taking a lot longer than they expected, but both started their pools in the Oct timeframe and it took until about Feb/March to finish. Others who started in the spring/summer all had theirs done in the promised timeframe. Sounds like weather plays a major role over the winter.

Btw, I checked the BBB site but it doesn't really list what the issues are - it just says a company has had X number of these types of issues and X were resolved. At any rate, based on the people we've talked to it sounds like this is either a competitor or an isolated case. Everyone, even those that had issues, said they could always get in touch with people at the office.

This is in reponse to the people working with Kevin. I personally liked Kevin, even though my husband wanted to go with A & S pools. I got the final say. Now he throws it in my face (I told you so). There are so many other pool companies, I just wanted to stress my experience with Blue Haven & Kevin. As for the response from the office manager. She met me several times during construction when I was in picking out colors for my pool. I guess she forgets the times she was nasty with my husband. I assume since we have not bothered them in over a year they forgot about us. I wish I knew about this website sooner because now I haven Blue Haven's attention. Our pool looks like crap and a lot older then it is. Our pool is less then 4 years old. I am now having other pool companies give me an estimate to repair some of the issues. They had several chances to make things right, and did not do the right thing. I am going to the county and going to ask for a list of prior customers and see how many would like to be involved in trying to put together a class action suit. My husband thinks I am wasting my time, but I am on a mission. I am no hoax. Nice trying to pawn this off. Again, all excuses-no results.

I believe this is a hoax perpetrated by a competitor located in Cornelius, NC.  The first evidence of this is the author's name "disgruntle - Cornelius, NC" is based on the profile entered by the author.   The second is that the author updated to say that their location is Union County - why bother to do that since the entire alleged complaint is anonymous?   If they are truly located in Union County, that would have shown up in the author's name to begin with.   Second, the only customer in the last eight months in our database that was billed for additional grading or bringing in dirt was not located in Union County or Cornelius and did not work with Kevin.  Anonymous postings are immediately suspect as being phony and serving no purpose.

If this is not a hoax and is truly a customer of ours, I ask them to call us so that we can try to determine if indeed there is a problem, instead of vague references to "lies" told by our salesman.   I would also ask them to provide us with the name of the person who was allegedly left "high and dry" so that we can address that as well. 

My feeling is that we will not receive a call with any of this information because this is a completely false report that was put there by someone who is also a pool builder and who consistantly loses deals to us whenever we are competing for the same job, particularly when Kevin Bonnema is the salesman.   The manager of this company apparently has nothing better to do that to come up with ways to be petty and annoying and make sure "on the internet" we "are trashed". 

Finally, to the consumer who is currently working with Kevin, if you are concerned, please go to the only legitimate site available for consumer complaints;  The BBB.  They don't allow anonymous complaints and always allow the company in question to resolve the issue without prejudice. 

Lisa Aylward, Office Manager, Blue Haven Pools of NC Inc. 

ph 704-889-1300

We're working with Kevin right now and this caught my eye - but I'm skeptical about these sites. He gave us a massive list of "references" ... can you let us know which you called? (in code somehow - don't want to post people's personal info on the net) Maybe give me the last 4 digits of the phone numbers so I can match them up and call them?

I live in Union County! Why it shows Cornelius is beyond me.