Complaint Review: Carlton Pools Inc. - Warminster Pennsylvania

Our Carlton Poolstm Nightmare

Contracting Carlton Pools (based in Warminster, PA.) to build our swimming pool was the single biggest consumer mistake we've ever made. Hopefully our experience with Carlton Poolstm will send the simple message: avoid them like the plague.

Background - We were building a home in New Jersey - due to move in July of 2000. Not knowing much about pools, we did as much research as we could (there's not much info. out there). We knew we wanted a concrete pool (vs. lined), and Carlton Pools' name kept coming up, in retrospect, because they were relatively local and we could not find many other concrete pool builders.

January - February 2000 - We met with Mr. Raymond Hendrick, a Carlton pool design consultant in late 1999. He is the grandfather-ly type and made us feel perfectly comfortable that Carltontm would do a great job and have our pool ready for our move-in date. Said he would monitor the progress of our pool throughout and be there to address any concerns. In fact, after our project began, he never returned one phone call and we never heard from him again.

The Nightmare Begins

Once excavation finally began, dealing with Carlton became a discouraging and demeaning exercise in endurance. In addition to the we don't give a s**t attitude of their people, calls were rarely returned (we were bounced into voicemail most of the time). Progress was slow and we were rarely told what the next step was or when work was going to be done.

Big Rock? That's Your Problem - While excavating, Carlton hit a large rock that needed to be removed with a special piece of equipment before the project could go forward. We were told that they had no idea when the needed piece of equipment could be secured, and that we were welcomed to try. After a few phone calls we found someone to extract the rock no problem.

We moved into our new home in July, with our pool nowhere near ready and no end in sight. By this time, we had resigned ourselves to riding out the Carltontm storm and hope for the best.

Carlton's Mistakes, But You Pay

Carlton coats your pool with a spray concrete-mix. Following the coating of our pool, their workmen cleaned their equipment with our garden hose in our driveway and splattered concrete onto the exterior of our new home. Carlton'stm reply: It's your problem, not ours. Cost Us Big $$$ To Clean.

The electrician that Carlton sub-contracted to connect our pool to the electric hook up in our home used a ditch-witch to dig a trench from the pool to the house and severed submerged drainpipes. Carlton's response: It's your problem not ours. Cost Us Big $$$ To Repair.

October 2000 - Carlton finished the pool just in time for us to close it for the winter. Haunting Us Still . . . Without consulting us for placement, Carlton Pools embedded their metal logo/emblem on the first step-down into the pool a permanent reminder of our Carlton Poolstm nightmare.

August 2001 - our local building department sent us a notice of violation and $$$ fine for not having a final inspection completed. According to the building department, arranging a final inspection was the responsibility of Carlton Pools. The building department tried to contact Carlton, but their calls were never returned.