I hired Diamond Pools of 26 Hamilton Drive Huntington, CT 06484 to install 1500 square feet of pavers around my existing pool, and John Dubyoski (owner) came with a 4 page contract without references or copies of his licenses which I requested many times. Ignorantly, I signed the contract which had a breakdown of 3 payments...not realizing 95% of the money was due before a single paver was to be laid. I made the first payment of $11,400. By the time the next payment was due I had neighbors knocking on my door giving me their own nightmare stories regarding Diamond Pools. They had names of others who had huge problems with Diamond Pools. More importantly his employees were telling me they were not getting paid and when they did it was in quarters! We were even asked by his top guy for $300.00. Feeling held hostage or getting a terrible job we gave him the money.

At one point, John did rewrite his contract; "contract adjustment" was the title of the adjustment page that we in turn signed. This adjustment changed the payment plan to 4 payments instead of 3. Delaying at least some of the money until some of the pavers were laid. We wanted to delay the last payment in total but John said he would not continue so we caved and gave him more money. A week after he cashed the check for the 3rd payment and still had not returned to the job, he changed his mind and now wanted the 4th payment before continuing. It became obvious that he never had any intention of actually performing the work as stipulated in the contract and was attempting to lengthen the project in order to force us to fire him. At that point he would have 95% of the money without actually doing anything.

Continually and consistently John (Diamond Pool owner) incorrectly billed us for things he did not do at all or charged us more than once for the same supplies in different bills. In fact a retaining wall that was installed is the wrong color and we found out from his own employee that he used blocks he had from a previous job, which he was fired from. This tells us that he never had any intention of getting the materials of the correct color.

Workmanship is lousy at best. When a patch of pavers were laid they were on a downhill SLOPE not pitch, as he claimed. He claims to be a professional and therefore he should have noticed this right away and made us aware without continuing. And if the pitch to my yard was wrong it should have been brought to my attention when the job was originally proposed to allow for discussion and planning. Isn't part of doing the job properly to level it correctly and follow the code?

We were told the job would take 2 weeks; 2 months later I have my property filled with his equipment, a dump truck, a 25' enclosed tool trailer and a huge bobcat abandoned by the side of my in-ground pool. The yard looks like a war zone! Even before things went sour, he did not show up for over a week when the weather was beautiful.

He looked to get fired by not returning for weeks after having over $20,000 of our money. His contract states that he is not responsible for anything, so he took no effort to protect my driveway, lawn or sprinkler system which were all severely damaged.

One of the most frustrating things is that he knows that along the way things tend change during any project. He then uses those "change orders" to extort more money because he knows that either you pay the ridiculous amounts for materials and labor that he is requesting or he does not do it or does not continue, again holding you and/or the forward progress hostage. When he tried to rob us twice with these methods, we decided it had to end.

This company should not have a license to do anything. He has no regard for his customers, property or safety.

Disgusted with diamond pools

Trumbull, Connecticut

U.S.A.

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9 Updates & Rebuttals

Alscott

United States of America

John Dubyoski went out of his way to make sure I was satisfied

#2Consumer Comment

Thu, September 08, 2011

John Dubyoski went out of his way to make sure I was satisfied during the consultation, design, and installation process. The staff was great and very helpful as well. I will recommend Diamond Pools to anyone and I will be doing business with Diamond Pools in the near future. They are the only company I will choose to work on my property. Thank's so much I LOVE the finished
product!

M Bernstein

United States of America

Great Quality Work

#3Consumer Comment

Thu, September 08, 2011

I hired Diamond Pools to build a wall, sidewalk, front wall, and do landscaping in my yard. During the process I was very happy with the design ideas and how the work was done. This past winter we had a-lot of snow and when the snow melted their was damage to the front wall from a truck and plow doing snow removal, over the winter they had pushed the all up and over with stone under it. I called Diamond Pools and within a few days they were out and fixed the wall free of charge. I would hire Diamond Pools and highly recommend them to friends and family.

MCarry

United States of America

John has Quality work

#4Consumer Comment

Wed, September 07, 2011

I was very impressed with John's services when I hired him to do work at my home. The work was completed in a timely and professional manner. He was very committed, did a quality job, and is very honest. I highly recommend Diamond Pools to anyone looking for a pool, patio, or any other work to be done on their home. He is excellent!

MDeusoa

United States of America

John I highly recommend A+ Excellent Workmanship

#5Consumer Comment

Wed, September 07, 2011

I have had John work at my home from 1997 to present with a pool, outdoor kitchen, driveway, etc and each project starts with planning sessions, estimates, a computerized design, and contract propsal. All work was performed with professionalism, quality, and in a timely manner. John pays great attention to details. He is knowledgeable, kept the job clean, and very effective in setting my expectations of the project. I am very satisfied with John's work which is why I not only recommend him to others but I hire him whenever I have any outdoor Job. Thanks John!

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JMorrone

Monroe,
United States of America

Diamond Pools/John Dubyoski passionate and committed Quality

#6Consumer Comment

Fri, August 05, 2011

I waited over a year before expressing our satisfiaction we have enjoyed working
with Diamond Pools. Coming from a long history as a pool owner my wife and I
were a little concerned when we purchased our new home in Monroe. The reason
for our concern was the property had very limited usage and required substanial
engineering efforts in order to accomodate a pool. After meeting with John it
was clear to us that the fact that he provided all the essential services
needed eliminated the need to subcontract various stages of our project as we
have witnessed many friends struggle through when installing their pools. Today
our neighbors stare in awe at the result of John's passion and commitment to
quality work. The pool has been the most beautiful and easiest to maintain that
we have ever owned. The fact that John was able to handle the entire project
made it so much easier in a house with 4 children to deal with the installation
process. We are proud to be Diamond Pools owners and highly recommend John and Diamond Pools.

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Ottowatoo

NORWALK,
Connecticut,
USA

Satisfactory work done by Diamond Pools/John Dubyoski Shelton, ConnecticutDiamond Pools

#7Consumer Comment

Thu, August 04, 2011

We had a San Juan pool installed in 2005 by Diamond Pools (John Dubyoski) and have enjoyed every season since. Looking back in the planning process, everything from layout to selecting pool patio, pavers, walks, etc. was professionally explained and thoroughly executed within our budget.

Installation and excavation can be unnerving as in any new construction project. Unforeseeable factors, weather, ledge, rock, equipment can all hamper the process. With patience and trust, the end result is a beautiful pool and patio as promised.
Over the first five years John has always been there for any questions or help we may come up with. A great service relationship has been established and maintained way after the point of sale.

We enjoy working with Diamond Pools and would highly recommend John and his team. Great product, great installation great service equals GREAT ENJOYMENT AND INVEST

Gary M

Connecticut,
United States of America

John Dubyoski Diamond Pools A++ Great Pools and Service

#8Consumer Comment

Wed, August 03, 2011

I am an inspector and had my pool installed in 2007. I am
very satisfied with both the product, San Juan fiberglass pool and the service
and maintenance provided by John Dubyoski of Diamond Pools. I speak very highly
of the pool, service, and maintenance provided by John Dubyoski. I have had no
complications at all since my pool has been installed. Whenever a neighbor or
friend comes by they comment on how beautiful my backyard looks thanks to the
work of Diamond Pools. The pool and work by Diamond Pools is high quality with
low maintenance. Recently, I was in Naples, Florida over the 4th of
July and my son in law was vacuuming the pool and the vacuum disk got stuck. I
tired to talk my son in law through how to fix it, and was unable to. I called
John and within an hour John came over and it took a minute to fix.

I highly recommend DiamondPools, the pool is great and the service is exceptional.
Diamond Pools is excellent in every way. Whenever I call John he always
responds as soon as possible with all the info I need.

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Disgusted With Diamond Pools

Trumbull,
Connecticut,
U.S.A.

Company's Side of the Customer's Story

#10REBUTTAL Owner of company

Tue, May 26, 2009

In response to your compliant on May 25, 2009, I have reviewed your complaints and I have addressed each one individually below. In our sales package that we give all potential customers we have 3 different references enclosed and we have additional references available if requested. This homeowner never requested additional references. When they asked for a copy of our licenses we emailed them a copy of our licenses. 2 of our license numbers are on the first page of every contract and document that Diamond Pools prints on the top right hand side of the page underneath our fax machine number under our address. The payment schedule is broken down as the first payment due at the signing of the contract. The second payment is due at delivery of the materials. The third payment is made when the job is completed. I do not understand why a homeowner would pay a common worker $300.00. Why wouldn't they call the company and alert the company that the worker is asking for money and you feel that you are being held hostage to pay the worker or end up getting a terrible job as a result. To pay a common worker does not make sense you would assume the homeowner would talk to the company about this unethical behavior verses giving the worker money when he is not your employee. There was a contract adjustment written by Diamond Pools. Diamond Pools did not approve this contract adjustment because the homeowner did not pay for all the additional work orders. The homeowner after agreeing with and signing a contract decided that they did not want to follow the contract payment and decided to do some of the work themselves and asked us to work on another jobsite for the time being and to come back later; making himself responsible and liable for the project. After signing a contract you do not have the right to change payment terms. The homeowner never paid for the patio, they paid the first payment and half of the second payment. We did not receive 95% of the money for the patio. The customer had a lot of additional work which they paid for part of. As the homeowner refused to pay for the patio it became clear that this customer did not want to follow our contracts and continue work. At this point he refused to sign the additional work orders and held us up again from working on and completing the job. When we did start to install some of the pavers we were told to stop work; they did not like what they saw. They wanted us to jack up and level a large wooden deck that we refused because the deck was freestanding and needed to be done with bracing by a professional framing contractor. The homeowner informed me at this point that he would level the deck himself. This created an additional work order, because the customer now needed a concrete bulkhead to hold and backfill the deck to prevent settling. When the customer decided to do the work themselves this created another delay for Diamond Pools. As far as the patio having a slope, Diamond Pools did the best they could; the home owner wanted us to install a patio over the existing concrete patio and was aware at start of the job that the patio would be pitched as a result of their old pre-existing concrete patio. Sadly the homeowner fails to acknowledge that while the job was originally estimated to take 2 weeks, rain prevented us from working on the job site several days, not to mention that the homeowner twice stopped the job when they decided to perform some work on their own. As far as double billing, we never double billed the homeowner some work required the same work to be done on different jobs and they were billed accordingly. Also the job was extended by the customer requesting additional work to be done on site and the jobs were worked on accordingly. Also despite the fact that the customer owed us money for the patio we did many different small jobs. The extra jobs we did for the customer are listed below: 1. the three sided retaining wall 2. the conduit run for the deep water pool light 3. the three conduits for future use 4. the over flow system for filtration 5. the heater bypass 6. the waterfall 7. the auxiliary line 8. the conversion of a bottom drain to a deep water return 9. removal of tree stumps 10. removal of the front sidewalk 11. removal of part of the deck 12. removal of all deck trim 13. relocation of bushes 14. the removal of trees and bushes 15. the relocation of fill and rock from different areas of the yard 16. the filling and compacting the area at the end of the driveway 17. the re-plumbing of the entire pool filter system 18. transplanting of bushes 19. the burial of all kinds of rocks from the other side of the property 20. the build up an area to be used as a road for Diamond Pools to complete the job and prevent damage to there existing rear side walk 21. The use of a smaller truck to prevent damage to the driveway that was already in bad shape During the construction phase the jobsite can look like a war-zone to someone not experienced with construction. I can assure you that the job was clean and safe. We take pride in our work and always keep the jobsites as clean as possible. We used a smaller truck to transport materials from the street into the property to prevent any damage to the homeowner's driveway. The large truck and trailer stayed in the road to prevent damage to the driveway. As far as the sprinkler system the homeowner was suppose to remove the system, and we did the best we could with him, and the sprinkler system. When a customer decides to do a project, and then make changes to the job once the work is under way, as with any job additional work needs to be determined as either a credit or charge to the customer for the extra depending on what is decided on because the job is now changed. In order to follow proper building code we had to either follow the lay-out for the existing concrete patio or pull up the large wooden deck and re-level it. From the beginning of the project the customer did not want us to redo the concrete patio or change the deck, the orders from the husband was to lay the patio on top of the pre-existing concrete patio, and not to listen to what his wife says, but only what he requests and asks for. We are sorry that the homeowner feels so disgruntled about their project we always do our best to work with the homeowner not against them.

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