Don't walk away from this pool builder....run!!!
Let me set the stage here. I'm a middle aged man, whose been working in corporate America for 20+ years. I'm in sales and I've negotiated millions and millions of dollars deals. I'm a firm believer in treating people the way you want to be treated. I'm fair and would never take advantage of another person in a business deal. With that being said let's dive into my story.
Back in December of 2014, we decided to get quotes, and move forward with having our pool built. I received 5 quotes from well known pool builders.
During the quote process we were telling the sales guy everything we wanted on the pool. I had a budget I wanted to stay in. When we were going through the details of the plan, the sales guy was like yes we can do that or no we can't do that and keep it in budget. He was taking notes as we went along. He assured us that not only would he be out there, but Ted would always be there. That was one of his selling points as other companies have multiple projectors managers while MC has one in Ted.
I kind of connected with the sales guy for MC that came to my house. We decided to go with MC and signed the contract on December 15th. I did leave my initial message for the owner Ted top call me but he sent out his salesman instead. Okay no big deal. Right from the get-go things went a little funky and I should have bailed. But we wanted to get the pool installed ASAP. I say things went a little funky b/c as soon as we signed the contract, the sales guy said we had to pay a $6,000 (it was a percentage of the total sale) as a design fee. I was told it would be taken off the total purchase price of the pool which it was. Okay fishy to me but we paid it.
I was told it would take a few weeks to get the permits. I guess a few weeks is relative to what others think a few weeks means. To me that is 3 or 4 weeks. In this case it meant 8 weeks. And the only reason it wasn't longer is b/c I called the city of Frisco and asked where we were with the permits. Of course the plans that were submitted were not to code. I relayed the message and it was eventually fixed.
A week later MC came out and started to dig. This was the first time I met Ted face-to-face. We were going over the designs of the blueprint. There were a few things that weren't on the plans like our fountains. Fortunately for us we did have an addendum showing we were to have the fountains with the pool. After Ted saw the addendum he started cursing the sales guy and said this is it this is going to be fired. He was angry with the guy. The guy did get fired.
We then started talking the travertine decking. I said Ted we have travertine all around our covered patio correct? He really didn't say anything just kind of shook his head. I said that was one thing we said we wanted and said it multiple times to the sales guy. I said I wouldn't put in a 100K pool and have the covered patio not match the rest of the decking. He mumbled a few things about the sales guy again. I said look I'm not looking to rip anyone off. If this wasn't included in the pricing work with me on it. I don't expect MC to be out of pocket b/c the sales guy just wanted a sale before years end. Ted really didn't give me a response.
Then the rains came. Now I know it was a challenging time to build a pool in the spring b/c of the never-ending rain. But I'm telling you there were 2 pools in my subdivision that started before mine and finished 2 months before mine. My pool was finally finished at the beginning of July.
Ted would never answer his phone. AND I MEAN NEVER. I know his phone worked b/c he'd call me every time he said I owed money. I just wanted to be kept in the loop as to what was going on.
And BTW, Ted was out at my house 2x during the entire process including the first time he was here. TWO TIMES THE ENTIRE TIME.
The Friday before Memorial Day, the decking guys showed up. Thankfully since the packing was on my driveway for 3 weeks. They were there for 1 day. I expected them back the next Tuesday. I get a call from Ted saying he pulled the guys off the job until I pay the invoice he sent me for the extra decking. The same day he sent an invoice for 15k for the extra decking. He said I had to pay it or they weren't coming back. And btw, I had already given him an extra 13k before I was supposed to. I said what extra decking. His answer, the covered patio and the arbour. I said we talked about the covered patio. From the get go we had an arbour going in. What was the decking going to be the dirt floor? As my wife said this is extortion.
I have more stories like this and my experience with MC. Feel free to email me and I will be happy to call you and share my nightmare with you. I'm running out of space for this story.
Worse experience ever!!!!!!! read more