Stay Away from Passion Pools - A Costly Nightmare
I contracted Melvin from Passion Pools in April 2024 to build an in-ground swimming pool for $71,000. I was supposed to have a completed pool with only a $5,000 final payment remaining -- but here I am, over a year later, out $89,000 with an unfinished project and still unable to swim.
Throughout the build, Melvin repeatedly asked for more money for materials and work that were clearly included in our contract. Why was I still buying materials at the end of the job? He constantly made excuses, even telling me he had to "take money from other jobs" to finish mine. That is not my responsibility -- it's completely unprofessional. He asked for advances to go to a funeral in Tennessee.
Despite being fully paid for several aspects of the project, including an $8,000 retaining wall, the wall remains incomplete and is missing caps. This wall has set for 3 month unfinished and unpainted. The decking around the pool is unfinished. My pool lights do not work properly. The heat pump I was given is a used, low-BTU aftermarket unit that trips regularly. I was never told what chemicals to use or given any guidance on maintenance. The front and back yard were dug up and never restored -- I now have large areas of exposed soil that will likely cost me an additional $20-$30K to fix.
Melvin worked at a painfully slow pace -- showing up only once a week for a few hours -- and frequently asked for advance payments, including once for a funeral. Meanwhile, I've paid $89,000, and my pool is still not finished. Passion Pools breached the contract by failing to deliver what was agreed upon. Very unprofessional, yelling and curing his workers out that my neighbors heard it.
He even promised my neighbor he'd repair their grass, which is still a muddy mess. Unsurprisingly, he's now disappeared and moved on to the next victim. I feel as if I have been robbed. His excuse for previous bad reviews, which you can see on Yelp and other review sites, is that people want to bring a black man down. I am black and this is just business. He robbed me for his own gain. He never had intentions to finish this pool.
To make matters worse, he appears to have scrubbed all prior negative Google reviews. He will likely respond to this claiming I didn't pay him or didn't pay on time -- I have all the receipts and text messages. His receipts were handwritten on black paper with no accounting system -- completely unprofessional and shady.
With the pool and retaining wall unfinished, I am unburying myself out of a $100,00 nightmare. Thank you for ruining my whole experience.
This was my first experience building a pool, and it's been a nightmare I wouldn't wish on anyone. Do not trust Passion Pools. I'll see him in court. read more
