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thomas_tx

Blue Haven Pools

Thomas_Tx
21 years ago

On August 9th we closed on a beautiful brand new home with a huge yard for our five year old daughter to play in. We thought we would compliment this yard with a nice swimming pool.

Instead what we currently have is a cesspool.

We have posted our story in the hopes that other consumers might avoid the same disaster

It has been five months now and our pool is not finished yet!

We signed our pool contract with Blue Haven on 7/25/02. After seeing our pool laid out on the ground we paid $2875 to double the size of our fountains, increase the width of our pool by two feet and move the pool to a completely different location.

We were told by Mike Miloser that the Pool would be laid out again on the ground, by either Nick Juliano or himself, for our approval. We told Mike Miloser we would also need this done to cap off and move our extensive sprinkler system prior to excavation.

We had just returned out of town from my wife's parent's 50 wedding anniversary late Sept 2nd. And we all know how busy it is returning home from a long weekend.

Imagine my wife's surprise when she got off work at the end of the day on Sept 3rd to find a message left on her cell phone by Mike Miloser that Blue Haven had begun excavation at about 11a.m. Without our approval! Can you imagine our horror!

But the salesman, Blue Haven's Mike Miloser, whined " I drew that pool for you three times." And said that "well we can't move the pool now cause it is dug".

Yet Mike and myself and my wife all discussed how important it was to make sure we were happy with the location prior to the dig. Apparently Mike Miloser was blinded by visions of dollar signs. His were the first of the lies we were told by Blue Haven.

And this was just the beginning saga of a parade of dishonest Blue Haven employees.

Anyway, it took several weeks for it to sink in to Blue Haven that they were not going to get paid for excavation unless they moved the pool to where we wanted it at no cost to us. A two-week period in which the city inspected the steel and they asked that Blue Haven put up a silt fence and clean the street. Yet Blue Haven completely ignored this. Their contactors also left trash (lunch wrapping, cigarette butts) strewn around the yard. Apparently thinking that this was their own personal backyard to trash up.

Blue Haven's general manager, Blue Haven's puppet Lee Leeham, came out for a meeting at the house with Davin Self And Nick Juliano. Blue Haven's Lee Leedham asked us to "trust them" as they were the "experts". Lee Leedham was told that trust would have to be earned as the "proof would be in the pudding".

Proof that.... five months later...we are still waiting for.

Finally, after extensive lying by Blue Haven's puppet, Lee Leedham, that they were in "their rights" to begin excavation, on Sept 16th Blue Haven moved the pool two feet further from the house. We were happy that the project was finally moving forward. Blue Haven was busier than a swarming beehive as they re-excavated, laid out the plumbing and shot the gunite all in less than a week. A week in which they were overpaid 10%for the excavation, by (UAMC) Universal American Mortgage Company/North American Title co and Blue Haven was sent a check by us for the agreed upon addendum.

Imagine our horror when we found out that our fountains were not symmetrical! And it wasn't just an inch or two off...one of the legs of the right fountain was approx 18 inches longer than the left fountain. Couldn't these "experts" read a tape measure?! And there were gullies, 6 inches wide by 34 inches long by 4 inches deep, that were cut into the area between the spa and the fountains that we had not asked for and are not on any of the drawings in our possession or in the drawing submitted to our homeowners association, or the city of Denton.

After several letters and phone calls, Blue Haven contracted with the gunite company again, came out and re-shot a wall of our pool and part of the right fountain. At that time they also made a feeble attempt to saw-cut/jackhammer the inside wall of the fountain to match the left one. Cutting through the re-bar on the inside wall of the fountain. Re-bar that we would imagine had some purpose.

The sorry attempt at repair left the inside wall of the right fountain two and a half inches out of level and the fountain not square with the pool (We have pictures). That day we had a shovel and tape measure disappear from our yard. We also received two crank calls on our phone that evening. And later we found out that their "job supervisor" Nick Juliano had been dismissed. Yet Blue Haven felt that the pool was "close enough" so they threatened to sue us for breach of contract if they didn't receive the funds for the gunite. Davin Self, our new job supervisor had told us that the remaining mistakes would be fixed by the plaster contractors.

So of course, after being threatened with a lawsuit by the "experts", and having proof that the experts were just practicing at pool building in our backyard, we hired an attorney. He suggested that we try to get Blue Haven to do the right thing and fix our pool according to the plan. And he also provided us with some very valuable legal advice on arbitration and the Texas property code. And most importantly he told us not to pay Blue haven until each phase is done right. That Blue Haven could go ahead and sue us if they wanted to give up their rights to arbitration.

We then hired an engineer, and asked that, a meeting be set up with Odis Miller, Blue Haven's Dallas "job supervisor" (but just another Blue Haven puppet) and the plaster contractor. Blue Haven/ Odis Miller agreed to meet but without the Plaster contractor. Mr. Miller stated that he could relay any needed instructions to the plaster contractors.

On October 11th we met our engineer and another of Blue Haven's "experts" Odis Miller. Mr. Miller said that the fountains would be "mudded up" and that Blue Haven would "go half with us" on an upgrade to safety coping. He also said that the gullies between our fountains and spa would be filled in. And that Davin Self was still our job supervisor. When Mr. Miller was asked why Davin wasn't there to meet with the engineer we were told that he would relay the needed information to Blue Haven's Davin Self.

It was beginning to sink in to us that "Relay" just meant that Blue Haven was just straight out lying to us.

After our meeting with the engineer and Blue Haven's Odis Miller, we received a report from our engineer stating that the two-foot over excavated area (from where we had to move the pool due to Blue Haven excavating without prior approval by owner) needed to be filled in stages and compacted to a proper density with the proper soil. Blue Haven's Odis Miller said that he was not about to do that. Blue Haven's Mr. Miller was told that we would do it and charge Blue Haven for it because we had concerns that the soil had been eroding into this void for several months and we had serious concerns about our foundation. Blue Haven's Mr. Miller stated that he would do it and charge us for it. Sure thing Mr. Miller.... Blue Haven makes a mistake and we are going to pay for it!?!

Finally, we were able to get a hold of Blue Haven's regional assistant, Barbara Turner, who we really thought was going to get this project back on track. But everything we discussed with Blue Haven's Barbara Turner we had to go completely over again with our "job supervisor" Blue Haven's Davin Self because he just didn't seem to get it. Barbara Turner agreed our engineer's instructions would be carried out, assured us that Davin Self would see to it that the job was done properly. Yet on November 15th I had to tell Davin Self to get off our property because he told me that he was just going to backhoe this two-foot area in.

After several more phone calls and letters we were told the job was going to be done as we expected.

On Monday November 18th my wife stayed home from work to supervise the contractors as Blue Haven's Davin Self looked on.

After they left for the day my wife and I spent the evening hauling out chunks of gunite and piling up trash they had left from the false wall and raking out the area.

And we are paying them for what?

On November 19th,we visited Blue Haven's Southlake office, to make sure the paperwork we had filled out on September 21st was there. At that time Blue Haven's puppet, Lee Leedham, brought out a fresh drawing that had the gullies between the spa and the fountains. I taped on their crisp little new drawing and told Lee Leedham that it was fraud to modify a drawing to match their mistake.

On December 5th Blue Haven's Davin Self did call and make an offer to entirely pay for the upgrade to safety coping and wave the $250 they were going to charge us for having two colors of tile. But he said Blue Haven was not going to reimburse us for the engineer because they didn't tell us to hire one. Say what!?!

The property code does allow for reimbursement of necessary consulting, engineer and legal fees. The property code should be a must read for all of your staff Blue Haven.

Currently the left wall of the fountain is 80 degrees off the wall of the pool when it should be 90 degrees. There isn't really any way to fix this without starting from scratch. We have also lost the supporting rebar that was cut out of the fountain when it was re-formed.

Blue Haven has not been paid for the gunite and they will not be until they make an acceptable offer in writing and fill in the gullies between the spa and the fountains.

It has been five months now and our pool is still not finished. It would be our recommendation to run to another pool builder.

Since our pool has been creeping along a neighbor has had success with a reputable local pool builder. They completed their pool

in about six weeks. Also, about two weeks ago another pool in this neighbor hood was started with one of Blue Haven's competitors.

By now we are certain of only one thing. Blue Haven's staff including salesman Mike Miloser, (ex job site supervisor Nick Juliano) General manager Lee Leedham, job supervisor Odis Miller and Davin Self and principal (assistant to Blue Haven's regional director)Barbara Turner are not experts by any means. They are merely clowns and puppets in Blue Haven's circus

We have reported Blue Haven to the BBB and the North American Association of Spa and Pool builders. We will continue to pursue this and spread the word that Blue Haven is the unfriendliest business that a person could run across. Blue Haven has spent about five days in the last five months working on our pool and as many days fixing their mistakes. By now we are certain of only one thing. Blue Haven's staff including Mike Miloser, (ex employee Nick Juliano) Lee Leedham, Odis Miller, Davin Self and Barbara Turner are not experts by any means. They are merely clowns and puppets in Blue Haven's circus.

Comments (5)

  • earthworm
    21 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I sense about 76 incidences of miscommunication.It is so very important to have absolutely every detail down on paper.. Oftentimes when these problems occur, the homeowner is partly to blame - usually a man must babysit the contractor - as I have found out.. Also one must secure three bona-fide recommendations before anything else is started.

  • Carlotta_Bull
    21 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    It's good that you have an attorney. How much would you lose if you just ban these yahoos from your property & start over again with another contractor?

  • jenni_ca
    21 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We have had two pools built and not had one single problem...I think that is partly due to dealing with a very reputable builder and having done my homework BEFORE signing any contracts. If you want to know who builds a good pool talk to the prople that have to repair them and the equiptment.
    I may not be reading this right...you came home from a long weekend to find the pool dug?? Or was it dug the next day.....and then you talk about a two week time period in which the city inspected the steel. I'm confused, they dug the pool AND did the re-bar all in one day...or over this period of two weeks?? Neither of my pools had steel put in the same day they dug it.....digging it was a full day job.
    If two weeks had gone by surely you had seen what was happening.
    Gotta agree with earthworm here, about a gazillion instances of communication gap.
    Sounds like it has now come down to a real fight.....guess we'll be looking for this one on Peoples Court.

  • mikemayes_comcast_net
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    BLUE HAVEN POOLS ARE VERY UNTRUTHFULL ABOUT HOW THEY BUILD POOLS,THERE WORK IS CRAPPY, THEIR SALES PEOPLE LIE,THERE WORKERS ARE TRASHEY AND LEAVE MESSES ON YOUR PROPERTY. MY TILE IS POPPING OFF AROUND MY POOL,GUNITE COMING THROUGH PLASTER. I'm HAVING ALL MY TILE AND PLASTER COMPLETLY REDONE AT MY EXPENSE.BLUE HAVEN DOES NOT STAND BEHIND ANYTHING THEY DO,EVEN IF YOU SUE THEM AND SPEND MORE MONEY. THERE OFFICE IN KNOXVILLE,TN CLOSED BECAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY LAW SUITS AGAINST THEM.THEY SHOULD BE CLOSED DOWN BY THE FEDERAL TRADE GOVERNMENT OR BBB. BLUE HAVEN YOU SUCK???. VERY UNHAPPY WITH YOU. MIKE M. KNOXVILLE,TN

  • texasredhead
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If I understand the situation, evidently Blue Haven licenses pool contractors throughout the country as their company in various places. That he/she represents Blue Haven does not necessarily mean they are the best pool builders in your area. Any time you are prepared to lay out big money to build a pool, the first thing you need to do is ask for references where they have built pools. Call the people, ask how their pool construction went and ask if you can see their pools.

    Most pool contractors hire subs to virtually build the pool. They seldom employ all of these people themselves. That basically means the construction is only as good as the subs and the site management of the pool contractor.

    My experience? We have a 25 year old gunite pool that virtually looks as good as the day it was built. Also, I do all my own pool maintenance.