PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — A second customer of a Stuart pool company called Contact 5 with complaints about their unfinished pool.
"I just recently retired and one of my thoughts were, OK, so how do we get to enjoy our property here in the Acreage," Analdy Garcia told Contact 5.
Garcia told Contact 5 he and his wife, Mayra, decided a brand-new pool would be their next big project.
"I was excited and eagerly looking for the pool completion and being able to enjoy our backyard," Mayra Garcia said.
They hired Stuart-based Premier Pools & Spas in May 2021.
One year later, the Garcias are still waiting on their pool to be completed.
"We had a beautiful deck put on, only to come to find out in April that we had multiple times failed the electrical inspections — underground electrical inspection and the final electrical inspection," Mayra Garcia said.
The Garcias provided Contact 5 with their signed contract, which has no completion day noted, and one of their inspection reports from April 2022. It said, "Underground electrical has not passed."
"I figure, OK, I cannot trust a company that's performing work this way," Analdy Garcia said.
The Garcias called WPTV after seeing Contact 5's initial story about Premier Pools in June.
"All the water where this crack is is going somewhere and now it's caused our travertine, which is close to our foundation, to start dropping," Donna Mandelko told WPTV.
Contact 5 spoke with the general manager of the company after Mandelko complained that no one would come out to fix that issue with her pool in Port St. Lucie. The general manager acknowledged the crack and told Contact 5 that supply chain issues were slowing down their crews.
When WPTV contacted him about the Garcia family's pool, he said, in a lengthy statement:
"There were no errors made to the Garcias pool. At gunite, the water bond at the skimmer was inspected and passed on 3/2/22. We proceeded with the pool. Gunite was installed, tile and coping installed, equipment installed, electrical was installed. Electrical inspection was called in, and a new inspector was sent to inspect. When the inspector got there, he wanted to see the water bond as well as the electrical work. However, the water bond was now under the deck. He failed us even after we told him it was inspected and passed on 3/3/22.”
He offered to send WPTV documentation of that, but he never did.
As for the Garcias, they filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which is investigating.
The Garcias have also now hired a new company to finish their pool.
"When I look at this, I think that I did not sign up to have a pond for frogs," Garcia said while showing Contact 5 his backyard. "I signed up for a beautiful pool."