White Star Swim Pool Plastering Co

Our pool needed to be replastered and retiled. A coworker highly recommended White Star Plastering, saying they'd done a wonderful job. Their bid was on the lower side, so I signed the contract and was told that work would start within two weeks. The construction work itself was fine. The demolition crew was quick and tidied up afterwards. The tile subcontractor did beautiful work. The plastering crew did an OK job. The problems came with communicating with the office. I wasn't informed of when work would start; it was only after I called White Star to check on the start date that I learned they were planing on draining the pool before a weekend party--they never called to confirm the start date with me. After demolition, the tile contractor was held up for two weeks. Every time that I called White Star to ask when the tile work would start, I was told that the tile company would be out "tomorrow, for sure." One of the big issues with a pool replaster job is that it's absolutely crucial to get the pool chemistry "balanced", with the right levels of chlorine and other pool chemicals. The new plaster surface has to be brushed repeatedly for the first two weeks. There are other restrictions such as when you can first use the pool, when you can first heat up the jacuzzi, and so forth. If the pool "start-up" isn't done right and the start-up rules aren't followed, then it can ruin the new plaster job. White Star was supposed to do the initial start-up, and then hand off to our regular pool care company. I called the White Star office to ask when we should schedule our regular pool company to take over. This is where White Star really fell down, because they never called me back. They never sent me any information on caring for the pool in its brand-new replastered state, or told us when we could use the pool. And after three days of providing start-up care, White Star never showed up again, though their contract specified that they would provide start-up care for the first week. Our regular pool tech showed up on Day 7, and found that the chemical balance numbers were way out of normal limits. There was no chlorine in the pool, the ph was sky-high, and there was no conditioner in the water. There was also a noticeable mottling of the (white) plaster surface. Our attempts to contact White Star to get them to adjust the bill to reflect their non-service were met with silence. We wrote a letter laying out our issues and said we were withholding the final $1500 balance of payment pending a resolution of the issue. White Star responded with a signed delivery note that they would pursue a mechanic's lien over nonpayment of the bill. We paid. We had three friends planning pool replaster jobs who asked us right after our experience if we'd recommend our contractor. White Star's lack of response to us cost them three job bids. My mortified coworker also removed his recommendation of White Star from our company's employee forum.