Bluepools

Description of Work: Bluepools, the company owned y Derek Miller and Will Witt, acts as a middleman between homeowners and subcontractors in building pools. It is a total scam. Derek says he will manage the project for the homeowner i.e., design the pool and produce 3D plans, have the pool engineered, get the permits, get bids from subcontractors, and supervise the pool building process.

Description of Work: Beware of this provider. Bluepools encourages customers to bypass licensed contractors and build a pool as an "owner-bulder". Since I had some experience with DIY projects, I responded to their website, which offers engineering and design services for pool-building in Las Vegas and in Phoenix. Since I was in Southern California, my inquiry was informational at first, but Derek Miller responded to say that they assisted with pool-building in Orange County, and that he was travelling to LA that week (in March 2011). Derek met at my place with a colleague (perhaps this was Will Witt?) in advance of our scheduled visit. What I described to him was simple -- I was looking for a freestanding pool to fill a small yard that could accomodate an automatic pool-cover. Derek said that he would provide me a multi-page yard survey, and to date (May 2011) all that I have received is a 3-D "Artistic Conception" that is what any bona-fide pool-builder provides -- for free -- when proposing a potential pool. There was no site-plan provided, or anything that engineers can work with. I should have never paid Derek (he only asked for the intial fee at the end of our meeting) but since Derek offered (on his website) to "refund the entire fee" if not satisfied, I trusted that Derek and Will were good for it. My big mistake. Furthermore, Derek now wants me to spend another $1115 for plans -- and recommendations to licensed pool-builders -- and I told him to return my money. Or at least provide some references, as Derek's website also verifies. To date, Derek has done neither, Derek does not respond at all & I feel that he's taken my $285 and provided nothing in return. Derek and Witt's pitch on their site is that they are safer to work with than licensed pool-builders, who may go bankrupt in the future. But I see now that they are running an internet scam. I would have been fine if Will and Derek had simply returned my $285 -- their 3-D wasn't even usable for an automatic pool-cover, since it was not even rectangular! I requested this on several occasions, and it's now May and I have lost a LOT of valuable time that could have been spent with skilled pool-builders.