C&A POOLS

It didn't. They have ignored my request for a proposed course of action. Be aware, if you hire C&A to re-plaster your pool the company will subcontract the work to seasonal labor from the Southwest and not standby the warranty on the contract

Hired a new service, but won't know for sure if they can fix things until spring. So relieved to be rid of C&A!

Other Angie’s List customers cite problems and unsatisfactory performance and service with C&A replastering ability and service. Unfortunately, we also experienced this. -- Nowhere were we completely satisfied with C&A's work. -- Nowhere was C&A's work a complete success. -- At no time were we pleased with how C&A respected our feelings or schedules, or when they: --Delayed work on our pool so they could go on vacation --Delayed work on our pool so they could service other clients --Ignoring us after admitting their work wasn’t adequate --After months of discussion, saying "All it needed was a phone call." While John is the main technical person; it appears his wife either owns the business or controls the business decisions; hers was the last communication we received from C&A. She definitely wears the pants in their family. Here’s the story, and you can see responses from other people at Trouble Free Pool.com (a great site for pool owners): [*** Link removed ***] We had contracted with C&A Pools in mid-April to replaster our pool. Without question, we accepted the fee they offered. They started April 26th with an estimated work time of about a week. This surprised us since we pointed out to C&A that there were about 20 areas with eggshell cracking and delaminating plaster. When they finally realized there was more plaster to remove than they initially thought, they emphatically said they’d have our pool open in time for Memorial Day. (At this point, readers should think, “uh-oh”) They finished the replastering in mid-May. In the process, their crews left plaster in numerous places on our patio, on our driveway, and a mound of plaster IN our lawn. We had to call them many times to remove the plaster, but removal efforts of their plaster subcontractor, were half-hearted, and not responsive. Throughout the work, we also had to put up with all of the crews arriving unannounced (and as late as 9pm), or not showing up when stated, and leaving gates to our rear yard/pool area open to wildlife. The replastered surface looked terrible. It had streaks and splotches everywhere, uneven color, lines, splash marks, and other irregularities not found in quality work, but indicative of improper finish technique. John, the main person of C&A, admitted the problem and tried an acid bath for two weeks. He used a non-circulatory method which, according to a company we hired later, is not the industry standard; the standard method is to use pumps to circulate the acid bath in the pool. After the treatment, the plaster looked about the same: terrible. John’s next solution was an acid wash. However, the sub-contracted company he used performed spot treatments and didn’t treat the entire pool surface; meanwhile, they provided NO protection for their workers who were handling the acid with their hands. Afterwards, the surface remained an embarrassment. At one point, we considered legal action, and researhed industry standards. Reading IAF 2005 Workmanship Guidelines and Practices for Residential Inground Swimming Pools and Spas, it is our opinion C&A workmanship did not meet performance standards for: -- Scaling/precipitation. “Plaster shall not be rough or discolored” We cite this because of excess calcium deposits caused scaling discoloration across the entire surface of our pool. -- Stains/discoloration in plaster. We cite this because of excess mottling, streaking, and discoloration across the entire surface of the pool, some cracking. John’s next recommendation to fix the problem was to add another layer of plaster, but after his main pool service season was over in October!! In other words, we and our guests would have to live with the embarrassment throughout the summer. According to another local professional, not only did he agree that the finish wasn’t correct, he also said adding a fourth layer of plaster very well could have adhesion problems. Furthermore, replastering just before winter might pose curing problems for the plaster. Since their work met neither industry standard nor our satisfaction, we asked for a partial refund of $3,200 of the $8,200 we paid. The only response we ever heard from C&A was that they’d have to check with Silva Pools (even though we hadn’t contracted with Silva Pools). They then STOPPED COMMUNICATING with us. Another Angie’s List customer put in question Johns knowledge. He does appear knowledgeable. Unfortunately, in our opinion, he and his wife don’t have the integrity to hire skilled subcontractors, nor the integrity to take responsibility for fixing shoddy performance. In summary: Meeting their stated deadline the pool would be ready by Memorial Day: F Replastering surface quality to meet customer expectation: F+ Replastering surface quality per industry standard: F+ Acid bath/wash: F Water line tile repair (lots of remnant plaster left on tile, recracking) C Respecting customer requests D- Repairing damage to customer property: D- Stress to customer F Overall performance F+

The pool was in excellent condition so it went well.

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We paid a $2000 deposit in cash as they did not take any credit cards (first alert). Work was supposed to start the following week, which it did not (second alert). They finally came out 15 days later and removed the coping stones around the pool. Both verbally and as per contract fine print, they were going to come back out at that point to assess the exact beam damage. Again days passed and phone calls went unanswered or not returned or was filled with excuses like and quot;the truck broke downand quot;, and quot;one of the workers got insured on a joband quot;, each time we were told that they'd be out the next day to assess the actual damage. Then one day, we came home from work, to find that they had come by and jackhammered the entire beam, all the way around the pool. Again, repeated calls and messages asking what had happened and why all the beam was removed when only 18' (not 98') were expected to be damaged. The owner finally came out a week later and stated there was beam damage all the way around. We contested that that was not true and that the contract clearly stated they were supposed to come back out and evaluate prior to doing any further work. At that point, the owner John Church got very angry and yelled at my husband, he took a hammer and started hitting the side of the pool as hard as he could attempting to break the concrete even more to show that the beam was damaged. We should have fired him at that point, but STUPID us...thinking we have gone this far we need to just get the job finished. We already had frogs in the pool at this point because it had been empty for almost a month and the rainwater was collecting in it. So we signed an addendum agreeing to pay for an additional 80 ft of beam damage at $40 per ft. (addtl $3434.00) which we had to pay immediately (I know we should be shot in the head). Then again the wait (its now the middle of Jun), no answer on the phone, no return calls, disrespectful and rude answers when we did reach someone and empty promises of when they'd be there. So finally, we fired them and cancelled. We knew we'd loose some money, but we did not expect that they would not return a fair amount of the refund. They charged us for the tile that was dropped on our driveway while we were at work and after we cancelled. We in essence paid $5000 to only have coping stones removed and for them to jackhammer and damage the entire beam. We did file a BBB complaint, but it was a 4 month long back and forth. A lawyer told us we could go to court, but that was a headache we did not want to take on. I later did some internet searches on the company and found a near exact complaint from someone else the year prior. As well as some other negative reviews. PLEASE, DON'T TRUST THESE PEOPLE. They have some good reviews, but they are mainly small projects. You never know when it's your turn to be had by these people.

The re- plaster effort ended up terribly. When our pool light comes on in the evening the poor quality of the work is truly evident. We have had quest to our home who have mentioned have poor the pool looks and it's embarrassing. I sent emails to Cand A Pools and they didn't even have the courtesy to return my inquiry. I will never use them again and they give lip service relative to quality. Very disappointed and next I will contact the better business bureau.

They have a reasonable price. They have a great customer service. They were good. It was a good quality for the price.

They're good and they're prompt. The owner is also on the job with them.

Cand A pools did an excellent job. All job crews were knowledgeable, expert, professional, and courteous. Project was on-time and on-estimate. Job crews were well-coordinated, arrived as scheduled, worked hard, and left the job site clean. Entire job was completed in two weeks. The result is beautiful. Existing pool was nearly 25 years old. We now have a new pool!

During the job stage, John was responsive and helpful, visiting the pool often to understand the job. Once contracted with deposit and schedule set, delays and missed schedules started. Job was contracted March 14, 2008; expected completion from start 2-3 weeks with allowance for some bad weather. We were told to expect to open the pool by end of April. No problem. Workers showed up fairly quickly to start the repair, then disappeared. First, we were patient, then decided we better start pushing the schedule. With regular nagging, work was slowly getting done on the pool but delays moved the job into May with about 1/3 completed. May was rainy so there were delays due to weather, however, even on "non rain" days, the crew did not work on our pool. John offered various explanations. Weather, vehicle problems, needed to study the problem further, materials issue, whatever seemed appropriate to him. Finally, possibly as a result of my morning nag calls, the pool got plastered and opened mid June. Yeah! Caulking, Expansion Joints and Resurfacing was still needed but appeared to be 3 day job, barring weather issues. At this point, we were very frustrated having lost 5 weeks of the pool season and unsure how much longer Cand A would delay our renovation. The pool was open, but the deck, etc. still looked bad and around the pool was not caulked. We had been promptly paying invoices (approximately 17K to date), however at this point, we decided since it appeared to be only about 3 more working days to complete, we best hold back recent invoice payment and pay it when they showed up to complete the job. In hindsight, a penalty clause should have been included. Lesson learned! $5K was due, however we compromised and said we would only hold back $2500.00. Reasonable for a $27K job. We were concerned Cand A wouldn't finish the job if we gave them any more money. They were not returning phone calls or emails. Basically, they disappeared. We thought maybe they were having business issues and tried to be patient and sympathize. May was a rainy month and we figured they must be backlogged. A returned phone call and a commitment to complete the job was what we wanted. They chose to put a Mechanic's Lien on the house, rather than finish out the job and get final payment. Most likely, I'll just pay off whatever balance for work completed is. They hope to collect filing fees and interest, but a mechanic's lien decision was their choice. It wasn't necessary. Our payment history indicated we were good payers and they would not have to worry about collecting. Finish the job, get paid. Very simple to us. I have no interest in filing suit for "NonComplete", loss of work time or for stress caused to our lives unless they choose not to remove lien. I wish to move forward and forget this hoping repair doesn't need followup. I think it's important to alert others to our difficulties with Cand A so they don't have similar problems.