Pools By Jake, Owner John Kenneth Stanger (Jake) Took my money and failed to complete work on inground swimming pool Dallas, Texas

Contracted with this company on October 13, 2010 to build an inground swimming pool. Work started on October 26, 2010 and continued through the gunite stage on November 5, 2010. At this point work stopped completely on my pool and Mr. Stanger has been paid $35,000. He will not return my calls, emails or text messages. Calls to his phone number always go to his voice mail.

After getting additional bids to finish the work it appears that the actual cost of materials and labor through the gunite stage is approximately $15,000. I also received a claim letter from one of the sub-contractors, stating they had not been paid by Mr. Stanger, demanding payment of $7200 for their services. I contacted several of the other subs and found out that they had only received partial payments and that Mr. Stanger had told at least one of them that he couldn't pay them because he was having trouble getting his money from me.

I hired an attorney who sent Mr. Stanger a demand letter, but he has not responded as of this posting.

Warning signs I should have noticed: When I asked Mr. Stanger how he wanted my checks made out heasked me to make them out to him because he and a business associate, who had access to his business account, had just parted ways. The second clue and the big red flag should have come when he went directly to my bank and cashed the checks.

Use extreme caution with this company and do your due diligence when choosing a pool contractor. I would not recommend this pool builder under any circumstances.