Pampered Pools Beware! He will take your money Concord North Carolina

Found this company online when searching for pool repair and cleaning in Charlotte, NC. Very hard to find since not many people have large in ground pools. Initially he was responsive when trying to gain my business. He responded to emails and gave me an estimate of $500 to clean my 20 x 40 pool.

First sign. When I agreed to hire him he initially said he would take credit card payment. When he came to do the work, he said his credit card system wasn't running so he needed cash or a check. He seemed nice enough, had good reviews online, website looked legitimate, so I didn't think he was trying to scam me. I gave him a check for the first half of the payment.

He came while I wasn't home and proceeded to fill up my pool and put chemicals that clouded the water and made some sort of soap scum. I wasn't sure why he was filling up the pool when he needed power washed, brushed the sides or got the debris out, but he's the professional. I called him and he said he didn't need to brush it, the chemicals would take care of everything. He didn't return for days and I emailed him advising I was turning off the water, the pool was done filling but was still dirty. No response.

My email to him when he began work the first week in May:

"I typically don't do business without a contract which would spell out the services being received and the amount. So if you would make sure you have a receipt or contract for me by the completion of the job. Also, we didn't discuss a timeframe. When do you expect to complete the job? Are you going to be completing the job alone, this seems like a lot for one person. Also, please make sure you close the pool fence when leaving if I don't see you tomorrow. Thanks." --again, no response.

He returns a week later for an additional payment, pretending to do more work. He tore up the housing where the filter and pipes were stored, left it uncovered so everything was exposed and charged me for a pipe that was fine before he broke it. I gave him the money and he promised he would be back in a few days to finish up. He never returned. I sent an email saying I was stopping payment and that's when he called me back. Very charming stating I would cause a series of things with his finances if I stopped payment. He promised to return the final payment and asked that i not stop the payment. Hindsight, I should have known better, but I called the bank to release the payment and he never emailed or called me again.

I called Better Business Bureau and they could not create a file because I did not have this guy's full name or business address and he refused to answer their calls. I chalked it up to a loss and lesson learned, but please do your due diligence when hiring companies to do work and recognize the signs of shady work. Come to find out the pictures on his website are not his work and are found on other sites. What a creep!