U S A Pool Depot (Ed Maira) Half a*s rush Job Palmer Pennsylvania

 U S A Pool Depot was hired to put in a fiberglass pool at my home.  They were contacted in mid April and told we needed to have the project completed and up and running before June 7, 2013 for my daughters grduation party.  Ed Maira from U S A Pool Depot got back to my wife and told her it was not a problem and ensured the project would be completed and that they could start the week of 5-15-13.

Ed sent a contract through the mail and my wife signed it as well sending him a check for $6,300.00.  Ed told her to pull the construction permits in her name as it would be cheaper to do so. (It should be noted the reason he did this we later found out was because a complaint could not be filed with the local building department against him or his business for messing up the work.  They could not be cited or fined by the building department and they would not have to come back and fix their mess up).  My wife did as requested and sent the permits to Ed to fillout the section on the dimensions of the pool.  This is where the firs red flag should have gone up (Ed could not draw a simple diagram even with a copy of the blue prints of the residence and the back yard. He only signed a portion of the permmit and filled out my wifes information in a protion of it.  He then sent it back with a note that had a picture of the pool and dimensions of the size).  My filled it out and sent it to the buiding department where the permits were granted and given to her to be hung in the front window of our residence during construction.

The week of 5-18-13 came and went Ed did not show up.  I had an uneasily feeling to this and what ws going on as I am a Law Enforcement Officer and what was going on seemed like a scam to me.  My wife contacted Ed who advised they were doing a job in New Jersey allegedley and would be at our house on 5-22-13 early afternoon to start work.  It should be mentioned Ed told my wife that the entire project would take a week.  Ed arrived at 5:00Pm on 5-22-13 with his son and there crew, obviously the work did not start.

On 5-23-13 they arrived at 8:00Am to start work.  Ed walked around the property with my wife and told her that the grading and leveling of the back yard was terrible and a result of the builders.  He told her that his son is good on an excavator and would level and grade the yars then smooth it so it looked better for out daughters party.  In our state as in many was you say something like that you enter into a legal binding contract.  My wife also pointed out a drain in our yard that all the houses in our new development have.  It is used for the purpose of pulling water from the downspouts and drain tile from the house.  Ed told us that he would raise the drain and that it was no prolem.  In the contract we were to get a Blue Hawiian fiberglass pool that was 15Feet X 34Feet with three feet of concrete all the way around the pool, a heater, a pump, filter, and a winter safety cover all thrown in.  I met Ed on the morning of 5-24-13 at 8:00Am when they came back to work.

They quit by noon on 5-23-13 as we had a bad steady rain storm and by the time I got off he and his crew were gone.  Upon  meeting Ed on 5-24-13 hr promised that his sone would have the back yard leveled, graded, and smoothed and that it would look wonderful for my daughters graduation party.  Ed once again reiterated a verbal contract he made with my wife.  They worked hard all day and left by 6:00Pm the whole was dug and filled with a layer of stone the pull placed in it and back filled with crushed concrete.  Prior to leaving he told us he covered the drain because we did not need it.  (It should be mentioned that according to the written contract Ed was not allowed to fill the drain in without our written approval and a change-order added and signed by my wife and I as well as Ed.  There was no change order done and we were advised it was covered after he did it). 

Saturday 5-25-13 at 8:00 Am they returned back to work as well as the contractor we hired to put up a privacy fence we had in our back yard.  The Concrete truck arrived at 8:30Am but Ed and his guys did not know how to do concrete.  So they asked my fence contractor if they could do concrete work.  The fence contractor said yes as that is part of what they do.  Ed offered them $400.00 if they could do the work.  The fence contractor who I have known for years told Ed it would cost more than $400.00 to do the concrete around the pool and told Ed that he knew it.  Ed then held up a smoothing trowel that is used to finish and smooth grage and basement floors and said take it or his crew would just do the concrete.  My fenc contractor told Ed not to worry about it he knew my wife and I and we were friends of his he would just do it so Ed and his crew would not screw it up.  This was unknown to me at the time because we had to leave by 12:00Pm to go to my daughters graduation.  Prior to leaving Ed comes to me like he did me a big favor and had the fence contractor put swirls in the concrete by the pool no mke it look fancy.  He asked for the remaining balance on the pool before we left which was $5,200.00 my wife wrote him a check for the amount because the pool was paid for when delivered by check in the amount of $15,000.00.  The total for everything was going to cost $ 31,000.00.  Ed and his crew were gone when we arrived back home at 3:00Pm on 5-25-13.

We went to the graduation and while there we recieved a call from my fence contractors wife telling us about the scam Ed pulled with the concrete.  Ed was supposed to bring important components for the pull with him such as a skimmer lid, a skimmer cover for the vacum, a vacuum hose, and a collar for the skimmer lid.  All he brought was a pole for the vacuum head, a brush, a skimming net, and the chemical test kit.  It should be added that Ed told us he got us a top of the line heater, pump and filter all Hayward products and are ery good.  Ed asked if we wanted a salt water, chlorine, or bromine pool.  We told him bromine so he told my wife to place the bromine tablets into the skimmer basket.  We learned from three local pool places that in order to use bromine tablets we would have to have a brominator installed and that Ed should have known that.  When speaking to out home builder they told us that covering the drain like Ed did would void our home warranty. 

In the midsts of this we began getting yelled at by our Homeowners Association because, the concrete truck spilled concrete on the roadway in front of the neighbors house when delivering.  The city street department to get involved and threatened to send me a bill for the clean up.  In addition I recieve a surprise inspection from the city electrical inspector who is threatening to make me tear up the concrete the ground wire is under to make sure it is properly connected.  The inspector told me that Ed should have known better as it had to have a final inspection by hime per national building code.  I further learned from my Electrical and Plumbing contractos that Ed and his crew were spending there tme telling them how to hook up the gas line and electrical but were given the electrician the worst time.  The electrician showed me a GFI switch in which Ed and his crew ruined by trying to guage a larger hole in the switch.  The elctrician told me Ed was trying to force a 10 gauge wire into a 12 gauge whole so he tried making the whole to the switch larger damaging the switch.

At this point it was clear Ed did not do the work he was paid to do and commited fraud by taking payment for the concrete he did not do.  It has cost me $250.00 to fix the mess he left of the back yard in thirty minuted a little Bob cat leveled and graded the property that the mini excavator Ed had could have done it in less time because of the lade on front.  I the had to pay $250.00 out of pocket to have the drain dug out and flushed so aas not to void my home warranty.  This is not to include the expense of raising the drain.  I had my wife contact our attorney who advised to stop payment on the check for $ 5,200.00 and get an estimate for the work preformed and what it would cost to fix and correct the damages Ed caused.  Ed quickly found out payment was stopped on the check an then began harrasing my wife through e-mails.  At one point he threatened to lie and post all over the internet that he wasn't paid because she bounced the checks to him and the pool manufacturer.  He threatened to bring my official capacity into it and to contact the States Attorney General and make a false claim to impact my career.

We had our attorney contect him and advise him of possible civil litigation for liable if he did not stop.  The attorney advised that Ed hung up on him.  Ed then sent another harassing e-mail to my wife threatening to have a friend in India spread things all over the internet about us and stated there would be nothing we or any U.S. court could do not does he believe he could stop the guy in India.  This is a sixty year old man who obviously is not very credible and has to resort to trying to bully and intimidate to get payment he certainly does not deserve.  He dug a hwole dropped stone and leveled the stone then placed a pool in the whole he was paid for the work in the intial check.  Ed did not stop his actions until I threatened to file felony criminal charges against him after speaking to both my city and county prosecutor's.  The shameful part in all of this is is son who is a really nice kid and we like doesen't even know the mess his father is getting them into.  I think the business would fair much better if the father was bought out or eliminated from dealing with the customer's.  Not to mention he probably should have a psychological evaluation do to his actions.  I am still considering criminal charges, and filing a civil suit for the damages he caused which may eat up all of the $5,200.00 that was cancelled and then some.