ComplaintsforFirebird Concrete & Pools, Inc

• Initial Complaint

  06/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had them install a 91000.00 pool, it cracked straight away due to them not filling in around it properly, hollow spots under steps and around walls and shallow ends. He refuses to fix the problem .

  Customer response

  06/22/2023

  They came to our home today after manufacture reached out to them , they couldnt fix the problem because they poured fiber concrete in an around steps and it blocked the sand they were trying to put in to sure up and fill in the void.  This  was due to Firebird Concrete and pools installation. They didn't fill in under steps of pool correctly . They couldn't fix the hollow issues so got upset and left .They rush through jobs an expect payment on very questionable work .  I've discussed all these issues plus more and when I told them we we dealing with the pool issues first and not the extra concrete work that is all messed up including a 40 ft trench drain and 100 ft plus drain 8' DEEP  with no 1" clean rock under footing of slab floor they poured , which will settle and cause some serious issues down the road.  I want my pool fixed properly.

  Business response

  09/29/2023

  Originally Firebird Concrete & Pools, Inc. signed a contract with ********* ********* for a swimming pool install.  The pool was installed with a start date of October 3, 2022. This San Juan pool was installed using the same installation procedures as all of our other pools and in accordance to the install training that the business owners have attended.  The entire pool is backfilled with clean gravel all the way around the pool and there is flowable fill under the deck and steps to prevent as many voids as possible.  For our company, we have found that using flowable fill is the most effective material to prevent voids/hollow spots as much as possible.  The remaining installation steps were taken, the concrete around the pool was poured, stamped, finished and then the pool was cleaned.  This pool install was completed and finalized on December 12, 2022.  During the pool build, November 2022, Mrs. ********* requested more work be completed.  A quote was generated and signed for additional concrete work for a building she decided to build near the pool.  With the amount of time it was going to take, she was told that we would have to work her in for the additional jobs that she wanted done due to us having prior obligations with other customers for pool installations.  She expressed the quick need for a footing in order to start on the building, so FCP dug and poured the footing 2 days after the finish of the pool to accommodate her.  We returned on February 20, 2023 and formed up the building floor in preparation for concrete.  Next, we had to wait on her plumbers to do their part of the job, and was finally able to pour and finish the building floor on April 6, 2023.  Mrs. ********* continued to add additional concrete jobs after one would get finished.  By the end of these multiple projects, we were hired to do six additional concrete jobs, in which most of them included a stamped concrete finish.  FCP chose to go ahead and get all of her multiple additional concrete projects completed before we moved on our next contracted pool in order to please this customer.  This lasted from April 6, 2023 until May 12, 2023.  When it was time to pay the remaining portion of her bill, she refused and still owes the company almost $19,000.00 for work that has been completed.  FCP had not heard any complaints or dissatisfaction with any of the numerous jobs that FCP had performed at this residence until May 8, 2023.  The price for a deck drain was given prior to this day and was accepted, so on May 8, the drain was installed between two of the concrete pads by Mr. ******* (FCP co-owner) as Mrs. ********* watched the installation.  Upon finishing the drain, Mr. ******* left the property while the other employees were providing Mrs. ********* with a free pool opening and cleaning.  Mrs. ********* started yelling at our employees and demanding that they remove the drain that had just been installed.  Roughly 45 minutes later, Mr. ******* received a phone call from Mrs. ********* with questions regarding the size of the drain.  He was told that she needed a 4” drain because she “wasn’t going to put gutters on her building” and felt like the smaller drain would not carry as much water.  Mr. ******* informed her that he originally quoted her the price for the 1-1/2” pool deck drain.  He also told her that he would change it out for a 4” commercial drain per her request, but the price would be different because she was originally quoted the smaller drain. She immediately began yelling/screaming at Mr. ******* about requiring her to pay additional fees for the bigger commercial drain and eventually hung up on him.  The next day, Mr. ******* and two other employees went back to this jobsite, poured the remaining two a/c pads, cleaned the pool again and balanced the chemicals in her pool.  Mrs. ********* was told that she would need to sign the quote for the 4” drain with additional charges before the bigger drain could get installed.  She started making several complaints, including issues about an ex-employee of ours that used her tractor (after she offered to let him use it) and without FCP owners approving or having knowledge of this, so Mr. ******* gave her several discounts on her bill for tractor use, gravel, and cleanup costs.  The revised changes were agreed upon, signed, and the drain was changed to a 4” at her request.  On May 12, 2023 all jobs were complete, the jobsite was cleaned, and all trash from FCP was removed.  Mr. ******* tried contacting Mrs. ********* to provide her with the remaining invoices that were unpaid, but was unsuccessful.  He finally got ahold of her on May 15, by text, and was told that she was not happy because she found a crack in her pool.  He immediately went to her residence to take pictures and to contact the pool manufacturer for her so it could get fixed immediately.  He finished his assessment of the pool crack and provided Mrs. ********* with her invoices that needed to be paid.  She told Mr. ******* that she was not paying the bill until the crack was fixed and she was completely satisfied.  The FCP office sent an email that same morning explaining to Mrs. ********* that the balance owed had nothing to do with the pool crack because that would be a pool warranty issue and they were separate jobs.  We also requested pictures of the work that she was wanting fixed or had issues with.  An email was received from San Juan on May 16 at 8:37 am, letting us know that a San Juan technician was scheduled to be on site to fix the pool crack on June 19.  We received no response from Mrs. ********* so we asked a second time, on May 31, for pictures of the items that she was requesting get “fixed”.  We finally received a response on June 7 informing us that she was not going to pay the bill until “the work is done to my complete satisfaction”.  She listed several items that she had issues with, some of which was not requested nor quoted, therefore they were not performed.  Other issues included the original stamped concrete around the pool, which was completed months before we were hired to do six additional concrete jobs, most of which were stamped and finished as identical as possible to the original concrete around the pool.  She also mentioned an 8’ trench.  This trench was dug on the second day of the pool build, October 4, before FCP had any knowledge of an additional building that she wanted built.  The trench was backfilled on October 18, after the pipe was installed.  This is known as the Hydrostatic relief system and is a common practice in fiberglass pool installation.  From October 2022 until May 8, 2023, our company never heard anything about Mrs. *********’s fears of this becoming a potential problem later down the road.  An entire building with a footing was built over this area before ever being made aware that she feared a future settling problem due to not backfilling with gravel.  Mr. ******* has been in construction nearly his entire life as he is a third generation concrete company owner/operator.  Not only has he excelled in concrete but has excelled in most other construction fields also, including building homes, operating heavy equipment and installing pools.  Upon hearing of Mrs. *********’s fears of future settling concerns he reassured her that the backfill of dirt in the trench would not be an issue.  She continued to doubt Mr. *******’ experience and expertise on this issue so he contacted an Engineer, whose expertise is building bridges, and was told that the trench and the way it was backfilled “would not be an issue.” 

  Another statement that was made in this email by Mrs. ********* was that “the guys didn’t fill in under the steps on the pool, there is hollow spots under steps of pool that will cause issues down the road.”  As stated previously in this response, FCP uses flowable fill under the decks and steps of our San Juan pools to prevent voids as much as possible.  Flowable fill was poured under the steps and deck of Mrs. *********’s pool on October 18, 2022.  The email was finished by including several inaccurate accusations, derogatory remarks and ended with “So don’t expect a dime more from me until work is complete.” On June 20 two FCP employees went to the ********* property to pump out some of the pool water in order for the San Juan technician to repair the gelcoat on the pool.  Company pump was left onsite because it was pumping the water out for the technician.  Later that evening Mr. ******* received nasty text messages from Mrs. ********* with more derogatory comments.  The next day, June 21, the same two employees returned to her residence to remove the pump.  She met our crew at their crew truck and was told not to get out of the truck.  They got asked why they were there and informed Mrs. ********* that they were there to pick up the pump since it was done being used to pump some water out of the pool.  The crew then had to listen to Mrs. ********* insult them and the entire company about our work while she continued to yell at them about everything she had a problem with.  The conversation ended with her telling our crew that they were not getting our pump back and to leave.  They left her property at that point, without being allowed to take our company property with them.  Our San Juan technician also arrived at Mrs. *********’s property on June 21, 2023.  The pool crack was fixed that same day and Mrs. ********* was informed that she still has a 25-year Manufacturer’s Warranty on her pool shell so if she has any other issues to let us know and we would get it handled.  We needed to address the statement that was made about having hollow spots in the steps of the pool so Mr. ******* and the San Juan technician inspected for any voids.  They did find a couple hollow spots around the steps of the pool.  The technician agreed to stay in town for an additional day so they could attempt to fill in the spots and patch anything that needed to be patched afterwards.  The next day, both FCP owners, one employee, and the San Juan technician went to the property to try to communicate about all of Mrs. *********’s complaints and to come up with a mutual resolve on all the issues she mentioned in her email.  We had already been in contact with our San Juan rep and discussed this issue prior to this visit.  Our rep has been a pool builder and with San Juan for forty plus years and is an expert on San Juan pools.  We were reassured by our rep that these hollow spots would not jeopardize the pool in any way because the areas such as steps and decks are built with additional core matting which strengthens and gives extra support in case there are hollow spots.  Hollow spots did not cause a crack in this pool.  Upon receiving the information from our rep we let Mrs. ********* know what was said but told her we would still attempt to fill them to try to make her a happy customer.  Mr. ******* attempted several different ways to put sand into the hollow spots.  Unfortunately, it did not work because there was already flowable fill in those areas so it wouldn’t allow the sand to enter.  Our San Juan rep also spoke to Mrs. ********* to let her know that hollow spots are not 100 percent preventable and that they do not jeopardize the pool shell or pool install in any way.  We attempted to discuss all of the other issues she mentioned in previous conversations to try to resolve these for her.  Again, Mrs. ********* responded with derogatory comments about our company and stated that she refuses to talk about it until the pool was fixed to her satisfaction.  We have made numerous attempts at pleasing this customer.  We even offered to remove the concrete that she had not paid for so she wouldn’t have to pay us and she could hire a different company to finish it and was told that she only wanted us to remove it if we were going to put it back.  We have gone above and beyond for this customer and had to deal with a lot of disrespectful behaviors during the process.  Our crew would arrive to the jobsite the next day after pouring a large amount of concrete and would find outdoor chairs sitting on brand new concrete pads that had not been allowed to cure for at least 24 hours.  There were also situations while in the middle of cleaning the pool, the homeowners would put their muddy dogs into the pool causing more time and cleaning efforts for our employees.  Another problem that our crew had to endure was having to attempt to keep their several dogs off the concrete pads during the antiquing process.  They had to redo their work on several occasions because Mrs. *********’s dogs would be muddy and get on the concrete before it was finished.  This was an hour drive for our company to get to and on three separate occasions our crew would show up because we were promised that they were ready for us to continue finishing our work.  Upon arrival we would not be able to work due to plumbing not being completed as promised, or other contractors being on site working where we needed to finish or other contractor’s building materials being where we were supposed to be working.  All three times we had to leave the job without working which took hours to get there and back and cost our company unnecessary time and money.  We take pictures of our jobsites and our work upon arrival, during the day (on occasions) and before getting in the truck to leave for the day at every jobsite and on every day.  We are confident in saying that we have tried time after time to appease this customer and satisfy her, but I do not think that it is possible no matter what we do for her.  We can only assume at this point that the customer simply does not want to pay the bill for the services that have already been professionally provided to her.   Unfortunately, this customer will not listen to the information being given by our San Juan experts and is making assumptions based on what she fears will happen in the future.            

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