ccdan

ccdan- Would you please explain caution with John Johnson. Reason I ask is because I have known and done business with a very good backhoe guy for a few years now in my area of Rockport. He has worked with John on about a half dozen installs and has felt only the best about him and hence has recommended him. Your experience is appreciated. marc Johnson did not deliver as promised on a number of contract issues with the pool. He was suppose to have the pool installed in 2-3 weeks, took months, he never really finished it. We contracted with John Johnson and Emerald Pools in May of 2006. We still are unsatisfied and uncompleted in july 2007. Issues with this business include but are not limited to: 1.Emerald Pools and Mr. Johnson did not complete this job in a workman like manner causing me current and future dollar damages and in violation of his contract. a.There are no expansion joints in the pool deck under the flagstone causing an unstable base which will prematurely crack and require expensive repairs. This process has already begun with concrete damage. b.There are cement stains on the pool due to his workmen spilling cement when they poured cement on September 1, 2006. We have made numerous appointments with Mr. Johnson to clean the stains but he never showed at the property. c. Neither Mr. Johnson nor his employees dressed the property as called for by the contract. I did that work. d. Mr. Johnson was not familiar with City code and was unwilling to pay the plumbing fee to properly install a sand filter as contracted but instead installed a cartridge filer that involves more upkeep and expense on my behalf. e. He filled the pool with water before the electrical inspector could inspect the wet niche for the pool light. 2.Mr. Johnson has never instructed us on the use of the pool and pool equipment as stated in the contract. 3.Mr. Johnson has not given us the starter chemicals as stated in the contract. 4.Mr. Johnson still owes us money for a slide we contracted for but was never delivered by him, causing us to buy one and install it ourselves. ($1400) 5.Mr. Johnson still owes us money for the spa jets (“bubbles") as written in the contract. ($2,500) 6.Mr. Johnson took $85.00 over contract price in checks from lender and never refunded change. Finally, Mr. Johnson's claims we owe him money. Mr. Johnson's contract clearly states in line 14, “Any additional work not included in total amount of contract, agreed to by Emerald Pools and the and home owner or general contractor will be paid at the time cost is incurred." Clearly we understood this clause as we paid $1,200.00 to Mr. Johnson for the extra flagstone and deck work, for which he now claims we owe money. Pursuant to the contract any costs such as those mentioned by Mr. Johnson should have been collected when incurred in early September or October of 2006. I can assure you, Mr. Johnson is not shy about collecting money. Yet, March 2007 was the first mention or notice we have received from Mr. Johnson and/or Emerald Pools that we allegedly owe any money. These issues are the issues that remain after 14 months of working with the company, there are too many other stories to tell about the construction process, including having to dig my own 18" deep electrical trench, workers showing up 2 1/2 hours late when the cement truck was here, etc, etc. Please tell others to avoid doing business with this company.

Also beware of John Johnson and Emerald Pool and Spa in the Austin, San Antonio, Corpus areas.

Also beware of John Johnson and Emerald Pool and Spa in the Austin, San Antonio, Corpus areas.

I would demand a new pool too! Also, I would post (on this forum and the TFP forum) where you live and who your contractor is so that others are aware and can beware of your contractor. Some of these guys just get away with this stuff way too often.

I bought and had a Waterworld Pool installed from the Texas plant. The contractor I had was terrible to work with and did most of the crooked things you hear about with pool contractors that are bad. That being said, I had occasion to contact the company directly. They seemed professional and responded to my questions and got me a copy of my warranty papers etc. None of which the contractor who I bought the pool through did. They did come and set the pool in the pre-dug hole. It took quite some time as I live on an island that is basically a sand bar and they buried their boom truck. None-the-less, they did get the pool set level. I don’t know that the contractor could have done it. They did some backfill that day. The contractor disappeared for about a month so the sand had lots of time to settle and work in around the pool. Eventually, the contractor got cement poured around it etc. but it was a slow process. Finally we just got rid of him and finished off ourselves. In doing so, I hired some other subs with fiberglass pool experience and they were all very surprised at the quality construction of the pool and its strength. I swam in the pool for the first time last October for about 5 weeks till Thanksgiving. Then we started swimming again around Valentines Day. We have a 240,000 btu solar heater on the garage roof. The pool works great; we enjoy it and have had no real problems. It is level and most of what they say about chemical usage maintenance is true when I compare the time and chemical usage to my neighbor with a gunite pool. I due, however, use the BBB method from troublefreepool.com. I also like the smooth sides. I would say that Waterworld does have a good product however they are very happy to be in the wholesaler role with limited contact with the end consumer. I just question who they are willing to do business with. I guess the old saying “You are judged by the company you keep” comes to mind when I think of Waterworld. For those of you in Texas, stay away from John Johnson and Emerald Pools or Emerald Pools and Spas that does business out of San Antonio and Corpus Christi. The guy made what should have been a real positive experience 5-6 months of hell and took me for about $15,000.

I am going to try and get it right this time. I had a fiberglass pool put in last year. I am not a pool contractor or a pool salesman. While the contractor was hell, it took longer to put in than promised and cost more than planned, I would say that we generally enjoy the pool and the sales pitches are pretty much on target. I live on a sand island with the water table seven foot down but can vary depending on tides. The pool is 16x32 and 6 feet deep made by Waterworld pools. The fiberglass construction and product appears to be sturdy, well finished and solid. Except for the fact that no where can we actually get 32' on the length of the pool, 31' is the longest angle we can find. That being said, I guess all contractors, gunite and fiberglass have their crooks and it seem like a lot of pool guys are crooks. The main problem, as stated, was the contractor's lack of integrity. It was suppose to take three weeks and took four months. Suppose to have spa jets, but none were installed, suppose to have a slide but none delivered prior to the electrician grounding the rebar, we paid and installed the slide ourselves. Had a competent contractor put the pool in I would imagine that it could be up and running as fast as they claim, our guy just tried to get around pulling permits and couldn't get an electrician to do the work till it was properly permitted. Stupid over a little $200 permit but he tried to cut every little corner he could. My advise to you is check the contractor and write an iron clad contract that protects you. This was our first pool, we were excited the guy seemed like a nice old guy and we dropped our guard, obviously how he makes his living. The pool has a 3 foot concrete apron about 4" deep around most of the pool rebared on to the fiberglass about every 4 feet with flagstone laid over it, cantilevered over the fiberglass. We keep the pool full, with the exception of having to drain it to about 2 feet for the electrical inspection of the wet niche and have had no issues with it rising or popping out of the ground during those few days nor during times of heavy rain and high tides. I think the apron, rebar and weight of the flagstone may help us, I may be wrong, only the future will tell. As far as cleaning and chemical consumption. The pool is easy to clean, gets a bath tub ring in heavy use but come off easy with scrub brush. I compare my chemical use with my neighbor who has a gunite pool of about the same size that is used less (I have 4 kids 23-6; they are to retired adults with grand kids who visit once a month) and I still use significantly fewer chemicals then he does and he has been a pool owner for a long time and is shocked at the lack of chemical use in my pool. I like the smooth feel of the fiberglass as opposed to the rough of the gunite. My yard is so small that I really couldn't be creative with gunite anyway. The shape fit well for us and our needs. Owing a fiberglass pool has been good for me. Will send you some pictures if you would like, don't know how to attach to this. Biggest issue with ownership, the lack of knowledge of fiberglass pools among the general "pool community" and paranoia that develops from that and reading blogs like this.

Let me get this right. Boil about 1,000 mg of Vit C tablets from the drug store and put in your pool? How many gallons of water did you treat? Did it do anything else to water chemistry?

I put in a fiberglass pool last year and have done some research like you are doing and have my results to give you. I have an automatic chlorinator with a cartridge filter. Is seems regardless of what you have you are fighting burn off and/or overstablization. The neighbor down the street tried bromine, didn't work, just burned off. Using stablizied chlorine tablets with a cartridge filter you fight overstabilization. The other issues for me are hardness and pH. I have to work to keep calcium hardness and pH up within proper range. I use the unstabilized chlorine with the calcium mix, this works with the overstabilization issue and the hardness and baking soda for pH. My stablizer is coming down and when it gets to 30-50 I'll think about stabilized chlorine again for awhile. I use a non-chlorine shock too. Once a week for regular swim load, or after a pool party. I also take a water sample to my pool store once every two-three weeks. We've been in the pool since February and have had a clean, clear pool that doesn't seek to use alot of chemicals. I would say I spent about $85-$100 in chemicals and still haven't had to worry about restocking. I enjoy my pool, it seems to be what the fiberglass industry claims as far as the swimming and upkeep aspects. Haven't gone through a hurricane with it yet, that might change my attitude if it pops out of the ground. The contractor was hell and I would recommend that you are very careful in selecting one. Hope this helps.

Do not use Emerald Pools -- John Johnson. I had numerous problems with the installation and 1 year later (we started May 2006) it still is not done. There is a woman on the Island that has the only pool shop there but she is die hard gunite. Be sure your contractor knows Corpus code and follows it, they are very particular.

Do not use Emerald Pools and Spas -- John Johnson. I had a horrible experience with him in Corpus and I know he sells in Austin. Check ripoffreport.com