TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Pool Company's Demise Leaves Family $23,000 In The Hole

Jay Nolan / Tampa Tribune

Swimming is out of the question for Yolanda Wright, whose pool builder went out of business, leaving her and several neighbors with unfinished holes in their backyards.

ADVERTISEMENT

By SHANNON BEHNKEN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2007

Updated: 11/03/2007 01:07 pm

Ken and Linda Mackenzie have invested $23,000 in a dream pool for their backyard in Brandon.

But all they have to show for it is a massive hole. The worst part: Just $3,000 worth of work is complete on their $60,000 pool, and the company they paid quietly went out of business this week.

"The hole is starting to crumble," Ken Mackenzie said. "I feel embezzled. This isn't right."

The Mackenzies aren't alone.

Plant City-based Pool Contractors Inc., which goes by PCI, has at least eight unfinished pools in varying stages of construction in Hillsborough County. Six of them are in the same neighborhood.

Homeowners say PCI crews were at work late last week. Even then, the company had been requesting tens of thousands of dollars in payments. But Monday, the message left at the phone number for the company told customers PCI is no longer in business and for them to call the company's attorney.

That attorney, Alberto F. Gomez of Morse & Gomez in Tampa, said his client likely will file for bankruptcy.

"It's a Chapter 7, so it's something a trustee will end up with," Gomez said in a voice mail message to The Tampa Tribune on Tuesday. He did not return calls made later in the week, including Friday, to answer additional questions.

If PCI does file for bankruptcy, consumers will have a tough time getting their money back, said Kevin Jackson of the Hillsborough County Consumer Protection Agency.

"Once they file, the consumers are left dealing with the bankruptcy court, and they'll have to wait in line to get paid - after all the secured creditors."

Jackson said the agency received a few phone calls this week from PCI customers complaining about their unfinished pools, but previously had not received complaints about the company. Consumers have filed more complaints in recent months against home construction companies, Jackson said, and many of companies blame their troubles on the downturn in the housing market.

State records show PCI received its license as a pool and spa contractor in 2005. Sam Farkas, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, said there are no public complaints against the company. He said he "can neither confirm nor deny" any ongoing investigation into the company.

Stan Morse, who worked for PCI as a service manager, said the company started as a wholesaler to pool builders but switched to doing residential work itself. Morse said he worked for the company for six months and didn't know it was going out of business until he arrived at work Monday to find the gate locked. He hasn't been paid for his last week of work.

"It's sad," Morse said. "PCI was a big company and built a great pool."

In the Cory Lake Isles subdivision in New Tampa, six homeowners have unfinished pools.

Some of them are nearly complete; some are merely concrete holes.

Richard and Yolanda Wright consider themselves lucky, compared to many of their neighbors. Their pool is mostly done. Even so, they paid $56,000 and think they still need $20,000 worth of work to finish the pool.

The Wrights also feel bad about their neighbors' plights. They helped spread the word in the neighborhood about PCI.

"I did the research," Yolanda Wright said. "I checked this company out. I called 10 of their previous customers. Every one of them was happy and said their pools were great and that the company worked night and day until the pools were finished."

A plus, she said, was the company's guarantee to build the pool in 35 days or pay the customer $100 per day until the work was done.

"I don't know how they can sleep at night after doing this to people," Wright said.

While her pool is nearing completion, her next door neighbor's pool is in the early stages. Another neighbor said he paid $75,000 on an infinity pool, which is now only a massive concrete hole.

One neighbor, Bill Schmid, has a nearly complete pool but is faced with paying for a screened enclosure twice. He said he paid PCI for the screen, which was put in last week, but was that told that PCI likely had not yet paid for the job, which it hired another company to install. He's worried the company will put a lien on his home.

Jackson, of the consumer agency, said customers can do everything right and still get burned. He recommends consumers check a company's background, get references, get several estimates and pay as little as possible until the work is done.

Even then, if a company files for bankruptcy, customers have little recourse.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804 or sbehnken@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT