ComplaintsforCrystal Blue Pools

• Initial Complaint

  07/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  Bo H*** (owner) was a "friend" who gave us a deal on a pool. Took our initial deposit 2/1/2022 and told us the pool would be finished by April 2022. He finally came out to dig the hole 5/25/22 and took another large sum of money, The whole summer went by without another word from him. In late August, he had his guys come build the walls of the pool, and then immediately called and asked for another $5,000 to secure our equipment so we "wouldn't have to wait for our equipment" once the deck was poured. We paid the $5,000 believing that no one would be as dirty as to lie to "friends" to steal their money. We were wrong. This man is a thief. I am certain he would steal from his own mother. I have contacted him numerous times on where the pool process stands, or how we can get a refund of the money he stole from us, or if he could even just give us the liner and equipment that we already paid for, etc. We haven't heard from him since 1/20/2023. It is now 4/10/23, and we have since moved on to a real builder, a reputable builder to finish the pool that he started. Please take my word and do not give this man money. He will use every trick in the book (still blaming Covid, sob stories his life) to get money from you, but he is a criminal and belongs in jail. We have spoken with many other former customers of his. Unfortunate world in which we live that it's so difficult to actually hold criminals accountable for their disgusting behavior.

• Initial Complaint

  06/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I hired Bo H*** with Crystal Blue Pools to install a pool on January 21, 2022. The pool is still far from being complete and of June 30, 2023. I paid the draw accordingly when it came time to install the shotcrete. Bo was not able to get concrete material lined up so I took it upon myself because it had been 15 months and I wanted to get the project moving. I paid the concrete material invoice with an agreement that he would deduct if from the next draw. A month later the contractor that installed the shotcrete came to my home and stated that Bo had never paid him for the work which he had completed which totaled $7,972.50 and let me know he would have to file a lien if he was not paid. I confirmed with Bo that he had not paid him and on three different occasions Bo said he was going to pay him even sending me a copy of the check. A month later shotcrete contractor was headed to file the lien so I paid him. I set up three different appointments with Bo to come to a resolution on how to work together to move forward with the pool and Bo cancelled one an hour before the appointment and then did not show up for the last two appointments without a phone call or text message. Bo now will not answer the phone and his mailbox is full. He will not return text messages. I have paid out over $60K in a draw, shotcrete material, shotcrete labor, and deposits on upgrades that have not been delivered or installed. Looking for Bo to finish the pool or refund the money for work that he did not pay for or has has not been performed.

• Initial Complaint

  11/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  April of 2021, Crystal Blue Pools was hires to do my family’s pool. 16 months later all we had was a hole in the ground and empty promises for completion dates. He was paid in full. He is nothing short of a con man.

  Business response

  01/17/2023

  Case # ********
  The liner was installed.
  Pool filled up with water. 
  We told the customer that we would do the equipment after we discussed the add on’s of spa, pool heater and control box.
  The home owner said he had already paid for all the extra items listed above.  Which is not true.
  Home owner has refused to pay for amount due.   Therefore we told the home owner we would not proceed forward with the equipment and completion of pool until the amount was settled.

  Customer response

  01/17/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. 
  
  I have all documentation that the pool was paid for in full along with the contract. I have several correspondence records with Crystal blue pools that says I already paid for the equipment. Crystal Blue Pools is a fraud. He left the pool in a mess with his wrecked disregard for doing business that cost me thousands to have completed. I have all records proving the case. This message needs to get out to everyone, I have found numerous people he has scammed after my dealings with him. There are multiple ******** pages etc about him being a fraud. I do not want to see anyone else get scammed by this conman. I am currently perusing litigation on him however I know this is futile. He has so many judgements and nothing in his name so I know I will not get anything from him. 
  Regards,
  
  ***** *******

  Business response

  01/25/2023

  Again customer has not paid for pool in full because of all items that were added after agreement was signed and pool was started. Also we always communicated kindly and honestly throughout the project and had every intention on completing the project upon receiving payment for extra items and work. The customer chose to have someone else finish project after I had told him that I would finish after receiving payment 

  Customer response

  01/25/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. 
  
  Regards,
  ***** *******

  Would you like proof? Geeze, this guy is the biggest scam around. Look him up, he has so many judgements I can’t comprehend how he is still allowed to do work. I have all communication on this matter. As does the lawyer. 

• Initial Complaint

  11/09/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  I hired Crystal Blue Pools to install a pool in October 2021. They told me it would be March before he could start, we agreed. He's (Bo H***-owner) been to my house 4 times in 13 months and still hasn't finished. He(Bo H***) will not respond to a text message or a phone call. I've paid over $25,000 and he refuses to return to finish the work. I've paid for all equipment and he refuses to delivery equipment. I've reached out dozens of times but he refuses to respond. He's taken my money and I've had a hole in my backyard for a year will no end in sight.

  Business response

  01/17/2023

  Case# ********
  We signed a contract Oct 2021. Because of weather delays
  we started the swimming pool
  May 2022.
  We had a delay after the pool was started because we were waiting on the customer personal contractor to bring in fill dirt.
  The other delay that occurred was when the customer added a retaining wall to the project.
  During that time their were concrete shortages. And the decided to proceed with a personal concrete contractor.
  We credited the customer for using his own concrete contractor.
  We have stayed in contact with the home owner during the numerous rain delays during this project.
  Which has been a challenge with outdoor construction on all projects.
  As of January 9th 2023 home owner texted and said he hired another contractor to finish his pool.
  

  Customer response

  01/31/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. 
  
  Regards,
  
  **** ********

  There has never been weather delays that lasted 14 months. The pool contractor couldn’t get concrete so I HAD to step in and arrange for concrete to be delivered. I was credited for his cost of concrete but zero for his labor for concrete work. The delay in fill dirt was due to a delay in the pool contractor. He never responds in a timely manner, if ever. He always blames his shortcomings on weather. I HAD to hire a new contractor to finish(which they showed up the next day). I never received a refund for the equipment I had already paid him for or the equipment itself. This guy is a crook. The company I hired to finish my pool has already finished numerous pools for this contractor. I paid him $25,000 to dig a hole in my backyard and not finish. 

• Initial Complaint

  09/22/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  *Breach of Pool Contract* Deposit for pool Feb 17th,2021 paid $10,065. Dig Date July 12th,2021 paid $26,840. Nov 18,2021 paid $32,175. Total Amount paid to date $69,080. Bo H***, Crystal Pool Blues has refused to come back and finish my pool build. He stated he would be at my house in May 2022 and work till pool completed. Since his no show, he refuses to answer phone calls and whenever asked he will respond in text that he will finish my pool (Bo H*** will only respond to my wife, he has quit responding to me). However, he will not give us a timetable and it has been 26 weeks since a pool crew has been to our house. He has all of my equipment, and I cannot finish the pool with another builder for the amount left on the contract. My wife ****** has asked Bo H*** via text (because he will not answer the phone) for all of our equipment in the contract. $13,420 is the last payment due upon completion of pool and would not cover the cost of the materials needed to finish the pool.

  Business response

  01/17/2023

  Case # ********
  Firstly in addition, to the original contract the customer added numerous items to the pool project. These we’re all extra items not included in the original contract.
  Of course we will have to state again that many of all the delays and set backs were due to Covid supply shortages.
  
  Secondly the home owner said they would provide all materials for covering the foundation of the house and steps for there home.
  The home owner decided to use the same material that was around the spa…. Which was another extra add on from original contract.
  
  Thirty the home owner decided to change the spa coping… and the homeowner decided to contract someone else to do the spa coping.
  
  Because of supply chain increases that were due to Covid.  The 2020 original pricing has increase as much as 70%. So that reason why other contractors are so much more.
  
  If the home owner would agree to pay for all the extras items and labor we will put them back on the schedule to complete their swimming pool.

  Customer response

  01/30/2023

  I would like to respond to Mr. H***.

  
  

  Regarding numerous addon items added to the pool project claim- The addons that have been provided to us have been paid for including the price for labor that was agreed upon by both parties. extra concrete-paid. extra stone around pool coping and spa-paid. I have copies of the extra payments and Mr. H*** does as well.   I have a copy of our contract that I can submit and I have receipts of every payment. The delays Mr. H*** is speaking of or the excuse we were given as to why our pool could not be complete was always waiting on LED bubblers. The pool dig date was in July of 2021. From that point , the LED bubblers went from not being available for 6months to 9 months to a year. For some reason the supplier never had them even though I was there when he made the phone call in July to the supplier and heard him say he secured all three for our build. 

  
  

  It is true that we decided to go with a different material around the base of the back of our house and the steps. Mr. H*** had bought a whole pallet of stacked stone that was intended to go around our spa. It was much more than was needed but he said that he could only purchase it by the pallet. Therefore there was a lot of product left over. This was bought well before we had decided to change the stone for the small section of the base of our home.  We were doing Mr. H*** a favor by going with the same stacked stone so he could recoup the excess that he bought. The amount that he told me was roughly $1,000 in stacked stone to place around the back of the house and steps.  Mr. H*** never asked me to pay this extra amount up front. I  have a receipt that includes the upcharge for the stacked stone around the spa. I have copies of text messages that I can provide all around the stacked stone and stone tread product we were looking at doing. This is just one of many excuses for Mr H*** to rationalize why he chose to breach our contract. If you look at our text conversations-he never once mentions anything about needing payment for these things to finish working on our pool. 

  
  

  We were put in a tight spot when Mr. H*** told us that he felt he could not complete the top of our spa as planned. He felt he couldn't make the top look nice and that if he were to try to lay the stone there would be odd small pieces and grout lines would not match up and be symmetrical. He was use to placing flagstone which did not require symmetrical grout lines. He told us in the beginning of the pool build he could use the same stone coping that we used for around the pool to do the top of the Spa. It was extremely frustrating when he admitted that he did not know how to accomplish it even after buying a $600 special tool that he was going to use to do it. What was even more troubling is we would have never chosen to use that coping for the top of the spa had we known he was incapable of installing it. We were looking at an additional $5,000 to have a counter top company cut stone to fit the spa.  And just to be clear- he did not buy the product for the top of the Spa. The plan was to use the same stone that was used for the pool coping(which we paid him for and I have the receipt). He would have had to order more to do the top of the Spa because there was not enough left over from the pool coping. He even offered to discount the Spa installation if we would hire someone else to complete the spa top.

  
  

  And to address the last excuse by Mr. H***- we have no equipment. We are suppose to have a fence installed, a pool liner installed, pump, filter system, and spa heater and many many more parts that are part of the original contract. I would gladly pay $1,000 for the stacked stone that he is owed compared to the cost of the aforementioned equipment. Mr. H**** last payment was to be  of  $13,420 does not cover the all the equipment  and labor to finish this pool . Not even  2020 pricing comes close to what it would take to buy all the equipment needed.  We have more than paid for this equipment in our contract.

  
  

  If you go to his Google reviews you will see many reviews like ours. He was very attentive and responsive from July of 2021 up until  the concrete deck was poured in November of 2021.  From that point we did not see his crew but a handful of times to build the spa frame and install. The last time anyone from his crew came to our home was January of 2022. When we tried to contact Mr. H*** regarding the delays he never mentioned that we owed him any money at all. He promised he would come back and that "we would have the pool of our dreams". He finally just stopped responding all together in June of 2022. 

   Mr. H*** also agreed to replace an area of our  concrete patio that was poorly done and immediately cracked but he never fixed it. Before we signed the contract with him he told us we would need 4 to a max of 5 loads of dirt to level  ground around the pool. We ended up paying for 54 loads of dirt. Costing us well over $10,000.  We then had to pay to put sod down so all of our dirt wouldn't wash away which was another unplanned expense due to Mr. H****s poor planning.

  
  Excuse after excuse- we finally asked Mr. H*** to give us our equipment when it was clear he had no intention of coming to finish our pool. This is in August of 2022, over a year since the dig date. We practically begged him over text because He stopped responding to phone calls in June. We have text messages to prove this. Not once has he mentioned paying for extras as the reason he could not come back out.

  
  

  I have called about 14 different pool builders to get additional quotes to finish my pool. Over half of them guessed that Bo H*** of Crystal Blue Pools was my builder who breached our contract.. If you would like to look at the original contract, receipts, bank statements, or text messages, please let me know.

  We have found that Mr. H*** has done this to many other families as well through online research and postings and we are hoping something can be done to stop him from doing this to others in the future.

• Initial Complaint

  05/20/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  In February 2021 we paid Crystal Blue Pools (110 East Butler Rd., Mauldin, SC 29662) $4,575.00 to install an 8’ x12’ tanning ledge to an existing pool at our home. In May if they year they dug the area for the shelf. Our pool is still unfinished a year later. Bo H*** (owner of the business) refuses to answer calls or texts and when he does he promises a time he will come to work on it but doesn’t meet those days. I have a safety hazard now, a 10’ deep unfinished pool that a child or animal could fall into and be hurt if not killed. I need this project finished for the safety of my family.

  Customer response

  11/16/2022

  Cindy,

   

  Thank you for reaching out.  We did get our pool finished, but only after we filed the BBB complaint and threatened to get an attorney involved.  My opinion is that Crystal Blue pools should have their business license revoked.  We learned that many of their other customers also filed complaints and/ or had to have another contractor complete the work on their pools.

   

  I have worked with a lot of contractors in my career and have never delt with one as poor as Crystal Blue pools.  Their phone message box was always full, and they would not return phone calls, text messages, or e-mails until it was convenient for the owner to do so.

   

  Regards,

   

  **** ********

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩