Pool construction

[dear valued customer]

Welcome to the world of dealing with the pool/building industry. My experience with Blue Haven was also memorable in a bad way. The sales representative was rude, arrogant & unprofessional from the very first phone call. He was so busy that he wasn't able to meet for another two months. After waiting two months, two days before we were due to meet he rang & basically said that unless he was going to get the order he wasn't interested in a meeting. He didn't even know what I wanted, nor had he provided any pricing or product information. I thought you must be mad, if your price & product is right yes I will give you the order but not until then. He then proceeded to tell me he was the top sales trainer for Blue Haven & one of the top performing salesmen. He wouldn't survive as a sales rep in my company. In hindsight he probably did me a huge favour.

[volvo]

DO NOT CHOOSE BLUE HAVEN!!!!I have renovated several houses so far and built a new one along with a pool. I have never come across a more crook company in my entire life. When building the pool I was one owner among 5-6 other all experiencing the same problems. They have a very agressive campaign, they make you sign a contract that is a standard not matching any real site. You sign for a price and once you start building you have to pay more and more, ending up being anywhere between 70%-300% more. Their fees for everything, excavation, rock breaking,reinforcement and form work are a joke-2-3 times more than the market price. Pretty much nothing is covered in your original contract.When you complain, they laugh at you that you signed the contract. People can't afford to pay a solicitor for every contract they sign and are not aware of the real cost for various works. There should be a consumer protection.It is theft on a big scale what they do. Among the trades people in the industry they have a very bad reputation-many builders, site supervisors, contractors had to stop working for them as they all had to put up with clients's grief and angry for how they where treated by BH.Briefly, if they quote you for $24000 expect to pay anywhere in between 36000-70000

[kaiser1]

I strongly agree with Oneday1 - DO NOT give any money to Blue Haven Swimming Pools - they will take your money and run. I paid a deposit for an above ground pool in January 09 and have heard nothing at all from BH. The plans submitted to council were not passed and nobody from BH has bothered to inform me. I only found out after making numerous phone calls to them. The General Manager never replies to any of my emails or returns phone calls. His leadership is indicative of the staff under his supervision - totally void of any responsibilty or accountability. Blue Haven does not care about their customers. Therefore be forwarned - stay away from Blue Haven unless you want to have your money taken away and have your family suffer a lot of heart ache.This is the outcome of the deposit I paid to Blue Haven.

[Oneday1]

If BH truly wanted to address these issues, they would have done so by now. They have had ample opportunity to do the right thing. They know who I am and have all my details. Unless of course they have too many leaking and botched up pools to count. I have forgotten how many times they have promised me they were going to fix the problems. They wait until I have taken action before they then do just a little bit more. I feel its all part of their strategy, and I am over it.
My main reason for submitting this reply was not neccessarily to seek resolution with BH but to let other potential pool buyers know that the largest pool builders in the country are in my experience the worst in the country.

[NGE]

And if NGE's Blue Haven rep was to request your contact details to address these issues?

[Oneday1]

If I were to build another pool, the LAST company I would go to would be Blue Haven. Its been 3 years since they started my pool and it is still a mess and un-usable. Everything about them is poor, except of course asking for money. They have ignored Office of Fair Trading inspection orders and I have to resort to CTTT and legal action to have my pool finished. They have used inferior quality products and poor workmanship. They have broken into my property with out my permission (BH, if you are reading this, the contract expired years ago guys so dont tell me i have to provide access). They did not know how to build my pool. Examples of just a few issues: The balance tank is too small for the pool. They even 'forgot' to install a skimmer box! The solar heating was installed on the wrong side of the house roof. 3 years on without ever having the use of the pool, and the coping pavers have gone drummy. On a good note, I believe the pool is no longer leaking, not sure though because the pool is not fully operational.
Heed my warning... they are the worst company I have ever dealt with.

[NGE]

Blue Haven has requested contact details for no1mum.
NGE is now awaiting permission.

In order for NGE to assist members we ask that you please choose the contact consent option when posting.

NGE has a number of company reps willing to assist but who are constantly thwarted by members witholding contact details.

[no1mum]

Don't bother with blue Haven, back up service once they have your money is non existant as I have experienced, technician is hard to contact and our local branch has gone out of business

[julslovesjesus]

Fair enough, if any concerns had been raised - but the OP is simply asking for people's experience - they have not expressed any concerns either way. If they had, I would expect a rsponse from the company involved. But if someone is simply asking for info from people who have used the service, I think it's a different matter.
I stand corrected though. Thanks Admin

[NGE]

Many registered NGE companies like to address concerns expressed by members. We find it pro-active rather than intimidating. In 7 years we've not had any complaint of a member being intimidated via the eAlert service.

Members who make use of NGE but do not bother to take a minute to respond to NGE's emails (either granting or denying permission)...that we find rude.

[julslovesjesus]

Does anyone else thing it's a bit weird that Blue Haven are contacting the OP? Are they not allowed to ask people for their opinions? I for one would feel a tad intimidated if I were in the same situation, and VERy unlikely to go ahead with the company. If their "good name" can't stand on it's own two feet then something is dreadfully wrong!

[NGE]

Blue Haven has requested contact details for Flicka.
NGE awaits permission.

[Flicka]

Hi
Does anyone have any feedback on dealing with Blue Haven Pools? We are about to sign a contract and would like confirmation of what they are like during the building process.