Blue World Pools

I bought my pool almost 5 years ago, and I knew when I did it, I got the shaft but was quite honestly too embarrassed to tell anyone. The salesman who came to visit knew I wanted a pool bad, and he told me I could buy the $399.00 pool but it was the econo pool. It would cost more in chemicals and would not last long term.

He started off with a $15k figure, and I assured him that it was not going to happen. So he got on the phone with a supposed manager, and the price kept coming down for this reason or that reason. And then they said they could give me another disc for making it a show pool. Of course, they never came back to show it to anyone, and I am still making payments on the thing.

I love my pool and the low maintenance, but I could have bought 5 pools for what this one will cost me once it's paid for. The salesman used the ionizer to sell me the pool like it was a great thing, and that is why it cost more. I have priced them, and I could have bought a pool for $3k and bought the ionizer separately. And I could have bought 5 of them at what I am paying.

I know that some of the responsibility lies with me, but I am a consumer. Being a single mother, I try to shop wisely, and in this case, I look back and know I didn't do such a good job. Now, I have gotten a letter from Blue World stating they have former employees saying they did something wrong when it was the former employees who stole from the company. I don't know who did what. All I do know is I got ripped on a new one, and it would be nice if someone would stand up for us and say so.

I called about a pool I saw on TV for $399 and a sales person came out to my home. The sales person told me the pool for $399 was not a good pool, that it was cheap and would cost too much to keep up for my families use. The man told me that the more expensive pool was the best way to go because it would be cheaper to keep clean. He said it was a chemical free pool, that once a month I would need to put a cheap bottle of bleach in it and that is all it took to keep it clean and in use. He said that I would spend two or three hundred a month to keep the $399 pool clean due to buying the chemicals for it. He said all I need for the more expensive pool was around .89 cents a month. He told me that the pool that was advertised on TV was cheaply made and in a year or two would need to be replaced and was a waste of money.

He said that it was going to cost me a lot to get the cheaper pool because I would have to get sand hauled in and a bulldozer to clean the site and it would have to be inspected before they would sell me the pool. He told me it was a waste of time and money to buy the $399 for it to mess up in a short time and I should want to improve the value of my home with the expensive pool. He said the value of my home would increase and if I wanted to sell, it would make it easier due to the value of the pool and the look of the home. He said I wouldn't have one of the $399 pool if it was given to me. I told him I didn't want to spend that much money on a pool.

Then he said ,"Well, I have some incentives I can throw in to make it cheaper for you because I like you." He said if I agreed to use the pool as a show poo,l he could deduct a certain amount off the pool. Then he said, "I can call my boss and see if I can use my personal discount to save you even more money." Then he called and I spoke to the manger of the company who offered to drop more off the price of the pool. So I told the sales person after I got off the phone I still didn't know if I wanted to buy the pool. Then he started to push, "Well, I have spent here all this time and did all this work and used my personal discounts and you won't regret it". He said, "When I leave, you won't be able to get the discounts I offered you; the deal will be over." I felt pressured and like I had done the man wrong for not buying the pool so I agreed to buy the expensive pool.

Later that night, I called and left a message on the manager's answer machine saying I changed my mind and didn't want the pool. I stopped payment on the check. I got a call a few days later about the payment and that I had to have the cancellation in writing to the company within 3 days of signing the paper work. I never was told there was a time limit on the cancellation process. It was not shown to me at the time of sale. The lady told me I had to either pay the down payment or pay a percentage of the cost of the pool to cancel the contact or they would take me to court for the price of the pool. They also told me of a loan on my home they could enforce if I didn't honor the contract. So, I have been paying on this pool and it costs too much to keep up. I can't even use it anymore due to the chemicals which cost too much. It was a lie when the man said it was chemical free. I feel wronged and I feel I have wasted all the money I have paid on the pool.

My ex-husband saw a ad on TV for a $99 a month pool from Blue World so he called the number and they sent someone out. The man was an old man. He took like 2 hours talking about his life and he had retired from the army. When he got to the pool, he got very nervous and started to talk faster like he was timed or something. We asked about the pool on sale because he was talking about every other one but that one. Since we were on a fixed budget that was all we could afford and that was why we called. He told us that that pool would not last long and he would work something out where we could get a better pool that we could afford.

I kept telling him no, that we could not afford it since the price was so high. It was something like $400 a month. He told me this pool would not need any chemicals but 1 gallon of bleach every week and it would stay clean and ready to swim in year-round. He said that I would never have to drain or refill it again. He said that the pool would help me lose weight by walking around it and doing water exercise and would reduce my stress. He said that it came with all the accessories like a vacuum, free chemicals and a vacation to I don't know where and some other stuff as extra.

Then he got on the phone and talked to some guy and told him that we could not afford this quality high pool. He said okay, that his boss said they would make us a deal; they would give us this beautiful pool that was going to change our lives for a cheap price but we would have to be a show pool which meant that when they wanted a customer to see one of their pools, they could come over and see mine and this was supposed to happen a certain amount of times per year and that is how they would knock off these thousands of dollars and get the payment to $300 a month.

We also had to write a letter stating how the pool has changed our lives for the better. I said no, I did not want it. It was still too high. He talked to the guy again and they lowered it to $231 but I told him I still could not afford it. I thought they had the special one for $99. He said, "Well, this is the best you will get and the price is so low you can't beat it." He said, "You won't find a cheaper pool. We will install it and you have warranty so if anything goes wrong just call us and we will send someone out." The installers will explain how everything works when they get here in a week. He went outside and said, "Okay, this is a good size. It will go right here."

So he went inside and took out a small fax machine from his bag and told us to sign the papers and he need the papers from the house. I was like for what. He said that since it was a show pool, they need to make sure that we would keep paying it by putting a lien on the home. I asked him what was that. He said that if we did not pay for the pool, they would add the balance to our mortgage and that for us to finish buying the house, we would have to pay that at the end of our mortgage. Now he was asking for too much, so I did as he said. As he told us to sign some papers ,he started to shake uncontrollably and he asked for water. We gave it to him. He was shaking trying to hurry and fax the papers over to the company.

He then told us about the 3-day cancellation. He said that we had 3 days to cancel but everyday it was a fee we would have to pay if we waited to cancel but that we had 3 days. If we waited today, it was a certain percentage because he had already turned in the order. If we waited 2 days, it would be more since they started to get the pool order together and if we got the pool at the house but they did not install, it we would have to pay for the pool then and the shipping also if we were to cancel. So as soon as he faxed that paper in, the days had started. I had given a posted date check as a down payment for I think it was $250 because I had to put down $500 for them to start building. The other $250 was due when they came to install. He left a pink copy of what I think was the contract but I am not sure since I cannot even read it. Because he was so shaky while faxing it, he wrinkled it up and has some black from the fax carbon. then the writing did not go through on my copy, so I do not know what is says or said.

He said they would be here in a week to install. I called in the next day and tried to cancel but because I could not afford it, a lady told me that the pool was already being shipped and that I would have to pay I think she said 33% of the price and a return fee because the order was already in process. I thought to myself, okay, I cant afford 33% of I think it came out from $99 dollar a month too. I have to look at the price but I think it was a $15000 pool. So I called again the next day and told them to cancel because I was not going to have the $250 for the installer when he called. The man said, "Hang on" and returned to the line and said, "You will have to pay the fees because your pool was already shipped but I will do this for you. I talked to my boss and they said for me to waive the down payment." There was no way I could pay the fees, so I said fine.

A couple of days later, I got a call from Blue World. It was a woman saying that the pool was ready to be shipped but they were verifying that someone would be there to tell us where we wanted it and that we had to open at least 6 feet of fence for the machines to come through. She also said that she had to add on the cover and some other things and that is was going to be $5000 more and I told her no, I did not want it. She said I had to get it to protect the pool or else my water would get dirty and it would damage the pool and then it would be my fault and the warranty would not cover it. I was like why did no one say this before. She said it was on the way and that the installers would be here in 2 weeks.

The pool came and we waited for the installers but they never came. It was like a month or more when they showed up at night time. It was dark. I think it was like 7 or 8 pm when they started working. I stayed up late until they got it done like 11 or 12. They called me to see it and I went but I could not see much since it was dark and they told me to sign the paper because they had finished. They left the water on, a 6 page booklet on how to work the pool. In the morning I woke up and there was stuff all over the place. I did not know what the things were. I just saved it in the garage, things like rubber, pipes, hoes a metal small white machine and some plastic parts and I guess extra screws. The pool got filled in 3 days and we got in. I felt lumps and holes and little pieces of stems or grass where the sand was not level or covering it, but I said maybe it will settle as we swim in it.

We swam in it like 3 times and the arm of the ladder broke. My ex-husband called it in and they said they would send out a new one. So we put some duct tape on it, then the water started to look foggy like a light cream color. My ex was swimming under water and saw a bag of sand under the ladder but it was leaking the sand into the water making it foggy and dirty looking. We tried to clear it up with the vacuum but the vacuum they gave us was useless. We tried our best to put it together since no one walked us or showed us anything.

They just installed and left us like that. Then leaves started to fall in it since it was already fall. We took out the cover and tried to cover it but the cover was too small. We tied it to the pool but since it was too small all the leaves and stuff were falling in it. Summer time was here again. The part took forever but it got here but it was the wrong side of the handle of the ladder. We called it but they never sent it. The water was by then black and dirty and murky since the tarp did not cover it. All animals like pigeons, rats, frogs and squirrels and insect were in there, dead and leaves and green algae.

During the summer months, we had ran the machine and put the bleach but it was not working and this was the outcome. So we drained the pool out and cleaned it and refilled it up again. We have done this every year except for this one. During these years, about 2 years ago, I got fired from my job and I got sick. I got fluid in my heart and in my body. I could not make the pool payments on time and they started to harass me, calling all the time and telling me "you want us to take your house?" I got into it with a lady because she was very rude. Then they sent a collector ;it was about 9 p.m. and we were celebrating my dad's birthday. He was here saying that he needed a payment. I told him I had already talked to someone and made arrangements. He connected me with the man and the man had accused me of hanging up the phone on him and acting like I was someone else. I told him it was someone else because I was at the hospital that day and my daughter said yes, it was her who answered the phone and I asked her why she hung up on him and she said because he was being rude. So the collector left.

Well the water was always green and stinky, full of algae, never clear. It only would be clear for 2 or 3 days after filling it up. Mold and algae would start growing. I have called several times and asked for advice but all they tell me is to put the bleach. Since then my ladder has broken more and they said it is not covered no more. It was like 70 or so dollars. I have wasted tons of money on algae cleaner and water clarifier to keep it clean but it will only last a week or so and then back to the green pond. I last called and they told me the ionizer needed to be replaced every year and it cost somewhere like 200 dollars, almost the pool payment amount which no one told us about that at all. It has been like 4 years or more and no one has ever come to see our so called show pool. Now the pool just sits there. We swim in it 2 - 4 times a year and that is it.

Every summer, we drain what is in there and clean it out and refill it again which adds like 500 dollars to my water bill. There is no need to cover the pool anymore. The water started to leak from it this summer and we think the liner is torn somewhere. Now I am on a fixed income, disabled and too sick and tired. I just try to make my payments so I won't lose my house and I give up on the pool. It will just stay there because I cannot afford the upkeep and repairs or the pool.

We feel Blue World Pools used deceptive acts in the conduct of my consumer transaction. Very high pressure sell. I was coerced. No response in my 3-day period to cancel the transaction.