I have read in the past, before I came to work at Blue World Pools, about complaints against Blue World Pools. The texture of them and the way they were written I dismissed as just a disgruntled employee or a consumer that did not have a full understanding of everything. The amount of discovered complaints are about what I would have expected to see on a company this size. Little did I know that what I was able to find was actually just the tip of the ice burg for what was going to happen to me.
I can assure you that this is not the case with me. Please take the time to read this in its entirety, as it is detailed and factual, as I have expounded with dates, transactions and specific dollar amounts.
In Feb I answered an ad from Blue World Pools seeking outside closers. The ad indicated good earnings potential. I have a $2200.00 mortgage as well as 2 car payments equalling $1200.00 per month. I have made decent money in the past and have set records everyplace I have worked.
I talked to a recruiter that told me about earning of $2000.00 - $3000.00 per week, which sounded fine to me. I discounted this by 50% to make up for company exaggeration, and would still provide me with $6,000.00 per month income of which is what I need. I had no question of my ability to sell this or any other product.
I was scheduled for a training class on Feb 13th, 14th and 15th. This class, the trainer, Jeff, again stressed the same earnings potential. After this, before we received an employee agreement, we were made to write a check for $150.00 for our training material and presentation kit. If we did not pay it at this time, we had to leave. I paid, as did the other 20 people in the class. Additionally you had to purchase a fax machine to use from peoples homes. This is a cost of about $100.00.
The next day we received our employment agreements as well as commission schedule. This indicated that you would only receive about 50% of your commission at the time the pool was released. It was also explained that as time went on the balances would be paid totalling about 75% of the commission. This sounded ok as I have a history of producing so I was not concerned about the earnings. The agreement also contained a provision of hold back until the end of the year to be paid as a bonus only if you are still an employee of the company. If you leave for any reason, they will keep this money. (It is a deduction from your earned commission and not a true bonus.)
We were also told by Jeff that when we left on Saturday some of us would have leads to run that afternoon and that the ones that did not get a lead Saturday, would have some Sunday. Additionally it was indicated that if we wanted to due a temporary lack of leads we could travel to different market places that was short a rep.
I finally received my first leads days later that produced 1 sale and one appointment cancelled. After going several days without any appointments, I asked where they could send me to that was producing leads. I was sent to Montgomery Alabama initially and then to Johnson City Tn. I drove many days as much as 500 miles making my appointments and returning to the hotel. I left many mornings at 7:30 to make a 10:00 appointment and then had appointments as late as 8:30 and got back to the hotel at 1:00.
While they had me working out of Johnson City Tn. I covered TN, VA, and Kentucky as well as N.C. The same scenario was in play here as it was in Alabama.
From March 1 when I ran my first appointment to May 4th, I sold a total of 20 pools. My total pay earned was $6900.00 however, my total received is only $3222.10 with a “bonus” due of $3000.00, which I will never receive because I am not with the company. I spent $2475.00 in fuel and vehicle expenses including 3 oil changes because of mileage.
As represented, by the recruiters and Jeff the trainer the average commission is $900.00. If that were a true statement I would have earned not less then $18,000.00, a liveable wage as that would break down for 2 months of earnings netting about $6500.00 after expenses and taxes. I did not even earn half that amount.in some cases, I received as little as $73.55. (A detail of earning per unit will follow)
The commission structure as represented to us is as follows 50% above par or 5% on in house financing (Which winds up being 100% of the time. It seems that I never met anyone that had decent enough credit to be bought by any number of our available finance companies)
Customer 1 sold 03/1 for $11,721.00 paid 436.05, and should have been $586.05.
Customer 2 sold 03/6 for $13,721.00 paid $536.05, and should have been $686.05.
Customer 3 sold 03/8 for $16,321.00 paid $275.00, and should have been $1300.00 (50% over par).
Customer 4 sold 03/11 for $13,721.00 was turned down even thought they claim that due to in house financing there are no turndowns.
Customer 5 sold 03/12 for $11,721.00 paid $200.00, and should have been $585.05.
Customer 6 sold 03/15 for $10,961.00 was cancelled and then the company called a couple of days later and they saved it but cut me out of the commission because of it cancelling.
Customer 7 sold 03/20 for $11,721.00 paid $300.00, and should have been $585.05.
Customer 8 sold 03/21 for $10,471.00 paid $73.55, and should have been $523.55.
Customer 9 sold 03/25 for $15,721.00 paid $250.00, and should have been $1001.50 (50% over par).
Customer 10 sold 03/27 for $15,721.00 paid $250.00, and should have been $1001.50 (50% over par).
Customer 11 sold 03/29 for $17,521.00 paid $000.00, and should have been $1900.00 (50% over par).
Customer 12 sold 04/4 for $9,999.00 paid $200.00, and should have been $1000.00 (50% over par.)
Customer 13 sold 04/12 for $13,721.00 paid $250.00, and should have been $686.05.
Customer 14 sold 04/13 for $15,021.00 paid $250.00, and should have been $650.00 (50% over par)
Customer 15 sold 04/19 for $8934.00 paid $000.00, and should have been $446.70.
Customer 16 sold 04/22 for $10471.00 paid $000.00, and should have been $523.55.
Customer 17 sold 04/23 for $16321.00 paid $000.00, and should have been $1300.00 (50% over par)
I had 3 cancellations involved totalling 20 sales.
Additionally there are several people that they called later in the week, after I had been to the home and made a 3-hour presentation, and sold for less money. This cut me out of the loop entirely for commission paid.
After being kept away from my family, I did request to take me back home. I was made to stay on the road for an additional 7 days before they would send me home. Upon arrival at my home area, I went several days without receiving any appointments at all. They, since I was no longer willing to travel, effectively forced me to quit but not providing me appointments. I was told by Mike Maloney that I needed to be aware that all monies held would not be paid to me, as they were actually bonuses and not my commissions earned. Additionally any appointments that would be provided normally I would be fined for and taken out of any money that might be owed to me in commissions. (I find this rather interesting, as there weren’t any appointments for me in the 10 days prior to this and suddenly upon my departure, they are slammed with 4 appointments a day for me. So they can levy a 250.00 fine against me for not running them. (They require a 7-day notice or will fine you for missed appointments)
They really took me. I fell for ‘PIE IN THE SKY’. What’s bad is I should know better. I worked hard for this company to be stolen from.
The promises made are just that. Empty promises. I made amounts of commissions that were well below stated commissions that we were told could be earned. Additionally any contract that could not be sent to outside financing and were kept for in house financing, we would get only 5% of instead of 50% over par on those qualifying contracts. Little did I know that all of my clients would be in house financing? This allows the company to pay less to the sales representative and make 25% interest from the client over a course of 7-10 years. IE: Comission example, a pool selling for $17,521.00 should pay the salesperson $1900.00. With in house financing, I would receive only 5% of the sales amount that in the stated example would only pay me $876.05. As you can see from before that this happened to me at least 1 time.
They are a large company that is set up and geared for them to make money. They misrepresent most things to you as a salesperson. Additionally they request you to lie to the potential clients from the beginning of the sales presentation stating that Blue World has been in business for 28 years, (they have not) all the way to a show pool discount that is nothing more then a gimmick.in addition, they tell you not to leave all of the customer signed forms with the customer, specifically the high cost section 32 mortgage disclosure stating that there is a mortgage on their house and the document that tells about the ability to cancel.
This company is amazing in that their format is actually to commit fraud on an ongoing basis. This is evident from the beginning of hiring sales people in February to the way sales are affected.
I personally know another person from the Orlando Florida area that this very same thing has happened to. I also truly believe that we are not isolated incidents.
I am ultimately going to file a report with the appropriate attorneys generals in the respective state that I worked in as well as Nevada as they are incorporated in that state.
We are not permitted to provide our e-mail address or phone number in the body of the text here at this site. However, if you signup with them (There is not a fee) you will be able to obtain all of my contact information as I have given them permission to forward to all that request it.
I am interested in hearing from anyone that has had an issue with Blue World Pools either through their unscrupulous sales tactics or as an employee. Additionally I am seeking an attorney that would be interested in looking into this further to contact me referencing a possible lawsuit and ultimately a class action lawsuit.
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