We signed a contract with Charlie Fusco of Prestige Pools of VA.inc. On July 7th. The contract was for him to permit, furnish and install a Crystal Palace pool. At the time we signed the contract we gave him a deposit equal to 20% of the total cost and scheduled the installation for the first week of March. We agreed that Charlie would contact us at the end of January to reaffirm the schedule and at that time he would start working on the permits.
Well, we didn't hear from Charlie, so we called him and left several messages and he finally got back to us in mid February.in our discussions with Charlie we told him we were hearing that he was not in good financial shape. He assured us that everything was fine now and we were good to go and that he would have the pool in on time. We asked him about the permits and he stated that they were in process. We asked him again if he was licensed to do business in Fauquier county and he said he was.
Short part of a long story is that after following up with the county Mr. Fusco was not licensed to do business in Fauquier County and he had not applied for any of the permits he said he had.
In April after several unreturned voicemails Charlie returned our calls. He said he had been out of town (seems to be a recurring theme with him) and he would meet with us the next week. True to his word (about the only thing that he said that was true) he showed up at our house to discuss the installation of the pool. We went and marked out where the pool was going to go (so the health dept. Could see the location) and then had a lengthy discussion about Charlie's financial status. I asked him point blank if he was going to do this job and he said yes. I told him that if he was having financial problems that we could would something out with him so that we both got what we wanted and he said everything was fine. I told him I understand how a contractor can get in a bind financially and that we don't mind working things out, just tell us the truth. Charlie said everything was fine and we had nothing to worry about.
HaHaHaHa.
The following week we received a message from Viking Pools (parent company of Crystal Palace) saying they had been in contact with Charlie and would like to talk to us. Without going into a 5 page detail of the multiple conversations, it boils down to this: Charlie contacted Viking and tried to assign the contracts to them. Viking didn't bite. Charlie was telling his customers one version of his story and telling Viking another.in my final conversation with Charlie I had a lengthy conversation with him about how assignment of contracts works (the real way not Charlie's twisted version) and that we would aggressively pursue him to the full extent of the law if he did not fulfill the contract or refund the deposit. Charlie stated he was flat broke but he would try to work a deal for us. End of contact with Charlie.
Viking Pools to their great credit worked with us and one of their other contractors so that we would still get a pool for about the contracted price (I forgot to say that we heard Charlie wrote the contract price so low nobody could do the work, he did this just to book the contracts and get the deposits). Viking has also worked with several others contractors/vendors is a low life.
Like someone else's complaint said, contact the police and file a report for fraud, contact Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation www.DPOR. Virginia. Gov as well as your county permitting and licensing offices. Also file a claim in court if the effort is worth it to you. Personally I can't stand contractors who lie, cheat and steal and then act like they didn't do anything wrong.
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