My wife and I started looking around for pool builders in May 09 and after checking with several different builders and the Better Business Bureau we selected Daniel E. Honig with Water Workz pools. We signed the contract on 17 June 09. The total amount for the pool was 31,000. Dan was a smooth talker and little did we know what would lay ahead. Chris Houk was a Manager for Dan at the time and had taken us around to look at pools they had built. I am retired military and now have a job working as a Defense Contractor for Raytheon Company so I travel quite a bit with the Army. I had to leave for Afghanistan and Dan assured me that everything would go as planned and my pool would be done in about 45 days and they would stay in touch with me and my wife. Dan took the first installment of 6,200 on 18 June 09 and they dug a hole in my back yard. They took the next installment of 6,200 on 13 July 09. At that time the pool was at the stage of putting the rebar in and some plumbing. On July 17 they took a installment of 9,300 and Dan told my wife this was for the Gunite and to order tile and coping. Dan came by my house and spoke with my wife and said he needed another installment for 6,200 on July 24 to purchased the final equipment for the pool such as pumps and decking. This was when things went terribly wrong. Dan could not be contacted by phone and at the business phone you always got the answering machine. After no one had showed up for several weeks, I started trying to contact them even though I was still in Afghanistan. I had written emails to Dan and got no reply so I emailed Chouk Houk thinking that he still work for Dan. He emailed me back and said he no longer worked for Dan because he could not pay his people or subs. I began to worry at this point because no one had contacted neither me are my wife to say what was going on. Finally on August 13 Dan replied to my email and apologized and told me that Killeen was giving them a hard time with failed pool inspections and said that he would correct things immediately. Another week passed by and no one had showed up and he would keep telling my wife that some one is coming to work on the pool but no one would ever show up. On August 30 Rick Salinas another so call Manager email me and told me no one had scammed me and that my tile and coping had been ordered and he looked forward to the completion of my pool. On September 2 I received a email from Rick that said the project Manager said my pool would be completed in two weeks and that all materials had came in to complete the pool. I returned home from Afghanistan on September 6 and I visited the Water Workz office down in Austin, TX. There I met with Dan and Rick and neither could keep their lies straight contradicting each other. Then I found out that nothing had been ordered and I ask what happen to my 27,900 I had paid. They both stood there with a dazed look on their faces. They had the secretary write a memo for me saying the pool would be finish in 2 weeks and that was just a lie to get me out of there office (see attachment 10). On 16 September I file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (see attachment 11). I spoke to Jennifer Smith with the Better Business Bureau (jsmith@austin. BBB.org), They told me there was nothing they could do because Dan does not answer his phone and they had left messages. I asked how could that company still be accredited by their site if he is ripping people off. She said as long as they pay their dues, they only get looked at once a year. Now it seems that Dan had new employees now and he was sending them to tell me lies to lead me on. I met with Bob Salinas who said he was the General Manager for Water Workz and that he had been given the mission to see that my pool was completed because it had been long overdue. I spoke with Mike the new pool builder now for Dan and he gave me the same snow job. Bob sent me a email on 5 October saying he had a good feeling about completing my pool and I have not heard or seen him or Mike the pool builder anymore. (see attachment. I hired Dan Corbin Attorney at law to represent me and what I began to learn was shocking. Dan had filed a chapter 13 bankruptcy in Jan and had continued to scam people. Dan never replied to the letter from my attorney and would not answer any phone calls from them. On October 26 I received a letter from Diamond Gunite (Benjamin Gonzales) saying they were going to put a Lien on my home for 3220.00 because Dan never paid him for the gunite. I spoke to Benjamin and Dan owes him a lot of money also and he would be willing to speak on my behalf. I had no ideal that this scam ordeal was so big and Dan had taken a large sum of money from a lot of different families and never completed any jobs. Dan has scamed customers in amounts that range from 20,000 all the way up to 100,000. All are willing to see justice for Daniel E. Honig. I have a lawyer and have filed a police report and I will get that crook eventually. He mess with someone that wont quite until justice is served.in the Killeen daily Herald on 13 Nov there was a police report for a theft of services in Copperas Cove, TX for 40,000 for a Pool that was never completed. That was Daniel E. Honigs work with another customer he had scamed. Please do your homework and don't be fooled, he is a crook and scam artist.
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