Advice on unhinged pool maintenance guy

TL;DR : A pool maintenance company is threatening to take out a mechanical lean on our house if we "don't pay our bill" (we paid it). What does that mean, are there any counter measures as a homeowner I can take?

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Full story: We bought the house in Feb, and got the number of a pool guy from a neighbor. Pool guy agrees to come meet us and look at the pool, etc... We verbally agree to start service for $x a month. We had a lot of decisions on our plate at the time between the new home and wedding in June, so going with a good recommendation from the neighbor seemed like a pretty safe move.

Hindsight vision, mistake #1: We didn't get terms of the service in writing or sign a contract.

All seemed well though, he came every week, checked the chemicals, brushed/skimmed the pool, emptied the pump filter. I made an effort to go chat with him while it was doing things to learn about the pool equipment we had, etc. All fine.

March and April roll by, and we haven't received an invoice from him. We call, text, and ask for invoices, and we get "I'll drop one by on the next service visit". Never received one.

End of May, he calls us to let us know that our pool filter needs to be replaced, as the parts for it aren't made anymore. We thought this was kinda fishy- It was a fairly recent Pentair DE filter, but we did notice that something wasn't working quite right. This was 2 weeks before our wedding, we had house guests coming in to stay. I was given orders not to over think it, and just listen to the professional on this one, so went ahead with the pool guys suggested replacement (a new Pentair cartridge filter). They get it installed while I was not home, so I couldn't talk to them in person. Still no invoice for any of this.

Day after our wedding (a few days after the new filter was installed), he starts calling and texting us to pay our invoice. We still haven't received one. We check our junk email, mail at the old house, mail at the new house, nothing... confirm he's got the correct e-mail and mailing addresses, etc.. We are headed out for our honeymoon, so we just agree to Zelle him the money.

When we get back from the honeymoon, there was an invoice in the mailbox without postage on it, so he must have put it in while we were gone. This was annoying, but when we asked the neighbor about it, they said, that the guy is just old school and doesn't like computers, and it was normal to not get invoices on a regular basis from him. Fine- not great, but fine.

Hindsight vision, mistake #2: Should have ended service right here.

June-August roll by, shows up every week, does his thing, but the visits get progressively shorter. He was in and out within 3 minutes (have it on the ring cameras). This wasn't a huge problem for me- we were using the pool a ton, and started monitoring the chemicals myself to stay on top of them. We were also brushing and vacuuming the pool ourselves, as was necessary during the hot months.

By the end of August, he was only coming every other week. This was odd to us, but he was doing our pool, and the neighbors pool at the same time, so we just figured this was SOP, and didn't question it.

We start asking for an invoice, cause we didn't want to pay a really high bill at the end of the year. "Oh yeah, I'll send one". Nothing.

Mid-November, we've finally had enough. We're basically doing all the work, this guy isn't sending us regular invoices, and he's barely doing anything. We tried calling him and just got voicemail. So we sent a text saying that we'd like to stop service and get a final invoice before the end of the year. He responds "OK".

I see him come and go from the neighbors house a few times, still no invoice. We were joking around that his xmas gift to us was a few free months of 3 minute visits.

Late December, a few days before xmas, we finally get another invoice in the mailbox, without postage. I didn't see him put it in there, but, without postage, he must have.

When I say invoice... I mean, it looks like a word template. It doesn't have a due date on it at all... Lots of misspellings and generally unprofessional. In the list of line items is "Invoice Sent - August". We never received this supposed August invoice.

We have family in town, doing the holiday stuff, etc.. and we don't immediately pay this invoice.

I write a check and put it in the mail on the 1st of Jan- thinking I am done with this guy.

On the 3rd, he starts texting my wife asking why we haven't paid the invoice. She responded that we put a check in the mail, and that if he doesn't receive it, let us know so we can put a stop payment on it, and we'd deliver another check to him in person. Good right? Wrong. Guy goes off (via text) about how we've been bad at making timely payments, and that he is going to have the owner of the company put a mechanical lean on the house if we don't pay by Friday (the 5th). The owner of the company will be back from vacation on Monday (the 8th), and will contact us.

At this point, I try to call him. He doesn't answer. Responds via text to my wife "please don't contact me anymore, this is between you and the owner now".

There is a lot to unpack here. We didn't know this guy wasn't the owner of the company. There was no due date for this invoice to be paid by. I understand trying to close the 2023 books, but this was absurd.

As of today (the 9th), the check still has not been cashed. We have not been contacted by the owner, and we don't have any way to reach them. The mailing address is a PO box, and the phone number on the invoice is the number of the pool guy himself. We can't find any other contact info for this company.

Obviously, we hope they just cash the check and move on, but I am getting worried that this will get escalated.

Does anyone have any advice or recommendations? We really are doing our best to be levelheaded in dealing with this guy, but now that he is threatening us, we obviously need to better understand our options.

Unfortunately, a lot of the communication with the pool guy of us asking for invoices was either verbal or in a since deleted text message. So we don't have a strong paper trail to support our case.

 

Start gathering all pertinent information. Ring videos, text messages, anything that supports what you have written. Write out as detailed as you can the information you have provided. Try to contact the owner and document all your interactions with them. I personally do not know how to do it but if you can record any conversations this would be good, even if you have to place the call on speaker phone and video the call with another phone. Don't panic yet. Write a termination letter for services to the business and send it with signature required. Businesses that are too lazy or too inept to run the business professionally are good at threatening but rarely are good at following through. If they were they probably would not need to collect so much.

How much are we talking total owed right now(according to the pool guy?)

 

If you owe money for services rendered, contact the owner and pay it. Along with that payment, include a formal written letter of termination of services that gets physically handed to the owner, and you and the owner need to sign it. Also in that letter include that all services have been paid in full and there is no outstanding amount due.

 

@POOLGUY IDK if you have an experience here?

 

All we have is the pool guys phone number, and a PO box. So mail with signature required would be the only thing we could do.. We can't find a number for the "owner".

The invoice was around $650. Not a lot in terms of home ownership. But for sure easier to pay monthly rather than chaotically on demand.

We sent the check before it was an issue. We have no contact info for the owner.

 

Demanding a final invoice with the termination notice is solid advice. The likelihood of this ever going to court is pretty small and the likelihood of a lien on your house is probably even smaller.

 

Maybe also change your gate lock so this pool guy can't get back onto your property and continue doing services and a 'no trespassing' sign on the gate.

Does your neighbor have contact info for the owner? Maybe you confront the pool guy the next time he is around (maybe at your neighbors) and ask for the owner's contact info?

I have no idea just thinking out loud, would the pool guy/owner need to have a business license to have any grounds to put a lien on you?

 

Is the pool green?
It is winter and none of us want to be outside. It's cold and miserable.
Old school pool guy
BTW, how much are you paying the guy per month?

 

$650? It is going to cost him more to put a lien on the house, he just better accept the payment you sent or atleast notify you if he has not got it yet so you can issue payment again and stop order on the check you sent.

 

He hasn't showed up since early November, I don't think this is a problem.

The neighbor approach is something I have considered. I am for sure not going to personally confront him unless there are other people around.

I am actually trying to figure out if this is a legit company or not. No website. It doesn't show up in the California Business Search. Best I can find is an AllBiz reference, with the pool guy named as "Principal" and no other names. There is a physical address for what I assume is his house- it's certainly not an office.

 

free attorney consultation ? Maybe have an attorney draft and send a letter saying payment was made, all future services are now terminated, contact attorney for any questions ?

 

No the pool is not green. I am taking care of it. The pool might be cold, but the hot tub is not

$135 a month.

 

Old school doesn't work like this. We work on a hand shake and voice agreement.

 

Ok, that is cheap AF!
Think about gas, chemicals and time.
4 to 9 times a month,the dude is making pennies trying to keep your pool/spa clear and blue.

 

I'm a person of my word, but I've found over the years many people aren't and lack integrity.

Verbal contract is still binding, but harder to enforce.

 

Threaten to destroy them on Nextdoor.

Our pool guy F'd up our filter, didn't show up half the time etc. I told him to pay for new filter and remove last month bill otherwise I'd light him up.

He did what I asked.

 

If i F'd it up... I would fix it

 

They don't have a web presence, nor do I think it would be helpful to threaten them. I just want to be done with them.

 

Then just fire them and find a new person/ company.

 

Shouldn't cost more than a few hundred to have an attorney send a letter. Not sure how else they'll get the message. Attorney can find where to send letter to as well.