Upper Saddle River Couple Ditched By Pool Contractor

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Upper Saddle River NJ, an Upper Saddle River couple appears to be ditched by their pool contractor . In over a year the pool contract has not been fulfilled leaving the couple high and dry.  No surprise NJ Bureau of Consumer Affairs and the Upper Saddle River building department seem powerless .The couple told the Ridgewood blog the following information :

We appointed a swimming pool contractor back in December 2020; the actual work started in April 2021 with a promise to complete the project within two months. Once the actual digging started, the contractor started showing negligence and ignorance; time to time he was gone for months without any communications while we were trying to get a hold of him days and nights. He would return to work after a month or two and worked for only for a day or so and disappeared again leaving us in enormous agony and frustration. This happened at least five times over last 18 months. We paid him $40,000 so far with only $15,000 left to be paid. He did not bring in the pool liner or any of the equipment on site yet, which may cost well over $25,000. I tried bringing in a few other contractors to get a quote on the remainder of the project. Most of them would not want to touch other’s leftover work, one company asked for $50,000 to finish up everything.

At this point, we have very little options but to get the original contractor back on site and have him finish the job. I even offered him additional money to complete the job which he denied for some unknown reason. He is not even telling us that he cannot finish the job and to find someone else who can. Since the beginning, his behavior was mysterious and unprofessional. My kids already missed two summers and don’t want to risk the next. He turned the entire experience a bitter one and each day we pass now is by looking at a big hole in our backyard which is fills us up with depression and anxiety. I can’t tell you enough how much time and energy we wasted just chasing this guy without any luck. He does not have a valid business address, nor do we know where he lives. The license number on the contract turned out to be a fake one. The work permit has a different license than what is on the contract. Called NJ Bureau of Consumer Affairs and they stated that the license no. on the work permit expired long ago; called the building department and they said they do not have a process for checking the validity of the license. Both building department and NJ Consumers Affair suggested hiring an attorney which will cost us even more money and time for possibly nothing in return. Here are some details on the Contractor.

Contractor’s Name: AndrzeJ Pacanski (Andy)

Phone: 973-277-6548, 201-884-4487

Email: poolworksnj@gmail.com

Business name: Pool Works LLC

License no. on the contract: NJ HIC 13VH09628300

License no. on the work permit: NJ HIC 13VH10775300

Address on contract: 70 Cottage Place, East Rutherford, NJ

**Per New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, license no. 13VH10775300 has a listed address of 91 Wallington Avenue, Wallington, NJ 07057

AT this point he sometimes responds to our text whenever he feels like after we text him for days. He brings his people for an hour or so once a month just to do some tedious work like pooling the weeds from inside the pool or to plaster one of the steps, etc. He never worked a full day with full crew since the beginning. Now we feel like we are living at his mercy without any choice.