Brighton Pools By Hohne
Reviews and Complaints

Gary H didn't finish the pool and patio renovation at my place in *** 21204, even though I paid him upfront like he asked. He said he'd complete the renovation after the pool season, but now he won't do it unless I pay him more money.

Hohne Pools did a bad job, they didn't honor the warranty. They messed up the property and the pool features, and the installation was bad, which made the pool plaster degrade too soon. Hohne Pools, also known as the Contractor, was hired by *** (the Customer) to fix the pool. They were supposed to replace the coping, replace the tiles, and re-plaster it. The contract was signed on September 14, and the work was finished on October 9. It cost $21485. The plaster surface looks really bad, it's discolored and rough, and it hasn't even been 2 years. The reason is probably that the Contractor didn't fill the pool with water on the day they installed the plaster. This made most of the plaster surface stay exposed to the air for more than 24 hours after it was installed. The condition of the plaster where it was filled on the day of installation supports the customer's claim. You can check the attached document for more details about the property damage and the damage to the pool water feature.

In March , I contacted H Pools for a quote on fixing up my pool. I sent them some pics of the pool on 3/15. After that, I talked to Gary H about the pool. I made it real clear that one of the walls was all caved in, like about 3 feet. He checked out the pics and said it didn't look like it was that bad. So, we talked some more and he sent me an email with a proposal for the costs and repairs. On March 30th, after getting some other estimates and hearing from other companies that they couldn't do the job, we decided to go with H Pools. The whole thing cost us $19,390.00. We paid them in full by 6/4. But when they showed up to do the work, they straight away said they couldn't fix it and the whole pool had to be replaced. Nothing had changed with the pool, but suddenly they said it was beyond repair. They didn't finish the job and didn't even offer a refund.

Date of transaction: 06/09. I paid the business $2150.73 for pool opening, 4 maintenance visits, and pool closing. But they didn't complete the pool opening as promised. They haven't done any maintenance visits either. It's been almost two months, and they still haven't fixed my pool filter. I have emails, photos, and security footage to prove this. Mr. H won't give me a refund and has lied to me about the services provided. He even sent his employee to my house without permission when no one was home, claiming it was a maintenance visit. I asked Mr. H about the summer visit schedule, but he didn't reply. This business is incredibly disorganized. As a new homeowner at 25 years old, I feel manipulated.

I went with Brighton Pools By Hohne to fix up my pool. It's a big job, costing me around $30K. Gotta say, I'm not too happy about paying the full amount when they've only done a quarter of the work and even caused more damage to my pool. It just doesn't seem professional, you know? I already had some trust issues with Gary because he promised to finish my pool by Memorial Day, but then he changed his tune after I gave him a non-refundable down payment of 33%. He pushed the work to the second week of June. If I had known all this beforehand, I would've gone with a different contractor.

During the quoting process, Gary gave me different prices for the same work on multiple occasions. It's like he couldn't make up his mind. And get this, on the quote, he said he would install my saltwater system, but in the final contract, buried in the fine print, he said he wouldn't fully install it. Talk about misleading, right?

To top it all off, Gary sent me an email with payment dates and a work schedule, which I agreed to. But now he's saying I should ignore that email and pay in full, even though there's still 75% of the work left to be done. It's just not right.

On 5/05, I hired Hohne Pools to fix up my pool at 208. I made a payment of $10,715 on 5/10. Then, on 5/11, I paid $4158 to Hohne Pools for a pool cover. This cost included $2915 for the cover itself, $295 for measuring the cover, and $695 for installing it. The pool work was supposed to happen on certain dates, but there were changes, and when I asked why, they just said "VARIOUS REASONS". By 7/08, I had already paid over $30,000 for the pool work, including $2590 for pool brushings. The plastering was scheduled for 7/27. On 8/01, Mr. H emailed me saying that because we talked about the pool brushing not starting, some parts of the contract would be canceled. But then they changed their mind and withdrew the cancellation. On 8/30, I emailed them to request the installation of the pool cover to make sure it fit properly, and then to remove the cover. I wanted it done in September, but we settled for 10/04. They installed the pool cover and left it on before winterizing/closing the pool. Now, the cost of closing the pool will include removing the cover.

I hired Brighton Pools to change my pool liner. When the two new workers in training removed my old liner, they damaged parts of the track where the liner fits, making it unusable and irreparable. The boss also removed a piece of coping without my consent and bent it, rendering it unusable. The owner refused to accept responsibility and quoted me $8,645.00 for a full track and coping replacement. I found another company to do the same job for $5,521.00. I am seeking reimbursement of $5,521.00 for the damages caused by Brighton Pools due to their negligence. They failed to inspect my pool to determine its type or age. I informed the owner from the beginning that I owned a Foxx Pool. As sellers of Foxx pools, Brighton Pools should have been aware of the specific track used and taken care not to damage it.

I bought a pool cover from Brighton Pools By Hohne and it didn't fit properly. They promised to give us a new one, but instead, they gave us a modified one that still doesn't fit. My husband and I made the purchase on 9/26, and we signed the contract on 10/7. The cover was installed on 11/5, and right away, we contacted Mr. H to express our dissatisfaction. We told him that the cover didn't fit well and that one of the anchors was missing. He told us to adjust the straps, but that didn't solve the problem. Eventually, he sent someone to check it out, and they confirmed what we had been saying from the start - the cover didn't fit, and we needed a new one. Gary told us that since it was winter (now January ), the new cover would be made in early Spring 2020. He texted my husband to let him know that the cover was ready for pickup, but he didn't even have the decency to deliver it to us. My husband picked it up on 10/3, and when we started preparing our pool for winter closing, we realized that it was the same cover with some modifications. We reached out to Mr. H again, but he hasn't bothered to return our calls, emails, or text messages so far.

Part of the remodel, the pool ain't workin' like it used to. Hohne Pools did our remodel, started on April 12, and we filled the pool with water on April 16th. We started up the pool on Wednesday, April 22nd. It was on April 22nd when we found out that there was a different cover on our in-floor cleaning system. This system used to make pool cleanin' a breeze, but now we gotta buy a vacuum and clean the pool every week. We paid a bunch of money for this in-floor cleaning system so we wouldn't have to use a vacuum. Gary says the cover we had ain't up to code, but he never talked to us about it. So we reached out to *** pools, the manufacturer of this awesome in-floor pool cleaning system, and they told us (we got all the emails) that there's another cover that works. Gary says he talked to the *** rep, but this rep says he never called or emailed. The replacement part is called the *** Cover Retrofit. We talked to Kelly at ***. ***. Ext ***. She's been great and can answer any questions about the issue. We ain't askin' for the world, but all this should've been discussed before we filled the pool with water, which cost us $900. We just want our in-floor cleaning system to work like it did before the remodel.

In February, my husband signed a contract with Hohne Pools for a renovation. On March 2nd, 2022, my husband passed away unexpectedly from natural causes. I decided to sign a contract with Hohne for pool opening, closing, and maintenance since my husband used to take care of the pool. I paid Hohne $4519.00 for this service, thinking it would be easier to use the same company that was doing the renovations, as they would have the timeline available. The technician assigned to me was Martin. The pool was filled on May 31st. I texted Gary that day and the next to set up the pool opening, but I received no response. On Monday, June 1, Gary sent someone to start the pump, but it wasn't programmed properly, so the pump turned off that night. I texted Gary again, but still no response. On June 3rd, two very nice ladies came to put chemicals in the pool, but the pump wasn't running. Luckily, I stopped them in time, but they didn't know how to start the pump. They called someone and managed to start it manually, but they didn't program it, so the pump turned off again that night. I called Gary and he said he would send a technician on June 6th, but no one showed up. I texted Gary again, but still no response. I texted him again on the morning of June 7th, but still no response. By June 14th, I hadn't heard from Gary or had a technician arrive. Thankfully, I used Google to figure out how to manually run the pump until I could figure out how to program it. I've been brushing the new plaster three times a day, but I know the pump needs to be running to filter out the plaster dust. Otherwise, my $35,000 renovation paid to Hohne Pools would be ruined. On June 14th, I called Gary and asked for a refund, but I haven't received a response. I would like Hohne Pools to refund the amount of the contract since they haven't fulfilled their side of the deal.

On 2/10/22, we told Mr. H that our pool had a leak and needed fixing, as well as a remodel. He suggested a pressure test. We mentioned that removing the intakes at the bottom would reduce the pump's flow. We agreed that testing should be done first, and the renovation would begin in April. We emphasized the need for a solution to the leak before proceeding with the remodel. On 2/18/22, I signed a contract with Hohne Pools for the pool remodel and leak repair, paying a deposit of $17,320.00. On 2/21/22, a subcontractor attempted to pressure test but couldn't because the pool was winterized and covered. On 3/19/22, Mr. H's subcontractor unexpectedly arrived and sandblasted (which wasn't optional according to the contract) the pool, removing tiles and the spa wall without giving us a choice. We contacted Mr. H, who claimed he thought he had sent us the schedule, which he then provided. We inquired about the pressure testing, and the schedule indicated it was scheduled for 3/20/22. In an email, he stated that we owed the remaining balance of $35,330.00. However, on 3/20/22, no one came for the pressure test as scheduled. We were informed it would be on 3/24/22, but again, no one showed up. The same happened on 3/25/22, despite an email stating otherwise. On 3/27/22, I requested them to stop work as they were supposed to continue remodeling the pool on 3/30/22, yet the testing hadn't been done. They had already drained the pool, making it impossible to conduct the test. It seemed like they intended to cover the intakes without ensuring proper water flow back to the pump, leaving us in a difficult situation. On 3/29/22, we expressed our loss of confidence in their ability to solve the leak issue and requested a refund of our deposit. However, Mr. H claimed the deposit was non-refundable. Considering that his subcontractor had only worked for six hours, we believe a refund of at least $15,000 is warranted. We wish we had more characters to explain further.