Camarillo Pool & Spa

Review: WATCH OUT ! [redacted] of Camarillo Pool & Spas will knowingly issue fraudulent contracts with no intention of performing the work with the goal of taking your deposit. In my instance, Dennis required a large deposit because he said Viking Pools required it upon signing the agreement. The contract required work to commence within 15 days. He cashed the check the next morning and confirmed had ordered the pool from Viking Pools and filed for the permits with the city. After several days and no updates on the plan to commence I queried Dennis about what was happening. He indicated it was all the citys fault and there was a long delay in getting the permits approved. Out of curiosity I contacted the city and was told no permits had been applied for my property. The city said I should ask Dennis for a copy of the permit application receipt. I did so and Dennis said he would drop it by the house. This never happened and he went radio silentno response to my calls or texts which up to that point had been immediately replied to. This fueled my suspicion so I contacted the pool manufacturer, (Viking Pools) in Williams, CA who confirmed that 1) the pool had not been ordered and 2) [redacted] aka Camarillo Pool & Spas was not an authorized dealer for their pools and could not have place such an order. I continued to make attempts to contact [redacted] who remained unresponsive to text or phone calls. When finally did reach him for comment he replied, and I quote, Im sorry I lied, I never applied for the permits That said, he still contended that he had placed the pool order with Viking pools and paid the deposit, therefore he was unable to refund my money and insisted he would get the permits filed and get the job done. Eventually after I had made several calls to the city and driven to Denniss office in Camarillo he put together the pool plans and a week after the project was supposed have to started Dennis finally applied for the required permits. The city was sympathetic to the problems I was having with Camarillo Pool & Spas and went out of their way to contact me once approved. I contacted Dennis to let him know they were finally ready and he said he would set up the demo and pick the permits up the next day. When I contacted the city the next day, they confirmed he had not picked them up. I made several attempts to reach Dennis over the days that followed and to no avail. He was once again ducking phone calls and texts. I went to the California State License Board website to see what my options were. While there I checked the status of his contractors license and found out it has been inactivated. Further online searches of Camarillo Pool & Spas revealed very recent complaints very similar to mine. In some instance he required large deposits to pay subcontractors and then failed to do so.. resulting in liens on the homeowners property. Now these people are out their money AND they are fighting to have liens removed. There are others where he accepted deposits and simply disappeared[redacted] of Camarillo Pool & Spas is a blatant liar and a thief. In short, he is a criminal. The most recent information I have is that he has vacated the business premises after conducting a "fire sale" of all of his equipment. I am told he does not occupy a permanent residence but rather a "boat in the marina". Stay Away from [redacted] and Camarillo Pool & Spas!!Desired Settlement: Refund the $9500 deposit