Two Okanagan families are in a financial and literal hole after a pool contractor allegedly took their money and skipped town.
“We hired a contractor back in late May, he came in and did all the excavation work,” said Steve Croxford, a Kelowna resident.
“He told us he had all the permits in place to get going.”
However, the contractor had no permits, according to the city.
It’s a case of buyer beware after Stephana Johnson and her neighbour Steve Croxford found what they thought was ‘a great deal’ after finding a pool contractor on Facebook.
They decided to hire the same contractor to build both of their pools in neighbouring yards.
What happened soon after construction began was a shock.
“That’s where he’s abandoned it basically, we paid him approximately half of the money for the pool,” said Croxford.
The two families said they hired a man who calls himself Jared or J-Hay and his company Pyramid Pools.
The pool contractor promised them two finished underground pools within four weeks — it’s now been almost four months.
Global News talked to multiple pool companies in Kelowna who say they’ve heard of this fly-by-night pool contractor who’s left multiple people high and dry.
Shortly after the alleged fraudster skipped out on the job, the city sent an inspector to their properties.
They issued a cease work order on Aug. 1st and the property owners say the city demanded a 71,000 dollar bond and ordered them to remove the massive dirt pile that was left on city property.