A number of Maryland homeowners thought that the pandemic would be the perfect time to make their backyard pool dreams a reality, and handed over tens of thousands of dollars to Catalina Pool Builders.
Many homeowners dream of one day having the perfect backyard pool.
In Maryland, a number of those homeowners thought that the pandemic would be the perfect time to make that dream a reality, and handed over tens of thousands of dollars to Catalina Pool Builders.
Instead of their dream pool however, these homeowners allege that they were conned and cheated out of their hard-earned money and left with nothing but a giant hole in their yard.
"It looks like a bomb went off," Lionel and Leslie Green tell Inside Edition.
They are referring to their backyard, the backyard that they believed would be the tropical paradise they had dreamed of when they hired Catalina Pool Builders.
"I wanted it to look like a resort in Antigua and Barbuda," Leslie says of the project.
The couple says that they paid $30,000 to transform their backyard, and instead were left with a massive hole in their property.
Leslie believes Catalina Pool Builders never intended to finish the pool.
"That is their M.O.," she says. "They're professional con artists."
Customers across the state tell Inside Edition similar stories.
The families say they each paid tens of thousands of dollars for what was supposed to be a watery wonderland, but after months of waiting and with no refund in sight, they now say their dreams of owning a pool are officially sunk.
Dr. Lisa Wilson tells Inside Edition she dropped $75,000 for a pool and now cannot afford to hire another company to finish the job.
"It's a constant reminder that all of your hard work, it basically went down the drain," says Dr. Wilson.
And the Greens and Dr. Wilson are not alone.
A former sales consultant tells Inside Edition that of the 25 pools he sold to homeowners, not a single one was completed by the company.
Catalina Pool Builders closed shop in October of last year, blaming its problems on pandemic-related supply shortages and rising costs.
When approached by Inside Edition, one of the owners of Catalina Pool Builders refused to offer comment or respond to questions.
The state of Maryland has revoked the company's license after multiple lawsuits were filed, but no one in the company is facing criminal charges.
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