Maryland - Catalina Builder Went Under and it Seems they are Leaving Customers to Fend for Themselves

[ajw22]

You inferred that they were filing for bankruptcy, but they never actually said that even though they might have wanted you to assume or infer that.

Give it time. This is the start of a process. It will play out over time.

 

[JamesW]

Based on the number of complaints and court cases, the company seems to have been a disaster for at least the last several years.

100 total complaints in the last 3 years.

61 complaints closed in the last 12 months.

Catalina Pool Builders | Complaints | Better Business Bureau® Profile

View customer complaints of Catalina Pool Builders, BBB helps resolve disputes with the services or products a business provides.

www.bbb.org

Catalina Pool Builders - Severna Park, MD

Specialties: We specialize in the construction & design of your family's new inground concrete swimming pool. We are skilled at combining what you want in your pool with our design expertise to create a backyard oasis that will generate memories for years to come Established in 1983. We'll be...

www.yelp.com

https://www.angi.com/companylist/us/md/severna-park/catalina-pool-builders-reviews-6622695.htm

Catalina Pool Builders, Llc

Catalina Pool Builders, Llc in Severna Park, MD | Photos | Reviews | 793 building permits for $8,301,700. 12 reviews: 'If I could give this business a negative review then I certainly would. Their team lacks accountability and honesty at all levels. ' Home Improvement, Contractor (Corppart) Home...

www.buildzoom.com

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Wow. That sucks.

Definitely check into the shell warranty. It also depends on your state’s laws regarding warranties. The warranty might transfer to the gunite sub. If the state has a registry of contractors then they might know more about how that works.

If they had any inventory you might check out if they are putting their business inventory through an auction. If they are, you can get on the auction and bid for their stuff. Maybe you can get a spare heater or pump for real cheap.

 

[JamesW]

ANNAPOLIS

Severna Park pool company closes, leaving customers throughout Maryland asking questions and seeking legal remedies.

By Brian Jeffries and Dan Belson

Capital Gazette

Oct 29, 2022 at 10:00 am

Andrew Meyers, of Edgewater, recently had his pool built by Catalina Pool Builders, who recently closed before the work was completed.

Nearly a dozen Maryland residents have filed lawsuits and others are considering legal action against a Severna Park pool company they say stopped work this month and is no longer answering calls.

Catalina Pool Builders on Ritchie Highway has shuttered its doors after losing its license from the Maryland Home Improvement Commission, leaving clients with pools at various stages of completion.

On Thursday, Catalina Pool Builders issued a statement to its customers saying that as of Oct. 13 the company had officially gone out of business after 14 years of operation.

The company blamed “world events over the past three years,” along with the rising cost of supplies and a shortage of labor and materials for the closure.

“This was a difficult decision for our family and was made over many months and after carefully reviewing many considerations,” the company wrote.

“Catalina’s mission over the past 14 years was to build high-quality swimming pools at an affordable cost for our customers.”

Joseph Farren, chief strategy officer with the Maryland Department of Labor, wrote in an email to The Capital on Friday that the company’s MHIC license had been revoked.

“At this time, I can inform you that Catalina Pool Builders, LLC had their MHIC contractor/salesperson license suspended on Oct. 17, 2022,” Farren wrote.

Andy Meyers, an Edgewater resident, is one of many homeowners from Anne Arundel, Calvert, Prince George’s, Montgomery, Harford and Baltimore counties who are left with their pools unfinished or their contracts unfulfilled.

In an interview, Meyers said a sales representative for Catalina promised the pool would be completed by this summer.

Work on Meyers’ pool started in October 2021 and after consistent calls and check-ins, contractors finally completed the decking and plaster work last month.

Meyers has not filed legal action against Catalina because his pool project was so close to completion, he said, but some parts of the pool, including a diving board and cover were never installed.

Andrew Meyers, of Edgewater, recently had his pool built by Catalina Pool Builders, who recently closed before the work was completed.

Myers believes the work that was done is subpar including the pump system.

Andrew Meyers, of Edgewater, recently had his pool built by Catalina Pool Builders, who recently closed before the work was completed. Myers believes the work that was done is subpar including the pump system. (Paul W. Gillespie/Capital Gazette)

“I guess I’m one of the lucky ones but I still have a plumbing leak. I still need a saltwater system installed along with a diving board, robotic vacuum and pool cover,” Meyers said. “I have a small child, so I really needed that cover.”

Chae Rivers is a frustrated customer who is considering legal action.

The resident of Brandywine in Prince George’s County signed a contract with Catalina in January to build an inground pool.

Ten months later, her fence is broken, and her yard is damaged but the “oasis” pool she had ordered has not been built, Rivers said.

“I’m just out of luck and don’t know who to talk to,” she said, adding that she’s waiting to hear back from an attorney about the strength of a potential lawsuit against Catalina.

Customer service was poor throughout the entire experience before the company stopped communicating with Rivers entirely more than a month ago, she said.

An electrician told her that Catalina was no longer in business, she said, and when she tried to call the pool company, no one picked up.

“They didn’t tell us anything,” Rivers said. “I spent almost $50,000 with this company and now my yard is completely ruined.”

Catalina Pool Builders was registered as a Maryland business in August 2008, according to Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation records.

Clarence Seyfferth IV is listed as the company’s resident agent.

Since January, the pool company and its owners have been named as a defendant in nearly a dozen civil suits from at least six Maryland counties that allege poor business practices and breach of contract.

Named as defendants in those lawsuits are, Clarence Seyfferth IV, who goes by Scott, Clarence Seyfferth III, also known as Kip, Joshua Seyfferth, and Leland Seyfferth.

Each is described as “an employee, member, owner and/or officer” of Catalina Pools, according to court records.

Attempts to reach the Seyfferths were unsuccessful.

A number associated with the company’s headquarters went straight to voicemail.

In its closure announcement, Catalina said it would be liquidating assets over the next few weeks in order to pay off its approximately 2,000 creditors.

Among the customers seeking repayment is Reisterstown resident F. Calvin Raver, who filed a complaint in Baltimore County Circuit Court in September claiming he paid an $8,600 deposit for a pool renovation in March.

By the end of May, the company hadn’t performed any work and hadn’t responded to calls or emails, according to the complaint.

He canceled the contract in writing but didn’t get a response for several months.

Raver’s lawyer, James Richard Jeffcoat, spoke with a Catalina representative named Melinda, who declined to give him contact information for Clarence Seyfferth IV, who is named as a defendant.

The employee advised the lawyer to send an email that would be sent to management, Jeffcoat wrote in the complaint.

When he asked what manager the email would be sent to, she declined to provide a name and later hung up without responding, Jeffcoat wrote.

In another pending lawsuit, Calvert County residents Robert and Mary Jo Myers alleged in a filing in Anne Arundel Circuit Court last week that they have spent a year asking the company to return their $18,000 deposit.

They weren’t able to get a permit from the county, which their contract with Catalina lists as a reason to cancel and receive a refund.

In a lawsuit filed in August, Harford County resident Dan Williams claims the company, which estimated it would finish his pool in May 2021, allegedly breached his contract by installing a water feature that was smaller than he specified.

He sent a notice to the company to get it to comply in July. By then, he had paid Catalina over $68,000, more than 80% of the contract price, according to court records.

Workers returned once more after that, in August, but never came back, according to the complaint.

Williams had another company finish the pool.

“We wish you all the success in life, and we regret that you must search for others to finish your swimming pool project,” Catalina wrote in its closure announcement.

“We cannot do so because of the inability to pay employees, hire subcontractors and pay creditors.”

Catalina did not have an attorney listed in court records for the open cases.

Woody Lawson, the owner of WM Lawson, is an electrical contractor who worked with Catalina.

Lawson, when asked about his business relationship with the pool company said, “I don’t pull any punches, they should go to jail every one of them.”

John Seaton, a longtime Catalina employee, who later established a separate company to provide sales services for Catalina, sued the company in July alleging the company failed to pay him more than $400,000 in commissions and didn’t respond to his request to be paid as a full-time employee.

“We believe he was misclassified as a contractor,” Jonathan P. Kagan, Seaton’s lawyer said.

Seaton conducted sales for a while after the lawsuit was filed to “see a few projects through,” Kagan said, but he eventually stopped working there.

Labor law attorneys Scott Kamis and Daniel Esmeral filed a response to that suit on behalf of Catalina, and denied the allegations, claiming the dispute was due to Seaton’s disregard for the company’s policies regarding payment.

The attorneys did not return a call for comment.

“We used this company because they had a limited warranty, but now I don’t know what we are going to do, Meyers, the Edgewater resident, said. “I took John [Seaton] at his word that we would be swimming by the summer, so just a tough lesson to learn.

Very frustrating.”

Andrew Meyers, of Edgewater, recently had his pool built by Catalina Pool Builders, who recently closed before the work was completed.

Severna Park pool company closes, leaving customers throughout Maryland asking questions and seeking legal remedies

Nearly a dozen Maryland residents have filed lawsuits and others are considering legal action against a Severna Park pool company they say stopped work this month and is no longer answering calls. …

www.baltimoresun.com

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[JamesW]

Give it time. This is the start of a process. It will play out over time.

My point is that you cannot infer or assume facts not in evidence.

Unless they say that they are filing for bankruptcy or you find a case filed, you cannot say that they have filed or that they intend to file.

The people seem to be unreliable, so even if they say that they filed or that they intend to file, I would not believe it unless and until I saw an actual cased filed in court documents.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Well, it looks like they’re getting sued out the wazoo anyway and so they will have to file for bankruptcy. That’s the only way they can protect themselves from the other lawsuits. Once in bankruptcy, all the other lawsuits will be put on hold and those complainants will be merged into the bankruptcy suit as creditors.

 

[JamesW]

Joseph Farren, chief strategy officer with the Maryland Department of Labor, wrote in an email to The Capital on Friday that the company’s MHIC license had been revoked.

“At this time, I can inform you that Catalina Pool Builders, LLC had their MHIC contractor/salesperson license suspended on Oct. 17, 2022,” Farren wrote.

Woody Lawson, the owner of WM Lawson, is an electrical contractor who worked with Catalina.

Lawson, when asked about his business relationship with the pool company said, “I don’t pull any punches, they should go to jail every one of them.”

 

[JamesW]

Well, it looks like their getting sued out the wazoo anyway and so they will have to file for bankruptcy.

While it seems likely that they will file for bankruptcy, we are still assuming things that might not happen.

At this point, we can speculate as to what will happen, but we cannot know for sure without concrete evidence like an actual case filed with the details spelled out.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

While it seems likely that they will file for bankruptcy, we are still assuming things that might not happen.

At this point, we can speculate as to what will happen, but we cannot know for sure without concrete evidence like an actual case filed with the details spelled out.

Yup. I hear ya.

But it’s pretty much inevitable. They have to and it’s likely someone smarter than them will advise them to file right away. If they didn’t file for bankruptcy then their dumber than everyone already knows them to be.

I’d still plan to go to the auction. You can sometimes get stuff for dirt cheap.

 

[ajw22]

you cannot say that they have filed or that they intend to file.

It is inevitable for them to legally discharge the liabilities of their LLCs and not become personally responsible.

I said...

This says they are putting the business into bankruptcy court.

We will see how this develops. I am sure you will be tracking this for us.

 

[JamesW]

Maybe the owners are moving to a foreign country and taking everything with them?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Generally speaking, I would take this as yet another positive indicator that the US economy is headed into a recession. Contractors that run their businesses like this - no inventory, no dedicated employees/subs, no collateral funds, robbing Peter to pay Paul, etc. - are basically the first to fall when the economy goes south. Expect to see A LOT MORE of this …

 

[PoolGate]

It would not surprise me if they don't file bankruptcy and just let the creditors get a disconnected phone. Since it is an LLC they are not personally liable. So I believe they can just walk away and let any creditor or customer sue the company which will have no assets anyway. I used to work for a guy that set up a holding company above his other LLCs so that if one of them was doing poorly he just disconnected the phones after he robbed it blind.

 

[JamesW]

Maybe they will try to claim diplomatic impunity?

 

[ajw22]

Maybe the owners are moving to a foreign country and taking everything with them?

While they may leave for a country that has no extrication, we are still assuming things that might not happen.

They could also go into the Witness Protection Program and assume new identities.

Many ways they can skate out of town. From the newspaper article saying they have no lawyer named they are already acting shady.

 

[JamesW]

They might face criminal charges in addition to any civil lawsuits.

However, that's just speculation.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I’m guessing there are a lot of stiffed subs out there too. Guys that legitimately did work for them then either got paid way later than they wanted or not at all. After word gets out that you stiff your subs, your rep goes down the toilet and that is why they couldn’t hire anyone - not because of COVID or whatever, but because everyone knew they were crooks. Well, everyone except the unsuspecting customers.

 

[JamesW]

While they may leave for a country that has no extrication, we are still assuming things that might not happen.

Speculation is different from assumption.

Speculation is about postulating various possibilities.

Speculation is about hypothesizing various things.

Assumption is presuming something to be true or likely to be true.

 

[JamesW]

Well, everyone except the unsuspecting customers.

The evidence was quite easy to find in a few minutes of searching.

Court cases and tons of bad reviews should have dissuaded anyone from contracting with this builder.

So, people need to do their due diligence before choosing a contractor.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

The evidence was quite easy to find in a few minutes of searching.

Court cases and tons of bad reviews should have dissuaded anyone from contracting with this builder.

So, people need to do their due diligence before choosing a contractor.

…. because you know where to look most people generally don’t. You’re right that everyone should do their due-diligence but it’s not how most people go about the process. Sadly, most will learn the lesson the hard way …