New Pool Plaster Concerns

Well, I wish I could say we were done and our nightmare is over, but sadly that is not the case. The pool company did send the plaster subcontractor out to drain the pool and sand down the rough spots. It was a crew of 6 guys that went from one end of the pool to the other sanding. It looks better, but not great. The kool decking has been repaired 2 times and it crumbles and falls off. They have told us the wok pots are on order and will be delivered (both pots have cracks through the middle). Recently we noticed our skimmer door was getting stuck by bits of concrete quite often. When I was fixing it I notice a one inch gap between the skimmer door housing, the gap is so large you can reach behind the tile. Is this normal?
 
Sorry to hear this is still going on. Hang in there. Treat each item separately, in terms of resolution. By that I mean: stick to your guns, make him fix everything. A tendency, when there is a piling on of things large and small, is to start to cave "on the little things" and focus on the big things to get what you can. He gets more irate, you get more frustrated, so things start to slip through the cracks. The longer it goes on, the more these little things get lost in the shuffle. I couldn't do that (didn't do that). I created the "fix list" and accounted for them in each letter I wrote, reminding the contractor each time of all the outstanding items, etc. I made him address every single thing, down to the $30 worth of chlorine I shouldn't have had to pay for. Seriously. No quarter given. I don't think this is the tried and true negotiation technique, where you give a little, get a little. I can see where that might be a good approach. But my sense of fairness doesn't work that way. I paid X amount for Y in return. You owe me Y, not Z. Y. All of Y.

May I ask? Did you try any of the steps I suggested? Letters? Board complaint? Bond complaint? Or are you still trying to work things out directly with the contractor? And there's nothing wrong with that, especially if you're getting some results. You can always fire the big guns later, after you've gotten what you can outta the guy. At least he's doing some things.
 
We are doing everything in writing, so there is no he said, she said.
We were going to file with the contractors board, but then they sent the plaster company out to do the sanding, better, but not done.
And since then the pool builder has shown us he is committed to making things right, so we are working with him. He is aware we were one step away from going to the contractors board.
He sent someone to look at the skimmer today and that is the first time they have been that quick. They said they would be back to grout it on Thursday, but only time will tell if that is an appropriate solution. Most of the time his follow-thru is very slow, about a month for each solution. This we find very frustrating, especially when you look on yelp and see other pools finished during our timeline.
The difference being we spent 60,000 (that seemed like a lot to us) and the ones with the awesome reviews are well over 100,000. Deeper pockets=better service.:(
Our biggest drawback this is our first pool ever, so we are learning more and more about pools everyday. We never knew there was so much to know.
 
I am so sorry to hear you are still dealing with all of this :( I am glad to hear the PB is doing some things to make things right. Here is hoping he will move faster than he has in the past.

Keep squeaking in writing! Well done! I can just see your file now!! It must be inches thick :(