A look into 4 families who lost $422K from a SC pool company

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Sister station News13 is looking into a Myrtle Beach pool company after receiving complaints from viewers that the company was collecting payments but not finishing the job.

Cascade Custom Pools is accused of digging a hole, installing some utilities, plaster or concrete and then not returning for weeks or months — if ever. Its business license was suspended by the state as of April 3.

Complaint after complaint from viewers, News13 has discovered at least a dozen families, many from the Grand Strand, who say their experience with Cascade cost them thousands of dollars. Many of them are still without a pool.

“We met with multiple contractors, multiple pool builders, and finally met with Cascade. They were actually our last company that we met with,” Samantha Tipton said. ,

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The Tiptons said they shelled out more than $100,000 and honored Cascade’s contract. Shortly after signing is when the issues began.

“The hot tub wall was poured incorrectly with the concrete, the plumbing was done incorrectly in the hot tub,” Tipton said.

As the problems started piling up, Tipton says that’s when communication from Cascade stalled.

“That is when they just completely disappear for months on it,” she said.

26 weeks later, Tipton said their contract is still not fulfilled.

“So, we’re stuck in this position that we’ve paid at this point now, 93% of our contract, and they won’t give us our papers,” she said. “They won’t give us our pump, they won’t give us our heater.”

For the Dascher family, they did receive their pool equipment. However, they say it was previously used.

“The equipment that was delivered to us was used from back in 2021,” Meredith Dascher said. “It had claims on its warranty already.”

Seven months into the project, the Daschers, like the Tiptons, say they went through similar issues.

“They had 97% of our money,” Dascher said. “And we had up to the tiling and coping, we had no decking, we had no pavers, nothing. We basically begged every day for work to be done.”

Six months after the construction started, the Daschers said they received an amended contract from the company saying the pool would be down in 60 days. Way past the 60 days, it still hasn’t been completed.

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“We’re waiting for the day that we get a letter saying ‘You have a lien on your house because Cascade did not pay their subcontractors,'” Dascher said.

For the Moore family, that actually became a reality for them.

“On December 8, we were served by an attorney,” Linda Moore said. “And we have a lien on our home for over $8,000. It’s $8,900.”

“Same thing, same pattern,” Dennis Moore said. “Not answering emails, not answering texts.”

The Moores knew it was time to find someone else to finish the pool, because they had already paid Cascade $150,000.

“I call it a pool Ponzi scheme, OK,” Dennis Moore said. “They took the deposits, did minimal work and took that money to try and fix problems and take care of other projects.”

The Belliveau family took the same action when their level of issues reached a breaking point for them.

“You wake up in the middle of the night thinking, ‘Where’s our money?'” Lydia Belliveau said. “How are we going to get this finished?”

Both the Moores and Belliveaus had to pay a new company to fix Cascade’s work.

“So, to say the least, we have had to dig into our life savings,” Belliveau said. “And ended up paying so much more than we ever anticipated. It’s almost like paying for two swimming pools.”

Between all four families News13 spoke with, they are out a combined $422,000 — and they’ve yet to take their first swim. We went looking for answers.

The Better Business Bureau said it found 13 closed complaints within the last year, but none of them were resolved. Cascade had an “F” rating with the BBB.

News13 first started calling Cascade in March, to no answer. A reporter then went to their office on American Way in Myrtle Beach, only to find the door locked with a note saying “by appointment only.”

We’ve reached out multiple times since then. Late this week, News13 finally heard back from Cascade owner Chris Harrington, who said there are issues within the company but claimed they are “actively working to find solutions.”

“All of our homeowners are going to have an email, either by the end of the day tomorrow or Saturday at the latest, kind of what our plans are,” he said.

When asked why it’s taken this long for a response:

“We’re just behind schedule, honestly,” Harrington said. “Everything just got backed up a little bit.”

News13 asked Harrington if the current resolution includes returning money.

“It’s basically working with another contractor to kind of close up our open contracts right now,” he said.

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Harrington did not say the name of the contractor.

“There’s way too many people, way too many businesses that have been affected by this and way too many individuals who have been affected by this,” Dennis Moore said. “We just have to stop the madness.”

If you have experienced similar issues with Cascade, please email news@wbtw.com or sdenton@wbtw.com.

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