MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — The Mobile County District Attorney’s Office is investigating contractor complaints after several people paid tens of thousands of dollars for pools that are either not finished or not working.
James Gill, the contractor, tells WKRG he has been in the business for 23 years and has paid out nearly $18,000 in the past month to customers.
WKRG spoke with a dozen people on a Zoom call and shared their experiences with Gill. News 5 blurred the computer screen to protect the privacy of those who asked to remain anonymous.
Ty Prim, one of those people, says Gill left them with major delays, leaks and unfinished work.
“He ripped the concrete up and did this Spring of last year, and you can obviously still see the progress,” said Prim.
Prim also told WKRG Gill ripped out a drain and never replaced it. He is now left with bigger problems.
“He came in and ripped it all up, so the water didn’t have anywhere to go,” said Prim. “We had water that came up, flooded this entire deck right here and went in the house.”
“We’re out $44,000 and we’ve got nothing,” said Chris and Stephanie Connell. “He didn’t buy any equipment, or anything for us.”
The Connells have since filled the hole they were left with on their own.
“He started in January, hasn’t been back out, you know, since then, and then I was informed by him that I need to go get the permit because he was not licensed,” said the Connells.
WKRG spoke with Gill to explain his side of the story.
“These people couldn’t find people to help them out, so I was like you know what, I’m going to help these people out,” said Gill. “I thought that finally I could do something good, make all the non-believers into believers, and I failed.”
WKRG brought up the complaints.
“I’ve been in business for 23 years, if I’ve got 20 mad people over 23 years, that’s pretty good because McDonald’s could top that number in one hour,” said Gill.
If you are impacted by this, the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office asks that you reach out to them.