We entered into a contract with Cody Pools to build our pool in March 2007. We were building a house at the time, so Cody Pools made the choice to wait to begin construction for a few months for access purposes. When it was time for them to begin building the pool, the president and owner of the company informed us that they were not going to build the pool afterall citing that it would cost $16, 000 more than the contracted price to build the pool and that they would build it if we paid that extra amount. When we reminded him that we had a signed contract, he and his attorney came up with a multitude of excuses as to why we did not have a valid contract. However, the bottom line is that the salesman for Cody Pools did not bid the pool properly and the owner of Cody Pools was not going to take responsibility for his employee's mistake.

We tried to get this company to perform on the contract by making complaints with the BBB and also hiring an attorney. They refused to perform on the contract, so we sued Cody Pools for breach of contract and deceptive trade practices and had to go to binding arbitration (per the contract). The arbitrator found Cody Pools to be quilty of breach of contract, so Cody Pools had to pay for the difference in the pool cost that we had to pay by using another pool contractor AND they had to pay attorney fees and arbitration costs. It is interesting that their $16, 000 missed bid mistake ending up costing them tens of thousands of dollars all because they refused to do the right thing in the first place. It took almost 2 years to settle this case.

Warning to consumers who are considering Cody Pools to build your pool in Austin or surrounding areas...be very careful when dealing with this company. Read the contract carefully, make sure that the President of the company signs the back of the contract and read about the perils of 'binding arbitration' on the National Association of Consumer Advocacy website before you sign a contract that has a binding arbitration clause.