Married couple hoping for a Navy retirement surge invested $100K over 2 years in a dream fund yet to be completed

JACKSONVILLE, Florida. A couple of tangerines are fed up with their unfinished swimming pool. It is full of tadpoles and algae, and has been a green mess for almost a year now.

Homeowners Derrand and Deltria Lee are now calling on the owners of Staycation Pools & Spas to finish the job they started. The Tampa-based company with offices in Jacksonville has an online track record showing a history of dissatisfied customers.

“This is a frog buffet for everything in the reserve,” said Deltria.

It’s been nearly two years since the veteran couple signed with Staycation Pools & Spas for their dream pool.

“So this should have been my achievement in 21 years in the Navy,” Deltria said. “I didn’t want to have the traditional retirement or retirement ceremony in the Navy. I wanted to have something a little different, more related to my personality. I’ve always loved water, so I wanted to have a pool.”

The couple said the pool stood unfinished for nine months, and signed documents show the Lees paid the company more than $100,000.

“The last thing they did was decking around the pool. So, as you can see, the rain has been accumulating in this pool for a very, very long time, ”Derand said.

A simple company search on the Better Business Bureau website shows 24 customer complaints over the past three years. Staycation Pools & Spas is also rated F for “failing to address the root cause(s) of complaints”.

News4JAX spoke to Jordan Hidalgo, license holder of Staycation Pools. Government documents show that he is in fact the licensee of six different pooling companies. The Department of Business and Professional Regulation makes no claim to its licenses.

Hidalgo said it would only take “a couple of days” to complete the pool at Liz’s home, but the Jacksonville office is poorly managed, causing them to fall behind on projects.

The Lees just want their pool completed so they can throw a retirement party for Deltria.

“I have to say the biggest lesson learned here is to check out the Better Business Bureau,” Deltria said. “If I had looked there before I signed this contract, I would never have signed it. If you look now, it will definitely give you a great picture of why you shouldn’t use Staycation.”

Hidalgo was unable to provide a reason for the pool to remain unfinished or a timeline for its completion. News4JAX has been contacted by the President of Staycation Pools & Spas for a response, but we have not received a response.

The Florida Attorney General said he had received about 75 complaints regarding Hidalgo-related pool companies.

“We are currently conducting an open investigation into Modern Pools and are actively pursuing complaints regarding other pool companies run by Jordan Hidalgo,” a spokesperson said.

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