2024-04-02 04:00:00
The swimming pool installer who set up a “system to rip off and overcharge” customers declares bankruptcy, which risks complicating the complaints of consumers who feel cheated.
• Read also: Piscines Élégance set up a “system to rip off and overcharge” customers, court says
Piscines Élégance, owned by Dominic Flamand, has accumulated debts of more than $670,000, we can read in the bankruptcy documents dated March 11 and consulted by our Bureau of Investigation.
The company has around forty creditors, including Revenu Québec ($31,000), Scotiabank ($40,120) as well as a dozen clients with whom it has civil legal disputes.
For consumers who claim to have lost significant sums with this company, the chances of seeing their money once more are diminishing, especially since Piscines Élégance claims to have no assets.
“No one is going to get any money back from that,” complains Patrick Lachance, who was charged $177,000 extra for the installation of his swimming pool in 2022.
The owner of Excava-Plus, Patrick Laurendeau, captured by a surveillance camera, when he allegedly insulted customers in Quebec, in the summer of 2022. Screenshot provided by a source.
The kitty to his partner
Half of Piscines Élégance’s debts, or some $370,000, is claimed by its subcontractor’s company, Excava-Plus (Ramonage Plus), which was then owned by former drug trafficker Patrick Laurendeau.
Our Bureau of Investigation revealed, in January 2023, that Dominic Flamand and Patrick Laurendeau allegedly threatened customers who had refused to pay tens of thousands of dollars in extras, charged during the installation of their in-ground pool.
Patrick Laurendeau, who was at the head of Excava Plus Photo taken from Patrick Laurendeau’s Facebook page
The Superior Court has since concluded that Excava Plus was part of a system set up by Piscines Élégance to charge customers extras and enrich themselves. Piscines Élégance and its owner were also ordered to pay nearly $55,000 to a cheated customerwho still has not seen the color of this money (see the text below).
Police investigation
Two complaints were also filed with the police last year. According to our information, the Quebec City Police Department is actively investigating fraud in this matter.
Following our reports, Piscines Élégance closed its website, its Facebook page and its sales premises. Excava-Plus changed shareholders in March 2023 before losing its contractor license from the Régie du logement du Québec last July.
However, the installation of swimming pools and the excavation do not seem to be finished for Dominic Flamand and Patrick Laurendeau, who registered two new companies at the same time in the Quebec Business Registry.
Dominic Flamand has incorporated Fiberglass Pro, a company specializing in the installation of private swimming pools. Patrick Laurendeau started Les Constructions Rosa, which specializes in excavation work, leveling, construction and renovation of residential buildings.
None of these companies currently holds a license from the RBQ.
Contacted by our Investigation Office, Dominic Flamand quickly ended the discussion and indicated that he would not answer our questions.
With Philippe Langlois and Marc Sandreschi
“We are not going to spare any effort to try to recover this debt”
Armed with a court judgment, a cheated customer intends to do everything possible to recover the $54,000 owed by Piscines Élégance and its owner, despite the company’s bankruptcy.
“We try everything for everything. We are not going to spare any effort to try to recover this debt,” assured Me Marc-André Morin, who represents the consumer in this matter.
His client, Simon Comtois, from Quebec, found himself with a final bill seven times higher than the initial quote when he wanted to have his pool repaired by Piscines Élégance in 2021.
Dissatisfied, he went to the courts, which ruled in his favor. Last December, the Superior Court ordered Piscines Élégance and its owner to pay him some $54,000, finding that Dominic Flamand had imagined a “system so that his company would abuse its customers.”
The fact that the company is going bankrupt will not, however, prevent Simon Comtois from claiming his dues, since Dominic Flamand, personally, was targeted by the court’s decision.
“We are continuing our efforts. We have no opinion that he was going to file for personal bankruptcy at the moment, although I would not be surprised,” commented Me Morin.
A legal mortgage was thus deposited last January on the personal residence of Dominic Flamand. A notice of exercise of sale under judicial supervision will also be served in the coming days.
“Dominic Flamand will have 60 days to pay or leave the house,” summarizes Me Morin.
Five legal mortgages on Flamand’s house
December 2018: Revenu Québec claims $102,598.40 for unpaid taxes.
March 2019: Dominic Flamand’s former spouse files a legal mortgage of $12,623.35 for unpaid alimony.
March 2019: Ébénisterie de la Chaudière claims $21,455.75.
January 2023: Dominic Flamand owes $54,482.96 to a customer cheated by Piscines Élégance.
June 2023: The Attorney General of Quebec demands $14,122.98 in unpaid fines.
Bankruptcies behind Dominic Flamand’s tie
April 2019: bankruptcy of $619,904.
March 2011: bankruptcy of $231,936.
September 1999: insolvent by $24,312.
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