2023-12-05 00:30:00
A Quebec swimming pool installer who made the headlines for threatening customers who refused to pay huge extras set up a “system to rip off and overcharge” consumers, the Superior Court has just ruled.
• Read also: Ruined by their new swimming pool: money-hungry installers threaten them
Piscines Élégance and its owner, Dominic Flamand, “clearly and voluntarily […] erected a system of overbilling to enrich themselves,” said Judge Carl Lachance in a decision rendered Monday following a civil suit.
The company’s regular subcontractor, Excava Plus, owned by former drug trafficker Patrick Laurendeau, was also part of the “plan to excavate deeper in order to charge their clients extras,” added the Court. superior.
The court was considering the case of Simon Comtois, who retained the services of Piscines Élégance, in September 2021, to repair his damaged swimming pool. The work was then estimated at around $18,400.
The work took place from October 4 to 13, 2021, after which Piscines Élégance issued an invoice for nearly $145,000, therefore $80,000 for the excavation.
“The final price is seven times higher than the initial price,” underlines the magistrate.
Excavation “not necessary”
Simon Comtois refused to pay this entire invoice. Before the court, Dominic Flamand claimed $103,000 from his client. Piscines Élégance maintained that its subcontractor had to excavate further and fill no less than 37 trucks with contaminated soil during the work. This was an “unsuspected” extra, according to him.
However, “the expert evidence establishes that the excavation work to an excess depth and width was unprecedented and unnecessary,” writes the magistrate.
For comparison, the first swimming pool installer at Mr. Comtois would have dug to a depth of five and a half feet. Piscines Élégance would have had it dug six feet more. The excavation was such that a lake was created under the swimming pool and water continually accumulated there, according to an expert witness.
Furthermore, the work carried out did not resolve the customer’s initial problem. The pool is still sagging and it will take some $22,600 in additional work to correct everything, we can read.
“Tactics” to overcharge
Patrick Laurendeau, from Excava Plus, supervised the site. The latter was conspicuous by his absence from court.
“Laurendeau did not testify very likely because her version would have been harmful, especially since several clients have complained to the Régie du logement du Québec about the tactics of Excava Plus for billing for extras in similar cases” , writes Judge Lachance.
During the trial, it was mentioned that the RBQ had conducted an investigation into the practices of Excava Plus, meeting with clients of eight sites opened between 2020 and 2022.
“In each case, the facts are similar […] The excavation is too deep and wide than required […] The extras sometimes represent more than double the price of the bid,” writes the judge, who recalls that the RBQ has since suspended Excava Plus’ permit.
“Wrongful conduct”
In the court’s opinion, Dominic Flamand’s testimony “is unreliable and its credibility doubtful.” Piscines Élégance should have adequately informed its client about the amount of extras, the opposite constituting “reprehensible and wrongful conduct”.
Dominic Flamand thus “failed in his duty of good faith” and imagined a “system so that his company abuses its clients”, concludes the magistrate. The court thus rejected the $103,000 lawsuit initiated by Piscines Élégance and instead ordered the company and its owner to pay more than $42,000 to Simon Comtois.
Remember that the Bureau of Investigation revealed, at the beginning of the year, that Piscines Élégance and Excava Plus allegedly threatened customers who refused to pay tens of thousands of dollars in extras billed without warning or justification.
Piscines Élégance is currently facing a dozen civil proceedings, linked to customers who feel cheated. In one case from 2022, the company billed $177,000 extra on an invoice of $92,000.
The tax authorities are asking him for nearly $60,000
Debts and worries are piling up for Piscines Élégance, while Revenu Québec is now demanding nearly $60,000 from it.
According to documents obtained by our Bureau of Investigation, Piscines Élégance owes more than $56,000 to the Quebec tax authorities in taxes and some $2,300 in taxes, for the years 2022 and 2023.
In June, our Bureau of Investigation also revealed that the State had taken as guarantee the residence of the owner of Piscines Élégance, Dominic Flamand. The Attorney General of Quebec then demanded more than $14,000 from him for six unpaid tickets in recent years.
Remember that Piscines Élégance made the headlines at the beginning of the year for having given a nightmare to several clients who had retained its services for the installation of their in-ground pool.
The website, Facebook page and company premises are closed today. At the end of last March, Dominic Flamand has incorporated a new company specializing in the installation of swimming pools called “Fibre de verre Pro”.
With Philippe Langlois
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