'It was really frustrating:' Contact 6 helps homeowner get refund for unfinished pool project



MUSKEGO — A Muskego family's pool project went off the deep end. The problem began with what wasn't in their contract.

Jennie Draper pictured her kids spending the summer in her new pool. Instead, she was left with a mess.

"It was just this giant puddle of mud in the backyard, and we couldn't use the backyard," Draper said. "It was just really frustrating."

In May, Draper signed a contract with Zimmers Landscaping.



"He said, 'Oh I can do the whole thing for you and I can start right away,' versus the other installers who were at least a month or two out," Draper recalled.

However, Draper's contract did not included a start date. It was nearly a month later that Zimmers Landscaping dug a hole for an above ground pool. A full month after that, the company installed some posts.



"Every day that I would ask him to come out and start working on it, he would say, 'Oh sure. I'll be there later,' and not show up," Draper said.

By late July, Draper decided she'd had enough.

"A different contractor came and finished the pool in one day," said Draper.

She paid Zimmers Landscaping more than $13,000 up front for the project, but was only refunded $3,800.

"He tells me that he believes that is fair," Draper said.



She wrote Contact 6, and the Contact 6 team reached out to the owner, John Zimmer.

He agreed to refund Draper another $3,500.

"I was always taught to do right by everything," Zimmer said. "When I did look through it, I did see, 'No this makes sense to me. She deserves this back for sure.'"

Zimmer said wet weather and unreliable workers delayed his projects.

John Zimmers





"We're not a company that's out to hurt anybody. We're not being malicious in anything that we're doing, but we do ask customers, especially this season, just give us time," Zimmer said.

As for promises to customers that work would be done sooner, Zimmer admitted there's room for improvement.

"I think communication needs to be a lot better, that's for sure," he said.

Zimmer refunded other customers this year who had complaints about delayed projects. His company has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, which also has three resolved complaints.

Contact 6 recommends always having a start date in your contract.