Two contractors, including a former drug dealer, have allegedly threatened customers after charging them tens of thousands of dollars in extras to install their underground pool, our investigative agency has learned.
A dozen civil lawsuits, five complaints to the Consumer Protection Agency, police arrested: several customers who feel cheated have agreed to openly report the ordeal they experienced with the Quebec company Piscines Élégance and its subcontractor Excava-Plus.
Piscines Élégance is run by Dominic Flamand, an entrepreneur who has gone bankrupt three times. Excava-Plus is owned by Patrick Laurendeau, who was convicted of drug trafficking in 2005 after a major police operation to dismantle a network of cocaine and ecstasy dealers linked to the Hell’s Angels.
Photos from the Facebook pages of Dominic Flamand and Patrick Laurendeau
Dominic Flamand (left) owns Piscines Élégance while Patrick Laurendeau (right) owns Excava-Plus.
The customers our research office spoke to all reported similar experiences: they bought a GRP swimming pool with Piscines Élégance installed. Excava-Plus took care of the excavation.
From the start of the work, Piscines Élégance mentioned complications, charging tens of thousands of additional dollars, and this without the prior consent of the buyers, who often did not have access to the details of these additional costs. Many are reluctant to pay for those extras that double, triple, or even eightfold the original bill.
Photo Didier Debusschere
A dozen customers who believe they have been scammed by Piscines Élégance have agreed to testify with their faces uncovered. Discover tomorrow the stories of Lucie Morin, Simon Comtois, Nathalie Levasseur, Bobby Hamel, Gabriel Marois and Hubert Brulotte.
threat
Then the nightmare begins, customers report in interviews (see further texts below):
- Roberto Murro of Longueuil claims he received death threats in front of his brother and son because he refused to pay the $74,000 in extras.
- Fearing for their safety, a Quebec couple who refused to pay the excess of $177,000 to install their swimming pool filed a police complaint.
- Police also intervened in Roberval over a couple refusing to pay extras charged by Dominic Flamand, who ended up going with the pool.
Those who don’t pay the bill usually face a lawsuit or a legal mortgage on their home taken as collateral against their will. You then have to defend yourself in court. Many also choose Piscines Élégance.
“We are not scammers”
In an interview, the owner of Piscines Élégance denies threatening customers.
“We are not stalkers, we are not crossers. We sell swimming pools to everyone, everyone is happy […] We’re not scammers,” commented Dominic Flamand, who says he installs “175 swimming pools a summer.”
He ensures that the additional costs charged were justified and that the additional costs were itemized.
“I have never forced anyone, I have always honored my guarantees, I have always made beautiful installations. I never have a problem with my pools,” he pleaded.
Patrick Laurendeau from Excava-Plus didn’t call us back.
LUCIE MORIN AND SIMON COMTOIS, QUEBEC
Original offer amount: $18,300
Extras total: $126,600
Total pool cost: $144,900
NATHALIE LEVASSEUR AND BOBBY HAMEL, LÉVIS
Original offer amount: $34,261
Extras total: $5659
Total pool cost: $39,920
GABRIEL MAROIS AND HUBERT BRULOTTE, LEVIS
Original offer amount: $28,160
Extras total: $72,960
Total pool cost: $101,120
– With Philippe Langlois
A couple complains to the police
Screenshot from a video by Emmanuelle Brousseau
Because a Quebec customer refused to pay the tens of thousands of dollars in extras being charged by Piscines Élégance, backhoe and former drug dealer Patrick Laurendeau — perched on the mechanical shovel — reportedly threatened to leave with the pool.
A Quebec couple have lodged a complaint with police after being threatened by Dominic Flamand and Patrick Laurendeau last summer.
Parents of four, Patrick Lachance and Emmanuelle Brousseau hired the services of Piscines Élégance for the installation of their underground pool and landscaping.
After more than two weeks of work, Dominic Flamand would have asked for $177,000 in extras to add to the $95,000 already paid by the couple. He would have asked for $40,000 on the spot or left the site without completing the work and threatened to pawn the house. Patrick Laurendeau, the owner of Excava-Plus, would have been carried away.
“I’ll get my shovel, get your pelvis out of the hole […] I have a strong back. I have money. That swimming pool there is mine! shouted Patrick Laurendeau, captured by a surveillance camera.
offended in front of their children
The couple first called the police. The two entrepreneurs left the scene, but would have returned a few days later with employees to film and verbally abuse their customers. “Criss de crosseur”, “unpaid swimming pool”, “asshole”: The couple claims to have screamed nonsense when they were with their children.
Patrick Lachance and Emmanuelle Brousseau called the police back. MM. Flamand and Patrick left the crime scene before they arrived. Piscines Élégance then sent them a formal notice for more than $165,000 and took steps to obtain a legal mortgage.
“We could lose everything because of a swimming pool,” regrets the family man.
Asked about that file, Dominic Flamand pointed out that the swimming pool had not been removed and that he had “given the builder a chance” to “move on”.
PATRICK LACHANCE, QUEBEC
Original offer amount: $95,000
Extras total: $177,000
Total pool cost: $272,000
He goes with the pool and collects a chase
The owner of Piscines Élégance is facing a nearly $110,000 lawsuit for walking away with an in-ground pool he sold to a Roberval couple.
Pierre-Samuel Larouche and Camille Gauthier bought a fiberglass swimming pool in April 2022 for about $37,800, including installation, according to court documents.
The work will start in May. While the couple has already paid more than $33,000 of the bill, Piscines Élégance reportedly demanded more than $21,000 in extras, in addition to additional amounts for its employees’ living expenses.
Dominic Flamand has repeatedly threatened the couple to drop the project if those extras aren’t paid for. Even the police stepped in. Due to the threats and fears of losing their pool, the customers paid $15,000, the lawsuit says.
A few days later, Mr. Flamand reportedly demanded an additional $40,000 without carrying out his threat. The couple refused to comply with this request.
No threats, he said
The dredger Patrick Laurendeau would then have explained to Dominic Flamand: “You just built a swimming pool for free”.
Piscines Élégance would have gone from words to deeds if it had gone with the pool and its accessories, goods that had been paid for, according to the couple, who are demanding more than $107,350 from Flamand and his company.
In a telephone interview, Dominic Flamand insisted there were no “death threats” or “arguments” in the case and insisted his lawyers advised him at the time to “get the pool out of the hole and go with it because he’s going to do it would “never get a check”.
“Those clients who started working and didn’t have the means to do so are the ones you’re calling today and they find it appalling. Because I’m in court with them today and I’m pretty sure I’m going to win,” he argued.
PIERRE-SAMUEL LAROUCHE AND CAMILLE GUTHIER, ROBERVAL
Original offer amount: $37,480
Extras total: $91,952
Total pool cost: $129,432
Father threatened with death
A father from Longueuil says he received death threats and feared for his safety after doing business with Piscines Élégance.
“I always said to my boy and my brother: If something happens to me, you know who it is,” argues Roberto Murro in an interview with our investigation office.
The man hired Dominic Flamand’s company to fix his broken pool in 2020 at a cost of $21,000. But from the start of the work, “hidden defects” discovered by Piscines Élégance would have caused the bill to rise to $95,000.
Roberto Murro considered this sum excessive and initially refused to pay it. Dominic Flamand is said to have told him in front of two members of his family who signed statements to that effect: “You better call 50 police officers because someone is going to die today,” according to a court document.
Mr. Murro assures that Excava-Plus’ Patrick Laurendeau was present during this threat. Fearing for his safety, Roberto Murro agreed “under pressure” to let Piscines Elégance complete the work for $95,000, the document said.
surprise bill
Three days after installing the pool, Piscines Élégance sent their client another bill for nearly $33,000. This time Mr Murro, who considered the “fraudulent maneuver” did not pay.
In 2021, Piscines Élégance canceled a legal mortgage on her residence, which she took as security. Roberto Murro denied and sued Piscines Elegance for $15,000. The case was settled out of court and the client paid $20,000 after several months of litigation. “I just wanted to buy peace,” he says resignedly.
Dominic Flamand denied threatening this client. “I never said that. I’ve been in business 15 years and I’ve never spoken to a customer like that. Never, never in a hundred years!” he defended himself in a telephone interview.
Roberto Murro, Longueuil
Original offer amount: $21,600
Extras total: $87,000
Total pool cost: $108,000
Do you have any information about this story that you would like to share with us?
Do you have a scoop that might be of interest to our readers?