Complain about a product or service

Cal Spas

Scott of Tulsa OK (9/06/05):
We spent $8,400 on a new top of the line spa from Cal Spas in 1998. After a year and a half, the circuit board fried. We paid a $60 fee to the repairman to replace the board. The following winter, the board continued to short out and we replaced a switch for $40. The next winter, there was no heat, so we paid another $60 fee to have a lifetime warranty heater replaced. While most parts have been covered by warranty, we have still had to pay the $60 repairman's fee each time something goes wrong with this spa. This product has been a real headache.

Ron of China CA (7/14/05):
Approximately one year ago, I bought a new $6,000 spa from the Cal Spas factory showroom in Ontario, California. I was interested in finding a more energy efficient model than my current spa at home. I went in looking for a small, simple sale model, but the salesman convinced me that the larger, more expensive spa would actually be more efficient. Now my electric bill has doubled! No one at this Cal Spas location will offer any assistance or explanation. I am asking to return this model for a smaller model. I am concerned there may be a "bait and switch" scam at this store.

Laura of Cumming GA (4/05/05):
My hot tub was leaking, so I called the store where I had purchased it. The store sent Mark with Absolute Pool and Spa Care, a Cal Spas factory authorized repair dealer, to my home. My husband and I were out of town, but my grandmother let him in at which time he removed a large amount of insulation and a panel from one side of the tub. The hot tub was left on its side and the panel was left propped against our house until he returned several weeks later. When he returned, he fixed the leak and lowered the hot tub back in place; however, he did not replace the insulation and the panel was now broken. I called him immediately and voiced my displeasure. He stated that the broken cabinet was my fault and that the insulation would not be replaced. I then contacted Olivia with Cal Spas who assured me the cabinet and insulation would be replaced. Two months later, Absolute Pool and Spa replaced the insulation but damaged the cabinet even further. I was told Cal Spas only offers a 90 day warranty on the cabinet. Had I broken the cabinet, I could understand; but their people broke it, and it should be replaced immediately.

Scott of Azusa CA (5/21/04):
We purchased a built-in (island) BBQ at which time we placed a down payment of $2,220 on it. The island arrived on 5/15/04 and we had a $6,000 cashier's check ready for the remainder of the payment as requested. As the delivery men unwrapped it, I discovered it was missing some parts. I filled out a form for the missing parts and immediately called Customer Service. I left a voice mail for Martin who called Monday and said he'd look into the situation for us. Then I spoke to Joy, Customer Service Supervisor, who said she would look into it as well. No one has gotten back to me and they have a full payment of over $8,000. I now have an island with no BBQ, no refrigerator and many missing items.

Dennis of Rialto CA (4/15/04):
I ordered 60" storage steps by phone from the Ontario, California store and received them at my home. When I opened the box and saw jagged edges on the steps, I was very unhappy as I do not wish to subject my family to harm. I attempted to return the steps to the store on 4/14/04 at which time the parts manager told me that store policy is no refunds or exchanges, but he may be able to give me a store credit. I was not informed of this policy when I ordered the product over the phone. I simply wish to return a product that did not meet my expectations. Anything short of this will be unacceptable to me.

The W's of Rialto CA (4/14/04):
We purchased storage steps from Cal Spas over the phone because we were told they didn't have the steps in the store. If we had seen them in the store, we never would have purchased them due to the poor quality. Our credit card was charged $195 even though we were told the steps were $175. We never received an invoice to show why there was a difference of $20. We then received the steps and were extremely unhappy with the quality. We took the steps to the store for a refund but were told store policy is no refunds or exchanges. We told the salesman we were not informed of this when we ordered and we want our money back. They still refused and would not allow us to speak with anyone in charge. We demand a full refund and will file a complaint with their corporate office.

Thoma of Elgin IL (3/20/04):
I purchased a top of the line $9,500 spa from Cal Spas about 3 years ago. It came with a stereo system that broke after the second week. A repairman came to my home, removed the stereo and took it back to Cal Spas. Over a month later, the stereo was reinstalled. It worked for one week. Again it was sent back to Cal Spas. After reinstallation, it worked for 2 days. This time it took months for the repairman to come to my home, send it back to Cal and reinstall it. It worked for one day. Now cal Spas is saying they won't fix it anymore because my one-year warranty has expired. The radio worked less than 3 weeks the entire year.

Mark of Canton MI (3/01/04):
My Cal Spas spa, just over 3 years old, developed a terrible noise. I immediately shut it down and called service. I was told the pump motor failed because the seals had failed, and because of this, the 5 year warranty on the pump and motor does not apply. I have faithfully kept the filter clean and the chemicals balanced; however, Cal Spas states I should have removed the panel and checked for leaks every 2 weeks. Cal Spas is not honoring their warranty and I had to pay over $600 to have it fixed before more damage occurred.

Daniel of Berryville VA (10/28/03):
I have a Genesis Series (Atlantic) spa from Cal Spas and the jets are breaking as the plastic dissolves and becomes brittle. I have operated the spa so that all Cal Spas chemical standards are met. These jets are junk and should be recalled by Cal Spas.

Robert of Rena NV (10/12/03):
November 2002 we noticed several cracks in the shell of our Cal Spa. The spa was 4 1/2 years old and the shell had a 5 year warranty. Cal sent someone to take pictures and investigate the problem. He stated the shell was not fixable and the cracks would increase in size. Cal Spas began a slow (usually 3 week turn-around) discussion of replacing my spa. Since that time, I have been offered several unsatisfactory options. Now I am being offered a used model without history provided and absolutely no guarantee that it will work. I left a message stating this option is not acceptable either. My spa costs nearly $5,000 and is now scrap.

Sue of Fenton MI (10/06/03):
I found a dealer who could get a part for our spa. We purchased the part we needed but were told by the dealer that the part should be covered under our warranty. We then sent a letter to the California Cal Spas location asking for reimbursement. After one month and no answer, I called the California store today. As soon as they found out we had bought a part on our own, they said we voided our warranty because an unauthorized dealer had worked on our spa. They also stated our warranty was void because we had moved our spa from one home to another. I would like to alert everyone to Cal Spas' warranty and its loopholes.

Neal of Colorado Springs CO (6/24/03):
I purchased a Cal Spas hot tub almost 5 years ago. Within this time, I have had over 15 repairs to my tub, at least 4 of which were motor replacements. Additionally, during one of the repairs, the dealer's service person broke 3 of the enclosure boards to repair a persistent leak (for the 3rd time!). I have been waiting over one year for the replacement boards and the warranty period is nearing its end. As a result, I have asked that Cal Spas remedy the situation by either replacing the boards or refunding my money. Neither the dealer for the tub, Backyard and Billiards, nor Cal Spas would consider any remedy. After months of phone messages, letters and faxes, I was told that Cal Spas would pick up the tub and reinspect it at their facility. One day before the tub was to be picked up, I received a call telling me that I would be responsible for the freight charges. All through this exercise in futility, the service manager was rude, unresponsive and deceptive in her responses. I have not been able to use my tub to its full extent because it continually has problems. The warranty expires soon and I will be responsible for repairs to a tub which has never worked properly.

Timothy of San Diego CA (3/17/03):
Our spa is 14 months old and has already lost 9 of its 12 jets. The jets are literally falling apart. I contacted Cal Spas' customer service on 1/09/03 and spoke with Martin Guevara, who faxed us a diagram on which we could mark which jets had broken. We have called and faxed this paper to him numerous times but get no response.

Don of Guthrie OK (2/24/02):
In August 1998, I purchased a Newporter spa from Cal Spas in Oklahoma City. I was told the spa would be delivered within 4-6 weeks and proceeded to pay Cal Spas in full for the product. Well after the 6 weeks had expired and many attempts at finding out why my spa had not yet been delivered, I demanded a refund. It took several weeks, but I did get my money back and then bought the Newporter from a Cal Spas distributor in this area. My spa worked fine for about a year. Since that time, I have replaced the circuit board and topside controller, the blower does not work, the cover is trash, the lifetime warranty heater has died, the jets are broken and the controls lock up so that the power has to inexplicably be turned on and off to get them to function.

Rick of Henderson NV (2/01/01):
I purchased my spa from Cal Spas in Illinois in March 1997. When I moved to Nevada, it started leaking from the pumps. I contacted Cal Spas who said that in order to have warranty approval, I would need the bill of sale to prove I was the original owner. I provided this by fax at which time I was told I would also need the receipt from the Cal Spas dealer who moved the spa to the trailer on which it was to be moved to Nevada. I then faxed this receipt, but the customer service person now says Cal Spas will not cover my pump trouble. What good is a 5 year warranty from a company who won't honor it?

Dan of Carrollton TX (4/01/00):
I bought a spa on 1/24/97 for $3,675 with 4 extra jets which were never delivered. I was told they would come in the mail. Our Cal Spas dealer went out of business, so I called Cal Spas. They did not know that 4 extra jets were supposed to be sent. Around 7/26/99 the spa would not turn on and the shell was cracking. I called Cal to find a local authorized repair company. I then contacted both companies, neither of which would help me because they say Cal takes too long to pay them. I got another repair company from Cal and they came to look at my spa at which time they ordered a new top side controller. After waiting 5 months, the part was installed, but that wasn't the problem. Now they say I need a new computer board which is on back order for 6 months and I need to deal with Cal directly to get one. Now for over 3 months, I have dealt with Cal Spas, and still the product is on back-order and the cracks in the shell have not been fixed.

Curtis of Jasper, GA writes:
In July 1997 I purchased a Cal Spas swim spa from what I was told was a Cal Spas factory owned store in Atlanta, Ga. The spa was to be delivered 2 weeks later upon my completion of a concrete pad. The pad was completed on time and the spa was delivered, but this particular spa has a separate equipment package, which was promised to be delivered later, which it was, but I was to have a LP gas heater for the spa and this was backordered.

During this time I was told that Cal Spas had sold the store to a dealer but that I would still receive service from that dealer. This dealer furnished me with a temporary LP gas heater to use while my heater was backordered. This heater was too small for the spa and was a standing pilot as opposed to the electronic ignition heater I was to have received.

I called the dealer weekly about the status of the correct heater and was told for over 6 months that the heater was still on backorder, then I had a pump bearing to fail and the dealer told me that he didn't have time to send someone out for at least 30 days, but if I could bring the motor to him he would exchange it, which he did and I did the removal and installation myself.

The ozoniator never worked and the dealer promised to repair it when he brought out the correct heater. In July 1998 something in the control panel failed and the spa completely shut down. I called the dealer for assistance and he promised to send someone out within a week, but they never showed up, I repeatedly called the dealer to no avail.

At that time I called the engineering dept. at Cal Spas and they told me to call Balboa Equipment, who manufactured the control panel, and see if they could diagnose the problem. The people at Balboa did diagnose the problem, which was a failed transformer. I called the dealer and told him I had found out the problem and he told me he would order the transformer and it should be in within 2 weeks.

Again I waited, calling every week or two until late into the fall of 1998. I then called the dealer and told him that there was a hard freeze predicted that night and that since the spa did not work I could not run it to keep it from freezing, so what should I do. The dealer told me not to worry about it, that if the spa was damaged by freezing that it was Cal Spas fault and they would replace or repair and damage.

Needless to say the spa froze and was extensively damaged and about this same time the dealer went out of business and I still didn't have my heater, and the spa still does not run, and I had freeze damage. The people at Cal Spas refused to return my calls and only responded to one of my letters stating that freeze damage was my responsibility, but they did not even address the heater they owed me and their failure to repair the defects that the warranty should have covered.

They finally sent a repairman to my home to look at the spa and he said it was a total loss, and he also told me that the dealer I had been dealing with had went bankrupt and that the reason that I had not received any repair parts from that dealer is that particular dealer had not been paying Cal Spas for parts and they had stopped shipping parts to him.

When I accepted delivery of the spa, I had paid a down payment of $2,000.00 with the balance of about $7,000.00 to be financed, with the financing to be arranged by Cal Spas. At this time Cal Spas has not asked for the balance to be paid, but what I am wanting is for Cal Spas to refund my down payment of $2,000.00 and pick up the spa. It is nothing but an eyesore and a breeding ground for mosquitos.

William of Rapid City, SD, writes:
We purchased a Cal Spas model 3000 hot tub with ozonator from StoveStop and Spas in Spearfish, SD. We had the tub for two and a half years when it developed a leak.

We called the StoveStop and Spas people who sent a service tech out. He sent us a bill for an hour of work and travel but said he had spent TWO hours looking for the leak and had not found it. The leak continued (about 6 inches of water a day) and I found the leak in five minutes. It was the hose going from the ozonator to the pool.

I called back the service personnel who came and fixed the hose and replaced the ozonator check valve. The unit worked well, but since the water had repeatedly sunk below minimums, the primary motor was burned out and was making noise.

The repair guy (Scott) came back and replaced the motor but he also silicone glued the ozonator to the floor of the tub on the metal footplate of the motors. A couple of days later, the tub began shutting down the breaker. Scott again returned and said the ozonator had gotten water in it and was shot and he would replace it for $295.

We had always been told not to put the ozonator on the ground and hence had always kept it on a piece of foam on the elevated tubing. When I asked Scott why he had glued the piece to the ground on the foot of the motor mount (which gets too hot to touch when the motor is running and is on the GROUND where all the splash water goes), he said he didn't want it to vibrate and make noise.

When I asked him how he expected it to stay dry on the ground and told him we had been told to always keep it elevated, he said he would come replace it. Two days ago he came and replaced the unit and yesterday left a message on my machine asking me to split the cost with him and he wouldn't charge me a service or installation charge. I called the hot line number on the ozonator and spoke with a rep there. She told me that the electronics had a lifetime guarantee and the bulb had a one year warranty.

She also said they recommended keeping the unit as far from water as possible, confirming what we had been told before about the unit and what we had been practicing before Scott glued it to the ground.

M.A. of Atascadeo writes:
In August of 1997 I purchased a spa from Cal Spas. It came with a 5 year warranty on the electric components, pumps, jets, valves, levers, and other spa components against malfunction, leaking,or defects in materials or workmanship.

The WARRANTY PERFORMANCE: section states; "To obtain service,contact the Factory Authorized Service Agent in your area, there will be no charge for parts, labor or the freight costs for parts necessary to repair the spa. In some cases, reasonable repairman travel charges may be assessed if you live beyond the normal servicing area for the Factory Authorized Service Agent."

I live only 12 miles from this agent. In august of 1998 I called the Agent with an overheating problem. He came out the next day and fixed it, but charged me a 70 dollar travel fee. Then on November 30th I called about a noisy pump. He came out and replaced one pump, and changed the seal in the other as he noticed it was leaking. He commented to me that the seals used in the pumps weren't very good, but were 3 dollars cheaper than a seal with a lifetime warranty.

About a week later, the Agent called me and said that CalSpas would not honor the warranty, claiming "chemical abuse." This made me very angry, because I watch my chemicals very closely, follow my maintenance schedule religiously, buy my chemicals from the Agent, who also checked my water and said it was fine.

After I relayed this information to CalSpas, they changed their story and said it was due due a leaking seal (which should be covered under the warranty), causing water to leak onto the motor. They claim I should have noticed the leak and had it repaired. Their should be no reason for me to remove the panel where the pumps and motors are housed. Further more, it would be natural to see water around a spa due to many things,such as washing out the filter, spa use, hosing off my patio on which the spa sits, to name a few. Also, every concrete patio I have ever seen has a slight amount of fall to it so rain water runs away the house.

I am now expected to reimburse the Agent for the parts he installed, plus the freight, on top of the 70 dollars I already paid him for travelling a whopping 12 miles. The total would be over 300 dollars. The Agent says if I don't pay it, he will refuse to do any work on my spa unless it is paid for in advance. I paid a lot of money for this spa with a 5 year warranty on all the working components. I feel I am being mistreated, undeservedly and would appreciate anything you can do to help me. This whole ordeal has placed a lot of stress me and my family. If CalSpas is not going to honor their warranty I will probably have to sell the spa.

Should I file a small claims lawsuit?

ConsumerAffairs.Com referred this complaint to an experienced trial lawyer, who replied:

I think he should file a small claims suit. he doesn't need a lawyer. But. he will need evidence that the problems he is having are covered by the warranty. Right now, only defendant knows what's wrong with the unit. Hence, he might have to have an independent repairman to look at it to see if what is wrong with it is actually covered by the warranty. Defendant will certainly say it is not.

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