Saunas Today

I feel we are some of the lucky few because we did receive our sauna, but after 8 months. And of course, we got the runaround for the longest time because we were told it would be delivered in 4 to 6 weeks. We bought our 2 person sauna at the Texas State Fair from Tom. He gave us his cell # and said if we have any problems just to give him a call. I think it was a throw away phone because no one ever answered that number. In the office in Illinois, if they answered, we would just get the runaround and no one ever returned our calls. They would always claim that it was delayed because of weather or it was on the truck, etc.

We were promised a back rest for our trouble of having to wait for so long, and haven't heard anything else. We keep sending emails about it just to aggravate them, if nothing else. I had the number of the delivery driver also who said if we didn't get it, just to call him. Of course, I can't reach him either.

I paid $1500 for a Saunas at a Garden Show in Denver on 02-19-11. I kept getting emails for different delivery dates. I sent them a letter that maybe we should just cancel and the reply was I would owe 30% to cancel. Now it's 01-10-12 and I have been sending them a letter every day for a week stating that I want all my money back with no answer. I am in contact with Tom ** and hope he can help. I am so upset that I trusted this and really wanted my Saunas, but now I will never try and buy one again after what I have been going through.

I was lucky, I was promised a foot rest that wasn't received. 1 year later, I attended all Home Improvement shows in my area to "find" Tom ** again. I found him at an Arlington Park show. I bought a new light bulb from him. He cashed the check and I never received the bulb. That was 10/22/11. He picked up one phone call from me, and said that the items shipped the day before. I will haunt all future shows, and make his life miserable. Left him a phone message stating such intentions.

Thomas ** was using the name Extreme Recreation when he ripped me off at the Southeast Texas State fair in march of this year . He told me he had a last day special, 2 person sauna with upgrades for $1,500.00. After 4 weeks, no sauna. I began to question him and he got extremely defensive. He would always have a story like the Texas customers got held up in Denver, or Beaumont is scheduled for next week. I paid with a check so I am sure I am out of luck.

It was horrible. My wife and I purchased a sauna from Sauna Today several years ago at a Denver Fair. We paid over $2000 for it, and we haven't received anything. They used to answer their phone, but they haven't returned our calls or emails. I threatened to take them to court, and still we haven't heard a thing. It's been over one year since we have paid it off. This is another business scam. I either want my sauna or I want my money returned.

This is a scam. They went under the name "Xtreme Recreation" with no address or phone number. We purchased an infrared sauna for $1,600 from the Sonoma County Fair on June 26 and never received it. We were told that it would be delivered in 4-6 weeks. We are now on week 20 and no word from them.

I've called the sales representative, Tom **, with no response. I called the number on their website and the mailbox is full so I can't leave a message. I called a complaint number on their website and the phone number is disconnected. I emailed them and am waiting for a response. I will take action to get my money back but I wanted to do my part in alerting everyone to stay away from an infrared sauna scam company who travels to fairs and to your home as this company apparently goes under different names.

I paid for the floor model 2 person sauna at the Petaluma Fair on June 23, 2011, for $1700 (got the "special discount" if I paid cash). My check cleared the bank on June 27, 2011. By July 18, Saunas Today sent me an email thanking me for my purchase and when to expect delivery. That was supposed to be August 29! I have called the salesman Tom and Saunas Today several times. Tom doesn't return my calls. And the mailbox for Saunas Today is "full" and telling me to "call back later". What can we as consumers do to protect ourselves from these crooks? How can we get our money back?

We purchased a sauna from this so-called Saunas Today at the Colorado State Fair in September 2010. We were told we were purchasing the floor model for $1600 and we would have it within 2-3 days, when the fair was over. We got a call (Tom) on day 3 and they stated the unit was damaged while being loaded and we would get a brand new one, but we would have it in 7-10 days.

On day 11, I called Tom and he stated that I needed to call Veronica. I called Veronica and got the runaround. I left several messages and was getting ignored, I don't like that. When I finally got in touch with her, I told her I was unhappy with their business practices and wanted to cancel the shipment. She said it would be a $500 fee for cancellation. I then had some guy from "the corporate office", probably his living room, called me and asked why I wanted to cancel and to give them a couple more days. I did and they still didn't follow through.

I went through their cancellation time frame 4-6 weeks to process, and still didn't receive my refund. I then called back and this Veronica person stated it had been processed but she would send another check. This went on until December 3rd, 2010 when they stopped taking my phone calls altogether. I have never received my sauna or my money back. I filed complaints with the BBB, both in Colorado and Illinois, I filed complaints with both state Attorney General Consumer fraud agencies and I have filed a small claims case with the court.

On June 1, 2011, I purchased a two-person infrared sauna at the Victorville Fair with a promise of delivery in 6-8 weeks. Below is the letter we received from them but we still cannot get ahold of anyone by email or phone.

Dear Valued Customer:

This is to inform you that the estimated delivery date has been moved. We are scheduled to be in your area beginning July 18 through the following week to complete deliveries. We have encountered an unacceptably high-damage rate from our third-party freight company in the past several consecutive shipments. The damage has caused us to have to reproduce several units which have halted all subsequent deliveries as we fulfill orders in order of date of purchase.

Our Executives have now made the decision to use our own drivers from this point forward to ensure that every sauna is delivered to our customers damage free. We hope that you can understand that as we are not a transit company and do not have the capability to have several trucks out on the road at one time. This is one reason that we are able to offer such competitive pricing at each Home Show or Fair. Thank you again for your patience as we work diligently to complete deliveries.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience and we assure you that your order remains in force.

On September 19, 2010, I paid $1600.00 for a TS-3 # person sauna with carbon fiber heaters, free delivery, and deluxe window. It is in stock (4-8 weeks). Today is May 16, 2011. I still do not have my sauna. I have been ignored, lied to, defrauded, deceived, and stolen from by this company. I talked to Gary ** on the phone a few times. Each time, it was just a few more weeks. I have emails from him and others making delivery promises that I imagine they knew they could not keep. Tom **, aka John **, is the man who sold me the sauna at the Western Washington State Fair. I also spoke with him once or twice over the phone and got false promises.

Most of the time, these two would not answer their phones, knowing it was me. I filed complaints with Washington State Attorney General and Better Business Bureau. I called the police in Gary's home town of DeKalb, Illinois. They contacted the Sycamore police, who told them that they knew of Gary's bad business, but that he usually does get delivery done within eight months. Last conversation with Gary was him yelling at my wife and telling her that he would never give us our sauna since we had gone to the authorities.

I have contacted the police in the county where the crime occurred to begin a criminal prosecution for fraud, theft, theft by deception, wire fraud, and any other charge that can stick. The people seem to be running a Ponzi scheme. They have had my money for a very long time, yet they keep going out and selling more saunas. How can this be remotely legal in any state?

I am out $1600.00. I also never got to get any pain relief like I had planned. My wife and I find it very hard to trust people.

We purchased a sauna at a Sauna's Today booth at the Barrett Jackson in Scottsdale AZ on January 21st, 2011. This is how we finally got our sauna.

The salesman, Tom (I think ** or **) called me today, April 14th, after finally getting a sauna and was very defensive. He started asking why I didn't trust him. I told him I already knew about his background in Illinois as being convicted for identity theft and credit card fraud and that I had a copy of the lawsuit in Illinois when he had split with another company and that I had the cops go by his so-called business, etc. etc.

When I told him that someone named April, alias Shatoya or Veronica, had told me something different about a sauna being delivered then he told me and all on the same day, he said could only say that the girl that called was April and not Shatoya or Veronica and tried to explain why the difference in delivery.

He said, "By the way, I looked at your contract and we had 4-8 weeks to deliver and we were only 9 days off." I corrected him and said that I ordered Jan 21 or 22 and 8 weeks was up, 20 or so days ago, and besides, he himself had promised that it was "on it's' way and on the truck, and that he'd seen it himself. "I was the first to get it in NM, and it would be coming that week" and that was weeks ago when he had told me this! And I said, "That was you, Tom, who lied to me! And I hate being lied to!"

He asked me, "Now that you have the sauna, I just wonder why you ever questioned us about delivery?" I said "Well, maybe it was the non-working number on your website first of all, then the negative comments about you on the internet and people getting ripped off from you not delivering and lying etc., and next your not calling back or answering our calls, and then the lies that you told when you finally did talk to us, and then came the criminal background check on you showing credit card fraud and ID theft, the complaints that Barrett ** had on you from others where we had purchased our sauna for cash (to get that "Good Deal"), then the fact that your own distributor where you purchase the saunas got in touch with me and said that you owe them so much money that they won't ship more to you, just maybe it was stuff like that!"

He said he had a very good distributor and they'd never call me and tell me that (another lie). He wondered who had called. I honestly don't know his last name, but I would not give him the name anyway. This company said they were about to pursue a lawsuit against these guys, Tom and a guy named Gary something. They go by other names, too, so beware! And other business names as it turns out!! !

This same day, this Tom guy called me first but I couldn't talk, so I had to call him back. I had heard from another source that Saunas Today was now going by Extreme Recreation. So, I first asked Tom, "Is this Saunas Today or Extreme Recreation? " (I was being very sarcastic! and it surprised him that I knew about the use of the different name. ) He immediately asked, "Is this Max?" I had been on his case so long now that he knew me by my voice and first name! Did I mention that I tracked him down at different venues like the state fair in Austin where I turned him in to the person in charge, also called Barrett ** in Scottsdale and complained to them.

Anyway, I answered "Of course it's me." He started asking since I got the sauna why I didn't trust that it was coming and why I was doing all that I was doing, calling Austin, Barrett **, etc. I told him, "Remember when I gave you my cash that day in Scottsdale, I told you, 'This better be legitimate or you will be sorry because and I'll go looking for you and find you!!. ' " Maybe he's sorry now (Ha!) but I truly do think that if I had not persevered and been so persistent or followed him across the country filing complaints that I'd never gotten a sauna.

Anyway, we continued and I asked him, "So, you're working in Tucson today? And under Extreme Recreation, how convenient." He said "Well, I have several dba's. If you knew how corporations work, you'd know about dba's." I said, "Well I have two corporations and I don't need to have several dba's. Is that how one can rob Peter to pay Paul?" He said, "Well, we sell different products and sell them under different names." I asked, "Are you selling saunas today?" When he answered yes, I asked "Then why use a different name if selling the same product?" I really think he hates me. He was very defensive to all my questions and accusations, started going on and on and on. So, I hung up on him.

Anyway, the public should know about these guys as I understand they are still in "business" ripping off people, not sending products, etc. and also using several different names as their business so it's hard when there are actually legitimate companies selling them too. Just beware!

Myself and my mother attended the Idaho State Fair back in August of this year. There we met a company selling infrared saunas. We were met by the owner Tom ** that said we were buying direct from the factory. That they were making saunas in Illinois. They had been on the Oprah Show and Mr ** was back stage when Oprah was sitting in the sauna.

Myself and my mother were going to save $1000 if we would buy from him and pay him cash. We were a little skeptical and went home and did a little research over the internet. He claimed the name of their company was Infra Red Heat Consultants and after looking for them on the BBB we could not find anything on them. Upon returning to the fair the next day we confronted Mr Tom and told him about this and he commented "Is that a bad thing?". So after my mother and I thought about it the rest of the afternoon, we decided to purchase two corner units from him and used our credit cards to protect us.

The deal was too good to pass up, $1500 for each unit delivered. It was less than what we could find anywhere else. Mr Tom assured us that the reason for this is we were buying direct. A time frame of 4 to 6 weeks was given for delivery. This would make us to have our units delivered by the end of September. Wow what a mistake we made. After numerous calls to their so-called factory number in Illinois, we have been given every excuse to mankind. First, the glass was back ordered. Second, our unit was damaged. Third they stopped answering the phone. Now they are claiming that they are delayed because of extreme winter weather.

This company is a complete scam. I have done much research on this company in the past few weeks after being taken. I first have charged backed this transaction with the credit card companies. Then I come to find out that Mr. Tom is not am owner but claims to be, from one of the ladies answering the phone at the factory-office. They do not produce their own units but purchase many of them over the internet. They were not the company that was on the Oprah show. That company's name is Waterstar. Gary ** is listed at the state for being the owner but he is never available.

He also goes by Garrett ** which is also the name of the corporation they use. But the most unreal fact of the matter is that Tom ** is a convicted felon in the State of Illinois for identity theft and some type of credit card fraud. Yes, he was allowed to accept my credit card for payment and had access to mine and my mothers personal information. I have contacted the fair board and trying to get some type of answer how this was allowed to happen. Thank god I did not pay for this in cash like Tom demanded first or we would have never been able to recoup my funds. This company needs to be stopped.

After listening to the voicemail that they have recorded when calling the office phone, there are many other people from other states that I believe are in the same situation. How can 10 states deliveries all be delayed at least 2 to three months. Please if you are reading this and have scammed like I have been, contact the State's Attorney in your respective state and file a consumer complaint against this company so no one can be exploited like we have been. These are bad people using fake names and telling lies. They totally misrepresented themselves at the fair to be bigger than life and a nationwide company. Maybe they are but I can assure you after listening to the voice message they have scammed customers all over the country with the same misleading story.

If wanting to purchase a sauna or anything else, do yourselves a favor and buy local. These are fly by night companies at the fairs that do not have to follow any type of screening process. They lie and let convicted criminals work for them and use fake names to represent their products. Also after checking with the state tax collector, they have not even paid the sales tax that they were supposed to collect from our transactions and everyone else at the fair. This company is a scam. Never give them two cents for anything. They will not deliver.

These people go around to home shows and sell home saunas. We paid for one in May of 2010. They have done nothing but lie to us and avoid us since then. They also lied to the BBB. Do not give these people your money!

I talked to the two men listed above and we ordered a sauna on Friday Night, I talked to my Doctor on Tuesday and he advised me with my heart condition that it would be unwise to use the sauna, so I called to cancel, but before I cancelled, I asked if they had this particular unit in stock from Lisa in customer service, she said they had 8 at that moment ready to be shipped.

I then told her I wanted to cancel and she told me that it would be a 500.00 charge for cancelling. I was never told of this and it was covered up when I signed the order form. It was NEVER explained to me that there would be a 500.00 fee just for signing a paper? Had I known that I never would have ordered without FIRST talking to my Doctor.