Caldera Spas Reviews

This caused a geyser of water to be shot up in the air soaking all four of us that were present at the time. This was eventually “fixed” only to happen yet again when we turned it on to treat the water. Once again our clothes and jackets were completely soaked, we had to start back at square one. At this point we were almost three months in without using our spa a single time! We then had to wait for service to be scheduled again on the spa (this was not rushed whatsoever). Caldera didn’t offer to send a new part out to the dealer and said that magically this next fix would work (I asked what would be different this time around and they told me that they spoke to the dealer.

When the installer arrived he said he didn’t even know of the issue and assured that they never spoke and he never got any information). And as you might have guessed, that diverter blew yet again. Three times of this diverter blowing and no resolution, offer of compensation, etc. Finally the dealer sent a new installer out that confirmed that the molding was wrong and that both primary diverters would be replaced, and he put in a temporary fix (installed incorrectly so that we can’t actually use the diverter but it is holding) so that we could at least use our spa.

Around this same time we also found out that the lights didn’t work (we saw the lights button when we were finally able to get into the spa and nothing happened when pushed – after reading the manual and watching videos online we realized that they should have). This meant that we now had to get an electrician to fix the lights. He found that two wires were disconnected – yet another manufacturing defect. And this is where we stand. Almost 4 months since we spent an exorbitant amount of money on a brand new product that still isn’t fixed with full usability!

A spa is supposed to be an enjoyable product. It is supposed to help alleviate stress and this whole experience has done anything but that. We have more stress in our life because of this terrible product. I have asked for compensation for 1) all of the money we have spent heating an unusable spa for months in the cold weather, 2) refilling it with water multiple times for all of the water we have lost through the three geysers (so far) and the two complete spa refills that we needed to do as a result of bad water in the tub because it couldn’t be treated since the jets couldn’t run,

3) for the wasted chemicals every time we try to start up the spa to only have it not work yet again and then need to add new, untreated water, 4) for the amount of time spent calling/emailing/coordinating responses and service for the faulty manufactured product that they sent (this is all documented – there are pages of notes), 5) for the damage to the system of this brand new spa because of the cycling of bad water for months since it couldn’t be treated due to the jets not working (the hold recording when you call Caldera actually says “Did you know proper water chemistry can prolong the life of your spa?”), 6) for the PTSD that we experience every time we push a button to turn the jets on since we never know when either diverter is going to blow next, 7) for the inability to use our new Seychelles spa like every other customer should be able to – at least the light issue was resolved but we still can’t use the diverters.

The “compensation” that we have received up to this point has been two Caldera-branded bathrobes and four Caldera-branded towels! Why would I want to promote a company and brand that I would never support based on this experience. There has been no financial compensation or replacement of any kind offered. This is proof that they don’t stand by their products.

Oh and customer service, good luck. I have been working with a male. He certainly says all of the right things when you speak with him (“you are my top priority,” “I’ll call you back tomorrow...,” “we are making this right,” etc.) and yet those words are never lived up to. I never get the responses that I am guaranteed. They make false claims by blaming the issues on the customer. And you can never get through to a Manager at Caldera (they are always “in a meeting” or “unavailable”) and then only the person associated with your case number calls you back. This whole experience has been unbelievable. Please save yourself the hassle, stress, money, and tears by going with a different manufacturer.

Less than a week after restarting the hot tub, the new control panel has moisture in it again. It was sealed properly to the tub, the moisture is entering the panel through the buttons. This is absolutely insane. I have read many others with the exact same problem with this model. This has been an absolute nightmare with no end in sight. Customer service is horrible and push you to just buy a new spa. I will never ever buy a Caldera. They do not stand by their products at all.

I do use the spa almost every day but only for about 15 minutes and I'm the only one using it. I clean the filter regularly and and I'm definitely a "seasoned spa owner" and check the water chemistry several times a week. I will be very disappointed if I can't get future salt cartridges to last longer as I'm retired and the maintenance cost will be far more than was advertised. Caldera should subsidize the cartridge cost - $250 for just 3 cartridges is just too much! Help!

Updated on 01/20/2022: I had posted about the lack of customer and product support from Caldera Spas back in July of 2021 and here is more proof to back my statement- a representative from Caldera responded publicly in August of 2021 that she would be willing to assist with the issue. Well, here it is January of 2022, 5 months later, and I have yet to hear one more word from Caldera. They have all of my contact information as well as my make/model/purchase info and... crickets. As stated before- beware and consider buying elsewhere.

Original Review: My husband has been through 2 back surgeries and 3 shoulder surgeries and has since been forced into early retirement. Water therapy had been recommended as part of pain management therapy. I am also a nurse and spend many hours on my feet and have constant back, neck, and shoulder issues from constant bending and lifting. Thus, we decided purchasing a hot tub would be a good thing for both of us.

We originally purchased our Caldera Utopia-Geneva 11/2017 from Backyard Leisure in IN. This particular series was more expensive than most at the cost of over 14K, but we have always believed that you get what you pay for and wanted to be sure we purchased a product that would last. When it was finally delivered 2/27/18, the wrong hot tub was delivered as we ordered it in the midnight sun shell color and they delivered the tuscan sun shell color. We are not quite certain who was at fault for the mix up-but Backyard Leisure blamed Caldera for the mistake. Upon receipt of the correct one 3/37/18, just one month later, we have had nothing but problems. It took 3 months for the 1st order and just a month for a replacement and we have been skeptical of this fact from the beginning as if they rushed our order a bit too much and something was never right.

In the first year alone from 2018-2019 we had been through at least a dozen speakers as they kept blowing. Mind you, my husband and I are in our 50s, we do not have small children, and thus we do not blast our music nor splash around in the hot tub in any manner that should cause marine grade speakers to blow over and over again.

After the first year, our warranty on the sound system we had paid an extra $1000 for had expired. From 2019 until present, we have continued to replace speakers at our own cost out of pocket at the tune of approximately $100 a pop and we are currently at over $600 in speakers out of pocket in the past year alone. One would think as it was a constant issue that between Caldera and Backyard Leisure this issue should have been addressed and we should not have had to pay to replace speakers out of our own pocket, but that is not the case. Backyard Leisure tells us to contact Caldera to rectify the situation and Caldera, when we can get any communication from them, places the issue back in the hands of Backyard Leisure.

In May of this year, 2021, our subwoofer went out. Given that we have had so many issues with the sound system, one would think an exception would be made in covering the part, but instead Backyard Leisure billed us over $350 to replace it and they were even thoughtful enough to bill us for mileage as we seem to have become a burden to them with our issues. We wrote Caldera about this and never received a response.

2 weeks after the subwoofer was fixed, the jets went out. Fortunately this was still under warranty and was fixed. About a week ago, just 5 weeks after the subwoofer was replaced and about a week after the jets were replaced, the music button on our control panel went out and thus we can no longer play any music on the sound system that has been paid for twice over in repairs already.

Caldera has not bothered with a response and Backyard Leisure was more concerned that we pay their repair fees than admit that we have had sound/wiring issues with this hot tub from day one. My husband was a union electrician and everything that has gone on points to bad wiring, which in considering it was rushed to us in a third of the time it took to deliver the wrong model the first time would make perfect sense, yet neither Backyard Leisure nor Caldera care to listen, investigate, or even admit something has always been wrong.

To sum things up, our hot tub was rushed after their mistake on the first one, there has been an issue with the sound/wiring since day one, and after paying over $14k for the hot tub, we have now soaked over $1200 more out of pocket for continuing issues with a hot tub that is just barely 3 years old. Do your research and find both a company that stands behind their hot tub, which Caldera does not, and a dealer which stands behind their customers, which Backyard Leisure does not. We had thought we did our research but we were way off base in choosing Caldera. It takes forever to get a response from them, if any, and in the end they do nothing to help and basically just don't seem to care. After all, what's $14k - just part of our retirement savings used to place faith their product, which obviously means nothing to Caldera. Buyer beware and shop for a different product.

From the beginning we had issues. Upon delivery of the tub we were told that the installers would know if the tub needed to be leveled. The installers were rude and broke my pavers and told us no need to level the tub. When the owner Derrick came out to get the tub/salt water up and running he told us we needed to pay the installers to come back to level the tub. Over the next couple months we could not get the salt system to work correctly, Derrick sent out a guy who barely checked the tub and told us "it smells good and looks good so it must be good" however no chlorine would register in the tub without us manually adding.

For our anniversary we decided to get the stereo system since the tub was sold with speakers. My husband spent 2 days on his hands and knees installing and getting other opinions of why the stereo would not work only to find out once Derrick sent his stereo guy out that the speakers were bad and they would need to be replaced at their expense. Strange that they would be bad on a brand new tub? Once they were installed we could never get the Bluetooth to connect to the phones so we could listen to music in the tub, complete waste of another $600.

We are now 9 months out and we have never gotten the salt system to work, the tub foams every time we use it, stereo still won't connect and Caldera just keeps sending us to Derrick who does not respond. This tub has been the root of so many arguments in my marriage and continues to disappoint. We have now spent over $11K with upgrades and endless amounts of water and time trying to get it right which has yet to happen.. it disappoints us daily. Our friends went to GA Spa and love their salt water tub from hot springs, wish we could say the same. If we had to do it over we would have never purchased this investment. Buyer beware.

Original review: We upgraded (I thought) our 8 person Hydrapool spa to the larger Caldera Cantabria 2 years ago. This unit is their top of the line including Bluetooth sound system, 3 pumps, 72 jets & hydraulic cover. 1st major problem, on a chilly Pittsburgh night we enter tub with a water temperature of 104. Within an hour we have to get out, the temperature is now 98 & can’t keep the desired temperature. 2nd. The very expensive Bluetooth sound system with subwoofer only worked once. My 3 children are all engineers & know how to set up Bluetooth & an iPhone. It’s the spa will not receive a signal. 3rd. The 72 jets that there are all have cheap plastic rings.. Usually opening the cover there’s a few swimming around, after numerous times reinstalling them I got mad & wizzed them out in 4 acres of grass & let the tractor take care of them.. Think the tractor has aroound 12 victims.

4th.. The cheap cover.. When it rains it gets puddles on top as if someone was jumping on it which is not the case, also the material is cracking everywhere & needs replaced from 2 years, my old Hydrapool spa had just 2 covers in 15 years of use & also this 2 year old cover that is properly covering spa is a poor design because I see steam leaking out in multiple places. 5th. Every once in a while one of the 3 pumps gets noisy so I just shut that one off. 6th would have to be the price. My wife got it for me for my birthday & didn’t tell me the cost but think it was in between $15,000-$20,000 & considering #7... getting in & out is tough.. No real inside step or anything & the glass surfaced control panel is where your hand has to go so my wife which is skinny broke the glass panel getting in..

8th. So with all these issues we really don’t use the spa often, my neighbor bought one from a home show for 1/4 the price of ours & we’re in theirs more, my kids & their friends agree especially when after an hour or so you need to close the cover to get the temperature back up.. That’s all the cons.. The pros if I had to pick one would be the water circulation is good & the water & spa stay clean.. Sorry so long of a review but it’s all true. ✅

Replaced heater and pump at a cost of $769.76. The local dealer called Watkins to see if they will warranty the repairs and they said they would and I would not have to pay out-of-pocket. Once repairs were made, I was presented with COD bill because local dealer could not get confirmation from company to pay for repairs under warranty. (Basically had same non response as I experienced.)

Now, December 2000, I still have not been reimbursed. I have called and emailed company as well as the local dealer calling company assisting me to get a response from Watkins to no avail. This company will not stand behind its warranties! My advice is to stay away from all products from Watkins: Caldera, Hot Springs, Freeflow, Jetsetter, Costco Spas. Just look at the other reviews... And, just another annoying thing, the speakers (warrantied 1 year) crapped out shortly after a year. No matter, they sucked anyway, they sounded like an AM transistor radio underwater.

We have to buy the cartridges in three packs which costs approx $225 which should last the year but they don’t, we go through almost 1 cartridge per month. The company says it’s due to excessive use, 3 kids and 2 adults should be able to use the spa daily in an 8 person tub. Anyways the whole company is a waste of time and so was this huge purchase, I look forward to the day I can justifiably purchase a new spa from a different company... Stay away from caldera!!! -$13,000.

The technician was confused with some of the details of the hot tub. He ended up cutting one of the clear tubes to try to get the air valves working again. That didn't work. Not sure which pump stopped working, but one of them is still leaking. I have to put water in the tub every week. It feels as if we got a lemon...and now we are stuck with it.

My water has been tested often by my dealer, so that’s not the issue, and they’re at a loss to explain why I’m now going to have to spend more than double that per year to keep the system working and chlorine levels normalized. I’ve seen this same complaint all over the internet. Watkins (Caldera) needs to either solve this problem or eventually someone is going to file a class action lawsuit. OR, they could just make the cheapo cartridges reasonably priced... not $75 a piece. 10 months in, I’m not very happy at all with my Caldera spa as it stands right now.

However and unfortunately, the cartridges only seem to last about 6 weeks which is a FAR cry from the advertised 4 months (16 weeks). Our service technician upgraded the FreshWater Salt controller to a newer version, but it hasn't improved cartridge life. We only use the tub once or twice a week and keep the Salt system setting at "4". This maintains the chlorine right where we want it. But after 6 weeks it just stops working and the only cure is a new cartridge. Removing and re-seating the same cartridge does not help.

This increases the cost of the cartridges from $250 (3 cartridges @$83 ea.) a year to $747 (9 cartridges @ $83 ea.) a year!! That's 3 times the number of cartridges and expense than advertised. Way not good and very disappointing. What are your thoughts and experiences with the longevity of the FreshWater Salt cartridges?

Bob