Hi-TECH SPA SERVICE

The techs were highly communicative, on time, and incredibly pleasant to work with. They provided transparent pricing ahead of our appointment, and I paid exactly what they quoted plus parts. I would highly recommend them for your bathtub/jacuzzi servicing needs. They were easy to work with, respectful of my home, and efficient.

I was told that by hour they charge $80 but for a job that took them 45-50 mins or less than hour I was charged $180. For the sensor which is $25 on amazon I was charged $95. Good customer service, good spa technician but very expensive.

Larry and tech arrived on time & explained everything that had to be repaired. Repairs were done quickly & I've had no other issues.

I first called 3 weeks ago to schedule service. We scheduled a date almost 2 weeks out because with my fairly typical work schedule I was usually not home after 8:30 am or back before 6 pm. During the initial call Larry said he would have to check his schedule and get back to me. He called me the next day and confirmed the appointment. A week later Larry called to cancel the appointment and reschedule because he said he "forgot" about an upcoming flight on the day he was scheduled to come. We tentatively scheduled another day 2 weeks later because I said that I might try to find somebody else to do the job sooner. Larry didn't call me the day before to confirm the appointment or the day of before I called him around 10 am to remind him. Larry was supposed to show up at 2:30 pm. At almost 4 pm he was still not there. I called him to find out where he was and remind him that he needed to be done by 5. He said we was 15 minutes away but he didn't actually arrive until 4:40. At this point I was just hoping it would be a quick fix even though he had to be out fairly soon because service to my jet tub had been protracted long enough already. Larry looked at the leaky jet and started giving all types of disclaimers like he doesn't know if he will be able to fix the jet without breaking it and I might even need an entire new tub (mind you this was a simple leaky jet). He said he would probably also need to cut a hole into the side of the tub to replace the jet. He started to try to remove the jet. I handed him the special tool the manufacturer (Kohler) had provided me to remove the jets and he said he doesn’t know what it is. He later asked for it after struggling for some time to remove the jet whereupon I provided him with the tool and the instructions to use it but he quickly returned them to me and told me it was useless. He did eventually manage to remove the leaky jet after wrestling with it for 25 minutes. He then said he was done for now because he doesn't have his saw here to cut a hole (never mind that it was now past 5 and I needed him to leave). I told him we could schedule to follow up date and I said that would pay him when the job was complete. Larry insisted I pay him $192 right then for his work because his rate was $192 for the first hour or part of an hour. I told him I didn't think it was fair since he had not resolved the issue and came too late to even stay for the whole hour, not to mention he was inadequately prepared with basic tools such as a saw. The conversation quickly escalated as Larry started raising his voice and insisted I pay him his full fee even though I offered to give him a down payment and the rest when he finished the work. I ended up giving him a credit card for the full amount because I needed him to leave and the screaming was scaring my daughter. He called again two days later to schedule a follow up appointment. I reiterated my position that I don't think what he did was fair. Moreover, if he knew he could not finish the job then and there it was not right of him to have even started and he should have come back with his the requisite tools a different day when he had more time. I asked that he provide me with 30 minutes of work and I would pay him for whatever more time it took him to finish the job. He refused. I asked that he refund me half of his fee, he refused. At that point he just said I should find somebody else to do the job because he wouldn't do it and hung up the phone. I would not recommend Larry to anybody. He is very unprofessional and despite his company's name there is nothing hi-tech about it. He is hard to work with, will not accommodate non-business hours, and seems to try to find ways to drive up the bill as much as he can. Save yourself the grief and headache and find a real professional.

When they showed up, they told me that i would need to replace a pump and it would cost $565. That was a bit too much to spend for me, but I figured I have no choice but to do it. I looked up the pump online and it was available for $280-$290 online but I figured there is a cost for them to carry it in stock and the benefit of getting it done on the spot, so I went ahead. I thought $565 covered the install as well. Then during the repair, they broke two water shut off valves and told me they would have to replace them. I again assumed that they would cover the damage they did. Not to mention, he emptied my tub twice, because they broke the valves one after the other. Long story short, when it was all said & done, I was handed a bill of over $1100 !!!! I was told that it took 2 hours and they even charge $50 or so for the plastic valves (I think they are like $10 each at most). While my work was done, I find that I was ripped off price wise. I will not hire Hi Tech spa or recommend them to anyone. Some other reviewers mentioned that the assistant seems like he is fed up and doesn't want to be here. I certainly noticed that. I just thought he maybe tired but reading that it happened to others, I find it a bit unprofessional of him (but thats the least of the problems).

I recently purchased a home that came with a (working) hot tub and wanted to have someone look it over and also give me some general maintenance advice. I contacted Larry and we determined a date that worked for both of us. He and his assistant showed up on time, and he gave me his overall opinion on the hot tub and cover's condition. He also checked the chemical levels and gave me lots of great advice on maintaining my spa going forward. He was able to sell me some needed chemicals and a spa wand which have worked out great. I will contact Larry for any future spa needs.

Larry showed up with a helper and they proceeded to clean out the jacuzzi.  While "Larry" is chipper and high energy, his "assistant" had the personality of a wart hog and acted like he was annoyed being there at all.   Seriously....I wondered what he was mad about and almost said something to him.  
To be fair, this tub (a great big stainless steel number) had been emptied by the prior owners, but some water was in the bottom, along with leaves and such.  They did an OK job but I had to point out some spots which needed cleaning and also had to point out the messy spots they had left on the deck!    That was just the beginning.
Then we went into the basement to look at the mechanics of the hot-tub.  This is where they really flopped as far as I'm concerned.  They couldn't tell me anything about the system, the heater, etc.  Said I needed to get a plumber in. Said he couldn't help me nor could he give me the name of any plumber or who could help.  
As far as I am concerned I could have done what they did!   I would NEVER call them again ....the are FAR from a Hi-Tech Service....in face......they should change their name, as calling what they did hi-tech was FAR from the reality!
That's when I called Todd Harris Co. in Edison.  Competent, timely.  Their technician came, looked at the situation and quickly advised us what had to be done (it needed a new heater) and even suggested another, more economical way to give, if we cared to.  He explained that they could come and, not only install the new heater, but also correct the piping which needed to be done with the new heater set-up (more efficient, etc).   They gave me a quote (by email) right away and we thought the price was fair so we signed up.  Todd Harris then came on the day scheduled and made the repair and replacement in less than an hour.    Perfect!  They are also VERY cordial on the phone....and very helpful about what chemicals we needed to get, etc.  All around an experience which was 180 degrees from our earlier experience with (not so) Hi Tech Spa Service!

I first used Larry about 11 years ago.  I had just moved in and the hot tub didn't work.  Larry built a whole new infrastructure, got it up and running, and gave me a tutorial on how to maintain.  Total was about 3k if I recall.
I hadn't used the tub in 5 years, and had Larry come down to start it up again.  He called me back promptly,and came as scheduled.  He had quoted me $260.
When he finished the job and was coming in to settle the bill, I asked him if he could give me a quick refresher tutorial on how to maintain the tub, which he did.
It was during the tutorial, that he told me that the heater unit was broken, the water would not get hot, and I'd have to bring in an outside guy.  Then I got the bill.  It was $390, not $260.  I asked if the difference was for the additional supplies (testing kit, bromine, etc) that I needed.  His answer was no, he forgot to add that in.
Then I asked what the extra $130 was for.  Larry said it was for both fixing a light in the tub and also the tutorial.  I wasn't happy.and said I would have had no interest in fixing the light for any extra cost.   For one thing, it wasn't important to me at all, and given prior history, I expect it to stop working in a few weeks (the cause is some animal eating the wires).  Then charging me for a 15 minute refresher tutorial (especially given our history going back 11 years) .was poor business, in my opinion.  I told Larry I wasn't happy, but his position was he did the work, he gets paid for anything extra he does over and above starting the tub.  Never mind that the heaters broken and I don't have a "hot" tub.
To me, it's inexcusable to make an additional repair without providing the homeowner an estimate of the cost.  Nor is it good business to charge an existing customer for a refresher tutorial.  One other thing, check Larry's math.  I'm confident it was unintentional, but his final bill was $100 too high (which he of course adjusted when i pointed it out)
So bottom line is, Larry's not the only guy in town.  I will be taking my business elsewhere.

very simple tale
im not a difficult customer.and probably give benefit of the doubt to alot of people
but this company/man [the owners name is larry] is shameful
he came twice in the past month to fix leaks
not only that he came twice ,and left without even checking if his job was successful,which it wasnt]
the hot tub was leaking just as bad,when he charged us $500 a visit with no results
i gave him the opportunity to do right by us,or ill post a review about my true experience with him
he didn't seem to care to even respond
h*** try to sell you over priced products that you dont even need for hundreds of dollars
first time in my life i felt totally scammed

Larry came to my house to inspect a spa that i had thought was malfunctioning. Long story short... there was nothing wrong with the spa, which was my fault for not knowing how to operate it properly. I was a little miffed that i was charged $192 for 18 minutes of work just to find out that nothing was wrong. But again, that was my fault for not knowing how to use the spa, and most service have a 1 hour minimum charge, so i was not surprised. $195 seems to be the going rate for spa technicians by the way...
My bad review comes from Larry's lack of professionalism. I had just paid $192 for 18 minutes of work, so i wanted to at least get the remaining 42 minutes that i paid for out of Larry to obtain some more information about the spa. I could tell that all Larry wanted to run my credit card and be on his way. Regardless, i asked him to stay and I asked some basic questions about the spa, what i got back was a condescending smile and laugh from Larry and response that i would expect him to give a 10 year old. I have some electrical knowledge, and was merely trying to understand how the spa worked so that might be able to fix something myself in the future. I guess my main message to Larry is that he should focus more on customer satisfaction... had Larry been more helpful, and not rude to me, he might have had a customer for future repairs (maybe for life!?), however he left a bad impression and didn't treat me respectfully, therefore i would never call Larry again.

If you value quality of workmanship, he's priced right. Larry will be winterizing my jacuzzi come September. Repeat customer x3.

I found it difficult to find someone who would work on a hot tub and did not have access to Angie's list last year.

We started experiencing problems with our hot tub (naturally in the middle of winter) at the end of December. It was very difficult to maintain the temperature, and finally the circuit breaker for the heater tripped and could not be reset. This spa is an older Hot Springs model, and we were not too surprised to see that the heater finally failed. After searching Angie's List, we called Hi-Tech spa service in the morning, and got voice mail. I left a message. I didn't receive a call back until the next day, in the evening. Larry called me back and we discussed the problem.

I asked how much the cost of the heater was, and how much his labor rate was. He told me that the heater was probably around $325 (turned out to be $360) and that his labor rate was $180 for the trip and the first hour of labor and the job should take an hour. I thought that the price was a little steep, especially for the labor, but I didn't want the spa water freezing either.

We made arrangements for Larry to come out on Monday 1/6. My wife left work early in order to be home for the service. Larry arrived on time, and verified that the heater did indeed need to be replaced. He got right to work and replaced the heater. It turned out that the heater I had was obsolete, and a replacement heater needed to be installed, which required another $42 in supplies. It took Larry two hours to do the job, and he charged another $180 for the second hour's labor. He finished up, cleaned up, turned the hot tub back on and left.

So, the next morning, we take a look out the window at the spa and the red status light is blinking. The owners manual comes out and we figure that the high-temperature limit has been exceeded and the spa has shut down. No, problem, the temperature control was probably set too high, so after resetting the controls and turning down the temperature, we expected no more problems.

Next morning, the same thing, high temperature cut out. So we did the same thing again, turning down the temperature some more and waiting. The next morning, the spa light was okay, but now the water wasn't heating.

So, after a few minutes of online searching we found that the problem was most likely the two thermistors that control the temperature were not working. Both of these thermistor screw into the heater and were changed over from the old heater to the new heater. Larry never suggested that these may have been a contributor to the original problem or not, but did not replace them.

So, I called Larry and told him the problem I was having. I believed that since these thermistors were part of the heater "system" they should have been checked (yes, there is a simple electrical test with an ohm meter) to see if they needed to be replaced.

Larry took exception to my wanting him to come back and address the problem. He was adamant that one thing had nothing to do with the other. He said he came out to replace the heater and that's all he did. Although the heater was indeed broken, it wasn't all of the problem. Larry refused to come back out without charging me as if it was a whole new, unrelated job.

I realized at that point that I did not want him coming out again, and ended the conversation without getting my problem resolved.

I'll wrap up by saying that after spending $34 in parts, one half hour of time (including reading the how-to instructions) we fixed it ourselves. Everything works as it should now.

This is a mixed review because Larry did a few things very well and a few things not so well. I gave him an A for his quality of work. The heater install was done well and there are no problems with workmanship. He was on time and worked under very cold conditions.

I believe that his labor rates were quite high, and his thoroughness on making sure everything was working correctly was lacking. Although I believe that the thermistor parts were part of the heater and the heating system, Larry did not and saw the problem as a complete separate issue.

Overall, I believe that the service he provided me was at most a "C". I would not call him again.

AveLarry and his co-worker did another great job for my jacuzzi.
He was worked on it the beginning of the year....one of the motors blew....he replaced it. $900
Fast, affordable and done professional.
Upon this visit, my jacuzzi stopped working....turned out the heating element blew and shorted the entire spa.
He fixed it. Bill was again affordable. $250 ...i was expecting much more.
He' coming again later this week to winterize my jacuzzi.
For years i have neglected the maintenance and repairs on it, but now with larry, he's my guy. I trush him and his work. He's helping take care of it so he doesn't have to repair it as much.
A++++++
Highly recommend his services.
And he'll be opening my Jacuzzi in Spring of 2014!

Servicemen were professional. They diagnosed the problem and were able to repair it in less than 2 hours.

I am very happy with Larry. He came for an estimate the same day I called. I have a spa that is about 15 years old and was broken for several years. Multiple people told me it had to be replaced because it was so old, and they couldn't get parts. Due to the nature of the location of the spa on my property, it would have cost upwards of $12,000 - $15,000 to take out the old one and replace it with a new one. I really did not want to spend that kind of money. Our regular pool maintenance man told us it would be impossible to fix, something we had heard before. Since the outside of the spa was fine, I couldn't understand why the guts of the spa couldn't be rebuilt. I searched on line to no avail to find someone who could do this. I finally looked on Anglie's List and found this company which specializes in exactly what I needed. As far as I can tell, this is the only business (at least in the NYC area) which does this. I was very happy when Larry told me it would be no problem to rebuild the spa. He also was able to get a new cover which we desperately needed. It took a few weeks for all the parts to come in, but Larry was able to repair it in one day. While this was expensive, it is a third of what a new one would have cost. He is also able to maintain it regularly. We are totally satisfied and very pleased with the result. This was my first experience with Angie's List and we are very happy.

I was very pleased with the prompt, professional service of Larry and his assistant. They did what American Standard, the plumber and the electrician could not do. They fixed the jetted tub quickly and efficiently.

It's an old tub. Usually the heater gets damaged or something. Larry Steinberger is the owner of the business. I like him a lot. I've been using them for at least seven years. He tries to do the job when he's in the area. If not, there would be a special charge which would be more than the normal charge.

Larry gets a $75 trip charge to come to your house. If he doesn't have the part, which happened to me on two separate instances you will get charged another $75 when he returns, and he will also charge you a $90 labor charge as a minimum...$171.30 just for him coming to diagnose a problem. He will not use the rest of the time from the first visit labor charge on the next visit, even though it was because he did not have the part. I used him because basically there's no one else that does this type of work. I have a home warranty that luckily covers this, but if I didn't I'd never pay these prices, remove the spa, and be done with the whole thing. I don't mind paying for quality work, but this is gouging at its worst. I've spoken to him about the ridiculously high cost of his visits, but he could not care less. Look elsewhere, and don't get a hot tub--they're money pits (ours came with the house).