The Spa Wholesaler

Service Provider Response

Thank you very much for taking the time to put up a review. If you need anything you can reach me anytime at 518-470-3535. Thanks Mark

Service Provider Response

[Member Name Removed] thank you for the review. I will address all issues that you brought up in this review. In may be a little long but I have to be thorough. First off you called me in regards to a small tube that was dripping water on the spa pack or circuit board. I like always answered and took the call. This was accurate except it did not drip water on the board. All spa packs in all tubs are sealed and water tight because water does not mix well with electronics as you correctly stated. There is a small 3/[Member Information Removed] tube in a hot tub for an ozone. Usually it comes with a cap on it. Sometimes the cap falls off in shipping. This tube is spooled up in a circle several times so even if the cap falls off no water will come out. Sometimes a little water gets in this tube in shipping and could come out on the first start up but will stop. Customer called and I talked with him in regards to this. Easy fix and customer was all set. Customer said no problem that he would cap it. A week or so later the customer called again and as always I took the call and he stated that one of the lights was a little dimmer than the other lights. Now the light does work but it appears that it is a little dimmer than the rest of the LED lights. Did not seem like a huge problem so I told him the light may have dropped down a little bit or perhaps it was not positioned correctly to begin with. I told the customer I could stop out once the weather got a little warmer. We agreed that once the weather broke that he would give me a call and I would come out. This tub has over 20 LED lights so if I was to come out I would check the position of all lights since I'm making a trip out anyways. I would have to get in all 4 sides of the tub to do this. This is much easier to do once the weather gets a little warmer. I didn't think it was a major issue since after all the light was working. The customer also stated that he was handy and could easily take care of it. Again I have no problem coming out to check this but I would like to inspect all lights so I don't have to make another trip at another time because of perhaps another dim light. Lastly the customer called a week or so later with the cover issue. He mentioned that I blamed the manufacturer. He is absolutely correct. I couldn't take responsibility for the stitching coming loose. If I made the cover and if I stitched it together with my own two hands then I would accept full responsibility. I didn't so I'm sorry but it is not my fault. I will add that amazingly this is the first time I've had a stitching issue with a cover in the twelve years I've been in business but the customer is correct that the stitching came loose. So anyways the customer called and again I took the call and he explained the issue. I told him that usually the cover manufacturer does not cover damage to a cover. Keep in mind when it comes to a cover most issues are due to abuse that I see all the time. For example a customer will call because a cover fell in the tub and broke. Usually ends up being that ice fell off the roof and onto the cover breaking it. Or perhaps somebody sat on it and the foam broke. Not covered under warranty. This is not the case with this tub but that is an example why in most cases the cover would not be covered under warranty. Now that I have seen the pictures of the stitching it certainly looks like a defect which I expect the manufacturer to take care of. When the customer sent me the original pictures they were not as clear so I told him to send me more. He did and they were a little closer up and much better. I told the customer that I would forward these to the manufacturer which I did. I have not heard back from them yet but now that this review is a reminder I will follow up with them on Monday when they open and see what can be done. If they do not cover it, which they really should, then I will. Next shipment of tubs I receive I'll have an extra cover put on and I'll stop out and swap them. I will just use yours for display in my showroom. You can use that one through winter then once the weather breaks I'll swap them and do a complete overall check on the tub. The customer also stated that I said to him that he still has 3 straps and that should be good enough. Absolutely did not say that in that way to the customer. I said he still had 3 straps and that should hold until I take care of the issue. Or the customer could put a little weight on the one corner to hold that side down until the problem is resolved. Bottom line is I can't stop and stitch it on site since I'm not a part time seamstress. I can't duct tape or glue it. What else am I to tell the customer to do until the manufacturer addresses the issue. The customer stated in the review that the cover is falling apart. Keep in mind that the cover works and closes. It's just missing one strap. That is it, so he can still use it. It still opens and closes like a brand new cover. It's not like it doesn't work. Ok now for the full foam issue. First off I don't care what the internet says about full foam like you stated. There are just as many sites on line that discourages it. You said that every site you went on recommended that you should go with full foam. I have a hard time believing that since I just went on line and unfortunately several sites that push full foam are owned by spa manufacturers like Hot Springs, Sundance etc. These sites aren't honest. They are pushing the full foam because that's the only way they make their spas. Not to get to technical but let's look at Hot Springs for example. They will tell you full foam is the best. They have to tell you that because it's the only way they make their spas. What they don't tell you is that they use 3lb structure foam to support the spa because it's not reinforced with fiberglass like the brands I sell. The shell is very thin and they use this foam to support all the seats. Do yourself a favor and click on this link to see the truth http://hottubspatips.com/hot-tub-insulation-smoke-and-mirrors-best-hot-tubs/ Here are two paragraphs off this website right below. I just copied and pasted so I did not write them. Funny thing is it's pretty much what I told you when you came in. Keep in mind I can order my spas anyway I want to. If full foam was the best way to go I would just order them all that way. It's not the best way to go so I discourage it. Spa Insulation: So with all of the different types of insulation, the most important of all seems to be neglected. The spa cover provides the most protection from heat escaping out the top of the spa. As heat rises, it will try to escape out any opening in the spa cabinet but especially out the top. A good hard cover is essential, especially in colder climates. The cover should also be tapered which means it is higher in the middle than on the sides in order for rain and melting snow and ice to run off. Practical Concerns of Various Insulation Types: Well if the most important component to keeping hot tub electrical consumption down is the hard cover, then what are the possible side effects and cons to the various other insulation types? Simply put, fully foamed spas are a nightmare to repair in the case there should ever be a leak. Ask any service tech out there about the hours they will need to spend scraping a pile of foam out and even having to stand the spa upright to access things from the bottom. This is a huge negative for that type of insulation. You must then really buy into the fact that you will save a bundle on electricity if you fully foam the spa, but this debate has been going on for over 20 years and the full foamers have yet to produce unbiased test results that prove it. If it were the undisputed superior way of building spas, everybody would be doing it that way. I service all brands of tubs so I will let everyone know what I tell my customers. The customer mentioned that he was conned into not getting the full foam. This is just a flat out lie. I don't con anyone and anyone who reads this please look at all our reviews on Google, Angie's list, Facebook, Yelp etc. There are 100's of reviews and you will certainly get a sense of our impeccable service. Anyways here is what I tell all of my customers. I tell them I can order the tub full foamed but I wouldn't because if it ever leaks which every tub will at some point it will cost way more in labor to fix it. It is a nightmare to dig out all the foam to make a repair. I tell people that if they want to save on their home heat bill this winter they may insulate the attic more but they probably won't insulate the basement more. Heat rises, the cover is where 90 percent of the heat loss is. Common sense right? I also tell everyone that instead of paying 100 bucks to have it spray foamed they would be better off to buy a couple rolls of R-13 insulation and stuff it in the cabinet. This way if you ever need to do a repair you can pull it out of your way and make the repair in much less time. Makes sense right? I try to give my customers common sense advice that will save them money down the road. So being accused of conning someone I take personally. I don't con anyone. I just give honest advice that makes sense. Also I have one of my competitor's tubs on display that I showed the customer before he purchased from me. It was a fully foamed tub. A prior customer paid 13,000 for it seven years ago from a local retail store. It leaked and they called the local store. Here is what they were told. We are sorry but we can't fix it out at your house because we can't dig through all the foam in your yard. The local store told them they could pick it up for 1000.00 and then estimated 2000.00 more for the repair. Long story short this customer bought a new tub from me and absolutely did not want full foam. Now [Member Name Removed] in this review states that I recommended that he gets no foam. He is absolutely wrong. I never ever recommend no foam. In fact all my tubs are partial foam. Funny thing is his tub has about 5 inches of foam sprayed on the entire shell. It has a lot of foam in it. So much that Marquis the maker of the tub even puts 2 vents on the front panel so the pumps can breathe. If they didn't then the pumps would burn out because of all the foam put inside the tub. So again the no foam comments make absolutely no sense at all to me. His tub is partial foam. I have pictures ready to attach at the end of my response as long as it allows me too. [Member Name Removed] you should have seen all the foam when you took off the side. Hopefully I can attach pictures because I just took pictures of the tub you purchased and it will show everything. In any case even though I'm frustrated with the review and to be honest I think you are a jerk for referring to me as a con man I will take care of your issues. I understand that you are frustrated because you have had a few minor issues with your new tub. No excuses, you shouldn't have any issues but sometimes it happens. In any case I will take care of it and I will provide better service than anyone else would. My phone is on 24/7 so if you ever have any issues just call as I nearly always answer. I apologize for the inconvenience but I will follow up with you this week once I hear from the manufacturer. I do have to add that I fully understand your frustration but I'm always easy to get a hold of and I've taken several calls and text messages from you. I just really take exception to some of the accusations you made in this review. Again you stated that after the tube and light issue that we were good. Then after the cover issue we went from good, to me being a con man and a sub-standard company. Hopefully some of the stuff you said was just out of frustration because in no way do I ever mislead a customer on anything. This is the same reason why only the two owners here are the only ones who sell the tubs. We don't hire salespeople like the other stores because they will do high pressure and usually the salesperson will just tell you what he thinks you want to hear just to get a sale. We don't do any of that and it is what sets us apart from everyone else. In conclusion you had a prior tub before you purchased this one from us. There must have been a reason why you purchased your second tub from us. You obviously trusted us when you made the purchase. I can only promise that after these issues are taken care of that you will in due time, realize that you purchasing a hot tub from us was a good decision. Thanks for your time and I'll talk to you this week. Update: I spoke to the manufacturer today and this is a copy of the email they sent. Also I texted you pictures of all the foam in your spa since I was not able to attach pictures here on Angie's list. If you need anything or have any questions you can reach me anytime at 518-470-3535, Thanks

Service Provider Response

Thanks again [Member Name Removed] for the nice review. Call me anytime if you need anything. Happy Holidays.

Service Provider Response

Thank you so much for the nice review. If you ever need anything you can reach me anytime. Thanks again. Mark

Service Provider Response

Thank you so much for the review and call me anytime if you ever need anything.

Service Provider Response

Thank you so much for the review and call us anytime if you ever need anything. Thanks again

Service Provider Response

Thank you for the nice review. Call me anytime if you ever have any questions. Enjoy the hot tub and if you need us to order that new cover just give me a call with the measurement and I'll get it ordered right away. Thanks again.

Service Provider Response

Thank you for the nice review. Now in the spring I would recommend that you add some extra fiberglass to the bottom of the tub. Saratoga Spas unfortunately do not use any fiberglass so the shell is very thin. I have some of the fiberglass so if you decide to do it yourself just let me know and I'll give you some. You can also bring the pump in and if for some reason the wet end is cracked I have several of those used and if you need one, again I will just give you one. Again thanks for the review and if you ever need anything call me anytime.

Service Provider Response

Thank you so much for the great review. We really appreciate it and look forward to being there for all your hot tub needs. Next year when your ready to open it call us if you have any questions. Thanks again

Service Provider Response

Thank you [member name removed] for the A rating. We really appreciate it. Like always don't hesitate to call us if you ever need anything. Thanks again and enjoy the hot tub.

Service Provider Response

[Member name removed] thank you for the review. I noticed you gave us a B rating and please let us know what we could have done more to earn an A. Customer service is the most important thing to us. Anyways I hope you are enjoying the hot tub. If you ever need anything please do not hesitate to give us a call at 518-273-SPAS(7727). You can reach us anytime 7 days a week. Thanks again.

Service Provider Response

Thank you for the nice review. I realize when customers come in, it takes a little longer because we explain much more than the typical salesperson at the local stores. I see many reviews online similar to yours and I am so grateful that people really appreciate what we do. We don't just try to get a quick sale. Instead we try to provide you with the knowledge you need to make an informed decision. This is why we have all the other brands in the Capital District on display. This way you can physically see the differences between all the brands. It is what sets us apart, and is the main reason why we sell more hot tubs and swim spas than anyone in the area. Again we sincerely thank you for the review and if you ever need anything don't hesitate to give us a call. Enjoy the new hot tub.

Service Provider Response

Thanks again [member name removed] we really appreciate it. Call us if you ever need anything.

Service Provider Response

[member name removed] thank you so much for the great review. We love it when customers really appreciate our honesty. We never want to be like the sales people at the retail stores. Or worse yet the sales people at those so called home show, expo, or hot tub blow out sales. We do things different and we always will. We actually recommended a smaller less expensive tub for you and most sales people would never do that. It is what sets us apart and the main reason why we sell more hot tubs than anyone in the capital district. Thank you again for purchasing a hot tub from us. You can reach us anytime if you have any questions at all. We would also like to point out that because of customers like you this is our best April in 8 years and we are only halfway through the month. Word of mouth is really getting out there. Thanks again and enjoy the new hot tub.

Service Provider Response

Wow. I could not ask for a better review. Thank you so much. We really, really apprecite it. I have many reviews on my facebook page but most of my customers are not members here and cannot leave feedback. If anyone would like to see more reviews you can go to facebook and type in the spa wholesaler. You can also go to google and type in the spa wholesaler and you'll see some more. We realize we do not have the best location but we do have a huge showroom. We have about 15 different models on display with about 4 different tubs running. We also realize that wherever you go everybody is going to tell you that the tubs they sell are the best. So we have all the competitors tubs on display. This way you can compare them to each other. Nobody else does this. Once again thank you for the great review. If you need anything don't hesitate, you can call us anytime.

Service Provider Response

Ok first off, I believe the customer is always right except in this case. When the hot tub was delivered it was never dropped hard. Also the tub is completely checked before we leave the site. If the tub was damaged a customer would contact us right away or at least I would think so. Instead the member is leaving out the fact that it took her almost a year to call me to complain about a chip in the acrylic. This chip was actually on the top of the spa which you would see pretty quick. Now I honestly don't know what happened during the better part of the year. When I did finally recieve a call from the member I went out to look at the damage. It looked like somebody dropped something on the top of the spa. Perhaps a hammer or bowling ball, I will never know. If I was your average hot tub store I would of said sorry but you should not have waited a year to call me for damage that was done on delivery. To make a long story short it would have taken a few more weeks to get an acrylic repair guy out to fix the tub. Instead I offered the customer a brand new spa with a longer warranty. Now just so everyone knows, nobody, and I mean nobody in the hot tub industry would have done this just to make a customer happy. Especially after the better part of a year went by. Before the customer decided on the new tub I had her come back in, and she got to sit in a dry one for comfort and also see one run so she could feel the pressure. I gave her the option of having her old tub fixed or could have a brand new one which was basically the same tub but with all the new upgrades and a lot more jets. She was very happy with the new tub. She got to see and feel the pressure of the new tub before she decided on it. It is very puzzling to me to read this review especially since the customer has never called once to complain about the new tub. When I replaced her old tub all the pillows were destroyed, not from us, but from the customer. She also received all new pillows on the new spa, so again the customer made out like a bandit and was never charged a penny. This review just goes to show you no matter how hard you try, you can't please everyone. I actually hope the next tub see buys is from one of the retail stores in the area and then she can really see what customer service is really like. I have several thousand tubs of mine in the area. If you were to call I can give out references. Also you can google us and see other reviews. If anyone has any questions they can call us anytime.