SPA DEPOT

DO NOT BUY A SPA COVER FROM THIS COMPANY-if something goes wrong, the warranty is useless. We purchased a spa cover from this company on November 5, 2010. The cover worked fine until March, 2011( a FOUR MONTH period), we noticed that one side of the cover was bulging upward (we live in North Carolina and it was 82 degrees that day). As the weather cooled, the bulging subsided but the cover became wrinkled. The problem seemed to be trapped air or gas within the plastic sheeting around the foam core of the cover causing the sheeting to expand and contract with temperature change. The underside of the cover was also bulging and touching the water. This situation was causing the cover to close improperly and is obviously a manufacturing defect. We contacted the company by email and asked to speak to them by phone. We were told that all warranty discussions had to be by email for "discussion purposes." I have never ever dealt with any company anywhere which was unable to be reached by phone to register a complaint. If we had not had a computer, I wonder how this would have been handled. We were then asked for photos of the cover as follows: "showing the ENTIRE surface area of your spa cover, two showing each hinge (zipper area, the ENTIRE length) and two of each zipper undone showing the (entire) metal reinforcement." This requirement is just about meaningless, since the cores are covered in DARK BLUE plastic making viewing anything inside almost impossible. We were also asked 9 questions many of which were were baffling. Some examples: "What sanitizing system do you use? What type of weather do you have in your area (Please be specific)? What cleaners/protectants do you use on your spa cover? How often do you clean your cover?, etc." What relevance these questions have to our complaint is unknown to us. We sent the pictures as requested and then were told they were too small(which was not our fault). We then provided enhanced pictures. We were told that it would take 2 weeks to advise us of a decision on our claim. On or about March 24, 2011 we were advised that our claim had been forwarded to their "warranty department" (whatever that is). After 2 weeks, having heard nothing, we sent them 2 emails inquiring about the claim. We have received no response to date. Dealing with this company has been an ordeal from beginning to end. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!