Water by Design

As to Mr. [redacted]’s complaint, it is true we have worked on his spa since 2012 however we have only done simple leaks and a pressure switch which is a generic part to many tubs.  [redacted] knew we were not Thermo Spas dealers or that we even had the ability to order their parts.  When [redacted]...

called our store and spoke to [redacted] and told him he had a problem with his tub and could he schedule a service call, [redacted] told him that [redacted] Sr. was in the area and could possibly stop by.  I was contacted and went to his home within one hour.  After inspecting the unit I determined there was a problem with his board it was acting very erratic in its distribution of electricity across the board.  In a case like this we will leave the board unhooked and tell the home owner to turn the breaker off which we did.  We leave the board unhooked incase someone turns on the breaker there won’t be a problem.I spoke with Mr. [redacted] that day and explained the situation to him and the condition we left the board.  I told him we would try to come up with a solution to fix his problem.  Not being able to order from Thermo Spas for the parts was our problem.  We had a very hard time trying to find the parts and at one time we did tell him we could probably find a retrofit for around $1,000.00 not $10,000.00. At this point Mr. [redacted] was trying to find the parts from Thermo Spas and we were trying other routes, at that time there was definitely some phone tag issues; however the matter at hand never changed, we knew he wanted his hot tub fixed and he knew we were trying to help.The last conversation we had was one day before he wrote this letter to the Revdex.com.  He called the office and I answered.  He told me that he had found a company that came in and found some loose wires on the board which I told him were probably the ones we left loose for safety.  At this point I explained to him that I didn’t feel safe about them re hooking the unit and expressed this to him.  I feel terrible about this issue and what it has come to; however I do feel we were looking out for the best interest of Mr. [redacted].As to the disputed amount of $95.00 I feel as though we would like to refund the entire amount of $190.00 to try and satisfy the customer.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
Regards,
[redacted] & [redacted]

Had the most disappointing experience with this company over the past 8 months (Beginning Dec. 2013) of any business I have ever worked with.

Everything started out quite well. I called and told them of my problem with my hot tub (not one they sold) and [redacted] told me he would be in my area soon and would stop by. When he came by and opened up the unit the first thing he touched caused a major flash of light and he told me my motherboard was gone. Prior to his arrival, all we could tell was the thermostat was not working since it would not keep the tub hot or turn on pumps when it dropped below a set temperature. We had had to manually turn on the tub to keep it hot—thus the reason for the initial call to Water by Design.

Now we had to replace the motherboard at a price of $796.54. It was ordered and [redacted] came to install it. We thought we were done but oh no. Not only were the pumps reconnected incorrectly, but within a few days the 3rd pump stopped working as did the air blower. We called [redacted] at Water by Design again and he explained what needed to be done which did not seem that expensive or difficult. We waited and waited to hear back, when we finally got in touch (we live over 50 miles from showroom since they closed their NRV location during this process), [redacted] claimed that the manufacturer was at fault, claiming that he could not get anyone with the manufacturer to speak with him. Then he claimed that the part needed was back ordered. We continued to wait another month until we finally was able to get them on the phone again, (forgot to mention that they would never pick up their phone during business hours, I left numerous messages, I emailed only to get an occasional unhelpful response), The part was still not available. I asked for more information about the part and called the manufacturer and got a great guy on the phone who offered to help. He made himself available to talk by phone with Wter by Design to help us get this fixed. I called Water by Design again and gave them the contact information and waited for a response. More months pass and Water by design claims they are booked up over 5 weeks out and not able to help us. That was the last contact until late July, during this time I called weekly, sometimes a few time a week and left messages. I began to think they were screening my number so I had another family member call to see if they would answer—they did and when I tried to called right after that—no answer. NO return calls or emails—nothing. After waiting for the 5 weeks to pass we returned to the showroom to learn that they really had no intention of helping us out—they were way too busy with their other customers. [redacted] had a lot of excuses and tried to put the blame on my for not getting in touch but I have my cell phone records and he of course has the voice messages too.

The miscommunication could be written off as just that if it had not happened so many times. I think after he came up and ruined the motherboard, he realized that he could not handle the job and continued to put us off until we gave up.

Be wary of buying anything from this company other than spa supplies. If you ever need them for repair—they will leave you hanging.