Indian Summer Pool & Spa

We had to fire Douglas *** and his company, Indian Summer Pool and Spa. Here’s why:
We had Indian Summer install a large, expensive (approximately $20,000, plus around $10,000 in concrete work) spa for us. *** likes to make a big deal that this was done 2 days before Christmas. Some Christmas Present. A month later the spa begins suddenly shutting down for no known reason. In a call with ***, who takes his time getting out to review the problem, I point out that this expensive spa is having problems “out of the box”. *** becomes irate and refutes this, as we have had the spa for a month.
He or his employees come out on several more occasions due to several more shutdowns. All of this is documented on texts, but *** will later refute this as well. Additionally, the spa develops issues where it is overheating, and also loses all power in all but 2 of the jets. Aside from the overheating, these shutoffs and limited jet functions continue to this date.
After more than 2 months of this and numerous texts and visits, my wife texts *** that we are tired of this and should not have to be dealing with this with a brand new spa, which does not work. *** refutes this, essentially calling my wife a liar, and asserts that the spa functions “95% of the time”.
Not caring for my wife being called a liar, I text *** and say we’d like our money back, as the spa has not been properly functioning even 50% of the time. *** then asserts that I am a liar, and doubles down on his 95% claim. How he can assert this when HE DOESN’T EVEN LIVE HERE and the jet functioning has been impaired for an extensive period now is beyond us. It is in fact a lie.
*** and I begin a heated exchange, and I demand our money back. *** finally concedes that his company has been in serious trouble for some time now, and he cannot possibly afford to refund our money. He had to take out a loan in 2019 just to stay afloat, and is barely surviving this year with a government loan. He claims that this is due to ongoing problems with rain. But none of this changes his nasty, unprofessional attitude. He asserts multiple times that the problem is “not (his) fault” because of a faulty part that he finally says he has determined is the cause.
We get in touch with the manufacturer of the spa, who is far more professional than *** has ever been with us. He agrees that the part is the problem, but the factory that makes it is completely shut down due to COVID-19. And unfortunately, no one else in our area but Indian Pool/Douglas *** carry their spas or have any experience with them. Seeing we are going to be saddled with *** and a malfunctioning, expensive spa, I press *** for a refund, indicating we likely will have to resort to litigation, but he again asserts he’s just too flat broke to do it. And again, none of it is his fault, and I’m just an extremely unreasonable person. In all of this nastiness, *** makes at least 2 veiled threats, and I indicate that if he comes to our home and again calls us liars again, it will not go well for him. I also point out that a relative of mine is a retired IRS agent, and *** absolutely loses it over that statement, which is very interesting to me.
We work with the manufacturer on a plan to secure the needed part, and have someone other than *** or his staff install it. I write a negative review of Indian Summer and ***, and am immediately met with legal threats from *** over the review, more nastiness, and a demand that the equipment he has stored in our garage for approximately 2-3 months and which we wanted gone anyway as it had not been used here in some time be given to him immediately or he will call the sheriff. We placed the equipment in our driveway for *** to pick up, which he did soon afterward, and our home surveillance system recorded him doing so, while giving me a dirty look.
I do not recommend Indian Summer or Doug *** to anyone, unless they wish to be mistreated, called liars when they are provably telling the truth, lied to and have the lie doubled down on when there is not one shred of evidence to support the bizarre lie, threatened with litigation for honestly exercising one’s First Amendment Right of free speech by writing a review of a terrible person and his terrible company that per his own admission multiple times IN WRITING is failing badly, threatened with law enforcement because he has stored tools at your home which you never even wanted there, and having an inadequate job done to boot. Including:
1. It taking over 2 months to diagnose the problem (if it turns out to even be the problem) with your brand new expensive spa.
2. Inadequate cleaning of the spa. There was visible growth in the spa with extremely dirty water, which an individual we promptly hired upon the firing of *** and Co. showed us with various measurements was not at all up to standard (he has since emptied it and is properly maintaining it for us).
3. Our metal fence didn’t close properly, and needed a magnet. *** installed a magnet and charged us for it, but it never worked, and stayed in this state for around a month. He claimed it needed an additional part for which he was going to charge us at least $200 more. Upon the firing of ***, we had another individual look at this, and he quickly determined that *** had the wiring wrong. He got our fence to work that day, with no $200 part needed.
If you wish to look up Indian Summer Pool and Spa for employee reviews or reviews elsewhere on the internet, you may be surprised at what you find. I was. There are clear ongoing problems with him mistreating his employees, and paying them late, if at all. If you do a background check on Douglas *** himself, you will find a long list of legal problems. I wish we had done our due diligence and never hired this extremely unprofessional person and company, which by its owner’s own admission is doing so poorly that he cannot refund a brand new $20,000 spa that his customers have had problems with in 3 of the 4 months (and counting – that would mean it has been working correctly 25% - not 95% - of the time, Douglas) they’ve owned it, and yet somehow he CAN afford to sue me for “slander” (it would actually be libel, Douglas – look it up – if anything I said here was untrue, which it is not, as you well know).
An unbelievable, disgusting person. I recommend going with any other outfit in the Springfield, MO area for your pool and spa needs. YOU DO NOT TREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS OR EMPLOYEES THIS WAY.

I have had Indian Summer work on my very old pool for several years. It is looking great, and I appreciate the fact that I can ask questions anytime. Very responsive.

I want to thank you for all your hard work keeping up with our pool nice and clean and the work that you guys did was wonderful ????????????????????