Cal Ventures - Spas And More Take Your Money then HIDE, LIE, SWEAR CUSTOMERS COME LAST after the sale Ripoff Arlington Lynnwood Fife Washington
This company, Cal Ventures / Spas and More is the worst company you could ever want to deal with! We purchased a spa and fireplace from them on Nov 26, 2004. What a major mistake!
Our issues: When purchasing our spa off the showroom floor, one of the side panels had a crack. When we said we would not purchase a spa with a cracked panel, the salesperson and manager of the store (Caine), offered to have it completely replaced prior to delivery and noted this on the invoice. It was also purchased with a brown cover to match our house.
It arrived 8 days later and still had the cracked panel, although now the panel was severely cracked allowing rain to get inside immediately. It also arrived with a GRAY cover that actually had a note taped on to it that said "USED COVER - WASH PRIOR TO GIVING TO CUSTOMER". Also, the skimmer door was completely busted and we were given no manual.
We contacted Caine again at our local store and were told it would be taken care of immediately and the service person (Matt) would be here on 12/6. On 12/7 a very USED and WRONG spa panel was dropped at our front door. We called Caine immediately and told him that it was the wrong panel, would not fit, and asked where our other two items were. In addition we were now having issues with our breaker popping every day and mentioned this issue to Caine as well.
We were told that he would get back to us with an E.T.A. After no reponse with repeated attempts on our part, we called the corporate office in Lynnwood. What a treat! At the corporate office is Lorell, Jim and Butch. Lorell is the service woman, Jim is the owner and manager and Butch is a salesman. All 3 of them are good at not answering the phone, hanging up on you when they are done their side of the conversation and lying continually.
We were promised on 5 occasions that someone would be here and take care of our issues and also advised to make sure we were here at the time to ensure our dogs were inside so the unit could be serviced. So, 5 times I made sure I was here, but they never bothered to show up or call. We are the ones who have had to phone them with each NO-SHOW! And, with each of these 5 no shows, we telephoned Jim and Lorell.
Each time, we were given another excuse as to why the guy didnt show up. Either his car brokedown, he had an accident, he was fired, their was an accident on the freeway near our home, etc.. In fact we were told he was fired and not fired some 4 different times. The lying is so bad that one will tell you the guy's car brokedown and the next person within 5 minutes of the last person, will tell you the guy was fired.
Knowing of my husband's frustration over this and that he was being yelled at on the phone by Jim and Butch with every phone call to them, I decided that I would nicely phone them myself and get this taken care of once and for all. Well, I was very much mistaken!
For starters, I had to phone them more than 7 times before someone actually decided to answer my call and then was lied to yet again by Lorell about why it hadnt been serviced yet. Then she hands the telephone to the owner, Jim. Jim comes on the phone and immediately tells me that he doesnt want to hear a word out of my mouth as he already knows the issues.
When I say "Excuse Me?", he tells me to SHUT UP! He then tells me they will get there when they get there and that's that. He also used cuss words to further clarify that he didnt care what I had to say. He also states that he doesn't understand why we have such an issue, as our spa is functioning just fine. When I remind him of the breaker problem, he quickly says "oh yeah, we need to put a volt meter on that to check it too".
I was able to get a few words in however and relayed the fact that we spent over $5k with them, to which Jim replies, "you did NOT, you only spent $3150 with us"! I said "WHAT? You are mistaken, Jim!" I then told him how we too own a business and that the most important thing to us is that our customers are happy and that we take customer service very seriously. I further told him that I couldnt believe how he was yelling at me and the words he was choosing to say and that I didnt deserve or appreciate it. At that time he again reiterated that they will GET HERE WHEN THEY GET HERE and then hung up the phone on me.
I was mistreated so badly on the phone, that I was shaking when I hung up and for a good 1/2 hr after that. I could not believe what I had just experienced.
And to make matters worse. Some two hrs later, Lorell called me to say that they hired a new service person and he would be delivering our items and servicing our tub between 5-6pm this very evening. She also wanted to ensure we would be home yet again. She then explained that Jim was just frustrated when he spoke to me and that he had put us on the top of the list to ensure our unit was taken care of this evening. All I said to Lorell, is "I sure hope the guy shows up". That was last evening, December 20, 2004 and now 6 promises of service.
Well, big surprise that the guy didn't show up AGAIN and here we sit some 4 weeks after purchasing our unit, with a badly cracked panel that lets the rain inside, no skimmer door, a used and ugly cover and a breaker that pops daily so we have to reheat it up to our desired temperature every day we wish to use it. This is what we get for giving this company our business!
Do NOT do business with this company. Please heed our advice. We have never dealt with any company that yelled and cussed and told us to shut up on the phone and cared so little about their customers once the money was in their pocket. There is also a location in Fife, WA, but we have had no dealings with them, but we do know they are all owed by Jim in Lynnwood, WA - I wouldnt count on any better of an experience from them either. And also of worthwile mention is that Caine who we purchased from in Arlington, stated our installation fees for the tub and fireplace would not exceed $500, when in actuality it costs us over $1300. Anything to make the sale, I suppose!
We have no plans to ever deal with Jim, Lorell, Butch, Caine or Cal Ventures / Spas and More ever again. And in fact we are discussing our options today with Wells Fargo, who financed this unit for us. If we can pull out of this sale, we most certainly will.
Todd & Debra
Arlington, Washington
U.S.A.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Shawna
Spokane,Washington,
U.S.A.
You only get one chance --
#5Consumer Comment
Tue, January 17, 2006
Unfortunately regardless of wether or not you felt your customers were unable to be pleased your extemely unprofessional response to their report was represenative of how you do seem to treat your customers. Why should any potential customer give you the benefit of the doubt, (David) when you reply to something like this in the manner in which you did? I sell spas in the business too and I used to be as "hot tempered" as you are and it got me no where. If anything I had to make excuses for my behavior, apologize on a pretty consistent basis for things that are just part of life. Accidents happen, not every sale/delivery or job goes off without a hitch all the time but everyone deserves respect. I do not beleive that your customers once "called you out" in their e-mails, they did not call names, or make what they felt were false accusations. They were frustrated and this is an outlet for people to vent through when they feel they have been wronged by an establishment. In the future instead of putting more time into "responding negatively" to a consumers complaint why not try and resolve it quickly when it is first mentioned to keep all parties involved happy and so you do look like the "good guys" you profess to be!?
David
Edmonds,Washington,
U.S.A.
An Explanation
#5UPDATE Employee
Thu, March 10, 2005
I apologise to readers on this website that feel my response was insensitive. My point was that in some rare cases a customer will feel unreasonably treated and will use exaggerated terms to make their position stronger. I was hoping to illustrate this tendency by my overly sarcastic response to an unreasonable complaint leveled on a very fine family owned business that we are all proud to represent.
We value every customer that we meet and we never forget that our customers keep us up and running. We have thousands of satisfied customers that refer their friends and families to us every year. It is very difficult to read comments that paint us as liars and nut jobs and uncaring, money hungry sharks without feeling set upon. Every person the customer singles out in their report are fine, good people with great moral code. The original report was not representative of our business or how we treat our clients.
My response was meant to be as "over the top" as the complaint.
Jan
CHARLOTTE,North Carolina,
U.S.A.
The manager's rebuttal is most unprofessional.
#5Consumer Suggestion
Sat, February 26, 2005
No one knows the full truth behind the reports we read here. But one can get a pretty good idea of who's telling the truth.
The manager's rebuttal is most unprofessional. His flip and condescending post certainly made up my mind - I would never do business with Cal Ventures after reading this, and hope no one else is desperate enough to.
When the highest you can go is an attitude like David's, let that be your guide in whether you want to deal with such a company.
David must have been so proud of his witty post when finishing. I imagine the whole shop got a big laugh out of it.
David, the joke is on you. Consumers aren't laughing.
David
Edmonds,Washington,
U.S.A.
Operations Manager
#5UPDATE Employee
Fri, February 25, 2005
Customers never lie...
Everything these customers are saying is true because customers never lie. All of our employees are hired under the direct supervision of Satan himself. Not only do we sell spas with cracks in a panel but we harass and scream at our customers for no reason! We must all be unhinged. We're all mental defects with psychotic tendancies. But wait! In the last eleven years we have served over 9000 customers, half of which have purchased spas. Many have purchased stoves like these customers. (Since they didn't complain about it on Ripoff Report we must assume the stove is OK.)
I only saw three complaints here about our company.We aren't perfect but we work very hard to achieve high marks in customer service. We try our best, always, to treat our customers as we would like to be treated.
These customer's were just plain unreasonable. They bought a floor model that was sold cosmetically "as-is" though we tried to reschedule our service department to facilitate a quick repair(remove two screws, replace panel,replace two screws - about ten minutes) and get the customers happy. We had to order a NEW cover for them and the cover they got was a loaner. The skimmer basket was another cosmetic part that in no way affected the appearance or function of the spa. The wiring problem was found to be caused by the customer mis-wiring the breaker.
Finally, this was not a Cal Spa but another brand we used to carry. We tried to step up for these people but nothing we did was good enough or fast enough. We don't lie. We don't cheat. We don't steal. Our sales manager in Arlington never told these customers that installing a spa and stove would be $500.00 as our install prices ARE CLEARLY MARKED and the spa install was free.
I could go on but right now I really need to beat my kids, lie to my wife, kick my dog and throw my grandmother down a flight of stairs. Anything for the sale...