Complaint Review: Spa Manufacturers Inc.

Do not buy the swim spa from Spa Manufacturers.   It is a piece of crap for which you will waste your valuable time calling them to come out and repair it.  The sales guy told me all the parts were warranted for at least 5 years, but that is not true as I later found out.

I purchased the swim spa just over 4 years ago.  Within the first 2 years of purchasing it, I had to replace the blower motor because it burned out due to water getting into it.  When they built the spa, they put the motor near where water can splash into it thus causing it to burn out. 

They do have good customer service (actually, the credit goes to the general manager since she makes the final decission on all issues) and when I told her about the motor, she sent a technician out to fix it within two weeks. They were going to charge me for the labor because that is not covered in the warranty after 1 year.  The GM did give me a break and did not charge me for the guy's time, but only after I pleaded with her about how this should not have happened because the motor was put in a bad location inside the spa thus causing it to take in water and malfunction.   I also had to replace two of the plastic jet things, and part of the wood cabinet.   They provided me with a few of those jet things which was nice, but they should not have needed to be replaced after only two years.  I had to waste my time going down there to pick them up and then replace them. 

The wood cabinet is another story.  I believe it has something like a 5 or 10 year warranty, but after 1 year, you have to pay the labor charges for the guy to come fix it.   If it was 20 years old, I understand and would gladly pay the guy to make repairs, but if the spa is only 2 years old and requires repairs to the cabinet, that is a serious issue.  I even had to drain it so the guy could lift it up to make the repairs needed.  The result was that I had to eat the cost of 1,250 gallons of water.  Additionally, after the guy finished, I still had issues with the wood cabinet as I noticed that it was not stable around where the tub sits on the cabinet so I had to go out and purchase eight 2 x 4s and get them cut to a specific hight and put them around the edge of the tub inside the cabinet in order to support the weight of the tub filled with water.  The cabinet guy said he does not fix that type of issue.  I also had to take off one of the side panels and replace one of the pieces of wood in it because it had rotted through.  By the way, you will need to stain the wood every year to maintain it.  So now I am an expert repairing swim spas.  Great, just what I wanted to add to my resume.

Back to the present, today I noticed that the ozone generator is not working, come to think of it, I do not remember seeing the blue light on it for the last year.  Does not matter anyway because it is only warranted for 1 year as I learned today.  Ok, so the cost for a new one at Spa Manufacturers is $250.00.  I found a better brand on the internet at Spa Depot for $99.00.  I may just decide not to buy a new one because my water has been crystal clear for the last year.  Those ozone generators are probably just a scam anyway to make you think you need to spend $250.00 to make your water clear.  I probably do not even need it because I am using the Nature 2 system.  No more smelly chemicals like bromine.

On a positive note, the swim spa has a coolness factor of 10 (all my friends love it) and the general manager at the store is pretty nice, but again, the quality is totally crap, not worth the price you pay for it.  The quality of the cabinet and the parts are crap just like the expensive ozone generator that only has a one year warranty and lasts maybe 3 years.  

Do not purchase the swim spa.  You will be calling them within 2 years to have something repaired on it and they will be nice and say "we can fix it but you will have to pay labor cost".

Kindly,

Jo