Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  08/04/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I ordered on February 23rd a 7 person, 40 jet square hot tub item #****** model #Model 4L SM order #********* from lowes.com. On March 22, 2022 our spa got delivered. We had everything set up and the delivery men were great. We fill the hot tub and ran into a small issue with the wiring. I called the company QCA spa and after dealing with a complicated technician I was able to get assistance and resolve the issue. The spa tub ran well for a little under two weeks. The entire left side jets (which is a separate motor) got weak. With me having such a unpleasant first experience my husband decided to call this time. They thought it might be a bad diverter so they sent a new. With no resolution they sent out a technician. At this point the control panel also started to become faulty and not turn on with the first (second, third or fourth) try. On June 11th the technician arrived at 12 midnight. He said he didnt know what was wrong with it. I have been consistently contacting the company with no resolution. They have not sent another technician. They often dont even respond to my emails any more. The spa still has multiple months of the first year warranty.

  

  Business response

  08/09/2022

  Our apologies for the inconvenience and long drawn-out nature of our service. QCA Spas is a manufacturer in ****, the customer bought the hot tub online from Lowes in ****. We do NOT physically have a location in **** so there have been several reasons why we are having a hard time finding a service tech to work on their hot tub. When the customer initially called in, we had an issue with a fairly new tech support employee who was rude to the customer on the phone. That employee was disciplined accordingly. The customer complained of weak pressure coming from the left side so another tech support employee thought maybe they had a bad air control valve. Our tech support employee tried to walk the customer through the simple installation of the air control valve, but they insisted we send out a plumber or spa tech to do the replacement. We contacted Buckeye Spas. They are a third party that are not affiliated with QCA Spas but have done work for us in the past.  According to the rep at Buckeye Spas he set up an appointment with the customer and the customer forgot about it. Buckeye Spas are over an hour away from the customer. When Buckeye Spas showed up the customer wasnt home, the rep from Buckeye Spas was able to get a hold of them and asked the customer what they wanted to do, and the customer asked if the rep would come out at 11pm. The rep from Buckeye Spas went to the customers house at 11 pm and found the tub was 100% operational. The customer complained about the control panel taking 5 or 6 times to work. The rep for Buckeye Spas was able to get it to work instantly and claimed that the customer had very long fingernails and was using her fingernails to push down the buttons not the weight of her finger which was why the control panel didnt appear to be working. According to our rep with Buckeye Spas this upset the customer and she pulled her phone out and got very upset and demanded he leave her property and followed him out to his vehicle while recording him the whole way. The technician refused to ever go out and work with this customer again. The customers version of the story was much different, the customer claimed that the technician said, this is what you get when you buy a hot tub online. The customer then sent QCA Spas some videos of the Lack of water pressure. Based on the videos it appears as if the tub is working perfectly. The customer acknowledged that its difficult to see the lack of pressure in the video. We offered to find another technician to come and look at the hot tub. Weve contacted three service techs, 2 of which refused to look at the tub because they only work on tubs they sell. We are waiting on a response from a third tech that the customer helped us find. Based on all of the evidence weve acquired we believe the tub is working. We have responded to every email the customer has sent. We are still actively trying to find a service tech to take a second look at the tub. The issue we are running into is that it is pool season and this is the busy season for spa techs and plumbers. If a second technician goes out there and says the hot tub is running fine then we would expect the customer to pay for both service calls. At this point in time we have covered all of the service costs. If the customer found a spa tech or plumber on their own we would be willing to work with them as well.  

• Initial Complaint

  06/06/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We purchased a pool in 2021. It was installed in August of 2021. We had issues when it was installed. We were told it would take a few days but it took two weeks! The liner ripped after a few months of use due to improper installation. They agreed to replace the liner in 2022. They began the replacement on May 24, 2022. They broke several parts of the top rail while trying to replace the liner. We told staff several times that seams of the liner were not lined up & that there were wrinkles everywhere. We were told that wrinkles would come out when we filled the pool. That did not happen. Today is June 3, 2022 & the liner is still not done. The wrinkles remain. We still have broken & missing pieces. We can't get a return phone call or email from anyone about our issues. We thought we were doing a good thing by taking our business to a local company. We couldn't have been more wrong.

  

  Business response

  07/11/2022

  Some of the information in the complaint is inaccurate. The initial installation was not improper and there is no evidence of a liner rip. The customer came into the store multiple times with the complaint that there was a rip in the liner. They could never show us where the tear was. The pictures we received showed no evidence of a tear. We sent our service crew out there to find the tear, they were unable to find a tear. One of our sales associates took it upon himself to replace the liner at no cost under the assumption that there was a tear and that wed be able to turn the potentially faulty liner in for a warranty credit. In my opinion this was a mistake, we should with 100% confidence found the tear before we moved on to replace the liner. The company we purchased liners from in 2021 is different from the company we purchased liners from in 2022. The new liner didnt fit as snug as the previous liner did, which caused an increase in wrinkles. We sent at least 3 different crews out there to work on it. It says in our purchase agreement that we can NOT guarantee a wrinkle free pool, but we were able to move the wrinkles to the wall so that they werent on the floor. The crew that replaced the liner claimed they still could not find a tear in the original liner which meant we would now not be able to receive a warranty credit from our previous liner supplier. Our next mistake, we didnt immediately bring the original liner back for additional observation and testing. We were going to, but our crew leader left the liner in the customers yard for over five days when the customer gave the original liner to their neighbor to use (I do not know what they are using the liner for). This job set us behind for the season, it was free to the customer, we are unable to return the liner to our supplier. We removed as many wrinkles as we could. As far as we are concerned the job is finished. We would be willing to offer the customer a credit on account towards 2023 chemical purchases.

   

  Thanks

   

  *******************

  Customer response

  07/13/2022

   
  Complaint: 17319392
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Customer response

  07/14/2022

  Several statements made by the business were false. The original install of the pool took 2 weeks when we were told it would take 2 days. That was after we waited for several months for the work to begin. We were very understanding during that time. When the install was complete we asked staff to come feel the bottom of the liner because you could feel rocks under it. We were told "No". When the liner began to leak, we again asked staff to come look at it & again we were told "No". We were given a patch kit & attempted to find the hole ourselves but were unable to find it. We continued to add water to the pool for months before it froze to keep the sidewalls intact until the liner could be replaced in the spring. When it came time to replace the liner it took staff 12 days just to replace the liner. This was due to the employees only working for a few hours at a time and leaving for the day.  They did send 3 crews to our home but the first came,  did nothing & left.  The second is the main crew that did most of the work but only for a short amount of time per visit. The third crew came out to replace parts that were broken by the second crew. There are still pieces of the top rail that were cracked by their staff that have yet to be replaced. The only reason the liner is nearly wrinkle free on the floor of the pool is because we spent hours working those wrinkles out. Not their staff! There is still a HUGE wrinkle that is at least 4 feet long on the sidewall of the pool. We understand they cannot guarantee a wrinkle free liner but this is ridiculous. We voiced concerns again & again about shifting the liner so less wrinkles would appear but we were told the wrinkles would fill out once we filled the pool with water. They did not. Then we were told by their staff that we just had to live with it. As far as us giving away the old, damaged liner that statement is totally false. When they removed the damaged liner it sat on our deck for over a week. That liner was disgusting. It was full of nasty water & sat there just stinking for over a week. When staff did finally pull it off our deck that nasty, smelly water was everywhere. It took almost a week to clean that smell off or deck & patio area. The staff did attempt to clean it up but did not make much of an effort. It was their staff that gave the liner to a landscaper that was working at our neighbors house, not us! We really feel that $250 worth of pool chemicals is a joke after all of this. I'm sure we've pumped more than $250 worth of water into that pool just to keep it up so it could be fixed & when they did fix it,  they did a half a** job!

  

  Business response

  08/02/2022

  The president of the company went to the customers house and walked through every issue and weve come up with a mutual resolution that will satisfy both the customer and QCA ********************** and Spas. We are working together to see this resolution through to the end.

   

  Thanks

   

  *******************

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