Hot Spring Spas

We have had our Hot Springs, Classic Hot tub for over 20 years, purchased at the Mayfield store and to date the only repair was to fix a small leak around the light housing, other than that the tub has performed excellent. Also whenever I have a question about water quality and or what Chemicals to use the staff has been very helpful even when I call on the phone.

After sales is very poor, actually it is worse than that. If you are contemplating buying a Hotspring hot tub, think long and hard as the after sales team are useless. Repairs take weeks, sometimes longer as they don't hold the basics; such as jets - and they fail often. Phone calls are never answered and when you do manage to speak with someone other than the answerphone they deny all knowledge of knowing of your complaint/service request and you have to start all over again. If I could turn back the clock and buy another tub I would gladly do so. I would not touch Hot Spring South West with a very long barge pole.

ur Flair hot tub is now 1 year old and so far 6 engineer visits.. on delivery 2 panels found to be damaged which I accept can happen, but 3 months for replacement parts to be supplied and fitted is not acceptable. Then the circulation pump was found to be very noisy. Engineer could not visit for 3 weeks only to be unable to fault..I had to inform him the noise was due to the pump being mounted direct to the frame with no rubber mounts.. I made an insulation gasket for the engineer to fit which cured that fault.. then the ozone system stopped working.. 3 weeks before engineer could visit again..On inspection engineer decided it was due to blocked air pipe ( worrying when less than 6 months old) anyway 2 weeks later ozone ceased working again.. This time engineer could not visit for 4 weeks... This time ozone system replaced and engineer thought the original must have always been faulty.. Then short while after one of the LED lamps failed to illuminate.... guess what no engineer for 3 weeks.. this time I spot direct to HotSprings customer service nice chap who was on it pretty sharpish and engineer was with me in under a week.. Led set replaced.... then 2 months later the LED again went faulty.. yep 4 weeks till engineer would visit.. LED set replaced again... I love the tub and accept things can go wrong.. However here in the UK at least HotSprings use a 3rd party to carry out in warranty repairs.. The customer service is awful which means I would only ever put people off buying a Hot Springs product... So come on Hot Springs get with it and bin HTA and employ your own service team. You are said to supply a top class product however to are demonstating very poor customer service.. On a postitive note if you suffer from joint pain a hot tub works wonders.. I have solar panels so have not noticed any increase in electrical costs and to date have spent less than £50 on chemicals and treatments for the water. One of my freinds purchased a much cheaper Hot Tub shortly after I had mine. His has a only 1 fault which was a minor leak, after phoning supplying agent to report fault it was fixed in less than 48 hours..

I purchased a Hot Spring "Hot Spot Stride sn STD1P3023" in the summer of 2012. Now, 2/29/2016, I've been waiting for months for a replacement for a defective (but out of warranty)control panel and can't even get an ETA on the part. A hot tub company that can't provide parts for equipment that's less than 4 years old should concern itself about its #1 position.

The dealership salespeople are nice and very respectful.

I purchased HOT SPRING SPA with ACE SALTWATER SYSTEM 18 mo ago. My ACE saltwater system cell stopped working. I called Customer service and they said the cell last 18 mo to 2 yrs. Cell replacement cost $800.00 plus installation with 1 yr warranty. BEWARE of buying ACE system.

Please see email of events which I have written:

We received delivery of the hot tub 10th March 2014; although we were given instructions on how to keep the water clean, the start up pack was not brought along on the day, this was delivered the following day without any measuring scoops, these were sent out by post which we received a couple of days later.

After a week we realised that our hot tub was losing an excessive amount of water and we phoned Rose from Hot Springs in Congresbury for advice who then advised that we speak to maintenance, which we did.

After a few weeks your technicians came out and assessed that there was a leak, but said they did not factor in time to fix it. So we had to wait until the 7th April for your technicians to come out again to fix the leak, this being 4 weeks after receiving our leaking hot tub!!

My partner left them fixing the leak as she had to go off to work.

These technicians had not fixed the problem. They had not tested our hot tub to check it was working as the hot tub was not wired up inside the casing. The garden was left a complete mess with the insulation of the hot tub strewn over the garden. There were two missing screws from the front of the hot tub and one screw missing off of the control panel. Totally unsatisfactory!

Having come back to this, we immediately made contact with you and requested this to be sorted out immediately!

We were promised a Saturday visit and promised by an adviosr that he would personally oversee the work now, neither of these were done. Having had to chase again for a date of a visit; a visit came on Wednesday 23rd April and he was not present. Once again your technicians said that the work could not be done on the day and our hot tub would have to be taken away for repair.

As non experts in hot tubs, the repairs that we are aware of needing to be carried out to bring up to a standard that Hot Springs were quick to show us before buying our hot tub:

* Repair leak(s) – it is losing about 1-2 inches of water a day.

* Back right jet is not functioning up and down.

* Thermostat is now not working correctly.

* The tiles within the tub is very sub-standard and a possible health and safety issue.

* Stuffing Glands and Blind Grommet missing.

* Missing screws on the outer and inner casing.

* To make certain that all the insulation that needs to come out so our hot tub can be repaired is replaced.

I am an electrician by trade and would like you to confirm that your technicians that come out to install and repair the hot tubs are qualified electricians as the way our hot tub was left on the 7th April failed an electrical inspection I conducted on it. I would also like you to confirm who and what checks were made to our hot tub prior to delivery.

We have been informed that our hot tub will now be picked up week of the 5th May, so I expect a call to confirm exact date. I expect a replacement hot tub while our’s is away being repaired.

We have taken a lot of time off work to try and get our dream hot tub (which is increasingly becoming a nightmare), sorted out which is now proving an issue with both our employers. I expect some sort of mutually reasonable compensation due to poor standard of work and service and due to the fact that we have been having to fill the hot tub up regularly due it losing water which has led to us having to spend more on electric to heat it up plus the inconvenience. However, if our hot tub is not fully repaired this time round then we will be seeking that our hot tub be given back to you and a full refund be given.

Our hot tub was not sold in accordance to the Sales of Goods Act 1979; of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose.

I have kept all details, have taken photo’s and I am seeking legal advice with regard to this situation. If our hot tub is picked up for repair week of 5th May this will be 8 weeks after we taken delivery of it, 8 weeks of owning a leaking hot tub! It’s not something we expect having spent £4,500 on the tub!

Now with them picking up the hot tub on the 8th of May which was two days later than they said our hot tub was meant to be with them for a week. However, there were more leaks that were found so it took longer so return date was meant to be 23rd of May 2014. I got a phone call day before to say that delivery could not be made due to problems getting the trailer for delivery. We were then away following week so arranged for hot tub to be delivered day we flew back on 2nd June. Now see next email:

Hope you have had a nice holiday. I know we are due to deliver the hot tub this morning, but having had it on and testing all weekend, there is one extra small leak which we have found, as you know there have been a few problems with this hot tub, and I think its best if I don’t bring it back to you today, as we both want it back in the best condition it can be in. I will get the leak repaired today, and I will inform you what day this week we can bring it around.

Having not heard nothing a couple of days we sent email on 5th June:

response to your email of 2/6/14, the delay in delivering our hot tub due to finding another leak!! Please can you advise us on the expected date of the return of our hot tub. This was picked up 8th May 2014 to be repaired with the view of having it for a few days, it has now been almost 1 month.

Having had NO response we sent email 10th June:

Following my email of 2/6/14 and no response we have had, we have now run out of patience and confidence in Hot Springs to provide us with a high quality standard, fully working Hot Tub. You have had our Hot Tub for 4 weeks 6 days at the time of this email, having purchased it 8 weeks prior, with it never working properly and standard of service we received has been appalling. We refer to all emails and telephone recordings/messages which we have saved.

In accordance with the Sales of Goods Act we request our customer right to have a full refund. We request that you contact us urgently (within 5 working days) to make arrangements for the refund and pick up the tub that was delivered while our tub was with you.

Within 10 mins of this email being sent a return email came back:

I apologise for not getting back to you I was not in work last week. Brian has fixed the leak on the hot tub and this is now ready to be delivered. I could deliver this to you on Thursday, would this be ok? I understand you are upset with the service you have received from us, and that I didn’t contact you last week, but I feel this best thing to do is deliver your hot tub, and see if it is to your satisfaction. The tub is now in perfect working condition, I have a starter pack and a submersible pump here waiting for you. I could drop the tub off in the morning before you leave for work, begin filling it and come around later on when your home and make sure it is to your satisfaction. As I have said from the start, my priority is to fix the issues on the hot tub, it has taken some time, for which I can only apologise, but it needed fixing, and it is now fixed.

We sent following email same day 10th June:

Our patience have ran out!! After 10 mins of me sending today's email we get a response. Yet no response to previous email..... You say that you were not in work last week, but surely Brian who was dealing with the leak could have updated. We are into Tuesday of this week, could you not have dropped an email yesterday? You were meant to deliver before we went away on holiday - 23/5/14, but couldn't due to the trailer, however when delivery yet another delivery date being made on 2/6/14 the Hot Tub was found to have another leak!! Excuse after excuse after excuse!! When paying £4500 for a Hot Tub and having it sold to us leaking from the start, then with all this fiasco over the weeks/months, we have lost total confidence in your products and company. We have been totally stressed out by the whole experience and would certainly not recommend Hot Springs to anyone.

As previously stated, we have now lost patience and would like to use our customer right have a full refund, there would be no compromise on this now. We require you to make contact with me via email or phone to discuss picking up the other tub and refund details.

We have now had the following email sent to us today 11th June:

I understand the position your in, I will discuss this with the relevant persons and will get back to you as soon as possible, as I said the Hot Tub is now ready so if you do feel you want it then please let me know. Otherewise I will speak to the relevant person and get back to you.

As you can see having spent alot of money thousands on a hot tub we dont not expect this, and I think we have been pretty patient and reasonable about this. Will keep this sight updated with progress of situation.

Iam on my 4th 2speed pump in 4.5 years, and went though 2 pressure switches. Nothing but LEMONS.

After that 2 year warranty runs out get ready to spend $1000. or more a year in repairs.

Watkins and there Dealers will not honor LEMONS ,make up storys that its the customer. Right nice people,will not do the right thing

Do not buy from this company! Their customer service skills are non existent! Having bought and paid for our hot tub we were given a delivery date. Late afternoon the day before we were informed that delivery would not happen and we had to wait a further 8 days. The new date arrived, as did the hot tub, this time with no cover. A temporary cover was provided that doesn't fit and is tied down with straps we provided. The new cover was promised for 6 days time. That should have been today. Once again late afternoon, I'm told no lid will be delivered. Now I have to wait a further 2 days. What upsets me most is they don't care! What should have been a lovely experience has been turned sour by being let down not once, not twice but three times....and who knows how many more times before I get what I have paid for? I have not left a review on their Facebook page as I was unable to leave anything other than a 5 star review!

Hot Spring spa would be great if it did not have ACE SALT WATER SANITIZING SYSTEM which has had to be replaced twice in two years at cost of almost $2000. Manufacturer, Watkins, does not honor their "guarantee" and gives owner NO HELP! Even the dealer is upset by Watkins. We plan to disconnect ACE SYSTEM and use old service we have used on six other spas we have owned over past thirty years.

Hotspring Spas, sold by Hotspring.co.uk, hottubbarn.co.uk and hottubassist.co.uk (are the new names after they rolled over all their suppliers) These companies are all the same people !!!

Save your money, even though the hot tubs are fine when you buy them, give it time, and the level of service from these companies drop off to downright rude. My parents purchased a hot tub from the Chelmsford shop, almost some 12 years ago. Initially the tub was good, but as soon as there was a problem hotsprings became very unhelpful, and even recently, Trevor from hottubbarn wouldnt even forfil a service when they had taken the money from my parents! We had to go to court to get a replacement lid, which we got, but the bad taste in my parents mouths has gone to far, the hot tub will be scrapped, and a different make will be chosen.

If we had known the level of service these outfits offer, we would never have purchased a Watkins hot tub!!!! We have tried to notify Watkins in the US, but have yet to hear anything!!! Save your money, buy a different hot tub!!!