EDIT (Monday): I really, really wanted things to go well. I really did. Joshua was right on it on…read moreFriday, as I wrote below. However, when the tech came out, things went sideways, yet again.
I'm attaching a second photo that shows what I came home to. My wife told me that the tech got here a little after nine, stayed for an hour, then left, leaving the panel open. He did not tell her anything, nor was anything communicated to me through email or text. Our assumption was that the job wasn't done, since the spa wasn't closed back up. However, the tech never returned. At about 4:30 PM, I called the very friendly and efficient answering service and explained the situation - I didn't know if the work was done, because no one had communicated with us one way or the other, and that it appeared more work needed to be done since the panel was off. To add insult to injury, the tech left our gate unlatched, and had my daughter not found it, our dogs could have gotten out of the yard.
Again, to his credit, Joshua got back to me within fifteen minutes, and I explained the situation to him. He confirmed that the work was indeed done (but I can't really tell, and won't be able to if and/or until I see the water level going down. The concrete slab is wet, and it being December, it's unlikely to dry out enough anytime soon to determine if there's any leak at all).
I explained my frustration at the fact that 1) nothing was communicated to me one way or the other and 2) the spa being left open seemed to say the work was not done, but the tech never said anything. He apologized, and told me the tech would not be working for them much longer. It seems that a lot of the trouble is being cast upon the technician, and I'm sorry to hear that the young man may be losing his job, but I'm sure everyone involved would agree that the buck stops with the managers, who are tasked with making sure that the techs that go out in the field are competent to do the work required, and understand the basic principles of customer service. I told Joshua that I had no other recourse than to reduce my review back to one star. I cannot in good conscience recommend Spa Repair Northwest to anyone. I understand that my negative review is an outlier, but it's important for consumers to understand what they may (or may not) be getting when hiring a company to do a service. For $800, I expect quite a bit more.
EDIT (Friday): Joshua from Spa Repair Northwest called me after hours to let me know they were on it, and have scheduled a repair appointment for first thing Monday morning. I've added two stars to my original review because of their prompt attention to my concern. I will revise this review again once our spa is in operating order.
(Original post): At the beginning of October, I noticed that my older Arctic Spa had a small leak. A repair tech came out and told me our pump needed to be replaced for about $800 including cost and labor. What followed was a series of unanswered calls and missed messages, with the ultimate result being a new pump finally arriving. The same tech came out to install the pump, which resulted in a proprietary part on the spa breaking, which required being special ordered from Arctic Spa. Again, a series of miscommunications, and I was finally informed that the shipper had made a mistake, resulting in an extended delay in getting the part from Arctic. I got a flurry of apologies from various representatives of the company, and a firm date was set for the replacement part and the pump to be installed. That was four days ago (Monday).
This afternoon, I went outside to hear my spa "roaring," meaning that air was being sucked down into the pump. I opened the lid to see the water level was down about two inches, and there was a substantial amount of water emerging from the underside of the spa. I was able to speak to someone in the office this afternoon, who assured me someone would be in touch as soon as possible. I'm not holding my breath, to be honest. Of course, it is a Friday after a holiday, and I understand that, but I also understand that this has been going on for two months now.
Lastly, it seems as though the tech has installed the pump incorrectly, though it might be a design issue. This is the third pump I've had in 24 years, and with the previous two, the standard filtering setting on the spa was the "low" setting, but now, when the spa switches on to filter the water, the jets are on high.
I see that this company has a lot of very positive ratings, and I want to believe that I've just had a perfect storm of problems that really isn't the fault of the company, but my confidence has been greatly shaken.
To their credit, they did not charge me for the part that broke while the pump was being installed initially, and they were very apologetic and attentive to me once the problems with their shipper was discovered. I'm hoping things will get better.
