My new Caldera Salina and my letter to the company........

[JB1SNOWMAN]

The latest update(sorry for the delay)............So I come home last friday fully expecting the new control panel to be on my porch as per my conversation with the dealer (Alpin Haus, Amsterdam NY) and with Watkins the previous day,and had mentally prepared myself to spend a couple of hours in the dark sitting on the cold concrete and swapping them out.......only 1 problem, NO CONTROL PANEL!!!!
So I get on the phone with the dealer to find out what went wrong, AGAIN, As it turns out, it's the same ol' story with these guys........Svc. mgr. says he didn't hear from the Gen. mgr., Gen mgr. says he didn't hear from Watkins, Svc. mgr. says he didn't hear from Watkins, Gen. mgr. says he didn't hear from Svc. mgr.........it's like 1 hand doesn't know what the other is doing up at this dealer! I felt like coming "unhinged" at this point but thought better of it and called Watkins........They say they gave the dealer the OK for me to install my own control panel that morning and the dealer says that Watkins never called them to OK it so I ask Watkins to call the dealer again.

About 20 minutes later I get a call from the dealer saying "good news, we got the OK from Watkins and we have your control panel here if you would like to come and pick it up." (Now I don't know if anybody remembers, but a trip to this dealer is well over a 1 hour drive round trip.) I very calmly informed the Svc. mgr. that he was to deliver the control panel to my house ASAP that evening!

Now it's about 6 pm when the panel shows up........its dark, cold(temps are in the high 20's) and I'm sitting on the cold concrete unwiring my brand new hot tub. In taking my time, the total job takes me about 1 hour 45 minutes. It's now 7:45pm, I'm cold and mentally fatigued but at least I'm done........or so I thought........I turn on the breakers and guess what.........SAME PROBLEM! .........Trying to stay calm, I start to think things out and double check my work, everything looks right so remembering that Watkins is on a 3 hour time difference I have just enough time to give them a call. I told Watkins that I suspect the problem might be the high limit sensor (even though the dealer svc. tech who came to my house said it wasn't) and asked him the same question that I asked the tech........"is the sensor a normally open or closed sensor or is it a resistive sensor", my thinking being that depending if it is open or closed it can be "jumpered" for testing. Watkins told me I was on to something with this and asked me if I could take a resistance reading, which I did and they came back with "congratulations, We think you found the problem!" The reading I gave them was "off the charts" and the sensor was basically telling the control panel that the tub was at 150 degrees, thus causing it to shut down. Watkins gave me the part # and told me to call the dealer in the morning in order to get a new one, I thanked him for his time as it was nearly 8:30 pm here, meaning he stayed until 5:30 on a Friday night to help.
Saturday morning.......I call the dealer and get the same ol' "yes we have the part come on up and get it".......NOPE! "you bring it to me! The part arrived and I checked the reading (Ohms) against the old one at the same exact temp. and got a totally different reading. Confident, I installed it and BINGO! problem solved!

This week Watkins mailed me some replacement threaded inserts to replace the 3 inserts that the dealer tech cross threaded when he went to screw to equipment door panel back on during his visit, I received then in the mail on Friday and replaced the damaged ones........

The last I talked to the Gen. mgr, he told me he was working that Sunday, so I would have expected him to give me a call to find out what the status was on the tub. I gave him 3 days and after not hearing from him I called last Tuesday and left him a message that the tub was up and running and that I would like to discuss matters with him.................I'll give you all the latest update as soon as I hear from him.

[castletonia]

Its good to hear that you were finally able to get the problem resolved.  Unfortunately it sounds like you don't have the best dealer.  You have a quality hot tub with a very good manufacturer behind the product so hopefully either your dealer gets their act together or you don't need their assistance too often.

[hottubdan]

Regarding your jets...they are going to be different.  You got a Caldera, not a Hot Spring.  Both made by Watkins, just as Lexus and Scion are made by Toyota.

Glad you solved your problem.  Too bad your dealer is so unhelpful.

[Spatech_tuo]

Its good to hear that you were finally able to get the problem resolved.  Unfortunately it sounds like you don't have the best dealer.  You have a quality hot tub with a very good manufacturer behind the product so hopefully either your dealer gets their act together or you don't need their assistance too often.

Glad to hear Watkins held their end of the bagain even if the dealer didn't. This is exactly why we always stress having a good dealer, no matter how good the manufacturer may be. Unfotunately while we can give people input on the brands we don't have a directory of good dealers.

Enjoy.

 

[Grandpaclark59]

Good to know!  I will keep that in mind when purchasing my next spa!  CALDERA/WATKINS is not the way to go if I am going to purchase hot tubs kansas city.  I have been looking at energy efficiency and longevity as my two main hopes for my next hot tub, so I have definitely learned a lot about the latter with your post! Thanks!

[Chas]

I sure don't get this at all. If I sell a spa, I go fix it. And on the first call 98% of the time.

 - Red light flashing is one of two things:
1.Heater got too hot (could be caused by low flow from a dirty filter, low water level, or bad circ pump)
2.Bad sensor (check it with an ohm meter as you did, replace it if needed. I'm not even a Calder dealer and yet I have temp sensors for Caldera tubs on my service truck.)

I'm sure glad you got it fixed, but I still don't understand why you had to do any of the work yourself. I agree, the guys at Tech Support (Watkins) are great. I use the 'hotline' all the time.

 

[d00nut]

Absolutely unacceptable service from your dealer IMHO.  Do you know how long they have been a Caldera dealer?

[JB1SNOWMAN]

And now for the latest...........I received my new Cover Caddy on Tuesday, and when I took the back cabinet panel off to look at the framework and see what I had to do to install additional bracing I found the back corner wet with mold growing......apparently now I have a leak as the foam is wet as well.

[d00nut]

And now for the latest...........I received my new Cover Caddy on Tuesday, and when I took the back cabinet panel off to look at the framework and see what I had to do to install additional bracing I found the back corner wet with mold growing......apparently now I have a leak as the foam is wet as well.

If that is truly the case, I'd be rather harsh with the dealer. 

Give you an idea.  If I had a brand new spa installed for a customer (HotSpring dealer again here) and it leaked in foam within a year even.... I would do whatever I could to get that person a new spa.  A new spa, not repaired.

[JB1SNOWMAN]

Received word today..........Watkins will be replacing this spa with a new one.

[castletonia]

While this has been unfortunate, this is also why Caldera and Watkins branded products are recommended and respected.  They have taken care of you when many lesser companies might not.

[d00nut]

Received word today..........Watkins will be replacing this spa with a new one.

Awesome, Watkins kicks butt!