New Hot Tub Woes :( What should I do?

[720]

So my wife and I purchased a new hot tub on June 25, 2012. It was a show room model from last year. The dealer finally delivered it just over a week ago, and the electrician was set to install it tomorrow morning.  The dealer/owner came out tonight to install an ozonator.

This is a round hot tub, California Cooperage 103 with steel frame, ABS pan.


So when he had part of the skirting off I came out to talk to him about the hot tub. With part of the skirting off, I could see that one of the skirt pieces still attached was not  flush with the bottom pan of the hot tub (could see this looking at it from the side into the inside with the first skirt piece off, if that makes sense), leaving a 1-1.5 inch gap along the bottom of the skirt into the inside.  This is a flaw.  The skirt should be flushed right to the ABS pan along the bottom. Rodents, bugs, heat loss, will all occur with the design in this state. Also, this piece of the skirt (or cabinet I guess) is also installed up too high in general, so that if you looked at the tub from the  front you'd notice it sits up higher than the rest of the cabinet, which looks weird.

We then noticed another piece of the skirt was also not flush, but not as bad. So the dealer agreed this was unacceptable, and said he'd contact the rep to see how to proceed.  I then said we should cancel the electrician and he said no go ahead with that. I said, but this is flawed, if the tub has to be sent back we don't want the electrician putting holes in to the pan to bring in wire.

He then agreed so we called and cancelled the electrical. But when I started talking about the possibility of having to send this one back, he said that he could probably fix this problem by making modifications to the skirt and frame of the tub. I said I didn't know about that and he said he'd talk to the rep about it.

So after he left I'm thinking, if I pay for something new, it should be new, not fixed or modified. But then I'm new to the hot tub purchase so perhaps it's normal. Seems like BS and even if he could fix it, to me it seems like it shouldn't need to be. Should I just put my foot down, and send this back and get my money back?

Edit: I'm in error with the gap depth. It's actually just over an inch. It looks larger from the inside, but just the same it's a problem. Apologies for the wrong estimate above.

[Chas]

First off, I'm sorry to hear you are not able to enjoy a nice shiny new tub sitting in your yard!

And I think you did the right thing by not hooking it up.

Pictures would help a lot here - there are other dealers around who could see what you have and comment.

If the siding was simply mounted wrong, it should be easily fixed. If there is something which has shifted in the frame - perhaps from shipping damage or something like that - it might be more difficult, but still fixable.

But if, as you say, there is a fundamental flaw in the way the tub was built, then I would hold out for a replacement.

Be polite - it always seems to work better. Firm, of course, but polite.


HTH

 

[720]

Hi Chas I'll take some pictures. The skirt that is pulled away and out from the bottom the worst though is also too short since it sits up a little higher from the pan than the rest of the skirting, yet the top is flush with the underside lip of the tub if that makes sens. If it was pulled down I suspect it would leave a gap at the top.

Anyways I'll post pictures. I took some.

[Chas]

Without seeing it (yet) I would say that the frame may have been assembled wrong. I'm glad to hear you did take some pictures, they do come in handy here, not to mention in documenting your interactions with the factory...


 

[720]

I have some pictures.

Here's the tub with one panel off after the dealer was here, he left it that way for now to come back.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Drakaland/hottub1.jpg

Here's the gap seen from the inside. The skirt at the bottom is slightly too short and pulled away.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Drakaland/hottub2.jpg

Heres the start of where you can see the skirting starts to rise. Also, that trim piece is cut too long compared to the rest.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Drakaland/hottub3.jpg

And here's another image of the gap and rise from the bottom.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Drakaland/hottub4.jpg


There is another panel that has a gap too, but it's not as bad.

[720]

Also, one of the brackets appears to be bent
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Drakaland/bracketbent.jpg

[TwinCitiesHotSpring]

looks like that thing fell off the back of the turnip truck  hopefully the dealer feels the same and doesn't attempt to perform a quick "rig job" and just has the unit replaced, that gap is completely unacceptable and I'm not sure how there would be a quick fix aside from filling it with silicone, foam, etc. which would still be unacceptable in my eyes...good luck, and good job documenting everything

[720]

So I called the dealer today and requested they take this away for a refund.  The problem with the dealer is that we bought this thing a month ago and it's still not up and running.  There's been all sorts of poor representation which I won't go into detail about, but the just of it is I pretty much had to coordinate/manage the entire delivery and no one ever calls me back. The dealer had all sorts of exuses today as to why things ot thappened the way they did and pretty much begged me not to get a refund. He said he spoke with Maax and claims it's an easy fix. So he offered me a few options.

1)fix the current siding, which I'm not comfortable with to be honest, it just puts more holes and requires cutting it down and we didn't buy something to be fixed.
2)order new siding, which is what I'm leaning toward as long as he can gaurantee it will be fixed to factory.
3)bring in a new hot tub from the factory. The problem with this option is it will take some time, is a pain in the ass etc.

I'm thinking of giving then the option for number 2 if I can get it in writing that it can be fixed properly, with a proper seal etc. It looks to me like the old siding with issues was not pressed in along the bottom properly before it was drilled and fastened into place, and with new siding this could be done.

[Tman122]

Remember this paticular brand isn't the highest quality tub. There may be some comprimises in fit and finish that you will get even from a new one. While the flaws you showed are most definetly wrong and should be repaired or replaced. You may have to step up in quality/cost to get a perfect tub.