Lousy service from Sunrise Spas' and Pelican Pools - help, suggestions?

[gkloib]

What I've been told is that Pelican Pools is no longer selling SunRise Spa's. Additionally and perhaps related, SunRise is not providing warranty service for the Spa's that they'd distributed through Pelican to consumers.

If Pelican would have gone out of business, would SunRise still default on warranty coverage?

Regardless of the business issues between SunRise and Pelican it would be good customer service to stand behind the warranty that was provided.

[Hottubguy]

If I had to guess i would say pelican owes them some serious money. If pelican never paid for your tub then they don't need to warranty it.  We had that happen in our area a few years back. I company went out of business and didn't pay for a whole bunch of tubs. When problems came up the manufacturer wouldn't pay for any warranty work done so the customer ended up having to pay out of pocket.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

The work around for this (been in the same position), is to contact the manufacturer of the failed equipment. My experience was that they'd usually cover the component, but not the labor.

[gkloib]

Update - Spa Pack was installed yesterday, SunRise Spa is up and running fine.

Dr Spa, to your point, my main concern is the SunRise warranty. As a point of reference I've contacted SunRise, they've only sent me a short, response "contact your dealer." If there are future issues with the Spa and they will cover parts (if needed) as is stipulated in the warranty, that'd be great. I know a local guy who'd serviced my previous spa.

The problem has been SunRise hasn't responded to communications.

I've been happy with the spa, but have never seen such indifferent customer service.

My latest e-mail to SunRise was Friday, more to come.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

There may be no warranty through SunRise. As has been said by others, if Pelican NEVER paid Sunrise for the spa, depending on the laws of your state, SunRise may have no obligation to cover anything under warranty.

To expand on my previous post, what I meant was if for instance, your pump goes out, contact the actual manufacturer of the pump for a warranty claim.

[Spoiledrotten]

I can see where the dealership might have screwed over the mfr in this case (if that's not just speculation) but if the customer bought the mfr's product, it seems like the mfr. would ultimately be responsible for the product warranty after it is purchased. The lack of payment from the dealership to the mfr. should, in no way, affect the end user's experience. The courts should be used to settle the dispute between the mfr and the dealer, not the customer that bought in good faith. Now, the customer would bear the responsibility and expense of making things right.

[castletonia]

I was told by Sunrise this morning that the issue is on Pelican Pools end and that the warranty is valid and being honored.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

The lack of payment from the dealership to the mfr. should, in no way, affect the end user's experience. The courts should be used to settle the dispute

The courts are VERY used to it...and generally if the manufacturer has NOT been paid, there is NO warranty they're obligated to honor. (your mileage may vary depending on the laws in your state)....

It's really simple folks, if an item hasn't been paid for in full, there is no warranty. The fact that the customer paid the dealer is one thing, if the dealer didn't pay the manufacturer, then there is NO warranty from the manufacturer.

One twist on this, since the customer DID pay the dealer, the dealer may be responsible to honor the warranty (again, your mileage may vary depending on your state laws....though it sounds like in this case this is exactly what's happening).

[gkloib]

Received e-mail from SunRise today. In e-mail SunRise states they will support future warranty issues (as needed) but to contact SunRise directly.

The e-mail also stipulated that there are "no issues with Pelican" however, from Pelican I was told that SunRise would not take a warranty service request from them and were forced to purchase my spa pack from a third party (Horizon). If there were no issues, I'm remiss as to why Pelican was forced to purchase a spa pack elsewhere.

Regardless of the issues between SunRise and Pelican, I'm cautiously optimistic about the need for future service and based upon this situation am dissappointed with both companies.

[gkloib]

Ok, spa ran for 2 1/2 month's and is now down again...how long to get it fixed and how many hassles this time around???