Welcome to our forum.
Did you have another spa before it and do you find that there is a significant energy savings if so? The Artic dealership had this sales pitch about how their filter can maintain the heat of the water.....but I'm not sure how exactly that's possible. They tried to explain it to me, but it seems to me you're either running the heater, or running the filter....either way you're using power.
The Artic dealership had this sales pitch about how their filter can maintain the heat of the water.....but I'm not sure how exactly that's possible.
I have to agree with Josh. It is a shame we don't have any Phoenix owners telling us their real world experiences with the product and with the company that makes it.With that in mind I decided to do some research and see if I could find some sort of verifiable feed back.I logged on to The Better Business Bureau of North East Calif and asked to see all hot tub retailers within 30 miles of Redding, Ca.The search listed over 30 companies. I excluded those companies that were clearly "work at home", service, or pool and spa construction companies.It left a list of 6 brick and mortar retailers that include Hot Spring Spa, Caldera, Sundance, Coleman, D1 & Phoenix spa.In the past 36 months, there have been 18 BBB complaints generated from the customers of these Redding, Ca retailers.16 of those 18 complaints are directed at Phoenix Spas.I immediately thought that Phoenix Spas clearly had a disproportionate amount of complaints compared to the rest of the local Redding Hot Tub retailers. Then I realized that this might not be a fair comparison as the other local retailers are just that, local, while Phoenix is a national brand. Perhaps 16 complaints are proportionate to other major manufacturers.I then compared Phoenix’s BBB report to those of Watkins Mfg (HSS, Caldera) and Sundance/Jacuzzi.Without any verifiable data to support this, my conservative guess is that either of these companies, on a national level, sells at least 6 times the amount that Phoenix does. My thinking was that if either company had approximately 6 times the amount of complaints, perhaps Phoenix was right in line with complaints vs. units sold. Sundance’s BBB shows they have 31 complaints. If my 6X theory is true, then clearly this company has far less complaints to units sold then Phoenix.The Watkins BBB report, however, is the real shocker. Regardless of the accuracy of my 6X theory, no one will contest that Watkins is a giant power house in the industry. This major player only had 13 complaints! With a total of 3 complaints less then Phoenix I am able to come to the conclusion that not only are the amount of complaints towards Phoenix Spas high, but the amount is disproportionate to the local Redding Hot Tub Retailers AND to the national brands as well.Phoenix customers may not be speaking on this forum, but they do speak.
Being a HS Vista owner..... this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy..
I said it in my original post, I've repeated it several times...but I'm only looking for info on the good features of brands I'm interested in. I'm NOT looking for a smear campaign against brands that dealers here are competing with. Clearly...some people here are not understanding that very simple request. I'm pretty much ignoring the input from those folks.
Josh,I too am a fellow shopper. I've wet tested 6 or 7 brands. I know nothing about Phoenix, so I promise I won't bash it. I will tell you that I think it's very wise that you're wet testing. And I personally am in the "You get what you pay for" camp. Therefore, I personally decided I would only buy from one of the top 5 or 6 manufacturers. I belong to this and another forum. I assume a lot of the posts are from company reps and dealers, and I factor that into how I analyze the posts. But even when someone is clearly with a certain company, they oftentimes will acknowledge who else makes great tubs. So, after reading for a few weeks/months, one can quickly decipher who makes the best tubs and has the best reputation. My advice -- stick to one of the very well made tubs that everyone concedes is in the top 5 (or 10) manufacturers, and you'll be happier in the long run. It's admirable, I suppose, that you're thinking about giving an underdog a chance, but it's a big investment. I personally would rather reward the manufacturer that did all the R & D and put alot of effort into good customer service. Just my opinion. I'll sit down now.
Being a searching shopper, that information would make me feel a little cautious about that brand....except that I don't live in Redding and I already did my own BBB search which turned up completely conflicting results from that story.When I started the search, I did a BBB check for the local dealers myself...and saw that my local Phoenix dealer and the local Arctic dealer both have the same number of complaints. They were the first two stores I went to, and they're both in the single digits complaints-wise. The local Marquis Dealership also has a few complaints (I couldn't find info on the D1 place). Only Hot Springs, Jacuzzi and Sundance had no complaints at all. What that told me is that all the local dealers I'm visiting are rating pretty highly....which is a good thing.Again...all factors I already took into account when starting my search. I do find it strange that one of the members here (probably a dealer) has gone through the trouble of registering a brand new fake account just to bash Phoenix some more. I gotta say...all this petty badmouthing is doing is making me more interested in giving that company as much of a chance as I possibly can. I was admittedly interested in them before....but all this bashing of their product has just amplified that interest, if only because I despise the petty tactics some dealers (on this board and in the showrooms I've visited) use against their competition. These shady and juvenile tactics of slandering your competition instead of simply selling your own product are a very bad way to sell a product to a person like me who hates deception. All things being equal, I'm always prone to trust the person who doesn't employ that sort of sales method....because they're clearly a person of a higher moral integrity than their venom-filled competitors. I know a person with a higher moral integrity is going to be the kind of person who probably is less likely to lie during their sales pitch, and more likely to back up the products they sell the way they claim they will.I said it in my original post, I've repeated it several times...but I'm only looking for info on the good features of brands I'm interested in. I'm NOT looking for a smear campaign against brands that dealers here are competing with. Clearly...some people here are not understanding that very simple request. I'm pretty much ignoring the input from those folks.To the rest of you (owners and fellow shoppers)...continued thanks for your advice. I'm heading out to Marquis this afternoon, then Sundance and D1 later today....the last three brands represented locally that I need to check out. Next stop: Wet Testing everything on my growing list and narrowing it down to my top few.
I think part of it may be that the posters don't feel they are smearing but feel they are providing a requested opinion and/or information. You've seen what other people have said about some of the options you've noted and its up to you to take and do with that what you wish but don't blame the messengers, you came here to get opinions (and facts too but much of this is subjective).
You are obviously spending some time searching and if that leads you to Phoenix then you should by all means wet test the Phoenix along with the Arctic, Hot Spring, D1, Sundance and Marquis (and any others in your area that you feel are worthy). If in the end you like the Phoenix spa and the dealer more than any of the others then you should do what you feel is best for you.