Further to my post of Jan. 5, 2009, here is an update:

Our 3rd topside control was replaced in January, shortly after my complaint to Arctic Spas head office. They offered to cover the actual unit under warranty (how nice of them. The girl in the store who told me that there is no warranty on any replacement part was apparently wrong, as the topside control should come with a 1-year warranty), but no warranty on the labour.

Well, here we go AGAIN.....

That topside control that was replaced in January, has gone all wonky again, and the digits cannot be read. This will require another control to be replaced. Also working on finally fixing that leak (thank goodness for warmer weather), which has been confirmed to be a cracked lamp lens -- this would be the 2nd cracked lens for us.

You can add me to the crowd of disappointed Arctic owners. Several different problems with the tub over a couple of years. Poor customer service. I've been nickle and dimed to death even under warranty. This is by far the most disappointing purchase I've ever made.

Just out of curiosity, where are you located (city), wetnwild?

I've found that in most cases the majority of the participants of these type of "opinion" requests are from those with BAD experiences.

Are there no HAPPY Arctic Spa owners?

I have it narrowed down to an Arctic Spa CUB or Limelight Flair. I actually like the CUB better, but not if it's going to cause me grief! I'm actually going tomorrow to test drive a CUB.

Any new comments?

Thanks,
Spartacus_33

Nothing positive to add unfortunately.

I've contacted the factory about the warranty work I received. I complained about a pump that was replaced under warranty and wasn't fastened to the tub base. I haven't heard back from Beau Boisvert. I'll paste the email here.

Hi Paul

I will speak with the dealership in MN.

Thanks
Beau

-----Original Message-----
From: me@juno.com [mailto:me@juno.com]
Sent: July 16, 2009 12:10 PM
To: beau@goarctic.com
Subject: RE: warranty question

Hi Beau,

Just wondering if you got the pictures I sent?

Can you answer my questions?

Thanks,
Paul

---------- Original Message ----------
From: "Beau Boisvert" <beau@goarctic.com>
To: <me@juno.com>
Subject: RE: warranty question
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:02:26 -0600

Hi Paul

Where are you located at?

Thanks
Beau

-----Original Message-----
From: me@juno.com [mailto:me@juno.com]
Sent: July 15, 2009 1:40 PM
To: beau@goarctic.com
Subject: RE: warranty question

Beau,

I'm sending you some pictures of my spa.

The first 2 should show that the pump is not mounted to anything in the tub.
The hardware on the pump doesn't match up to the hardware in the tub.

The 3rd picture shows that the ground wire isn't attached. There isn't even
a screw to fasten the wire to the pump. This seems dangerous!

The 4th picture is trying to show a white residue at the back end of the
pump. Not a great picture, sorry. Looks like the pump leaked at one time.

Was this pump used before being installed in my spa and is that a common
practice with Arctic?

Is this the right pump for my model spa?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer my questions.

Paul

---------- Original Message ----------
From: "Beau Boisvert" <beau@goarctic.com>
To: <me@juno.com>
Subject: RE: warranty question
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:05:28 -0600

Hi Paul

Fairly often the dealers will not replace all of the pump nuts on a pump
when this is replaced. They should however be using at least a couple of the
nuts in order to keep the motor from vibrating.

Thanks
Beau Boisvert
Warranty Manager
Blue Falls Manufacturing Ltd.

-----Original Message-----
From: me@juno.com [mailto:me@juno.com]
Sent: July 15, 2009 9:46 AM
To: Warranty@goarctic.com
Subject: warranty question

Dear Sir,
Is it a common practice with Arctic Spa that when a pump is replaced under
warranty by the local Arctic Spa dealer, that it would not be fastened to
the base of the tub?

Thanks in advance,
Paul


I've sent a couple of follow up emails and I haven't heard back.

Simple question, poor customer service IMO.

I hear you... customer service is very important. I'm pretty impressed with the dealership here and they supposedly have a "crack" tech. One never knows though....... until the hour of proof.

Hi, Joining in here on the discussion regarding Arctic Spas. We are on our second model. First one replaced under warranty due to multiple issues, however we had to pay the difference between what we originally paid and what the new model costs. Although the new spa pumps, heater and other major components seem to be working well in this model, we continue to be plagued with popping jets.

To add insult to the wound, our local dealer (Libertyville, Illinois) has disconnected their phone and customers are greeted at the door of their dealership with a post it note that says they are "temporarily closed for a service call". Uh, O.K. It's been three weeks and I've stopped by four times. Must be a long service call. Obviously the place has gone bankrupt or closed for whatever reasons. Half the showroom is empty. It's clear they are out of business. There are no other dealers in our State from what I have been able to research. Other spa dealers in our area DO NOT want to deal with Arctics. Basically they only want to deal with customers who buy their spas.

So, what do we do. So far we are only dealing with popping jets, but we fear if we develop issues (as with the prior lemon model) we are in big trouble.

Anyone out there have any ideas how to keep these jets in place?

We're losing pressure from all the popping jets as it throws off the overall pressure balance in the rest of the jets. We have some seats with only two out of eight jets in place because they've all popped. Last time I was at our now closed dealer I he replaced four of the old jets with the "2009 model" and they seem to be holding, but 6 more of the old ones have now popped. With the store closed we cannot get anymore replacements free. When I told the dealer this has been an continual problem he responded, "Welcome to our world! It's our number one issue...damned popping jets!" Great, huh?

Truthfully we don't care about turning the jets off and on. At this point we'd be O.K. with keeping them in the on position all the time. We just want them to stay in place and stop popping out!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Arctic Spas has completely redesigned the jets to eliminate popouts, and will replace your old tabbed jets free provided your spa is under warranty. Please email warranty at goarctic dot com giving your name and the spa serial number, and explain your situation. Ask if the screw-in retaining rings will work in your hot tub. Installation of the new jet retaining system involves only a Phillips screwdriver and is easy for the owner to do.

The company has also arranged for independent service in the area to handle any other warranty issues that may arise.

Thanks Grayed,
I emailed Arctic Spa yesterday but will also try the email you have suggested. If they will replace the popped jets with something that will stay in place I will be a happy spa owner once again!!

We did our research prior to purchasing our spa in 2005 and found that Arctic far surpassed the construction level of other manufacturers, so it was with great disappointment that we have continued to battle with the popping jets.

Nice to know they have re-engineered to solve the problem, but it would be even nicer if they voluntarily did a recall of older spa jets and offered to replace old jets with the new. It's never a good thing when individual customers have to go to battle on their own. In this case, where there appear to be thousands of owners with the same issue, Arctic could have done a better job getting out in front of the problem.

You're right, CJ, and I wish we'd handled it that way instead of through our newsletter and dealership network. I do apologize for that.

Many spa manufacturers don't warranty their jets, and leave the customer with the cost of replacements. Fortunately, jets are covered under your warranty. For situations like yours, we customarily ship out a full set of replacement jets at no charge.

Keep in touch.

Tom

Edited to remove incorrect information.