Hi All
I shop this stuff to death-My wifes is freakin- out -she wants a tub!!! After lookin at everything!! I am thinkin a Limelight Pulse made by Hot Springs or a Arctic Kodiak. Both seem well made and have nice components. Any advice to sway me towards one. This is my second tub and I WANT A REALLY DEEP JET ACTION!!
Thanks John

I'm partial to the HotSpring brand. (I'm a HotSpring Tech). They have excellent operating costs, excellent warranty, and have been around since 1977. Again I am partial, but I think if you look at failure rates the HotSpring can't be beat. Pete http://www.makesmeshutter.com http://www.floridahotspring.com

I am an Arctic spa owner. I've had lots of trouble. Leaks, cover, pumps, jets, siding, blower, etc. I would not recommend them. I've spent over $1000.00 in service charges etc. even though its still under warranty. Seems excessive.

I realize I'm one person that's had a bad experience and I'm sure they must have happy customers also, but I guess why I'm passionate about letting people know about my experience is because the service has been really disappointing. You would think after being out to my house 8 times for the same problem since Oct. 2008, the factory would get a little more involved.

The whole experience dealing with the dealer and factory has been frustrating to say the least. The tub nay be well made and I just happen to get a lemon, but they are lousy at customer service. Make sure your dealer is there and willing to take care of you. Read the warranty carefully, you may pay a lot in trip charges if you have bad luck.

Wierd, I'm close to pulling the trigger too and have it narrowed down to a Limelight Flair or Arctic Cub. The Cub appears to be a great spa and actually cheaper...... but i've read quite a few negatives on this site about the Arctic Spas. " title="Neutral" />

I've said it once and I'll say it again. Read the warranty carefully. I've spent over $1500.00 on warranty repairs.
Arctic Spa's local dealer has replaced both pumps, neither of which are fastened to the base of the tub after replacement. The dealer has been out 10 times for warranty service. Many different problems, and several of the same. I've never been more disappointed after buying something this expensive. I would buy something different no matter what the cost.

Arctic owners who experience service issues can contact me, tom at goarctic dot com, giving the serial number of the spa and the name of the dealer. I'm no longer an official corporate spokesman but I will still do my best to help.

Tom

Funny you should mention about your replaced pumps not being fastened to the cabinet base. We had our pumps replaced too. After having (another) serious leak this past winter/spring, when we drained the tub and emptied all the water from underneath inside the base, that's when we noticed a bunch of square rubber feet with round holes in them, floating around in the water, and some bolts, washers, etc. just sitting loose in the base. These were taken from the old pumps, but just tossed on the floor of the cabinet when the new pumps were put in. The new pumps are currently just sitting there, not fastened to anything.

Either the new pumps do not need to be secured, or the service people are taking shortcuts to make their jobs easier/faster. Just like you, wetnwild, I have not been completely satisfied with the calibre of service that I have received, nor the constant failure of components.

Regardless of warranty, components should not repeatedly fail. Perhaps there are thousands of happy Arctic Spa customers out there, who have never had any major complaints, and therefore you never hear from them or about them. I'm certainly willing to accept the fact there are only a few rare cases where it seems like the tub is a lemon (in my case it was a floor model that had been in use prior to us taking delivery). But when cases like this arise, I would expect the Company to bend over backwards to make things right and to have a happy customer. One thing after another going wrong (whether under warranty or not), and the same component being defective over and over again, does not make a happy customer. What would it take to make me sing the praises of Arctic Spa and their service? A new spa. Period.

Take my advice, RUN, DO NOT WALK away from and ARCTIC SPA. Everyone who say's they have leaking problems are right, jet problems, no problem, they have them, bad pumps, no problem, they have bad jets, and to top it all off when you call ARCTIC, they are only taking responsibility for the tub, all the other problems are the vendors problems, inferior parts. THEY ARE IN DENIAL!!! They will not respond and if you bug them enough all you get is it is a faulty this and a faulty that. I have had over 20 warranty claims 6 for leaking and 8 for jets, there response is we admit we have a jet problem so what, we replace them so what. IT's a FREAKIN HOT TUB, JETS is a main feature should'nt they work?? Just buy something else, you really do not want to buy anything from Blue Falls MFG, aka Arctic spa's. Warranty no response person is Beau Boisvert, 780-789-2626 AB Canada.

Well Chris, I'm so glad I'm not alone.

I hope your post can stay up. Everything you say is true.
I posted something very similar to what you're saying, and I got an angry phone call from my local store, saying that my comments were unfair and are costing him business. So I modified my post to keep the dealer happy. After all, I still have some parts under warranty, and he's the only dealer around.

The general concept and design of Arctic Spas is very good; where things went terribly wrong is when they sourced out the individual components, and many of these components were sub-standard.

To the credit of the individual dealers: Some are good and some are terrible. It really depends on each individual store owner, and how well their technicians are trained, and how good their customer service is. Unfortunately most of the warranty claims and complaints end up going to Head Office in Alberta, and are handled by Mr. Boisvert. The head office will stall and stall, making excuses and replacing defective parts with more of the same defective parts, instead of truly fixing the problem. The dealer cannot help it if these are the only parts that they are being supplied with. The tragic thing about this is that all of this stalling and swapping parts is just playing a game until your warranty runs out, and then you're SOL.

I'm not saying that Arctic Spas are the worst. Maybe all spa manufacturers are the same? I would have no way of knowing, since this is the only brand I have experience with. Too bad my experience has been less than pleasant. I think if the Company and Mr. Beau Boisvert did a little bit of damage control and made the few angry customers happy, they wouldn't be getting these poor reviews; instead they would have people spreading the word about what a great product it is. I guess they just don't see the big picture, and are afraid to spend a few dollars to make a few people happy; they don't get it that happy customers will bring in more business.

I have had an arctic tub since june.It has an onzen system that has not worked since i bought it. The UK office is disgraceful in returing calls and responding to your issues.DONT BUY ONE. annoyingly, many of the forums are monitored by Arctic people and lots of the threads get deleted- so this probably wont be printed!

..well its on there at the moment-
You get the impression that you DO have a quality product - The company could not have survived this long without that- but when things go wrong they go AWOL on you. I have successfully put three people off buiyng an Arctic in the past two weeks- so at least I am getting some satisfaction I am costing them money too! The relationship between the customer and Arctic seem to be no worse than between Arctic and the Dealerships from what I gather as well. I have a ten year warranty with this one- which should give me some comfort - but I think 10 years of this treatment would be unbearable. My advice is to buy a tub from someone whos dealer and main office are near you. Arctic UK are miles from me and have no interest in coming to me. And I doubt you can rely on the dealerships being linked to Artic by the look of the threads I read.

James

I'm sorry to hear that you're having issues with your Arctic Spa and, from the sound of it, your local UK dealer.

I am not able to check the forums often - it is no longer one of my official duties but I still do it - so apologize that it took so long for me to find your post.

The distance across the Atlantic does make it difficult for us to have close contact with UK dealers, but your I've drawn your comment to the head of our UK organization. Please PM me with your name, the serial number of your Arctic Spa, and the name of the dealer where you purchased it; this information will aid in investigating and resolving your issues.

Tom
Arctic Spas

I have a arctic cub, and I can assure you, the problems you ahve had are basically just bad luck. The main problem we had was when our dealer went out of business without even giving us the heads up. I then located the head office when I required some replacment jkets, and this was al done and dusted within 48 hours. All I can say is, when a company like arctic, (who have been selling for oevr 4 years now) get a lot of spas out there in the ground, it's the same as any product. you'll have more happy customer than misserable, as the customers with problems no where near outweigh the customers without. Just bad luck I say. Love my tub and I'll keep praising arctic, I don't think your small number of complaints on a forum will hinder the company in future sales that much at all.

jazzspas, you might be right that the majority of Arctic owners are happy and satisfied customers. It's usually only the ones who have problems who need to seek advice online, and then only because they are not getting resolution from their dealer.

And although I don't have any experience with other brands (Arctic has been my first and only spa so far), I'm certain that it's not the only brand that has occasional problems.

The thing that bothers me the most is the attitude of the company that when a customer ends up with bad luck or a lemon, they are hung out to dry, with very little sympathy and/or support from Head Office. That's just wrong. Bad luck is not our fault. Getting the one lemon out of 1000 diamonds is not our fault. Why should we have to live with it? Our money is just as good, and just as hard to come by as the other customers. We deserve a great product just like everybody else received.

I'll post my serial number right hear and then why don't you post the repair history of this tub right here also. Let me know if we have a deal.

Hello,,,,,,, Ok too am a new spa owner. I went thru all the stuff you guys are talking about and decided to go with a Morgan 850 Monaco. The main selling points are, I talked to some friends that own them, read post here on everyone else's brand and because Morgan Spas have been here for over 3 decades. I realized that if you dont have service and a good warranty then you are in for trouble. I have owned one now for 3 months and developed a leak in the filter (Bromine/Chemical) junction. I had a tech here in 24 hours fixed and let dry for 24 hours am using it now. I could not ask for better service. 40 yr warranty on the tub and 6 yrs warranty on the pumps and electrical. It is an awsome hotub that I keep at 104 degrees. I have health problems and this spa is way better than others I tried. It would seem to me that owning one that has a tech nearby, a service center to buy chemicals and such would be big pluses. I keep hearing all of the big names but noone is happy with them. Morgan has been around for many many years....there is a reason for this and I think they do so well because of disgruntled tub owners such as yourselves. I hope I gave some helpful salespoints on a tub and did not want to jump on anyone........I am heading to the spa right now and will be asleep in a half hour. Thanks Al

I finally pulled the trigger myself... went with what was the most important to me:
* Spa Quality
* Warranty
* Dealer
The Arctic Spa dealer in my area was/is a total jerk.
The Hot Springs Spas dealer (that sells Limelight) was too greedy.
I went with a Jacuzzi J-355 and absolutely LOVE IT!

Biggest thing I can say is make sure you have a experienced dealer!!!! I bought an Arctic spa and have spent over $1000 on it replacing circuit boards, pumps ect and this is because my dealer could not troubleshoot my tub and just started replacing parts I didnt need, then charged my full price for them all even though they didnt fix the problem! Plus I have the continuing jet problem that all Arctic spas have. Cant say I would reccomend Arctic to anyone....but more important I think your dealer is just as important as the brand, and I wouldnt reccomend my dealer to anyone either!

yooper: Can you post who/where your dealer is?