Arctic Spa Repairs?

[James Keirstead]

Hi James:

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I'm very aware that the complaints I see on the Internet aren't fully representative of the experience of ALL your customers. I mentioned that in my first post. As we all know, the Internet is a great place to get your bitch on.

However, when you turn to all the popular forums and see page after page after page of generally angry complaints directed toward Arctic (and so many Arctic customers straight-up warning others away from the Arctic brand), that would seem to indicate a real trend. And that's sad because I know Arctic is Canadian (as am I) and I do like the easy access to under-shell plumbing your system delivers.

I will check out the site you mentioned and I'll try to keep an open mind while doing so.

But even if I magically reverse the opinion I've formed in the past few weeks of serious research, it seems I couldn't even see an Arctic in person unless I traveled somewhere outside the greater Vancouver area. And I don't want to go to Calgary or even Vancouver Island to buy a hot tub. Am I correct in thinking you currently don't have a Vancouver area dealer?

Thanks.

Hi Gord,

You are correct. We currently don't have a dealer in the Vancouver market. We did have one, but unfortunately, they went out of business. Which, I agree, kind of takes us out of the running. I appreciate you consideration though.

I merely commented that all is not always what it seems.

Thanks for your thoughts,

James

[reeffreak]

That being said, there are industry independent consumer satisfaction surveys done annually in which we are one of only a few brands that have actually qualified every year since its introduction. You can check it out yourself at Spasearch.org.

<snip>

Claiming Spasearch is industry independent is a bit of a stretch IMHO. They are pay for play.. $1800/yr to be listed, $5k/yr to be certified. At least according to the enrollment pdf on their website.

[James Keirstead]

The independent audit costs money. That is why there is a fee, but I can assure you they even go to the trouble of having an auditor from a local accounting firm come out and watch you extract the customer sample so they can be sure you didn't clean or stack the list.

[Dano]

Gentlemen/Ladies

Just wanted to say My Arctic Summit Signature with Onzen Kicks ass, Local Dealer is awesome, enough said

[ottawa_mike]

Gentlemen/Ladies

Just wanted to say My Arctic Summit Signature with Onzen Kicks ass, Local Dealer is awesome, enough said

We had some initial Onzen problems with our Arctic Spa Summit but the local dealer got us set right with the new Onzen 7 system. Our water / tub has been in great shape for over 2 months with sustained heavy usage. In summary, I would / will recommend Arctic to my friends.

Mike

[Weekend Waterbed]

Purchased my Arctic Spa Tundra in Oct 2008. Only problem we found was the same as Ottawa Mike with the Onzen system. My dealer has upgraded and resolved this issue.

Yes the internet may be filled with complaints but the internet has the tendency to make the spineless comfortable with their complaining.....

The best manufacture/supplier is the one that will respond to your questions and concerns. Resolving your issues and getting you up and going asap. Good old customer service!

Arctic Spa has proven that point and the fact there is a company rep here on this board responding to questions should help anyone make the decision to purchase an Arctic Spa hot tub.

2 thumbs up Arctic Spa

[Roger]

Hi everyone:

I'm getting very close to replacing my 25-year old (yep, 25!) Beachcomber hot tub. I've been thinking strongly about moving to a tub manufacturer that uses thermal insulation rather than full foam because it makes sense to me that future "interior" repair issues would be far easier if the serviceperson (probably me) could easily access the hoses and clamps and other bits and pieces rather than digging through tons of blown insulation. For that reason, and because brands are somewhat limited up here in B.C., I figured Arctic might be the answer.

conversations between neighbours.

Hmmmmmm how may leaks did you have in the foam of your 25 YO beach? It's funny that you mention being able to fix leaks is driving you to consider a different insulation method, and yet your not saying that you had any leaks in the very thing your avoiding. Is your dealer using scare tactics to sway you? Leaks in foam insulation are so rare on quality tubs that it really is a non issue.

It seems to me that Beachcomber should be pretty high on your list as a possible new tub.

[gordholio99]

Hi Roger:

Yes, you are right. I have a 23-year-old Beachcomber tub that is as leak-free today as it was when it was born. It is an energy pig at this point, but that has more to do with the decrepit 13-year-old motor/heater than anything else.

I am considering Beachcomber, especially considering that I live within a half hour of Beachcomber's head office and plant. But I'm also looking at HotSpring (foam), Jacuzzi (foam), and Maax (thermal). I'd also be considering Arctic, but I get the distinct impression from the sheer number of complaints at virtually all the dominant hot tub discussion forums that Arctic quality control and finishing simply hasn't been up to snuff. (Also, there's no longer an Arctic dealer in my geographical area.)

But yes, Beachcomber is definitely up there.

Thanks for replying!

[Roger]

Hi Roger:

Yes, you are right. I have a 23-year-old Beachcomber tub that is as leak-free today as it was when it was born. It is an energy pig at this point, but that has more to do with the decrepit 13-year-old motor/heater than anything else.

I am considering Beachcomber, especially considering that I live within a half hour of Beachcomber's head office and plant. But I'm also looking at HotSpring (foam), Jacuzzi (foam), and Maax (thermal). I'd also be considering Arctic, but I get the distinct impression from the sheer number of complaints at virtually all the dominant hot tub discussion forums that Arctic quality control and finishing simply hasn't been up to snuff. (Also, there's no longer an Arctic dealer in my geographical area.)

But yes, Beachcomber is definitely up there.

Thanks for replying!

I also think Arctic has a ways to go. But they are much much better than before at handling there customer service needs. And they are getting to be a better and better brand. Still a few down from the top in my opinion but getting closer.

[salp]

IMO, if I had a 25 year hot tub with no problems, I personally would go back to the same brand. It must have made you happy for that long, no sense in going somehwre else, than saying "wish I stuck with xxx".

Good luck in your searching though, take care!

[carriebelinda]

Yes it is true that James is all over this site and yes he is helping ONE CUSTOMER AT A TIME. However it is my understanding that JAMES is an owner not a dealership owner BUT AN OWNER of ARCTIC SPA .......SO I ASK THIS.

If my understanding is correct and he is an OWNER why no recall,

why no I am so sorry we rushed production and we were not ready.

We appoligize for your inconvience (mine being refilling my tub 6 times in the past year) (one, tube collapse because a little peice of plastic was installed at the factory backwards had to refill) (one electrical failure wrong size connectors connected together at the factory refill) (one no bromine producing water looked like potato water after it starts to boil refill) (one retrofit refill) and (one re retrofit onzen 7 refill)(one being the original fill) I am on a water metre this is costing me money, now imagine filters salt chemicals, sometimes replaced by them sometimes out of our pocket.

James do us a favour RECALL, Acrtic spa makes TERRIFIC SPAS, I LOVE MY TUB and by a businss stand point (and yes we have our own business) It will save the name ARCTIC SPA. The onzen system has WAY to many problems, kinda reminds me of the Mac PC commercials and PC is just at #7 now and its been years, its only been what a year and a half for onzen and we are on #7 already.

I have not always had the best service through the service center call center(Burlington) one girl who answered when I asked for a retrofit was furious that a Hamilton store salesman told me there was such a thing and told me and I quote "there is nothing wrong with the onzen system" I told her "I could read".

However Mary is very pleasant and has been a great help INFACT she is the only reason I was willing to try #7 and believe me I will not do #8 we will switch systems.

The service guy NORM( I ask for the same guy everytime because he knows how angry I am and I don't have to go through the whole thing again) is wonderful unfortunatley he can only work with what you give him. I've seen him SOOOOOO many times I think I should invite him for christmas dinner or at least send him a christmas card.

We bought through the hamilton mountain store and they too have been great even when I went there one day and went up one side of Trever and down the other because AGAIN it was broken. Please help us

ALL OF US

RECALL

also I was not given a different filter is this something that i will also experience if so tell me now so I can go get it before it causes a problem.

Once again, I am sorry for the troubles you have been having with your onzen system. I do understand your frustration at having to change out your water so many times. It is inconvenient. To be clear we have not recalled the earlier onzen systems, because although there seem like many through reviewing the forum here, statistically the number of spas with problems with the onzen system compared to the number of systems in the field (there are more the 4000) is still rather low. There have been a number of other issues that contribute to many of the problems reported which have made solving individual issues challenging for us. Hence the number of revisions....Each one improving on some particular issue of performance for the system.

Now we did test the system considerably before introducing it to the market. Unfortunately, few issues cropped up in the testing phase.

Again, I am sorry for the difficulties you have been facing with your onzen system. If you can send me your serial number I can look into it further and see where we are at.

Kind regards,

James

James, i must say that my tub water is clear, my levels are good and it seems to still be working properly, however at the end of my rant in november I asked about a filter problem someone else mentioned so I could get ahead of it if there would be a problem. You didn't answer that question so I spoke with my dealer and they said we should be fine and guess what happened I started finding little pieces of the filter in my tub. I removed it and it looks like its been chewed can you explain why this has happened. I have put in my reuseable filter but I need to know whats happening. I called the hamilton store all the reps were busy so the message says I can press 1 to talk to another store it sent me to Burlington. Their message said they were closed which is funny cause it was 6 pm and the message said their hours were till 7 pm. whatever, just please if you know the answer let me know

[SteelerPete]

Hey Carrie, we have a Arctic Summit and the filter breaks down the more you use the tub, when we first got the tub the filters would last about a month because of the heavy usage, the more your in the tub the more chems you are dumping into the water causing the material to break down. Now we use the tub a couple times a week for a couple of hours, and are filters last 3 months and we don't get any flakes in the water.

Happy tubbing,

Pete

[James Keirstead]

James, i must say that my tub water is clear, my levels are good and it seems to still be working properly, however at the end of my rant in november I asked about a filter problem someone else mentioned so I could get ahead of it if there would be a problem. You didn't answer that question so I spoke with my dealer and they said we should be fine and guess what happened I started finding little pieces of the filter in my tub. I removed it and it looks like its been chewed can you explain why this has happened. I have put in my reuseable filter but I need to know whats happening. I called the hamilton store all the reps were busy so the message says I can press 1 to talk to another store it sent me to Burlington. Their message said they were closed which is funny cause it was 6 pm and the message said their hours were till 7 pm. whatever, just please if you know the answer let me know

Hi Carrie,

How old is the disposable filter you have in there? There are a couple of possibilities that could cause a filter to break up prematurely. 1. Installation of the filter. 2. Chemicals. 3. Clogging typically from Calcium and or organic matter. Maybe you can PM me your number and myself of one of my techs will call you to ask you some questions to see if we can determine what caused it.

Kind regards,

James

[spatech (the unreal one)]

Hey Carrie, we have a Arctic Summit and the filter breaks down the more you use the tub, when we first got the tub the filters would last about a month because of the heavy usage, the more your in the tub the more chems you are dumping into the water causing the material to break down. Now we use the tub a couple times a week for a couple of hours, and are filters last 3 months and we don't get any flakes in the water.

Happy tubbing,

Pete

Can you use a regular filter in its place? Sundance went to the disposable a few years back and a lot of people had issues and/or were not happy with the replacement costs and eventually many switched to a one piece standard filter that was made to replace it (not sure if it came from Sundance or was made by one of the filter makers). I'm not sure if there is such in this case but I'd switch if there is such an option out there; those disposables are expensive and I hate being a part of the disposable culture since cleaning filters is cheap and they work fine.

[mastagrilla]

Hi - brand new member here... just signed up tonight.

I bought a 2002 Arctic Summit Signature on Kijiji last August for only $2,000. I knew I would have to put some money into it to get it up to speed, since it was that cheap and 7 years old. I put a new heater, bought a new cover, and swapped out the heater relay switch on the motherboard (instead of giving them $750 for a new board). Now it runs like a gem, and has since I got it up and running back in November. It's a fresh water system, and from what I'm reading these salt systems seem to have problems. They got me to buy the Aqua Finesse at the Hamilton Mountain store, and it seems to work great. I just put it in once a week, and make sure the chlorine puck is good to go, and all's well there too.

I just have a question... I also had to replace about a dozen of the jets. I got most of them installed OK, but two of them (one 3inch and one 5 inch) don't work. I'm guessing I just didn't click them in properly, but I can't get them to go any further in, and they won't come out. They still turn left and right, but not as smoothly as the others. Tonight, I really yanked on the 3 inch one, and the outside piece came off, but the internal piece is still stuck in there. ANYONE KNOW HOW TO GET THESE THINGS OUT WITHOUT DAMAGING ANYTHING AROUND THEM?

Thanks... Jeff

[James Keirstead]

Hi - brand new member here... just signed up tonight.

I bought a 2002 Arctic Summit Signature on Kijiji last August for only $2,000. I knew I would have to put some money into it to get it up to speed, since it was that cheap and 7 years old. I put a new heater, bought a new cover, and swapped out the heater relay switch on the motherboard (instead of giving them $750 for a new board). Now it runs like a gem, and has since I got it up and running back in November. It's a fresh water system, and from what I'm reading these salt systems seem to have problems. They got me to buy the Aqua Finesse at the Hamilton Mountain store, and it seems to work great. I just put it in once a week, and make sure the chlorine puck is good to go, and all's well there too.

I just have a question... I also had to replace about a dozen of the jets. I got most of them installed OK, but two of them (one 3inch and one 5 inch) don't work. I'm guessing I just didn't click them in properly, but I can't get them to go any further in, and they won't come out. They still turn left and right, but not as smoothly as the others. Tonight, I really yanked on the 3 inch one, and the outside piece came off, but the internal piece is still stuck in there. ANYONE KNOW HOW TO GET THESE THINGS OUT WITHOUT DAMAGING ANYTHING AROUND THEM?

Thanks... Jeff

Hey Jeff,

The reason that they wouldn't turn on and turned less smoothly then the others is because you installed them incorrectly. So the opening to the jet barrel is opposite the water opening of the jet body. Hence no water flow. Unfortunately, getting them out one you have done that is tough. You can continue to try and rotate the jet as you pull on it and hope for the best. If it doesn't work and the outside piece comes off you will just have to use needle nose pliers to get the rest of the internal out. Sorry about that.

Hope that helps.

James