Well We Got The Maax Elite Entourage, And It's Going Back!

[alexmom]

Well, who wants to be the first to say you Told Me So?!! What a day from hell. Here is the short version because I'm tired, but desperately want to update, ESPECIALLY anyone considering this spa or just purchased one.

1. Club Piscine said the delivery would be between 9am - 5pm....they called at 3pm said they'd be here by 4pm.....nothing....they called again at 5:30 and said they'd be here in 30mins....nothing...then at 7:30 they roll in. (BAD, ruined our day as we had to wait and couldn't leave)

2. The spa is the wrong colour and there's a crack on one panel strip (BAD)

3. NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, on the MAAX Elite Spas website applies to this spa. One of the reasons we felt confident in buying this over the Home Depot Nahanni was how Maax boasts ALL of their Elite spas have galvanized steel construction, ABS sealed bottom, BlueMAAX insulation etc etc. Well, the Entourage appears to be EXACTLY the same as the Nahanni spas we've seen. The same 2x4 wood construction as Nahanni, with a crappy corrugated plastic bottom, NOT ABS sealed. Their "BlueMAAX" insulation is white styrofoam panels and one sheet of reflective silver stuff on the bottom. (BEYOND FALSE ADVERTISING; VERY PISSED OFF)

4. Balboa controls (BETTER THAN EXPECTED, thought it would be Gecko)

5. 2.5 HP motor, was told it was 5.0 HP (FALSE ADVERTISING AGAIN)

6. Tried to fill it just to see if my suspicions were correct that this spa is a total nightmare, and YEP....it be leaking!

So what's my lesson? NEVER buy a spa on a budget. I'd much rather have no spa than this piece of crap, and at this point no spa is looking just fine.

Anyway, that's the short version, sorry for the angry tone, but both my husband and I are beyond tired and I'm so angry I can't vent fast enough. THANK GOD we paid by Visa, because I think a chargeback may be our only option to get out of this fiasco.

Thanks for all the empowering information here guys, it's allowed me to see just how bad this spa is. Oh, and every single one of you have the right to say I TOLD YOU SO!! hehehe

[Richs100]

Wow, Alexmom,

I am so sorry to hear about your experience. Delivery Day for your new spa is supposed to be exciting, but not like that. Stand your guns and send it back. Its good you paid by credit card. You can resort to a chargeback if your dealer will not cooperate. Make sure you have a copy of your cardholder agreement so that your sure your doing everything within the time limits.

Rich

[alexmom]

Well, a good nights sleep has helped put things in perspective somewhat, and I apologize for sounding crazy mad last night! LOL! But yes it was the most disappointing day I've experienced in a long time.

The spa is still going back and we're still going to call the Vendor out for the shoddy delivery etc., but I don't feel I have the right to be as upset as I was last night, because I did make the decision to buy a cheapy spa. However, had it not been for referring to the Maax Elite site for 3 weeks, giving us an over inflated sense of the quality we were getting, I wouldn't have been so disappointed. But, when you're waiting for your spa, that's what you do....keep going back to look at the "specs" and photos. Had we known up front how it was constructed, then perhaps we'd be OK with it now and not feel like we've been Duped. That's what's bothering me the most, that I was naive enough to believe Maax and Club Piscine and didn't expect their duplicity. Club Piscine though does sell Jacuzzi and Sundance, so perhaps our best way out of this mess is to upgrade to a base model of one of these higher end spas.

The bottom line is, yes we bought a budget spa, but were told it was better than the spa we got. But the one good thing to come from this, is it's one more customer experience that backs up the experts here....Maax does not make good quality cheapy spas. Despite it being included on the illustrious Maax Elite Spas site, the Maax Elite Entourage appears to be no different than the Home Depot Nahanni brand, and bears no resemblance to the other Elite spas.

[104 Degrees]

Well, a good nights sleep has helped put things in perspective somewhat, and I apologize for sounding crazy mad last night! LOL! But yes it was the most disappointing day I've experienced in a long time.

The spa is still going back and we're still going to call the Vendor out for the shoddy delivery etc., but I don't feel I have the right to be as upset as I was last night, because I did make the decision to buy a cheapy spa. However, had it not been for referring to the Maax Elite site for 3 weeks, giving us an over inflated sense of the quality we were getting, I wouldn't have been so disappointed. But, when you're waiting for your spa, that's what you do....keep going back to look at the "specs" and photos. Had we known up front how it was constructed, then perhaps we'd be OK with it now and not feel like we've been Duped. That's what's bothering me the most, that I was naive enough to believe Maax and Club Piscine and didn't expect their duplicity. Club Piscine though does sell Jacuzzi and Sundance, so perhaps our best way out of this mess is to upgrade to a base model of one of these higher end spas.

The bottom line is, yes we bought a budget spa, but were told it was better than the spa we got. But the one good thing to come from this, is it's one more customer experience that backs up the experts here....Maax does not make good quality cheapy spas. Despite it being included on the illustrious Maax Elite Spas site, the Maax Elite Entourage appears to be no different than the Home Depot Nahanni brand, and bears no resemblance to the other Elite spas.

Please tell us what you think about the Sundance and jacuzzi you will try. let us know what style tub you wet test.

104 degrees.

[Brulan1]

Well, who wants to be the first to say you Told Me So?!! What a day from hell. Here is the short version because I'm tired, but desperately want to update, ESPECIALLY anyone considering this spa or just purchased one.

1. Club Piscine said the delivery would be between 9am - 5pm....they called at 3pm said they'd be here by 4pm.....nothing....they called again at 5:30 and said they'd be here in 30mins....nothing...then at 7:30 they roll in. (BAD, ruined our day as we had to wait and couldn't leave)

2. The spa is the wrong colour and there's a crack on one panel strip (BAD)

3. NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, on the MAAX Elite Spas website applies to this spa. One of the reasons we felt confident in buying this over the Home Depot Nahanni was how Maax boasts ALL of their Elite spas have galvanized steel construction, ABS sealed bottom, BlueMAAX insulation etc etc. Well, the Entourage appears to be EXACTLY the same as the Nahanni spas we've seen. The same 2x4 wood construction as Nahanni, with a crappy corrugated plastic bottom, NOT ABS sealed. Their "BlueMAAX" insulation is white styrofoam panels and one sheet of reflective silver stuff on the bottom. (BEYOND FALSE ADVERTISING; VERY PISSED OFF)

4. Balboa controls (BETTER THAN EXPECTED, thought it would be Gecko)

5. 2.5 HP motor, was told it was 5.0 HP (FALSE ADVERTISING AGAIN)

6. Tried to fill it just to see if my suspicions were correct that this spa is a total nightmare, and YEP....it be leaking!

So what's my lesson? NEVER buy a spa on a budget. I'd much rather have no spa than this piece of crap, and at this point no spa is looking just fine.

Anyway, that's the short version, sorry for the angry tone, but both my husband and I are beyond tired and I'm so angry I can't vent fast enough. THANK GOD we paid by Visa, because I think a chargeback may be our only option to get out of this fiasco.

Thanks for all the empowering information here guys, it's allowed me to see just how bad this spa is. Oh, and every single one of you have the right to say I TOLD YOU SO!! hehehe

Most Maax spas do have the gavulnized steel, and the blue foam over just the pipes. Looks like they gave you a cheapo model of there's that you didn't even sign for. As for the 5hp it is actually 4.8bhp which is breaking horse power and the constant horsepower is 2.5hp. All tub manufacturers give the breaking HP because the number is higher. Why did you get the wood frame and not the steel?

[spatech (the unreal one)]

As for the 5hp it is actually 4.8bhp which is breaking horse power and the constant horsepower is 2.5hp. All tub manufacturers give the breaking HP because the number is higher.

Brulan,

That is a major pet peeve of mine but actually, that practice of stating BHP alone without the proper Continuos HP is not done by all manufacturers as you stated. Sadly, many do rate the pumps using BHP alone in an attempt to put one over on the customer. However, most of the major spa makers sites use both numbers so you have the true HP to see what you're getting and the bogus BHP right next (to compare against the ones who use BHP alone).

I see Coleman does rate their pumps in HP/BHP so you can see both. Does Maxx do it otherwise??

[alexmom]

Most Maax spas do have the gavulnized steel, and the blue foam over just the pipes. Looks like they gave you a cheapo model of there's that you didn't even sign for.

AGREED!!

As for the 5hp it is actually 4.8bhp which is breaking horse power and the constant horsepower is 2.5hp. All tub manufacturers give the breaking HP because the number is higher.

You're right, I forgot about this...OK I'm not upset about this anymore! LOL!

Why did you get the wood frame and not the steel?

That's exactly what I'm going to ask the Dealer and Maax Corp. On their website they state that ALL Elite spas share exactly the same construction i.e., galvanized steel, blueMAAX etc. So we took it for granted that it was true and were shocked yesterday when we got it and saw it had none of these components. The keypad and manual say Elite Spas, so technically, it should be as stated on their site. I didn't take photos of the interior last night, but basically it's cream foam insulation over the shell and a couple of pipes, the rest of the pipes are clear PVC plastic (maybe 1/2" ?), there is a thin sheet of silver reflective stuff on the bottom and cheap white styrofoam panels around the cabinet. The wood 2x4 frame is exposed underneath, and is what is resting on the spa pad. There is a thin sheet of corrugated plastic above the framing to "seal" the spa. Not at all what they show on their site, not even close, and that is the real reason I'm upset. I feel totally screwed over because if they have nothing to hide and are proud of their products, why not show the consumer exactly what they're getting so they can make an informed decision and be happy with it? If it costs 8k to get all those components fine, and if 5k gets you Nahanni quality then fine....what's the problem with being honest about it so your customers know what they're actually buying? If there are different quality levels within the Elite Spas brand, why not make that clear instead of saying all Elite spas have the same construction?

With all the freebies the dealer threw in, we figure the spa cost about $4000, half what HD sells a similar Nahanni for. If we had been comparing apples to apples at the time, maybe we'd be happy now. Who knows? But we were comparing apples to oranges, and our expectations were raised to the point that disappointment was guaranteed certainty. However, I again admit that we were totally naive and actually, we did say to each other that it was amazing they'd sell a better made spa, cheaper than Home Depot's, and figured we were getting an unbelievable deal because they're trying to compete with Costco etc. Well, had we used a little logic we would have known that was beyond improbable. Up to this point, we considered ourselves savvy consumers, so we definitely should have known better. (translate this to mean "We got some serious sunshine blown up you know where, and we can't believe we made it that easy for them to do it!")

Anyway, I take full ownership of the fact we were stupid enough to believe we were getting the Elite Spa quality for less than Nahanni's prices, and I own that we were naive enough to take Maax's website as gospel and not demand the sales rep confirm it detail by detail. Now I expect the dealer to help us choose a better spa and I expect Maax to step up to the plate and own that they are more than a little misleading in the way the market their spas. I expect them, at the very least, to change the "specs" for these spas so future consumers can at least make an honest informed opinion.

[hottublady]

Well, who wants to be the first to say you Told Me So?!! What a day from hell. Here is the short version because I'm tired, but desperately want to update, ESPECIALLY anyone considering this spa or just purchased one.

1. Club Piscine said the delivery would be between 9am - 5pm....they called at 3pm said they'd be here by 4pm.....nothing....they called again at 5:30 and said they'd be here in 30mins....nothing...then at 7:30 they roll in. (BAD, ruined our day as we had to wait and couldn't leave)

2. The spa is the wrong colour and there's a crack on one panel strip (BAD)

3. NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, on the MAAX Elite Spas website applies to this spa. One of the reasons we felt confident in buying this over the Home Depot Nahanni was how Maax boasts ALL of their Elite spas have galvanized steel construction, ABS sealed bottom, BlueMAAX insulation etc etc. Well, the Entourage appears to be EXACTLY the same as the Nahanni spas we've seen. The same 2x4 wood construction as Nahanni, with a crappy corrugated plastic bottom, NOT ABS sealed. Their "BlueMAAX" insulation is white styrofoam panels and one sheet of reflective silver stuff on the bottom. (BEYOND FALSE ADVERTISING; VERY PISSED OFF)

4. Balboa controls (BETTER THAN EXPECTED, thought it would be Gecko)

5. 2.5 HP motor, was told it was 5.0 HP (FALSE ADVERTISING AGAIN)

6. Tried to fill it just to see if my suspicions were correct that this spa is a total nightmare, and YEP....it be leaking!

So what's my lesson? NEVER buy a spa on a budget. I'd much rather have no spa than this piece of crap, and at this point no spa is looking just fine.

Anyway, that's the short version, sorry for the angry tone, but both my husband and I are beyond tired and I'm so angry I can't vent fast enough. THANK GOD we paid by Visa, because I think a chargeback may be our only option to get out of this fiasco.

Thanks for all the empowering information here guys, it's allowed me to see just how bad this spa is. Oh, and every single one of you have the right to say I TOLD YOU SO!! hehehe

Well this just proves you get what you pay for..........

[New NW tub owner]

3. NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, on the MAAX Elite Spas website applies to this spa. One of the reasons we felt confident in buying this over the Home Depot Nahanni was how Maax boasts ALL of their Elite spas have galvanized steel construction, ABS sealed bottom, BlueMAAX insulation etc etc. Well, the Entourage appears to be EXACTLY the same as the Nahanni spas we've seen. The same 2x4 wood construction as Nahanni, with a crappy corrugated plastic bottom, NOT ABS sealed. Their "BlueMAAX" insulation is white styrofoam panels and one sheet of reflective silver stuff on the bottom. (BEYOND FALSE ADVERTISING; VERY PISSED OFF)

I've never seen nor heard of Maax Elite hot tubs but I wouldn't want galvanized steel in my hot tub. Hot tub water is typically high in dissolved solids (aka 'salt') and also has chlorine or bromine residual so it is VERY corrosive to metals in general and galvanized steel. Pressure-treated wood is a much better material to use on hot tubs and I think that 's what most of the major hot tub makers use. I also wouldn't want ABS on the bottom of my hot tub. ABS is the material that plumbers often use for DWV piping and it is brittle and prone to cracking. A much better material for the bottom of the hot tub would be something like molded polyethylene or maybe polypropylene. I'm not sure what your're 'crappy corrugated plastic bottom' is made of but it may not be as bad as you think it is.

With that said, though, I think you should still take your tub back because you're obviously not happy with it. Get the tub YOU think is good, whatever that is.

[alexmom]

Thanks, I never thought about it that way. Maybe some of the experts here can comment on ABS bottoms and Steel vs Wood construction? I don't think it's pressure treated wood though...it's not stamped as such and it's the light colour of ordinary lumber. The bottom of the spa is the exposed wood frame and above the cross joints, they've stapled a 1/4 " thick sheet of brown opaque plastic, corrugated like cardboard, to seal it. It's very flimsy and is exactly like the Nahanni spa on display at our Home Depot.

We went and looked at several mid to high end spas yesterday, and the differences are definitely there when I looked at details, and I'm leaning towards a Jacuzzi they have. That said though, it means putting out another 4-5k, and I'm having a REALLY hard time convincing my better half to do it!

[JohnD]

The Entourage is actually the same spa as Colemans California cooperage model 106, which is their entry level line.

The only differance between the 2 models is the design of the topside control panel.

The frame is regular spruce lumber, only insulation they have is 1" white foam board behind the skirt panels, bottom has no insulation just a sheet of 1/4" corrugated plastic. The 2x2 cross frame on the bottom is the only part that is pressure treated.

Construction is the same as the Nahanni line at home depot also made by Maax.

[Aric]

WOW. I just pulled the pics from the website! Those ARE the exact same spas except the control panel and the filter cover. How did you notice that?!

-------------------------

Colemans California cooperage model 106 ---------------------- Entourage

[alexmom]

Yep exactly! However, if you look at the Maax Elite website...www.elitespasbymaax.com it clearly states ALL of their Elite Spas have the same construction; it doesn't say the Entourage is different apart from the jets, pump and options avail. That's what I take issue with, that they are misleading at best and not giving consumers clear information to make a decision.

[Flyonthewall]

It seems your case points out the tangible value of the brick and mortar store. On a major purchase, especially from a company you're not familar with, you just have to be able to see the product with your own two eyes. They have let you down so far, I hope for your sake the worst is behind you. Judging by past performance you may have more frustration to go thru before being satisfied. Anyone out there considering a spa from a company using only bhp numbers they are telling you right there that they market the product based on deception. Be wary. A company that has both hp and bhp numbers just wants to be able to compare apples to apples when confronted with crazy 4.8 numbers. good luck.

[Aric]

[quoth]

Yep exactly! However, if you look at the Maax Elite website...www.elitespasbymaax.com it clearly states ALL of their Elite Spas have the same construction; it doesn't say the Entourage is different apart from the jets, pump and options avail. That's what I take issue with, that they are misleading at best and not giving consumers clear information to make a decision.

[/quoth]

I agree. Also, I was still considering a Coleman, but if the company that owns those three brands behaves this way...well, I think I'll skip them.

[Jim_The_Jim]

[quoteYep exactly! However, if you look at the Maax Elite website...www.elitespasbymaax.com it clearly states ALL of their Elite Spas have the same construction; it doesn't say the Entourage is different apart from the jets, pump and options avail. That's what I take issue with, that they are misleading at best and not giving consumers clear information to make a decision.

[/quoth]

I agree. Also, I was still considering a Coleman, but if the company that owns those three brands behaves this way...well, I think I'll skip them.

[/quote

The spa industry is in some sort of poor condition. Most brands are really scraping the bottom and sales are down. My advice is to go to Costco on line and get the Plat Elite, because it is better made than the Coleman, Sundance, Hot Spring, Jazuzzi, DI and pretty much all of those weak products. If you want quality and value you have to look elsewhere.