Thinking Of Getting A Cal Spa...good Idea?

[ogrant]

my old catalina dealer is now a cal spa dealer and i am now in the market for another spa.(sold the catalina with our house)

i had really good luck with our catalina but now my dealer is making me a really good deal on a bel air model cal spa.

from the limited info on cal spa that i have seen here it seems as though they are not of very good quality.

can someone give me the pro's and con's of these tubs.

someone had also claimed that they had a lot of law suits against them.

[mixoflik]

my old catalina dealer is now a cal spa dealer and i am now in the market for another spa.(sold the catalina with our house)

i had really good luck with our catalina but now my dealer is making me a really good deal on a bel air model cal spa.

from the limited info on cal spa that i have seen here it seems as though they are not of very good quality.

can someone give me the pro's and con's of these tubs.

someone had also claimed that they had a lot of law suits against them.

well i cant seak for all cal spas ,but we love ours .we have had it for 6 months with no problems and there service is great ,if you want best jets for dollars i would highly recommend cal spa. but take all advise on this board with a grain of salt most of these guys are dealers.

[StanW]

my old catalina dealer is now a cal spa dealer and i am now in the market for another spa.(sold the catalina with our house)

i had really good luck with our catalina but now my dealer is making me a really good deal on a bel air model cal spa.

from the limited info on cal spa that i have seen here it seems as though they are not of very good quality.

can someone give me the pro's and con's of these tubs.

someone had also claimed that they had a lot of law suits against them.

I've had a Cal Spa for 6 months and I love it. Have had no problems. We've got a great dealer in town who warrantees it beyond what Cal provides. There seem to be a lot of negative comments about Cal Spas on this forum, but my experience has been nothing but positive.

[Guzz]

I've had a Cal Spa for 6 months and I love it. Have had no problems. We've got a great dealer in town who warrantees it beyond what Cal provides. There seem to be a lot of negative comments about Cal Spas on this forum, but my experience has been nothing but positive.

I would at least check out what other options you have in your area so that you can do some comparison shopping. As far as the negative comments about Cal spa, you now have 2 positive in this thread. But they could be dealers too. And I won't give you my comments because I'm a salesman, so anything I say would be a lie.

[SpaNewbie]

I purchased a Cal Spa and love it! Great price, no problems, great service from the Dealer. Cal Spas is a huge company and they have been around for a lot of years. Again, my Cal Spa is GREAT! I also read the negative comments on this forum, but I made my own decision. I say go for it.

[Guzz]

I purchased a Cal Spa and love it! Great price, no problems, great service from the Dealer. Cal Spas is a huge company and they have been around for a lot of years. Again, my Cal Spa is GREAT! I also read the negative comments on this forum, but I made my own decision. I say go for it.

3 and 0 for cal spa today.

[spatech (the unreal one)]

3 and 0 for cal spa today.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays win about 65 games per year.

[sharkman009]

well i cant seak for all cal spas ,but we love ours .we have had it for 6 months with no problems and there service is great ,if you want best jets for dollars i would highly recommend cal spa. but take all advise on this board with a grain of salt most of these guys are dealers.

Thats great that you have had good success with yor spa and it sounds like you have a good dealer but thats not always the case and theres a reason there are as many negative comments floating around out there about Cal Spas. I've been repairing them for a lot of years and Cal spas do have a higher failure rate than a lot of other spas on the market.

I would not buy a Cal spa from a dealer that does not have a track record of good customer service. My opinion.

[Brulan1]

Thats great that you have had good success with yor spa and it sounds like you have a good dealer but thats not always the case and theres a reason there are as many negative comments floating around out there about Cal Spas. I've been repairing them for a lot of years and Cal spas do have a higher failure rate than a lot of other spas on the market.

I would not buy a Cal spa from a dealer that does not have a track record of good customer service. My opinion.

I actually agree with you on that one. We turn down the service for Cal spa's because the parts are harder to get and they are a pain in the ass because after we swap say a control panel which usually fails with those tubs and they are not made by balboa they tend to break more than once hence defective. I do not think Cal spa is compfortable by any means which is my own opinion. I do not like the way they are constructed as well. If it is compfortable for you and the dealer has been around for a while selling the same manufacturer there is no problem. But make sure to look into that.

[Guzz]

I actually agree with you on that one. We turn down the service for Cal spa's because the parts are harder to get and they are a pain in the ass because after we swap say a control panel which usually fails with those tubs and they are not made by balboa they tend to break more than once hence defective. I do not think Cal spa is compfortable by any means which is my own opinion. I do not like the way they are constructed as well. If it is compfortable for you and the dealer has been around for a while selling the same manufacturer there is no problem. But make sure to look into that.

3 and 2, this is getting interesting, maybe I'll be the deciding vote?

[Guzz]

3 and 2, this is getting interesting, maybe I'll be the deciding vote?

Any more fors or against

[spatech (the unreal one)]

Any more fors or against

I'm not a fan if you didn't count me. Now if I thought he dealer was really good and I lived where there wasn't another dealer within a half day's drive I might reconsider.

[WooBah]

Any more fors or against

Well, I also just bought a Cal Spa, GREAT SPA! And, a great price compared to other spas. I think it is really comfortable. I bought the Classic 22S, Santa Barbara Model, seats seven, 22 jets. Paid $3900. It is an awesome Spa. There are a lot of dealers on this forum, and they are tout their spas as being the best, but the bottom line is there is no best spa. I love my Cal Spa, and the company is not going out of business anytime soon, since they are the biggest Spa/Outdoor Company in the Nation.

I say to the original poster, if you like the Cal Spa, buy it. I love mine.

[ogrant]

I purchased a Cal Spa and love it! Great price, no problems, great service from the Dealer. Cal Spas is a huge company and they have been around for a lot of years. Again, my Cal Spa is GREAT! I also read the negative comments on this forum, but I made my own decision. I say go for it.

thanks for the feed back but i would like to see a little more. i am also concerned that every one that said they loved their cal spa claimed they get great service from their dealer....why did you need service from your dealer already??? i had a catalina and never new what kind of service my dealer would give because i never needed any.

i have also looked into the coleman line of spas and they seem quite nice and well built.

[sharkman009]

I actually agree with you on that one. We turn down the service for Cal spa's because the parts are harder to get and they are a pain in the ass because after we swap say a control panel which usually fails with those tubs and they are not made by balboa they tend to break more than once hence defective. I do not think Cal spa is compfortable by any means which is my own opinion. I do not like the way they are constructed as well. If it is compfortable for you and the dealer has been around for a while selling the same manufacturer there is no problem. But make sure to look into that.

Ok now I'm getting nervous. When you agree with something I said. I may have to change my position on what I said. Im so confused!

[WooBah]

thanks for the feed back but i would like to see a little more. i am also concerned that every one that said they loved their cal spa claimed they get great service from their dealer....why did you need service from your dealer already??? i had a catalina and never new what kind of service my dealer would give because i never needed any.

i have also looked into the coleman line of spas and they seem quite nice and well built.

No Service needed for my Cal Spa. I think the people who talk about their "great" Cal Spa Dealers are referring to the way they have been treated by the store, employees, the setup of spa was good, the instructions on how to use the spa were good, etc. Again, NO problems from my Cal Spa whatsoever.

[craighaggart]

thanks for the feed back but i would like to see a little more.

OK, I'll add a data point. I'm in the last stages of selecting a spa to buy (it's now down to Caldera and Artesian), and Cal was never on my list because two neighbors both had a bad experience with them. One just ended up having his Cal Spa removed after spending over a thousand dollars recently on pump repair. There was also a chronic leaking problem, and he just finally gave up. I think the replacement is a Hot Spring or Sundance. I don't recall the details of the other neighbor's complaint, but I believe it was with the control panel.

To be fair, this a very small sample, and these problems might have been addressed in recent years. If you are comfortable with the company and dealer, and if you like the spa, it might be right for you. But for me, there are just so many obviously good choices out there, I was not going to bother with a brand that became questionable in my mind due to my neighbors' experiences. It might be an unfair perception, but there it is -- and it might NOT be an unfair perception. There undoubtedly are spa brands that tend to have a lot more trouble than others and whose dealers tend to address issues poorly or not at all.

By the way, I have nothing to do with the spa industry. And although it's understandable to be wary of dealers posting here, my experience on this forum has been that many of the dealers show little or no brand bias -- and what there is probably stems from the fact that they of course know a lot about the particular brands they sell and service. Don't dismiss them out of hand, just examine what they say carefully.

Hope this helps. Whatever spa you buy, I hope you like it. And as I learned on this forum: make sure you wet test!

-Craig Haggart

Sunnyvale, California

[mixoflik]

No Service needed for my Cal Spa. I think the people who talk about their "great" Cal Spa Dealers are referring to the way they have been treated by the store, employees, the setup of spa was good, the instructions on how to use the spa were good, etc. Again, NO problems from my Cal Spa whatsoever.

ditto,thats exactly what i meant.havent needed any service

[Roger]

ditto,thats exactly what i meant.havent needed any service

What you need is some owners that had Cal Spa for 5 years. I service a couple that are that old. They seem OK but not a top of the line tub. I would put them in the, you get what you pay for catagory. If you can get one for 3000-4000 bucks then that's what you got. A value tub. But if you get one for 6000-7000 you got ripped off.

[WooBah]

What you need is some owners that had Cal Spa for 5 years. I service a couple that are that old. They seem OK but not a top of the line tub. I would put them in the, you get what you pay for catagory. If you can get one for 3000-4000 bucks then that's what you got. A value tub. But if you get one for 6000-7000 you got ripped off.

It is unfair to compare a 5 year old spa with new spas. There have been innovations in the spa industry. As far as neighbor stories go, my neighbor has a four year old Hot Spring Tub, he says it is a piece of crap, dealer is worthless, it is for sale as is for $1500. So, I guess, everyone should avoid Hot Springs Tubs, right?

[Guzz]

Well, I love my Cal Spa, and the company is not going out of business anytime soon, since they are the biggest Spa/Outdoor Company in the Nation.

I say to the original poster, if you like the Cal Spa, buy it. I love mine.

Not true, Watkins manufacturers are the largest spa company in the world.

[spatech (the unreal one)]

I love my Cal Spa, and the company is not going out of business anytime soon, since they are the biggest Spa/Outdoor Company in the Nation.

Actually, their claim is "Cal Spas, the #1 Global Manufacturer of Home Resort™ Products".

They make pool tables, BBQs, saunas, bars and who knows what else but I'm not sure what that claim should mean to anyone but I know what it means to me. As far as spas go, I find all that #1 Home Resort Products mumbo jumbo to be a negative, not a positive, and part of the reason for their issues. I'd MUCH rather bank on a Sundance/Jacuzzi, Marquis, Hot Springs/Caldera, Arctic, D1, etc. which puts ALL it's energy into designing and building SPAS and making them better while caring for their cutomers, things Cal Spas is not known for. Cal Saps showrooms may look nice with all those home products but that shouldn't be what sells a spa.

[WooBah]

Actually, their claim is "Cal Spas, the #1 Global Manufacturer of Home Resort™ Products".

They make pool tables, BBQs, saunas, bars and who knows what else but I'm not sure what that claim should mean to anyone but I know what it means to me. As far as spas go, I find all that #1 Home Resort Products mumbo jumbo to be a negative, not a positive, and part of the reason for their issues. I'd MUCH rather bank on a Sundance/Jacuzzi, Marquis, Hot Springs/Caldera, Arctic, D1, etc. which puts ALL it's energy into designing and building SPAS and making them better while caring for their cutomers, things Cal Spas is not known for. Cal Saps showrooms may look nice with all those home products but that shouldn't be what sells a spa.

Yes, Cal Spas is selling a Lifestyle, kind of like BMW does, Starbucks does, Apple Computer, IBM, Disney, all of whom have many other subsidiaries, producing many other products, which compliment their main product. Since, they sell other productes, nobody better buy from those companies.

[mattNY]

If Apple made a weedwhacker I'd buy one - $500, only takes Premium gasoline with Macintosh additive, but damn it's pretty.

[spatech (the unreal one)]

Yes, Cal Spas is selling a Lifestyle, kind of like BMW does, Starbucks does, Apple Computer, IBM, Disney, all of whom have many other subsidiaries, producing many other products, which compliment their main product. Since, they sell other productes, nobody better buy from those companies.

If you were to go into a Cal Spas store you could be impressed at the multitude of products they make/sell for the backyard if you didn't know the spa industry. Right now their core product doesn't belong in the same sentence as Sundance, Jacuzzi, Hot Springs, Marquis, etc. so IMO they need to concentrate on getting the quality and service on spas up to a much more reliable grade before you can mention them with Starbucks, Apple or any other of these "Lifestyle" companies.