Business ProfileforQuad Cities Automatic Pools Inc

My family has owned hot tubs 30+ years. We've always taken very good care of the spas, which have each lasted 15-20 years. In 2017, my parents bought a smaller 2 person QCA hot tub. In 2018, my husband & I bought the same model from QCA. About a year later, our friends bought the same model. Within 2-3 years, both my parents and I had to replace our hot tub covers because they were disintegrating. By 2021, the circuit board on our friend's hot tub stopped working - they spent nearly $1k to repair and replace it. By Jan 2023, the entire wood base of our hot tub crumbled and has literally fallen apart - the hot tub is totally unstable and unusable. We checked the wood base of my parent's hot tub & they are having the same problem with a rotting wood base. When we contacted QCA, we learned the wood used to build the base IS NOT pressure treated at all. QCA customer service has been non-existent. The purchasing manager (initials are RM), is extremely difficult to get ahold of. After 2 months, he finally offered me $150 to repair 1 hot tub, even though it will cost roughly $1k (labor & materials) to hire someone to rebuild a new base. The manager has stopped returning emails and he has never returned a phone call. I have asked multiple times to speak with the owner of the company and have never heard from him or her either. We have not been able to use our hot tub since January 2023 and it is now almost April - still no resolution or response from the company. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY - they have at least 2 formal complaints and 1 poor review with BBB. Based on these complaints, I know QCA will reply and say that some of my info is false, they disagree with my account, and they will "defend" their side of the story, etc. The bottom line is that QCA is not held accountable & does not take responsibility for poor quality products. I suspect they have MANY very unhappy customers who have not taken time to file BBB complaints or seek resolution.

As a family-owned business with decades in the industry, QCA Spas takes considerable pride in our people and products. We have many happy customers who are enjoying our locally produced products. As the CEO and one of the owners, I stand behind our people and our products. If maintained properly, our spas operate as they should. We take careful steps to ensure our customers are aware of how to do that and have had very few complaints in our several decades in business. When we have a complaint such as yours, our team works diligently to try to resolve it to ensure our customers are satisfied. I must take exception with a couple comments made in the complaint posted here, so that our customers can better understand the dynamics involved and the facts. 1) A spa bought online in 2017/2018 is no longer under warranty in 2023, not because we don't stand behind our product, but because we have no control of the environment the product is going to be in. Covers in particular have a life span of 3 to 4 years, but that all depends on how they are taken care of. As stated in the manuals, poor water chemistry can decrease the life span of the cover. I'm unsure which spas this customer purchased previously, but owning a 6-8 person spa is different than owning a 1 - 2 person spa. Our warranty states that our spa must be placed on a concrete pad or the warranty is voided. There are solid reasons for this that you will see below. 2) We have taken a series of steps to help the customer resolve this issue, even though the spas are outside of the warranty period and appeared to have been maintained in a way that was in direct violation of the conditions according to the customers own notes. In a good faith gesture, we offered to compensate for new materials that could be purchased at a home improvement store to make the repairs. 3) This is the first time, to my knowledge and our service tech's knowledge, that we have ever had a complaint similar to this. Spas must be cared for in a similar way you take care of something like a car. If your car is exposed to winter salt conditions and not maintained (ie washed) eventually the salt from the road could eat away at the under carriage of your car. We advise all of our customers that If your spa is not set in the proper environment we can't control what will happen to it. This issue has nothing to do with a defective product and everything to do with the environment in which the spa was in. Despite all of this, QCA Spas still offered to cover the material cost to replace the bottom of the spa. I hate to see unhappy customers, but we view this issue as an environment issue not a defective product and take issue with any such suggestion otherwise. We are proud of our company and the products we produce that are enjoyed by thousands of people over the past several decades.