In March we decided to get a hot tub for our backyard. After lots of research and price quotes we found David Potter, owner of Spa Warehouse of Houston and were very impressed with his work. He showed us a project he was working on in person and we looked at many pictures on his website and at his "store".
We were not just getting a boring hot tub, but an in ground hot tub that makes it even more enjoyable. He made everything sound so easy and from what he said everything should have been finished within 2-3 months. We made our down payment of $3000 on 4-14 and we were excited like little kids. Then the nightmare began. David told us he would be there on a certain day and he didn't show or he started digging the whole in the backyard and didn't return for weeks nor answered our phone calls or emails.
He always had an excuse, it rained and the ground was wet, it was hot and the heat got to him and he was sick, he was rear ended by illegal uninsured Mexicans, he had to fix the water heater on his truck, then something else happened and so on. He then gave us a date to have the hot tub in the ground and ready to be used but not completed and if he doesn't finish by that date he will subtract $50a day not to include weekends up to a maximum of $1000.
We thought for sure he would get moving, but it took him to loose about $400 to get to where he said he would be. So the first milestone was completed, finally, but we were not done, the copping, the tile and the box for the hot tub motor was still to be completed. There we went again, could not get him to come out and get to work on our construction area. The whole time we had his tools and supplies all over our backyard even though we offered him free use of the shed.
Of course we had to pay him more money in the meantime for the hot tub itself and supplies. We bought the copping and tile ourselves to make sure we have it on hand when he finally gets to the point where it is ready to be installed. He finally showed up again and got the copping done and one side of the tile. He again gave us a date of completion and the same deal, subtract $50 each day he goes over not to include weekends up to a maximum of $1000.
The date was August 10th and of course he didn't get it done and he lost $1000 which was the last money we owed him since we already paid him for ALL the supplies he needed to finish. Then hurricane Ike hit and we have not seen him since. We have talked to him a few times and he gave us dates of when he was coming back, but of course we did not see him. Unfortunately he lost his house and office in the hurricane and we did feel for him and told him to take care of business but please stay in touch and keep us up to date on what's going on.
Well Ike has been a while ago and most people have rebuilt and have their lives almost back to normal, but our hot tub is still not done and it is now May 2nd over a year since we first signed our contract with David Potter. We know he is in the area since we saw his truck today parked outside Wal-Mart but after waiting for 45 minutes for him to come out we decided to go inside and see if we run into him. Big mistake, we went in, took a round through Wal-Mart and as we get back outside he drove off.
We have paid a total of $6300 and all we want is for him to finish what he started and get our backyard back in order and protect our hot tub that has just been sitting there subject to the elements and he won't honor his 5 year warranty we're pretty sure. We are thinking about taking him to small claims court, but will that get our hot tub done? We are at the point where we are exhausted trying to get a hold of him and looking at the unfinished product, we can't even fully enjoy it. I hope nobody else falls for him and if they do I hope they have better luck then we do.
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