MCFARLAND HOTWATER TECHNOLOGY CO

Unfortunately I have to post a negative review. McFarland facilitates Koehler warranty work & therefore were dispatched to our home after Koehler was super awesome and warranty replaced our leaking faucet. Koehler overnight aired a new faucet to our home. Upon arrival, McFarland was told multiple times the faucet was leaking. They completely ignored ours & Koehler’s request to replace the faucet & instead took the new faucet with them & blamed the water leak on something else. In turn, we were forced to pay a different plumber $175 only to come out & tell us what we already knew…the faucet was leaking. Here’s where it gets horrible…I called back to McFarland and Marcia McFarland who answers the phones was completely rude, dismissive & short with me. She also forced me to call back to Koehler to open yet another ticket (which I presume would allow them to get paid for a 2nd trip) which meant another 45 min on hold. Upon finally connecting to a Koehler rep, I was told by the rep that apparently Marcia had already added notes essentially stating I was lying & the faucet wasn’t leaking. I was furious at this point. Because of these notes, I had to capture a video of the leak (which I then did) & send to both Koehler & McFarland. Once the new ticket was created I called back to McFarland to schedule the 2nd visit. On the call I inquired about reimbursement for the $175 I paid the other plumber to come out & tell me the faucet was leaking. Marcia went off on me!! She has NO PLACE answering phones for a company! Sooooo RUDE! She was yelling at me stating they wouldn’t come to my house now unless I signed a form stating they were not responsible for the $175. I disagreed…they are 100% responsible for us having to have a second plumber out to verify what they should have accepted the first time they were there. To wrap it up, Steve did come out and replaced the leaking faucet eventually & all works now. Unfortunately we are out the $175 and McFarland is to blame but we have no recourse outside of litigation. Avoid this company at all costs as they take zero responsibility for their mistakes.

Found the leak very quickly and repaired the leaking joint.

Exceptional. From my very first phone call they have been informative, respectful, and clearly competent. Straight shooters. No inherent interest to push you to buy new. These guys are awesome. Eric in the office took 20 min with me on my first call. Tech Joe is top shelf. Easy to work with and great service after first visit. Second visit in two weeks or so...

Marcia is the office manager who did an excellent job of communicating between me and Steve. She precisely told me when he could come look at the system, got a preliminary estimate to me after I sent photos of the project, and maintained contact as necessary. Steve was on time, did an excellent job with a complex project, and was very pleasant to deal with. His price was significantly less than a competitor. After finishing he carefully checked the system and all the connections to make sure everything was working correctly. I particularly appreciated Steve's careful attention to detail and the care he gave to the project.

It took some phone calls to find someone who is familiar and works on Pearl Whirlpool tubs. The average plumber isn't the one to call (we tried that first and they came out and threw some silicone on the leak and crossed their fingers.) McFarland seems to be the only ones in the metro area who work on these tubs. By emailing them photos of the problem area, they were able to accurately estimate the time and # of technicians needed to repair the leak, and as a result their cost estimate was very accurate as well. I feel the cost is reasonable, Joe was personable and knowledgable, and I would highly recommend them!

Very good. On time and much more affordable than Cal Spas service

I called to schedule having our outdoor hot tub winterized. The customer service representative was helpful, knowlegable and pleasant to work with. She was conscientious about arranging the work around my schedule. As luck would have it, we had a snowstorm the day before my appointment. I wondered if this would delay my appointment at all, but the technicians were right on time--seemingly not phased at all by the inconvenience of the cold and snow they had to work through. The technicians were sociable, professional and efficient. The work was done in no time with no problems.

I used them a couple of years before. They were punctual and on time. They fixed everything and checked around to make sure it was working all right and then left. I priced it out and they were right in there.

I fully expected the repair of my Thermasol steam generator to cost more than $500, but the tech was able to replace the part without removing the generator and sending it to Thermasol and it ended up costing less than $300. I'm so glad to have my steam shower back!

I called for service morning of 5/29, spoke with person who took my information and said they would call back to schedule a service call. No call back so I phoned late afternoon 5/30. Person answering explained they were busy but he would take info again and I should hear soon. Friday nothing. Monday mid morning I phoned another firm (an A firm from Angies) and was immediately given a service call date, for next week. Fees are comparable.

Rick and Steve were able to fit us in the same day I called. Our hot tub had not had power for a few days. They quickly diagnosed and discovered it was the circuit breaker. They put everything back together on the hot tub and left it all clean. Very friendly guys willing to let me watch and ask questions. Very professional. I will use them again for any hot tub needs.

Throughout the discussions and ordering the part, McFarland kept me apprised of the install date. Repair date: Joe came out and surveyed the location/installation of the generator unit. Seems the plumbing company that installed the steam shower unit didn't take into consideration ever having to open up the generator and took the cheap route by using solid pipe rather than flex hoses. Joe worked around this issue and installed the new valve. He suggested that if we ever need to open up the generator again, that we plan on installing metal flex hoses and gave me a ballpark price for budgeting. He also explained about the steam shower generator's location affecting performance and where I could add some insulation to reduce heat loss and improve safety. Educational and no high sales pressure. I will definitely call McFarland again should additional repair work be required. They are friendly, knowledgeable and professional.

They did a good job. I thought that maybe, at the end and after talking to other people, it might have been a little overpriced for what they did. But I'm not positive because I really didn't have anybody else come out to even give me an estimate on getting it done. I don't know that I could say a whole lot about them because they were outside my backyard and I really didn't pay much attention except for when they said they were done. Commenting on the price would be the hard part because the problem developed in the fall of the year before and when we talked about them coming back in the spring to fix it, I don't know that we ever actually discussed a price. So when they came to do it, I just remembered that it just seemed like it was more than what we talked about. But, at the same time, it's my first experience with a hot-tub so maybe it is this expensive to fix and do what they needed to do. They did good and they cleaned up after themselves, which is always nice.

Overall they are an experienced and knowledgeable company. After having used other spa repair companies in the past, they far exceed expectations. Joe was great! He knew the trouble I had with a previous company, came in and fixed my problem and also fixed other issues he saw that he felt he had to fix as well. Would recommend them to anyone that needs repair on their hot tub. Many other companies will come in and "fix" the issue and leave, only to have the problem not fixed. McFarland not only fixes the issue but will double check to make sure it's done properly

The service was very poor. Very slow to respond and very overpriced.

This was the worst experience I have ever had with a contract company. I felt that the owner, Steve, was unprofessional, combative, and arrogant when I tried to reason with him. There was no explanation of how the fees worked until after the second visit. In the end I realize that a large part of this was my fault in the first place for having work done prior to fully understanding how I was being charged. It was a good learning experience and I know I will not make the same mistake twice.

We were leery about the price of service - $148 for 1st hour and $48 per 1/2 hour after that plus parts. However, it was well worth it. Steve was very knowledgeable, gave options and great advice. We had purchased a used hot tub (Hot Springs 6 person spa) off the web. We had looked at it and were able to try it at the home we bought it at and were confident it was in good working order. Shortly after we got it up and running at home, we noticed the patio was always wet under the hot tub in one corner which over a few weeks spread to 2 full sides of the hot tub. We were unable to get the skirting off without wrecking it and could not access the underbody of the hot tub to even know where to begin. Steve was quite familiar with this brand and model and advised us it was most likely leaking from the Moto Massager Jet, and that this tub is solid foam underneath so the leak likely saturated the foam. He told us the areas that generally leak and what to look for as well as things we could try on our own, such as new seals. He carefully removed the skirting which was glued on - no screws, and carved out some foam to expose the jet plumbing which was leaking pretty good. He had the correct parts with him, replaced the joint, and glued it together. He carefully replaced the skirting with screws this time and advised us we may continue to see moisture for several days as the foam was likely saturated. The back corner is dry as a bone now, but still having a small leak at the front. He had advised that we fix the main leak and wait to see if there was still a problem before we tear into the rest of the skirting and foam. He will be coming out this next week to tackle the smaller leak. I have every confidence they will take care of us. Repeat visits for similar connected to 1st visit are billed at $48 per 1/2 hour. He also gave advice on chemical and filter maintenance which was greatly appreciated as new spa owners. He estimated the time to fix it at an hour and a half, it ended up being 2 hours which I fell was reasonable. Parts were reasonable. Thanks Steve!

I bought the house with a broken hot tub and I have used McFarland hot tub 2 times now for fixing my hot tub parts. The first time, he had to undo some mistakes from a previous fix that someone else did and at the time he told me my heater was probably going to go within 6 months to a year and 6 months later it went. I like the fact that know so much about hot tubs and only fix what needs to be fixed. This time, he referred back to notes he had taken on the first trip and fixed some other problems with the heater wiring too. He was in and out within an hour which I thought was super quick but within the time he quoted. He told me 6 months ago that it would be $1000 and he was right on so it was nice to be able to plan for that money.

I called McFarland to make sure they hadn't done any work that I was unaware of and their response was, "That has been the amount we charge for making a visit even if there was no work done for over a year." They did call back and say they would credit the $136 to any work done in the spring, which I appreciated, but I don't plan to use them again.

They agreed to do the work between 11 and 1. Paul drove up at 12:45 but sat in his truck for several minutes. He then came in and took 50 minutes to do the work. He then sat in his truck for several more minutes before giving us the bill. It was for 1.5 hours of labor. We complained, and he said he was ''there'' for a couple of minutes over an hour, and company policy requires it be rounded up to the next half hour. We argued that he was in the house for just 50 minutes, at which point he agreed to reduce it to an hour (the minimum). The change took $48 off the total, resulting in a final payment of $375.63. We did not appreciate what appeared to be ''stall'' tactics used in an attempt to inflate the labor charge by an extra $48.

I was having intermittent problems with my spa, and after several bad experiences with another repair company, I contacted McFarland. I found that the previous owners of my home had used McFarland in the past, and that Paul Webb, the service tech, had actually worked on my spa. I want to recognize Paul not only for the quality and cleanliness of the work that was performed, but most importantly for his excellent communication. I was not home at the time of the service call. Paul called me immediately upon arriving at the site to ask a few questions about my spa's problems, and to discuss possible solutions. He then called again near the completion of the work, and explained exactly what he had repaired, and gave great detail about how and why it would fix the problem. In short, I will never let anyone other than Paul Webb work on my spa again. Please pass along my great thanks, and my confidence in him and your company.

MCFARLAND'S BUSINESS IS FOCUSED ON REPAIR AND REPLACEMENT OF COMPONENT PARTS, WHICH THEY DO AN OUTSTANDING JOB OF. A KEY SIDE BENEFIT OF THIS IS THAT THEY DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SELL YOU A NEW POOL OR SPA IN THE PROCESS. THEY APPEAR TO ONLY RECOMMEND THIS IF IT IS RIGHT FOR THE CUSTOMER.

RICK WHO DID THE WORK AT OUR HOUSE WAS ON TIME, EXTREMELY KNOWLEDGEABLE, AND LEFT A CLEAN WORK AREA. THE SCHEDULER WAS VERY KIND AND RESPONSIVE TO MY PHONE CALLS AND CHANGE IN NEEDS.

WE WERE TREATED VERY WELL FROM THE FIRST PHONE CALL. THEY DID NOT HAVE THE PART SO THE ACTUAL REPAIR WAS DELAYED BUT THEY WORKED A LONGER DAY JUST TO ACCOMMODATE OUR WORK HOURS. THEY DID NOT CHARGE FOR THE RETURN TRIP.

TIP: WE HAD CONTACTED MCFARLAND IN THE FALL, SO IT TOOK THREE WEEKS BEFORE THEY COULD GET SOMEONE OUT TO MAKE AN ASSESSMENT AND DO THE WORK. THEY GET REALLY BUSY LATER IN THE FALL AS THEIR CUSTOMERS ARE STARTING UP THEIR SPAS FOR THE WINTER. MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR REPAIRS EARLIER IN THE SUMMER. TIP: JACUZZI AND BULLFROG WERE TWO BRANDS OF SPAS THAT THEY RECOMMENDED (THERE ARE OTHERS AS WELL) AS THEY SEE VERY FEW OF THEM REQUIRING REPAIR.