Orange County Pools And Spa

I purchased a Master Spas Twilight Series 7.2 hot tub from Orange County Pools and Spas in Middletown, NY in May 2013. Since then, I have had nothing but trouble. The primary issue I have discovered, is the hot tub water temperature continues to rise, while in use, above the temperature that the tub?s thermostat is set to maintain. In the case of this tub, the water temperature will continue to rise by 1 degree every 15 minutes for the time that is in use. For instance, the outside temperature the other night was 60 degrees and the hot tub?s thermostat was set to maintain a water temperature of 96 degrees. After 60 minutes of use the water temperature was 100 degrees and continues to rise an additional degree every 15 additional of use until turned off. The Orange County Spools and Spas Service Technician came to our house and ran the tub, observed the temperature rise himself, acknowledged that this problem was occurring and stated that it was not normal for the hot tub to operate in this manner. In an attempt to address this acknowledged problem, the Orange County pools and Spas Service Technician returned to our home several times and replaced the mother board, control panel and both pumps. It should also be noted that one of the pumps was already failing at this point (leaking water about a month after purchase) at the time and needed to be replaced anyway. None of these actions rectified the rising heat problem. Ben, from the Orange County Pools and Spas Service Department, also told us that he ran the same model in his store for 2 continuous hours and the water temperature only rose 1 degree and agreed that our tub was not operating as it should. The Orange County pools and Spas Service Technician did acknowledge that the excess heat was being generated by the friction of the pumps themselves and that the tub has no mechanism for cooling itself off. I have serious health issues, including Lupus and Fibromyalgia. My only son was also recently killed in action in Afghanistan. The hot tub provides a measure of relief from my physical pain and stress, but if I can?t stay in the tub for more than 15 minutes at a time, it makes the tub useless to me and pointless to have. I paid $10,000 for this tub and I should be able to use it. All of my friends who have hot tubs and all of my online research indicate that this degree of thermal creep is not normal operation for a hot tub and should not be occurring After we had exhausted all attempts to correct the problem, we requested that Orange County Spools and Spas take the hot tub back and refund our money. We were then told by the Orange County Pools and Spas Service Technician ? who originally acknowledged the problem because he observed it himself during his home service call- that we shouldn?t run the tub for no more than 15 minutes at a time then sit in it for 5-10 minutes then turn the pumps back on, and keep doing this. Also that we should add cold water if the temperature rises. Neither of these solutions are expressed in the hot tub?s owner?s manual, nor does the manual state that it is normal for the tub?s water temperature to continue to rise. We talked to the Service Department at Orange County Pools and Spas and to Customer Service at Master Spas, the tub?s manufacturer. Each pointed the finger at each other in regard to approving a refund. We have sent numerous e-mails to Orange County Pools and Spas regarding this issue and they have not responded to my emails. They did reply to our e-mails promptly prior to our purchase of the hot tub, though. They did finally answer us through Orange County Pools and Spas Face Book page and stated that this was normal operation for this hot tub and that a refund would not be approved. . Orange County Pools and Spas? final offer to us was to charge us $400.00 to come and pick it up, sell it in their show room as a used tub and whatever price it sold for would be paid to us. This is a new hot tub! This tub is under still under standard warranty, we paid for an extended warranty and the problems began- and Orange County Pools and Spas was notified- within 2 weeks of the tub?s installation in our home. This is not how you stand behind the purchase of a new- and expensive- product. We advised them that they are leaving us no further recourse and that we would be consulting an attorney and contacting the Better Business Bureau. We also told them that we were considering posting the details of our ordeal to online consumer websites, so that others would not have to go through what we went through. The person on the Orange County Pools and Spas Face Book page then made a veiled threat by stating ?beware that all slander issues will be pursued?. I asked several times who I was speaking to and that person ignored the question and refused to identify himself/herself. So now, I have a $10,000 hot tub that is only 3 months old, that I cannot use, cannot be repaired, cannot get a refund for and a veiled threat from an unidentified person at Orange County Pools and Spas to pursue legal action against us for ?slander? if we tell our story (we did save and print the Face Book exchange). This is not good faith business. Instead of providing the relief from my illnesses that I thought it would be, it is causing additional stress and possible financial hardship. If you are reading this, please avoid making the same mistake that we made by purchasing a Master Spas twilight 7.2 hot tub, and from Orange County Pools and Spas in Middletown, NY