Black Pine Spas

Beware that they extremely over-inflate their prices. Thought we were getting a good price as they stated it was the "fair price" as in the reduced price at the State Fair. We put a deposit down and later found a place called NW Swim Spas in Elma that sold the exact same brand and models for thousands less. Our deposit was to hold the price only and did not actually start an order for a hot tub but when asked if we could get our deposit back the company said no. Our fault for not researching better but please don't let this happen to you. Black Pine way over prices their tubs. Do your research and check out NW Swim Spa. The owner was wonderful to work with and explained why they can sell the exact same products for less. Do yourselves a favor and do not get ripped off by Black Pine!

Terrible experience. I was lied to from day one about when we would receive the tub. It’s been 5 months and we still don’t have the hot tub even though it’s sitting at their shop. Every time we call we are told someone will follow up with a schedule or update but nobody ever does. We have not received a single follow up call since purchasing the tub. There are lots of dealers out there. Stay away from Black Pines!!!!

The two gentlemen who delivered and removed the hot tubs were very professional and and friendly.

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I called Black Pine Spas on May 12, 2014 to schedule warranty service for a spa we purchased in June 2013. Black Pine Spas is the dealer we purchased our spa from and is the only Artesian Spas dealer within 50 miles of our house. The spa we purchased, a Grand Bahama model, was leaking from somewhere underneath the spa cabinet. I checked inside all of the panels to see if I could locate the leak, but could not find the source of the water. I also checked the drain by placing a bowl underneath it to see if it caught any leaking water. No luck finding it on my own, time to call for a warranty repair. I was told the first date they would be able to come out was June 2. It was explained that they were busy with the summer coming up and lots of people were calling for service. I accepted the first available appointment which was three weeks out. At this point I was asked for payment information. I told the scheduler that my spa was under warranty and I would not need to pay. I was informed that there was a $95 trip charge. I live 2.3 miles away from Black Pine Spas. I told the scheduler that I should not have to pay for my warranty service. I was told that the warranty only covers parts and labor, but not the travel charge. This amounts to a charge to access the warranty service. I told the scheduler this and she told me I was welcome to come to the store and pick up any parts for free or to bring the spa to the store. Seriously? Just throw the 1000 pound hot tub in the back of the truck? I told her I didn't have much of a choice but to pay their fee. The scheduler cheerfully told me I would only have to pay once regardless of how many trips they needed to make. I didn't catch onto the foreshadowing at this point. I had water in the hot tub still (so they could find the leak) when the technician arrived at the scheduled time on June 2. He looked around the hot tub and decided that he was going have to lift the hot tub to look underneath it for leaks. He would need a helper so they would have to reschedule to come back out. I was told the scheduler would be in contact. The next morning I called to schedule the return appointment. I was told the first available date would be June 17, a wait of two additional weeks. June 17 a technician arrived at my house. He prepped the hot tub to be lifted. We waited over an hour for the second technician to arrive. When he arrived, they lifted the hot tub with a jack and supported it with jack stands. They then filled the hot tub and checked for leaks. After 15 minutes or so, they told me they could not find the leak and it must have been leaking from the drain. I told them that I checked the drain by putting a bowl underneath it and no water is coming from the drain. No, I was told, it must be the drain. They were getting ready to lower the hot tub without finding the leak because "it's not leaking, so nothing's wrong." At this point I crawled under the hot tub. I saw a drip forming on the insulation and touched it. The insulation crumbled away and a large amount of water that had been collected rushed out. Leak found. Now that the leak was located, we need to order parts. The scheduler will call me, I was told. Two weeks later I called to check on the parts order. Not arrived yet. A few days later I received a call to schedule the repair (again). The earliest they can fit me in is July 8. I told the scheduler I had been waiting nearly two months now for a repair. Sorry, that's the earliest they can do. The two technicians came back out on July 8, put in the replacement part and leak tested the hot tub. No leaks. I asked the technician about the insulation that had been destroyed by the leak and the repair work. I asked him how they replace that insulation. He told me it wasn't necessary to replace the insulation. This is one of the key selling points of this line of hot tubs - the insulation keeps the operating costs low. By the time I came back outside, the hot tub had been lowered without replacement insulation on the bottom. All in all, my warranty repair service took 8 weeks and cost $95. My hot tub now has a big hole in the insulation on the bottom. They also failed to reconnect my LED lights. I hooked them back up for fear that it would be another two weeks for them to return. The sales process at Black Pine Spas was great. We felt very comfortable with our purchase of this $11,000 hot tub. The delivery and setup process was OK. However, the service left me frustrated and very disappointed. From the "trip charge", which I think is completely wrong, to the long delays, to the hot tub not being back to the way it was before the repair, the service experience was very poor.

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Our sales person, Santi, was very informative, honest and no pressure. Our spa is beautiful and one of the best hot tubs we have ever been in. He has spent time with us since, patiently answering questions.

We bought the pool at a fair and got a great price. The people were not pushy and we did not feel rushed to get the pool delivered asap. We ran into an issue with installation - we couldnt get it into our yard :( Black Pine spa worked to find alternatives and we had it craned into our yard! They were great to work with.

Great! showed up on time and delivered as promised. It was a competent crew and good product.

Spa: We’ve had the spa for , so we can’t tell 10 months. There’s only one model with less stuff than ours, and that’s basically just the spa with no jets at all. Ours has a light (standard) four jets and blowers. That’s it. So, hopefully that also means less to go wrong. Here’s what we think could be better and what we like about our Tidal Fit. Could Be Better: · Their instruction/operation manual needs a good over haul. Especially better clarification of the electrical setup, pad details and computer programming part. · It would be cool if they had a timer as part of the clock so you could time your swims. · Swimming in it takes a good ability to control where you are in the spa. The jets push you around, so you have to really focus so you don’t hit the back, front or sides when swimming. The tile stripe on the bottom is too far back for viewing, especially through all the bubbles. I find it best to turn on the light and focus on that. · The dimensions they provided of where to place the electrical conduit for coming up under the spa (versus through the provided side ports) was not provided in the manual and the measurements the factory provided were a little off, but Jesus did a great job of placing the spa and adjusting for this. · The spa shelf where the jet controls are pools up with water. This should be more sloped so water runs back into the tub. Over time, a seal could leak and cause dripping water onto the systems/electrical below. · Be prepared to maintain your spa! Filters cleaning, rubbing down the water line area, chemical checks and adjustments, etc.. It’s a bit of a pain, but it’s part of keeping the spa operating (lower service and maintenance costs!) and enjoying the spa. No different from changing your engine oil filter and washing/vacuuming your car. Just part of it. We found a great local spa/pool supplier. I take my water in once a month, they test it and we add that amount of chemicals. In-between, we use the chem-sticks and adjust levels. Once you’re properly educated (web search, read and watch videos) it’s really pretty easy. · Cover Lifters – There’s a reason they never show pictures of the spa with the covers on the cover lifters. These lift the covers…but leave them sitting 2’-3’ above the top of the spa. If you’re in a hot tub and one side is against a house or facing something you don’t want to look at, no problem. But if you want to see your view these lifters suck. Since the swim spa uses two covers, they block even more and start to make you feel like you’re closed in. We wish we knew this before. We ended up using the lifters, but we attached them in a way that allows us to lower the covers even with the top of the pool. It’s a tight fit, and only I can lift the covers back up, so I have to be around when my wife wants to swim. We Like: · Jesus and Marcus! · The feeling of lightness when in the spa. · The view when we are resting in the pool. I don’t think we could have planned a better view considering we live in an older subdivision…but we love it. · How we physically feel after swimming. Joints, muscles, mind…relaxed. · The chemical thing is easier after a couple of weeks and once we get our pool cabinet and have everything organized and easily accessible, along with our maintenance cheat sheet, it will be a breeze. · Between the four jets and blowers it creates a strong current to swim against. I’m a strong swimmer, but older and have low endurance. I can overpower the jets and blower for a short time freestyle swimming, but not for long or when doing any other stroke. My wife is very happy with the strength of the current. The only thing is the current pushes hard against my goggles and sometime floods them, so having a good pair of goggles is important. We went to a local swim shop and they hooked us up. · The attachment that allows you to strap around your waist and swim against that works really well since you don’t need to turn on the jets. Good alternative! Suggestions: Buyers: · Read the warranty! There are a couple of things in there that void the warranty so you don’t want to skimp on them. · Pad site – The spa with water weighs a bit more than 16,000lbs! That’s a lot of weight and the last thing you want to do is skimp on your pad and pad placement. Since the pad is the spas foundation and trying to fix a sunken or severely compromised pad means draining and moving a 1600lb spa, get it right. Ours is 6” oversized all around the spa, 5.75” thick with fiber reinforced throughout and metal on the edges (my Dad is a civil and mechanical engineer and explained all the forces on a pad). We also have a full daylight basement, so we wanted to assure the lateral pressure wasn’t an issue. The spa sits 10’ from the house and the pressure dissipates to none within several feet from the house. But what’s really important about the pad is the substrate…the foundation of the pad itself. Our ground has a great sand/clay/small rock consistency that packs really well. Make sure you know what your ground is like. Basically, if you can grab your dirt and ball it up easily and it stays balled up…you’re looking good! We used 4” of 5/4- crushed rock and used a vibrating compactor to compact the ground and each inch of gravel. · Electrical – We used the following: Main Panel – double pole 60amp single switch breaker. #6 red, green, black, white wire run through 1 ¼ “ grey electrical conduit. We had a 75’ run, so we needed the heavier wire. All in one spa sub-panel with 60amp double pole GFCI from Home Depot. I’m a DIY (do it yourselfer) and have electrician friends that reviewed the unclear electrical details in the owners manual with me. I also called the state electrical inspector and discussed my particular setup and found out what he recommended. Pulling the wire was easy for four reasons: 1) we used three L boxes and only had three other 90 degree angles. 2) we used our shop vac to suck a lead line of twine through the conduit for pulling. 3) we simply duck taped about 6” of all four wires together with the twine for pulling on. This kept the diameter of the wire bundle small. 4) My wife and I coordinated pulling on the twine and pushing on the wire at each L box. That along with how slick the outside wire casings are really made our wire pulling easy! · Service/Operational Overview – Pre-schedule this for ASAP after your spa becomes operational. Figuring out the chemical part takes a bit and the manual misses some key points. Due to our schedules and Black Pine’s M-F 8-5 work week, we waited two weeks to get an appointment. Again, a couple of calls to Mike cleared the chemical questions up and we were swimming on Saturday morning (delivered Thursday afternoon). · Service – Since Black Pine is in Edmonds, they start out providing service in the South (Pierce/South King County) because of traffic issues. The good thing is they come in the A.M., but they don’t come in the P.M. nor after work or weekends. So plan for this. Black Pine · Chill on the sales speed part. People are spending a lot of money on their spas, give them the time to feel as relaxed during the sale as they will when using their new spa. · Increase the automatic education and spa review part. Knowledge removes all the fear of dealing with something new which increases a buyers experiences and satisfaction. · Provide weekend/evening service. Taking a day off work to have your spa service/fixed sucks. Not all of us are retired…yet! · Add a product delivery to your service route. Since your guys are already out doing service, have them also drop off products people can order from you (chemicals, parts, covers, etc.). Smaller items could be shipped. · Consider a South King county service/parts/products location. · Provide a chemical/water balancing cheat sheet explaining what to add, how to go about adding it, etc. Don’t wait on the initial service overview call to get people using their spa. · Clarification on what delivery means. We were told the cover and the cover lifter came with the spa. What wasn’t clarified is that Black Pine doesn’t install the cover clips or the lifters. Whaaaaat??? Really, that’s like buying a new car and having to install the doors and locks yourself. This is why I’m a detail person…but I can’t think of everything. Kudos to Mike for stepping up and offering to do this for us at no charge. · A sheet for new spa owners explaining initial overview of caring for the physical spa, working with the chemicals and balancing the water, preparing the pad, etc.. Basically all the things that a new spa owner must do to prepare for and take care of their spa after its delivered. Some of this is in the manual, but you don’t get the FULL manual until the spa is delivered…and the manual misses some key points. It doesn’t have to be a book, but at least a list of things people should be checking into.

First Class Act! This is actually my first review online and it is due to the outstanding people at Black Pine Spas. We cannot say enough good things about our experience. From the time we walked onto the lot, to purchasing our spa, to delivery, to electrical recommendation, to enjoying our quality spa, we are very satisfied! My fiancé and I actually went to just look at the spa inventory during their “moving” sale back at the end of April. We were so impressed with Mike Nekahi and the knowledge of our sales guy that we ended up purchasing a Grand Bahama before we left. The ladies in the store/office are super helpful as well. We appreciate the fact that we never felt any pressure from the sales staff or management. The spa was delivered on the date and time as promised. Delivery guys were top notch. “Zeus” was the delivery guy, forklift operator, spa educator, just an overall awesome individual! He is the guy who put the “O” in Smoooooth! Very impressive to watch him maneuver an 800+ lb. hot tub around the corner, through some trees, and onto the deck without any problem. He placed it exactly where we wanted the spa with ease and professionalism (first class). You could see the focus he had in order to prevent damage to the property or to the spa. His helper Marvin was helpful as well in ensuring that he had everything he needed in order to complete the job in a safe manner, plus cleaned up the tub in areas that were a little dusty. Great team! Great family feeling with everyone involved! We waited three months to provide an overall review of the entire experience because we wanted to provide an honest opinion about the spa as well. WE LOVE IT! Our friends and family said that we would use it at first, but then after awhile the “newness” will wear off. Well, I am happy to report that we use it almost every evening after work and we do not plan on slowing down “spa time”. It is our place to catch up after a hard day or a workout. We actually use it and enjoy it more than we imagine. Great investment for our health as well! We continue to be very impressed with the professionalism of the staff and are looking forward to working with Black Pine in the future. Sincerely, Happy New Spa Owner

I have had the pleasure of having Black Pine service my hot tub for over a year now. My contract is up and I am actually happy to pay them, in advance, for the next year. Every person I have had contact with is pleasant, helpful, patient, informative, timely, and actually follows through. I used another company for a year before I found Black Pine and had enormous charges and continuous mold issues. I was ready to junk the tub until I found this company. I cannot praise them enough!

Maybe Black Pine do good sales and installation work, but my experience with them on getting service for an older spa has not been good. They showed up for the initial appointment fine, and Cook was friendly and professional, but I think it's outrageous to have to pay $90 to get someone to come out to gather data for an estimate, and then, even after follow-up calls, I still don't even have the estimate, and it's now three weeks later. My next call to Black Pine will be for a request for a refund of my $90.

This is the first time we used this company and were very pleased with them. We would definitely recommend them. From the first time that we called them, we were surprised that they actually had a real person answering the phone instead of voice mail. They were able to schedule an appointment within two days. The technician showed up on time, went right to work, quickly found the problem, knew what needed to be fixed and how to fix it. He cleaned up all the debris after he was done. When he left, the spa looked great and there was no leak.

Very well. They showed on time, found the leaks and repaired them in an efficient and professional manner. After they left, I discovered that one of the leaks had not been totally fixed. I called the repairmen and they immediately returned and finished the job.

Our hot tub heater wasn't working. I discussed the problem with the tech over the phone. He said it sounded like it could be fixed in about an hour and a half at our home, and quoted me their price. We agreed on a day and time. He called me at work, said he was at our house and had found the problem quickly and fixed it. I gave him my credit card number over the phone. Excellent, prompt service!

The service tech called prior to his site visit and he practically had the problem diagnosed over the phone. He brought the necessary parts to fix our problem, and had it fixed in less than 30 minutes.

NOW WE CAN USE THE JETS AGAIN SINCE THEY ARE NEW HEADS. THE WATER IS CLEAN AND HE SHOWED ME HOW TO BALANCE THE WATER TO KEEP IT CLEANER. WELL WORTH THE TIME AND MONEY.

NATHAN WAS VERY INFORMATIVE. HE TOOK THE TIME TO SHOW ME HOW TO KEEP MY WATER LEVELS BALANCED SO MY SPA WILL STAY CLEANER. HE ANSWERED ALL OF MY MANY QUESTIONS AND WAS HAPPY TO DO SO.