Austin Spas and Pools

I just got my spa and bought a filter from them a couple of weeks ago for $ 79. I thought this might’ve been a little steep, so checked prices online and found one for less than HALF the price.
Their huge mark up was bad enough, but it got MUCH worse when my wife went to return the filter. She walked in and told them she needed to return the filter. She told them we found it for much less online and the lady told her they don’t allow returns for that reason. Of course, my wife thought she was joking but she was SERIOUS (!!).
She said she cannot allow this because they need to stay in business. She then gave her a hard time about when she said we bought it. After my wife pointed out that we have the receipt and that it’s unopened, etc, she finally reluctantly agreed to «make an exception» and allow the return. My wife told her we’re going to take our business elsewhere because of this experience and she told her «Well, you just go ahead and do that.»
Then, she rang up the return and conveniently forgot to add tax. My wife pointed it out and she said, «Well, I’m glad you caught that!»
As you can see from my other reviews, I usually don’t write negative reviews. However, this is one I just had to share as I couldn’t believe they were actually serious about not allowing a return because we found it for less elsewhere.

i bought my spa from lisa at austin spa in 2011 and was treated great. i continue to do business with them. best investment ever.

I bought a new Jacuzzi hot tub in Oct 2012. As part of this purchase, I bought the Jacuzzi 5-​year full warranty that reads in plain English that it will cover all parts and labor costs on any defects during the warranty period. This is just not true.
My *new* Jacuzzi J365 has completely broken twice (requiring extensive repairs) due to electrical faults since I have had it (18 months), and Austin Hot Tubs and Spas charges $ 75 just to come look at it. They call it a «Service Fee» but this fee is not mentioned anywhere in the warranty. I called, and Frank at Austin Hot Tubs and Spas said the $ 75 was a fee to cover gas, but I live in wells branch, less than 7 miles away! He also said they charge an additional per-​mile fee for people that live further away! Frank did drop the fee to $ 50 when I got a supervisor at Jacuzzi corporate on the phone, but Frank still acted like they were doing me a favor by offering repair service at all! He said they don’t make much money off of hot tub repairs after they have sold the warranty, so they don’t want to do it.
All I wanted was the warranty service I purchased at premium price (and was told would be absolute cost-​free for 5 years), but Austin Spas and Pools is very reluctant to do it once they have made the sale.
Allyson at Austin Hot Tubs and Spas is very helpful and polite, and she said that a lot of times if you call Jacuzzi corporate and talk to Nick, he will provide an authorization to have Jacuzzi pay for the service fee. However, when I spoke to Nick at Jacuzzi corporate customer service he was extremely rude; I can’t believe his behavior towards customers is tolerated. His supervisor Gina was polite but unhelpful and did not authorize for Jacuzzi to pay the fee. Jacuzzi corporate in the US seems to be a very poorly run organization. I bought Jacuzzi because I wanted the best, and I wanted to not worry about problems down the road. Unfortunately, Jacuzzi is only the most expensive, not the best, and I fully expect a complicated and difficult future relationship with them.
John came out and repaired the tub two weeks after my call (some time was in waiting for the part to come in). He was professional, kind, and skilled.
If I was going to buy a new hot tub today, I would buy from Hines Pool and Spa, which has always treated me with amazing customer service and has never charged me any ridiculous fees for service under warranty. Here is their website:

Caveat Emptor!