Hudson Bay Spas 4 Person 14 Jet Spa with Stainless Jets and 110V GFCI Cord Included

First I want to state that the hot tub itself is awesome. The lights are awesome and it runs off a regular electrical outlet. Two major problems that I have with this. Number one is the controls are hard to figure out. Even after reading the manual it still gets confusing with all the different types of mode plus there are things you figure out along the way as to why your hot tub isn't heating up, trying to find the correct setting on how many people will be in it to how much it is going to be used, need to really read up on chemicals that need to be in it and where to buy those along with the filters. this hot tub does get on stuck mode quite a bit. You have to be careful changing the different modes on it because if your temp is too high it may think it needs to be heated if your temperature setting is on low. For example, you have it set for 98 degrees but then you decide that you want it cooler to 95. If you are in economy mode and it is over 95 degrees then the hot tub will run non stop no matter what setting or filteration setting it is on. The main issue I have with this hot tub is the Hudson Bay customer service. I was on the phone with them for a total of a week trying to figure out why my hot tub was not turning off and why some of my jets were not working. I fear that if I ever have to order parts and have them installed it just will not happen with this company. I kept asking for someone to come out and look at it but I kept getting the run around. As for ordering any parts of the company I was told by the service department that I would be better off buying my parts such as chemicals and filters from someplace else because they were way to expensive and shipping time can be as long as a month after I placed my order. I was finally able to talk to someone in the service department that was able to explain to me how to fix stuff and to check stuff but it took me a forever to find him. Average length of phone call was 3 hours where they just kept telling me to do the same thing over and over again. Very frusterating. So if you do not need customer service at all then feel free to buy this hot tub.

Received my tub day before Thanksgiving 2018, used it 5-6 times over first 3 good weeks, then it was suddenly surging and out of working order before Christmas...out for about a 3 week timeline talking thru issue with customer service on multiple calls, and their two attempts at diagnosing and shipping parts. Nice guy who seemed anxious to help, and apparently he got it right second attempt by sending a new control switch. Other than the long hold times on calls to customer service, taking two attempts to correctly diagnose the problem which in hindsight I can now overlook, and their "we'll ship parts but you'll have to install them yourself approach", I was satisfied as they did eventually resolve the issue. As I type this, tub has been working like a champ since, but the control switch which plugs in like a telephone jack, is still not installed, plugged in and sitting on a side table as I was told old control would simply "pop out", which seems to not be quite that simple; guess not getting that done may be somewhat on my non-mechanical self, but I'm leaving well enough alone for the time being. The tub is working great, holding its temp (lowest temp so far here in the mid to upper 20's several times) and is overall a pleasure to use. Be patient on the initial heat up and any start overs, takes a good 24 or more hours, but once its hot it stays hot. Nice cover, comfortably a 2-person tub rather than a 4 which is fine for me, an overall great tub for the bucks. I'm deducting for the first few weeks breakdown, for the call wait times, and primarily for the "install the parts yourself" approach; but overall, knock on wood, I'm very happy with the tub and for the money would likely buy again so long as the worst is over. Hope this is helpful to potential buyers and constructively to company, and not too hard on the nice customer service rep who helped get me to this point. I'll certainly update if further issues, otherwise all good and meeting expectations.

We love this hot tub. We ordered it on Dec 16, 2016; it shipped on Jan 18, 2017. it was delivered on Jan 24th, really close to the six weeks maximum delivery date that was listed in the shipping window (4 to 6 weeks). We placed ours in our uncovered, outdoor deck (deck sits about 3ft off ground level). So we can basically step down from the deck into the tub. It does require a dedicated GFCI protected 20Amp 110Volt outlet to power it. The power cord is coiled inside the pump access door (the side of the spa below the topside controls). We had to cut/drill a hole in the side of the hot tub in order to route the cord outside of the compartment (weird it didn't come with one from the factory). The cord has an integrated GFCI built into the power plug. But they still require the actual outlet to be GFCI protected too, either at the outlet, or with a GFCI breaker in the circuit breaker box. Also, according to the manual, use of an extension cord is prohibited, voiding the warranty. I guess this stipulation is included since there are so many variations as to extension cord construction. If you were to use the wrong one, you could starve the pump/heater of power, causing premature failure. But, theoretically, a short (10-20 feet) 12 gauge extension cord might work as that is the same gauge of wire used for 20Amp 120Volt electrical circuits. I was really curious as to the construction and maintainability of the unit prior to purchase. I was hoping the unit had a light layer of insulating foam on the underside of the acrylic shell with insulated sheeting/padding on the composite plastic outer panels. I was happy to discover that is exactly how it is constructed. This ensures that you don't have to go digging through lots of spray-in foam insulation to find a leak; all of the plumbing is clearly visible once the side panel(s) are removed. I wasn't too thrilled with the frame being wood instead of something more friendly to moisture. But I would guess that the wood will probably outlast most of the other components anyways -- plus it should be easy to replace if it is ever needed. Even with the light insulation, the unit had no issue maintaining 104 degrees even with outside temperatures in the teens. We did have an issue during the initial fill where the pump would not/could not clear an air bubble from the system (no water flow from jets, system not properly primed). The manual says if the jets don't work (airlock in pump), bleed the pump. We finally found instructions in one of the manuals on how to bleed the pump. But the instructions were not real clear, especially when they mentioned loosening a plug to allow air to escape. I eventually found that there are three or four larger black plastic set screws in the pump body. I am guessing that any of them would work to bleed the pump. I selected the highest one on the pump body that I could easily reach. While the pump was on low, I slowly loosened the set screw until i had a dribble of water coming out (absorbed by a towel). I attempted this three times, but was still unable to clear the air from the pump. So as a last ditch attempt, I performed the same process with the pump running at full/maximum speed. This finally purged the air from the pump. I then tightened the set screw. I have had no further issues with the spa over the past 60 days. I did go buy a submersible water pump that will allow me to quickly drain the tub, whenever that is required. I haven't had to use that yet, thankfully. Overall, this is a great little hot tub for the money. We use ours almost every night. It would be even better if it was deeper; but I am sure that would have increased the cost. As a work-around, I just slide down into the tub while putting my feet/legs up on the seat across from me. I am 6ft tall; this allows me to submerge up to my neck. For that reason, I agree this is more of a two or three person spa. The pump produces more than enough water flow for a decent massage. I would highly recommend this spa for anyone needing an inexpensive spa that seats two to three people.