I search for a hot tub for years @ all the home shows and fairs. Finally, I decided to buy a unit. I read an ad in the classified ads in the local paper and saw an ad for a gulf coast spa. I visited the retailer and found out that they were a warehouse and sold bedding,furniture, and hot tubs. They gave me a tour and explained that they could sell tubs half price of the MSRP of gulf coast website. this was because they were low overhead etc. than local dealers. I bought the sales pitch and took delivery of my unit. The boca grande is a good tub and i just did have my first problem with it. The jets keep popping out and the pump is leaking. I called the dealer and to no avail the number was a cell # and was not the dealer. The warehouse that I bought it from was now a car detailing shop. So i went to a couple of local hot tub dealers and low and behold i was told i was out of luck. This place had moved or just plain closed down. I also found that my warranty was with gulf coast and no dealer in town would even touch this unit. Also after looking around I found I DIDNT GET SUCH A GOOD DEAL! I fell for the half price sales pitch but in looking around no one had spas retailing or MSRPing for $11,000 to $16,000.
I was looking like an idiot. I paid $5999.00 for a tub I could have purchased for $1000.00 less at a reputable dealer. But I am the only one to blame for being nieve. After contacting Gulf Coast they said they would try qand find someone in my area to service the unit. After 2 months of run around and several calls to Gulf Coast they sent me the replacement jets, and I had to take off the motor send it back ,and then they sent me a replacement motor that I had to install. I was out my time and shipping cost of returning the motor. I only hope that this is all that will go wrong with this unit.
In summary Gulf Coast took care of my problem, but it was 2 months later. And DO NOT FALL FOR THE PITCH OUT OF A WAREHOUSE CLASSIFIED AD. GULF COAST WILL NOT SEND SOMEONE FROM FLORIDA TO WORK ON YOUR TUB! I am happy with the performance of the unit but I can kick myself in the tail for not buying a tub from an actual dealer.
ONCE AGAIN BEWARE OF WAREHOUSE BEDDING STORES THAT MAY POP UP IN YOUR AREA SELLING HOT TUBS AS THEY WILL MOVE ON YOU AND LEAVE YOU IN THE COLD ON SERVICE.
THANKS GULF COAST FOR TAKING CARE OF THE PROBLEM BUT BUY ONE FROM AN ACTUAL STOREFRONT DEALER
YOU WILL SPEND THE SAME MONEY! THE ONLY REASON I AM POSTING IS SO OTHERS CAN LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE!