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Dear Which?,
I purchased a CleverSpa hot tub for my family to enjoy last summer during lockdown. As the hot tub was inflatable I thought it would be ideal for storing away during the winter months.
After a few weeks, the thermostat and pump failed, leaving us with a cold, expensive garden feature. As I had registered my warranty with CleverSpa I was entitled to a repair or replacement should something go wrong.
I contacted CleverSpa to get the fault fixed. After several attempts to contact its customer services, I was told via an automated email that hard water in my area could be to blame. When I finally got through to CleverSpa, it agreed to inspect my hot tub but only if it was sent back to them in a special box that they would send to me.
I waited a month for the box to arrive but it never did and following up with CleverSpa proved impossible. I’m worried that waiting any longer could invalidate my warranty, leaving me to pay for the repairs.
Why is it proving so hard for CleverSpa to honour the warranty and agree to repair or replace my hot tub?
Tracy Watkinson, Northamptonshire.
Put to Rights
Luke Jeffery, consumer rights expert at Which?, says:
A functioning hot tub should’ve added a touch of luxury to the summer lockdown for your family. I’m sorry you weren’t able to enjoy it for long.
Warranties are effectively an insurance policy for your product and in some cases offer wider protection when something goes wrong. Warranties are also a contract between you and the retailer or manufacturer where you are both bound by what the contract says.
The CleverSpa website explicitly states that the pump and heater are covered under warranty for 12 months following the date of purchase. You could’ve gone back to the retailer for a refund, but due to the pandemic, a replacement would have been better.
As you registered the warranty within the 28 day limit, you are entitled to make a claim for a repair or replacement for your hot tub. While it’s good to know that hard water can affect the running of your hot tub, it doesn’t invalidate your warranty.
When researching your issue we found you weren’t alone in your complaint with CleverSpa. Several other customers contacted us with similar issues. One customer told us how they paid twice for repairs, only to be sent broken parts on both occasions.
When I asked CleverSpa why it was taking so long to honour your warranty, it apologised and agreed to repair the hot tub free of charge should a fault be identified. It did find an issue with the thermostat and pump and agreed to send a replacement hot tub, belatedly honouring the warranty.
I asked CleverSpa what commitments it was willing to make to ensure that its customers could be confident that warranties would be honoured.
CleverSpa told us: ‘We are continuously looking for solutions to improve our systems and procedures – ultimately what we all want is happy customers.’
‘Due to unprecedented demand and circumstances outside of our control, we have struggled as a company to manage customer service issues to the high standards that we set for ourselves, and take pride in as a team.’
It’s worth remembering that warranties are in addition to your statutory rights with the retailer that sold you the product in the first instance to get a problem solved. That being said, if you have a warranty, it has to be honoured.
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source https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/08/cleverspa-customer-can-relax-after-which-gets-fault-fixed/