Here at KSVB 94.1 FM, we occasionally review businesses. Most we review are outstanding, but occasionally, we come across a business that falls way below acceptable business standards.

Today, we will discuss Bear Valley Spas.

Bear Valley Spas has some serious issues with customer service, knowledge, and skill level of their repair personnel, and based on that, KSVB rates them as unacceptable.

This review is based on an actual customer interaction.

A little story.

A customer had a water leak in their hot tub, requested service from Bear Valley Spas, and an appointment date was set. That date came and went, no technician. Calls went unanswered. Finally, five days later, someone answered the phone and provided a poor excuse for why the service technician had never arrived and promised the technician would arrive that day. The technician arrived and inspected the hot tub. He claimed to have identified the problem, and left, saying an estimate would be emailed to the customer. The technician also claimed that the identified problem was common and that replacing a valve would fix the leak.

Cost: $150.00 for the service call.

The estimate arrives - $353. Typically, in the real business world, if an estimate is accepted, the cost of the service call is waived. It wasn't, and when asked, they said no. The hot tub had to be fixed, so the estimate was accepted, and the repairs were completed.

The total cost is now $503

A reasonable person would think for $503 the leak would be fixed; it wasn't. The service technician said it was a common issue and that the repair would fix it. It didn't, so much for knowledge and skill.

Another service call was initiated to identify the leak's source, which should have been fixed the first time.

This service call resulted in an estimate of $764 to replace more parts. This raises the question, "If these parts will fix the leak, then the original parts that were replaced were obviously not the issue."

So, spend $1,267 and still no guarantee. Well, only a fool would fall for that. A reasonable would instead put that toward a new hot tub.

A refund was requested for the charges that did not fix the problem, and the refund request was refused. So much for customer service.

KSVB can only suggest that anyone needing a spa, hot tub, or service give consideratio to this experience and consider alternative businesses.