We write to you with concerns regarding a web based company ‘The Trade Price Group' selling spas and hot tubs and its relation to another company called ‘Spa Serve' which is based in Rugeley, Staffordshire.

 In January 2008, we placed an order for a swim spa with a company ‘Trade Price Group' advertising over the internet for what appeared to be a good deal (Christmas and New Year half price sale). I spoke to the sales person (who we now co-owns Spa Serve) on a Friday 2 days before the sale was to end and placed a refundable deposit (£500.00) to secure the spa, and subsequently visited their warehouse distribution centre in Rugeley near Birmingham and went ahead with the order as we felt the arrangement was reasonable. 

We met the sales person who came across as very genuine and told us that he was ex-army, he and his friends co-owned the company and were able to sell the spas at a competitive price because they were dealing direct and in large numbers without the expense of a show room.

The cost of the swim spa including delivery was £ 12000.00 third of which to be paid on order, second third to be paid when the goods are ready to be shipped to UK (we were told that the spas were made in United States) and final third to be paid upon delivery.

 Having paid the second third, in total of £8075.00 (including credit card charges, £ 4075.00 paid using credit cards and £ 4000.00 paid using cheque) in February, we were made wait without any correspondence beyond the projected delivery date. We made several phone calls and following a written correspondence, we were written back earlier in April assuring that the spa would be here by end of May, which has not happened. We took advice from Trading Standards and have now cancelled the order and the company has refused to refund the money paid.

 We initiated the dispute through Barclaycard as we paid the initial £4075.00 using credit card. Barclaycard have now concluded their investigation and refunded the £4075.00, but unwilling to take the matter any further with regards to rest of £4000.00

During the course we have learnt that the ‘Trade Price Group', which operates the website ‘http://tradepricehottubs.moonfruit.com/' and the initial sales, are face of another company ‘Spa Serve'. All the payments that we have made so far appear to have gone directly to Spa Serve. All the written correspondence and dealings since the initial payment are with Spa Serve who also appear to have their own web site ‘http://www.spaserve.com/' under an address ‘Spa Serve 123 Towers Business Park, Rugeley, Staffordshire. WS15 1UZ'.

Looking at the Spa Serve distribution centre on the website, the ‘Trade Price Group' warehouse we visited is exactly the same in other words Spa Serve is using ‘Trade Price Group' as a front. Therefore the web advertisement for ‘Trade Price Group' appears to be ‘Spa Serve' in disguise although this is not revealed in ‘Trade Price Group' advert nor was is it revealed at the time of order. Worryingly however the registered address for ‘Trade Price Group' is different as they are registered in London under the address ‘Trade Price Group, 3 Bunhill Row, London EC1Y 8YZ'. Worryingly there appears to be a connection with a previous company called ‘Insparations' which has now folded.

 Several aspects of these two organisations concern us

At the time of our order we were given the impression that it was a limited sale. The web site form ‘Trade Price Hot Tubs' made it look like the sale was for a limited time with daily countdown. The sales person  asked me to place a refundable deposit so that I could secure the spa at a sale price. However after the end of sale the prices have remained the same. More importantly there appear to be further frequent sale adverts with a count down to lure customers in to false sense of urgency.

The sales person, who sold us the spa, told us that he co-owned ‘Trade Price Group' also apparently co-owns Spa Serve. He told us that the spa would be with us in 10-12 weeks. He also told us that in order to go ahead with the sale we had to make initial payment of 3^rd the value to place the order (£4075.00 paid using credit card), the second third would be made payable when the spa is ready to be shipped (paid by a cheque) and the last 3^rd upon receiving the spa. However after receiving the credit card bills I noticed that the money was paid directly to Spa Serve, at this stage I did not think much of it as I subsequently received the letter of confirmation of order from Spa serve and therefore assumed that Spa Serve used ‘Trade Price Group' to sell the spas.

However after a second supposedly shipping payment on 25^th February 2008, it all went very quiet. As we were expecting the swim spa to be with us by end of march or at least some indication of delivery date by this time, and since there was no communication from ‘Spa Serve' we made several phone calls in early April. On 2 occasions we were told that someone would call back, which never happened. I made a further phone call on 14^th April, rather annoyed and spoke to, the Office manager and was reassured and told that there was a small delay from the manufacturer's and she would come back to me with answers. Not being satisfied with the response I rang the sales line to ‘Trade Price Group' and was answered promptly by the same sales person. However this time around he seem to think that delivering the spa was no longer his problem as it had been passed on to Spa Serve for the delivery. After somewhat heated discussion he agreed to speak to sales manager at Spa Serve and I did receive a phone call and a subsequent letter stating the reasons for delay being on the manufacturing side and that the spa would be delivered by end of May, which of course has not materialised.

There were several people on ‘reviewcentre.com' who appear to have had similar experiences with poor reviews for both ‘Trade Price Group' and ‘Spa Serve'. Although I accept that one is more likely to write review on a bad experience, the poor reviews for Spa serve and Trade price Group far exceed others which have now miraculously disappeared after a supposed complaint by Trade Price and Spa Serve.

Interestingly I came across another set of poor reviews, this time around the company known as Insparations which appear to be the previous face of Spa Serve, which has been investigated by BBC Watchdog in the past. The website for this company no longer exists and appear to have some relation to these companies in question.

We did reasonable research before ordering the spa. We believe that the swimming pool and spa industry generally have a very  high profit margin, therefore when I saw the advert for the Swimspa on ‘Trade price group' web site I felt that the cost of the Swim spa was a reasonable deal. I checked for the credentials on this company as best as possible and found nothing adverse at that time. We even enquired with the trading standards for credibility but unable to obtain this information based on the data protection issues.

We have been in touch with Trading Standards who appear to have similar complaints and think that we should be able to reclaim the money based on time of essence.  We have now written to the company cancelling the order (in June 2008) and asking for a full refund and the company have refused to refund. They have tried to entice us with a different colour swim spa giving us essentially three day notice over the weekend before the notice period for cancellation ended (Stating that the delivery date could not be changed as the spa came directly from shipping port to installation site, knowing that it required a crane for installation which we needed to organise) which we had to refuse.

The terms and conditions of the sale however are quite cunning and unfair, as I have later discovered that it excludes cancellation on the basis of time of essence. The company also claims that our order was a custom order, which is not true as we simply chose one of the two colours. We were neither informed of the significance of these issues nor were we told about the involvement of ‘Spa Serve' at the time of order and signing the contract. In fact we were mislead in signing the contract on the pretext of it being a timed sale. 

We strongly believe this is a company with poor trading standards with several others like us at the receiving end. We therefore request your assistance in this matter including possible investigation to establish credibility and prevent others from having similar experiences.

Please be careful if you are dealing with this company.

We wanted to purchase a hot tub but wanted a site survey done first to ensure we could get it into our garden. On the wbsite [www.trade-price-hot-tubs.co.uk] (link: http://www.trade-price-hot-tubs.co.uk) it says that serveys are free. When you call them on 0845-094468 they ask for a fully refundable deposit of £500 that will be repaid if you decied not to proceed. Well they took our deposit and came to do the servey. The guy who turned up in his Audi TT then proceeded to drive straight accross my front lawn and parked his car by my front window some 30 feet from the drive way (that can park 6 cars on it!) we looked at the products but decieded not to proceed for many reasons the main one being the credability of the sales person. We have called and left messages for them to call us back and we have emailed them withou success. we are now passing the matter onto the police.

Representative stated that payment had to be in full when placing order, when this is not the case.  When you read delivery info, it states balance payable on delivery. he also advised delivery would take no more than 12 weeks so should have been delivered in his words this week. Spoke to the aftersales team
who are very difficult and do not give out any information abiy when I could expect delivery then advised not until next year. I have tried
to arrange a meeting with the parners of the company who apparently do not get involved once they have sold the tubs, but the secretary has forgot to make the appointment all very convenient

I have been advised by trading standards to write to them stating I wish them to make time of the essence (it must be these words) and deliver my tub within 14 days or they will be in breach of contract.  which i am sending this weekend by registered mail

This company simply doesn't tell the truth - certainly the rep didn't, he even said that due to the month of August  and it being quiet, we would propbably take delivery of the tub even sooner than 12 weeks.  If only they would let customers know what is going on, how they operate, why the delay etc.

Awaiting a further response from trade price group and will update further

After a home visit from Simon I purchased a hot tub from Spa Serve part of the Trade Price Group on 8/12/2008 and paid in full. I signed the order form Simon completed not realizing that I was signing a contract. Terms and conditions are on the back of the form which he does not show you. He failed to complete the "due date" on the contract and did not advise me of my right to cancel the contract nor is there a section on cancellation on the terms and conditions. Confirmation of the order was dated 17/12/2008 showing that the hot tub was due into their distrubution warehouse "TBA Min 10/12 weeks." Both Simon and Stuart had promised us that the hot tub would be delivered to  to our house in Spain by the begining of April, at their expense, if it did not arrive in time to be shipped with other goods we were shipping at the end of February so we were not too worried. As February came and went and April loomed we contacted the company for a delivery date and six months later and many email and letters all they bhave told us is that it is made awaiting shipment to the uk. We have told them that it is unreasonable to expect us to wait any longer and have pointed out that they are in breech of the Sale of Goods Act 1982 and should have told us about our cancellation rights. We have cancelled the order and claimed a refund and after several letter asking us to bear with them a bit longer, they now do not reply nor have they refunded our money.

This company talk the talk but do not deliver. They tell you about all their happy customers and about ex-employees posting bad reviews but do not be deceived by the verbal promises that they cannot keep. From my experience this is not a company you want to do business with. Their products are cheap but it seems you get what you pay for or in my case you get nothing at all! Do yourself a favour and stay away from this company and I am not an ex-employee just one of the many mugs falling for their smart sales techniques.  

Hi ordered a hot tub from this crowd and they promised delivery within 12 weeks and said more likely to be 6 weeks.

I made numerous calls to them asking when the hot tub will arrive. Every time I was told that they are waiting for shipping documents from the manufacturer. I was told to send them a letter advising time is of the essence and if I don't receive my hot tub by 20/08/2009 the contract is rescinded. Naturally, no reply from them. A Statutory Demand was issued against Mr Foster of the Trade Price Group. He had to respond to that via his solicitors and according to clause 4.2 of the Terms and Conditions 'time for delivery shall not be made of the essence by notice.

Although I have received a letter from them stating the hot tub is ready to be delivered, I do not want it on principle. After reading on the internet, they are dodgy cheap hot tubs which come from China and not USA as they stated when I first ordered one. Who has to pay £7.5K up front and wait nearly 200 days for an item ordered?

I am therefore stuck unless the courts would see that the Terms and Conditions of this organisation is unreasonable. What are the chances of this?

I really need advice as to whether I would win in court where they would reimburse me in full as well as statutory interest and legal costs.

On Christmas eve 2007 my fiancee was injured in Afghanistan resulting in him losing both of his legs and his right arm, after his initial recovery and lots of rehabilitation he was finaly allowed home. Learning to use prosthetics and going through intese rehab took it's toll on Mark and he used to have a lot of back and neck aches and pains etc... After a brief discussion we decided it would be a good idea to get a spa to help relieve the tension and aches in his body, after looking through the internet we decided to buy one from Trade Price Hot Tubs as the offers seemed unbelievable so we paid our deposit of £500, that was in August 2008, shortly after we decided to ask for our money back as we read a lot of negative reviews about this company (should of checked before so that was our fault) After numerous phone calls and conversations we were given constant excuses about the accounts department having lost our details (twice) and after another phone call they have lost our address (not a very professional team im sure you'll agree) it is now 6 months later and i still have not had a refund and spent a fortune on phone calls as they never ring back like they promise to. We have now given them our address for a third time and they have promised to send us a cheque after we fill out another form and send it to them (which will probably get lost) if any one is considering buying a hot tub from this company please reconsider as you would be a lot better off visiting a dealer and making the in person, it will save a lot of stress. 

I like others featured on this site, was lured by the prices of Hot Tubs advertised on the Trade Price Hot Tubs web site, unfortunately, I went a lot further than them, and actually made a purchase.

I Originally spoke to the sales Rep In September last year, who turned out to be representing a company called SPA SERVE based in Rugeley, Staffordshire (and yes, he drove an Audi TT) and I was made numerous false promises. I was told that I could have a tub delivered by the end of October, I received it finally at the end of January. I was told that the Warrantee covered Parts & Labour for 2 years and the shell for 10 years, (Note that this wasn't All parts and labour.) None of the Audio/visual extras are covered unless you pay an additional 500 pounds. There was no mention of the fees I would later be charged to cover petrol costs when the spa went wrong (150 pounds). I asked how they could sell the spas so cheaply, he noted that the tubs were shipped directly from the USA, and that there was no showroom overheads, but there was no mention of the cheap softwood panels which were untreated on the inside, and had no insulation attached.

The customer service has been diabolical, after numerous requests, I still have not been able to speak to a manager. There was no contact other than that made by me when the spa delivery got later and later.

When the Spa was finally delivered, 3 months late 2 of the three extra items I ordered were not with it , and still havent arrived (Pop up TV & Parasol). One of the two free bar stools had a split in one of the legs from top to bottom. The Spa was delivered at 7 o'clock in the morning, and the team returned to carry out the installation/demonstration at 10:15 that night. The Installation/demonstration which I paid extra for took aproximately 20minutes, and in my opinion was not worth the money I paid.

After 1 week of using the Spa, it sprang a leak from the pipework underneath. I contacted SPA SERVE to have an engineer fix the fault, and this was where I was told it would be at least two weeks, and I would have to pay 150 pounds to cover their petrol costs.

I am now sitting with an incomplete order, which is unuseable due to a fault (unless I pay the petrol surcharge) The order was 3 months late, and the warrentee isn't worth the paper it's written on. I would urge anyone thinking of buying a Hot Tub STAY AWAY FROM TRADE PRICE HOT TUBS and SPA SERVE

I foolishly requested a visit from one of The TRade Price hot tubs sales team.  I was visited on 22 april 2009 from leon.  he sold me a manhattan luxury Spa in what he called the easter sale, he advised me that i would have to pay for the tub in full as they had to put the money up front due to them being made in the middle east, then shipped off to america for all the extras that he told me i would be getting for free!!  I wrote him a cheque for £5,495.  He promised me that the minimum waiting would be 6 weeks maximum 8 weeks due to sales being slow.  I have made several phone calls to the distribution office, the staff there always say the same that they are waiting for paperwork to come, then they would be able to let me have a date.  I have since investigated and read lots of really sad cases about other poor people who have been let down badly after parting with their money.  I have written two letters to the company, still no reply, I would now just like my money back.

Ihave written before to express my concerns about Trade Price Group.  I ordered my goods in april 09 and am still waiting, some 6 months later,  The telephone calls are futile with only assertive replies (well rehursed) from the staff there.  They are completely unphased by threatened court action. 

Really short version: We ordered a Hot Tub at the beginning of September, we were told it was manufactured in America it's not it's coming from China. We were told it would be with us within 4-6 weeks we still don't have it. We've paid £3,145 which we are trying to get back through our credit card company. Jonathan Husselbee is saying we now owe the remaining £3,145 and if we do not pay he will take me to court. The Hot Tub is still not in the country. If you Google Jonathan Husselbee of The Trade Price Group you will see this is not a one off or his only company doing this. I found The Trade Price Group www.thetradepricegroup.com online while I was looking to buy a hot tub, a salesman came round within a couple of days and sold me a hot tub, it was quite a high pressured sales pitch, they tried to make me use a crdit card which I didn't really want to do, the only one that had that amount available was my husbands but I didn't have the pin number so it wouldn't go through so they took a cheque for £3,145 deposit, but the salesman had already taken my card details and put the payment through on the card a couple of days later although it clearly states "cheque on the paper work. I was told my hot tub was made in America and they had a shipment about to come over and if I placed the order on that day I would have my tub in 4-6 weeks, if I didn't I may have to wait for up to 12 weeks. The next day things didn't seem right so I googled Jonathan Husselbee, the owner and The Trade Price Group and was horrified by what I read and from so many people. I called The Trade Price Group straight away and asked to cancel my order, they tried to talk me round but after what I'd read I was insistent and was told they would cancel the order and they would write to me within 5 working days to confirm my refund. I waited 6 days then re rang them to see where my refund was and was told that they didn't know anything about my cancellation and as per the contract I was over my 7 days cooling off period and couldn't cancel, Jonathan Husselbee then rang me and said that I was not to worry my Hot Tub was on it's way and I could pay the outstanding balance once the hot tub was delivered and installed. Then we heard nothing - So we contacted our credit card and organised a charge back, which The Trade Price Group is now contesting. We still don't have a delivery date for the hot tub in fact we have been told it's still not in the country and it has in fact been made in China and is being shipped from there not America as I was promised - After looking into hot tubs before buying one I would never have ordered one from China. So after 19 weeks and still no tub Jonathan Husselbee has put in righting that I owe them another £3,145 (on top of the £3,145 50% deposit) for shipping costs and that if that payment is not forth coming they will take me to court, please Google this company, you'll see that they are doing this to loads of people and people are loosing thousands of pounds. Please forward your story to BBC Watchdog - www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/ or you can email them at watchdog@bbc.co.uk and there is also a Sun newspaper reporter that may be intrested in your story o.harvey@the-sun.co.uk THE MORE OF US THAT REPORT THIS COMPANY (AT THE SAME TIME) TO THESE TWO THE BETTER THE CHANCE OF STOPPING THIS HAPPENING AND FOR US TO GET OUR MONEY BACK ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS CUT AND PASTE YOUR STORY AND EMAIL IT WITH THE TRADE PRICE GROUP IN THE SUBJECT!

trade price group we fell for it too, and order a hot tub from trade price and the shark mat (who we have found out is a partner and gave us a false name which is on our order form and contract)he told us the same story as everyone else and we parted with £5490 which even included delivery and installation.we still have not recieved a date or a tub or any other info apart from waiting shipping.we constantly phone including mats mobile to be bull shitted. the girls on the phones are rude and lie not even knowing where or which port or country its being shipped from, having been told it was made in USA.seems that they are cheap copies from china. so upset did the checks and still lost everything how are they still doing this they should be locked up. seems they have been doing this for years can any one help us or have beaten these cowboys please get in touch we are so desperate. know one seems to know how to get them. stay away from the trade price group fayberesford@yahoo.co.uk