Woman Soaked by Scratches on Hot Tub

OLIVIA, N.C. — A Harnett County woman turned to 5 On Your Side for help after the $6,000 hot tub she purchased was damaged on delivery.

Patrice Gohier said the tub works great, but she wanted it to look nice as well. Panels were cracked and scratched as a delivery crew raised it onto her deck in September.

"He noted the damage on the paperwork and that they would fix it, and I was like OK," Gohier said. "I really didn't have a problem with it then because they said they were going to replace and fix it."

In the months that followed, she said, she repeatedly called Recreational Factory Warehouse in Raleigh, where she purchased the hot tub, and the delivery company to find out when the damage would be repaired.

"They'd put me on hold, and I'd be on hold anywhere from eight to 10 minutes and hang up and call back," she said.

The little information Gohier did get was conflicting, she said. She said she was told once that new panels were in, only to be told a month later that they had just been ordered.

"I said, 'You know, this is getting ridiculous.' I said, 'I'm fixing to get WRAL involved. ' They said, 'No, don't do that, don't do that. We'll take care of it,'" she said.

After almost five months of waiting, Gohier finally did call 5 On Your Side.

"I'm just disgusted. I'm just disgusted with it," she said.

Recreational Factory Warehouse manager Reese Martin told 5 On Your Side that he got involved in Gohier's case in December. The people handling it before him "dropped the ball," he said.

Martin blamed delays on the panel color, saying the gray finish is difficult to get, and said he should have called Gohier and told her what was going on. He then called Gohier, who said he promised to make her spa "look brand new."

But Chris Scott, the retailer's general manager, called and accused 5 On Your Side of being on a "lynching mission." He said Gohier bought a "scratch and dent spa" and contended that the damage was already there.

Recreational Factory Warehouse did nothing wrong, but simply "feels obligated to help," Scott said.

Gohier, Martin and the delivery company all said the hot tub was damaged on delivery.

Three days later, a crew repaired Gohier's spa, and she said it's now inviting both inside and out.