PORT ORANGE, Fla. – A business owner sued by Oklahoma’s Attorney General for allegedly selling defective hot tubs and failing to honor warranties recently opened a new spa company in Volusia County that is the subject of similar consumer complaints, News 6 has learned.
Revive Spas and More, which operates from a Port Orange warehouse, sells used hot tubs and spas via classified advertisements on Facebook Marketplace.
Dylan Placker, who is listed on Florida records as the company’s registered agent, was sued by Oklahoma’s Attorney General last month for violating that state’s consumer protection laws, court records show.
News 6 has received complaints from six Florida customers who claim Placker sold them malfunctioning hot tubs and did not respond to their initial requests for warranty service.
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After News 6 contacted Placker for comment, the business owner issued a full refund to one of those customers and reimbursed another customer for the cost of repairing his hot tub.
A third customer, who is still awaiting repairs or a refund on her broken hot tub, has filed a complaint with Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.
“I’ve got a (expletive) load of happy customers,” Placker told News 6. “My sales are going through the roof.”
Placker insisted he’s working with authorities in Oklahoma to settle complaints there while vowing to operate his Central Florida business differently.
“I’ve been working hard to make things right with my customers,” Placker told News 6. “Don’t you believe in giving people second chances?”
Meghan Gillespie, who claims Placker delivered a defective hot tub to her Florida home and has avoided her requests for warranty service, is urging others to do research before purchasing anything from Revive Spas and More.
“I just don’t want other people to fall victim to this,” Gillespie said. “Times are hard right now, and if someone finds extra money for this little bit of luxury, it just burns me that they wouldn’t be able to enjoy that luxury.”
Placker, who advertises a one-year warranty on hot tubs he sells, does not hold a Florida contractor license required by state law to repair or service pools and spas, state records show.
The hot tub salesman told News 6 he “outsources” repair work but did not elaborate.
After originally responding to phone calls inquiring about his business, Placker instructed News 6 to stop contacting him for comment on this story.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Placker said. “If [customers] have a problem, they can contact me. My cell phone number is on Google. They can pop in and talk to my secretary. We’re open from 9 to 5.”
Hot tub seller sued by Oklahoma Attorney General
Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor filed a petition Aug. 24 accusing Placker of violating the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act by committing “unfair and deceptive trade practices” and making “false or misleading representations” related to his spa business, court records show.
Placker’s wife, Chelsie, and their former company, DP Spas & Hot Tubs, were also named as defendants.
The petition identified 14 Oklahoma residents who claim the Plackers sold them defective hot tubs and failed to provide warranty repair service or issue refunds.
The couple reached a settlement with the Oklahoma Attorney general earlier this month, court records show.
Under the agreement, the Plackers owe $33,260 in restitution to their former Oklahoma customers, payable in monthly installments of $924. The couple must arrange for the removal of seven defective hot tubs from customers’ homes.
The Plackers are also barred from selling hot tubs and spas in Oklahoma for the next decade, the agreement states.
Many of the customers named in the petition have filed separate lawsuits against Placker. Some of those cases have been settled, court records indicate.
The most recent case identified in the attorney general’s petition occurred on March 3, when an Oklahoma woman claims she paid Placker $2,500 cash for a hot tub with a rusted and inoperable motor.
The customer accused Placker of failing to show up on three separate occasions to perform repairs pursuant to the hot tub’s one-year warranty.
On March 2, just one day before reportedly selling that hot tub in Oklahoma, records show Placker filed paperwork with Florida’s Secretary of State creating Revive Spas and More LLC in Port Orange.
Florida customers share complaints about hot tub company
Placker’s hot tubs are advertised on Facebook Marketplace under multiple usernames including “ReviveSpas AndMore” and “Revive More”, online posts show.
Although Placker’s warehouse is in Port Orange, the online advertisements suggest the hot tubs are being sold in cities throughout Florida including Jacksonville, Port St. Lucie, The Villages and Miami.
Placker told News 6 that all hot tubs he sells are “water tested” to ensure they work.
The hot tubs include a “one-year warranty on all electrical components,” according to invoices provided to customers at the time of purchase.
When Gillespie found a Facebook Marketplace listing for used a hot tub, she said she was attracted by the affordable $2,800 price and the warranty.
“[The warranty] was extremely important,” said Gillespie. “It was the reason I trusted him.”
Gillespie said Placker delivered the hot tub to her home in Hillsborough County, located about 150 miles away from his company’s headquarters in Volusia County, but he refused to wait around for her to fill it with water and test it.
“We asked him to stay, but he said he had to leave and move on to the next appointment,” Gillespie said.
As soon as she began filling the hot tub with a garden hose, Gillespie said water began pouring out of the bottom and spilling across her patio.
“It was a huge leak,” she said. “We knew it was a major problem.”
Gillespie claims she immediately tried contacting Placker on his cell phone.
“Before he had even left our neighborhood, we started calling him and telling him, ‘Hey, this isn’t working. Come back,’” Gillespie said. “There was no response for hours and hours. He ghosted us.”
Gillespie said she and her husband later discovered that the hot tub’s internal plumbing was disconnected and not attached to the spray jets, some of which were completely missing.
“When [Placker] finally responded, he said that he’d be back in the area the next night and he would take care of it,” Gillespie said. “He never showed up.”
Three months later, Gillespie said Placker still has not returned to repair her hot tub.
“You don’t know (expletive) about hot tubs and neither do they,” Placker told News 6 in response to Gillespie’s allegations. “They can take me to small claims court. I’ll fight it.”
Placker said he offered to refund Gillespie on the condition that she sign an agreement promising not to disparage his company.
Gillespie, who posted a message on Facebook Marketplace publicly criticizing Revive Spas and More, said she declined to sign the agreement.
“I absolutely refused,” Gillespie said. “It’s more important to me that this doesn’t keep happening to people.”
Like Gilespie, Matthew Roberts said Placker quickly drove away from his Polk County home after delivering a hot tub, so the customer could not immediately test it.
When Roberts filled the hot tub with water about 90 minutes later, he claims it appeared to be malfunctioning.
“None of the jets would turn on, and none of it was working properly,” Roberts said. “It was making odd noises, which I learned was the subwoofer for the [built-in] speaker system.”
Roberts said he sent several text messages to Placker but claims the business owner did not respond for more than a week.
“I have been out of the office for nine days and just returned,” Placker later wrote in a text message to Roberts.
Placker confirmed the authenticity of that text message, telling News 6 he had been in Oklahoma for a “family emergency”.
As part of its newsgathering, News 6 recorded video outside the company’s Port Orange warehouse which showed Placker on the premises during the same period he claimed to be out-of-state.
“I can’t justify that,” Placker said when informed of the video that appeared to contradict the statements he made to Roberts and News 6. “It’s not the customer’s business.”
Hours after News 6 contacted Placker for comment, he issued an electronic refund to Roberts for $2,800 and later picked up the hot tub.
Another customer, David Jackson, could not immediately test his hot tub after Placker delivered it to his Eustis home because the warranty required a licensed electrician to install a proper outlet or power source.
After the spa was hooked up three days later, Jackson claims the lights illuminated and the motor hummed, but the water would not circulate.
“He’s got $5,000 of my money and I got a hot tub, but it doesn’t work,” Jackson said. “I can’t even enjoy it.”
Jackson claims Placker initially offered to return to his home and inspect the hot tub but said the business owner never showed up despite repeated calls and text messages.
“Days became weeks. Weeks became over a month. Finally, [I decided] I’m just going to go to a reputable dealer,” Jackson said.
Jackson eventually paid a third-party repair company $125 to get the hot tub working, he said.
When News 6 contacted Placker for comment about Jackson’s hot tub, he offered to compensate the customer.
“I have no problem reimbursing him for the cost of the repairs,” Placker told News 6.
Following that conversation, Placker instructed News 6 to stop contacting him for comment about any other customer complaints.
“You’re not going to bully me,” Placker told News 6. “Don’t call my phone again.”
Since then, three other customers have contacted News 6 with complaints about Revive Spas and More, including one who lives more than 200 miles away from the company’s Port Orange headquarters.
All three claimed some of their hot tubs’ original parts had been replaced with much older components and all say they’ve been unsuccessful in obtaining warranty service from Placker.
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