‘Very aggravating circumstances’: Attorney General reviews complaints against hot tub company Volusia

PORT ORANGE, Florida. — Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is considering complaints against a Volusia County company that sells used hot tubs on Facebook Marketplace and other online classifieds sites, an agency spokesman told News 6.

At least eight customers have filed formal complaints with Moody’s, alleging that Revive Spas and More supplied defective hot tubs or sold units containing parts that were older than advertised.

Additional consumers contacted News 6 with similar accusations.

Dylan Placker, owner of Revive Spas, is banned from selling hot tubs in Oklahoma for the next decade and must pay more than $33,000 in damages to 14 customers after the Oklahoma Attorney General sued Plaker and his wife for deceptive trading practices .

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Plaker, who moved to Port Orange and opened Revive Spas last year, insists most of his new clients in Florida are happy with their purchases.

“[I] I have a few dissatisfied clients,” Plaker told News 6. “I’m just one guy who runs this big business himself.”

Jamie Piccirilli claims that a used hot tub he bought from Revive Spas for $2,000 never worked and that Placker failed to honor its warranty.

[INSIDER EXTRA: See the judgment against Dylan Placker barring his business from operating in Oklahoma]

“It’s very annoying,” Piccirilli said. “I would hope [Florida’s attorney general] will interfere because such things are just not right.”

Placker and a colleague delivered a used hot tub to a buyer’s home in Jacksonville in November, Piccirilli said, but quickly left before it could be tested.

“My wife and I looked at the hot tub, turned around, and they were gone,” Piccirilli said. “Within 30 seconds they were out of sight.”

Upon discovering that the hot tub’s water pump had a different power and voltage than he expected, Piccirilli said he filled the tub with water but was unable to get it to work properly.

“About half of the nozzles were not working and the pump was making a lot of noise,” Piccirilli said. ” [control panel] did not display anything. It was just a highlight.”

While the invoice provided by Revive Spas promises a one-year warranty on all electrical components, Piccirilli said Plaker failed to show up at his home for repairs on several occasions.

“[Placker] promised me that he would come to take a hot bath and return my money to me,” said Piccirilli. “We set a time and a day. He never showed up.”

Piccirilli, who is now trying to fix the hot tub himself, said he spent about $1,000 on new parts.

Placker said he offered to refund Piccirilli $500, but the client claims he hasn’t received any money yet.

Piccirilli filed a consumer complaint with the Florida Attorney General in November, according to the state.

“Complaints received by our office are currently under active review and we are unable to comment further at this time,” a spokesperson for Moody News 6 said in response to questions about Revive Spas.

Last year, a Moody’s colleague in Oklahoma filed a lawsuit against Placker accusing the hot tub vendor of violating that state’s consumer protection law.

The Oklahoma attorney general later reached a settlement with Plaker and his wife, court records show. Under the agreement, the Plackers are prohibited from advertising and selling hot tubs in Oklahoma for ten years.

Plackers also has to pay $33,260 in damages to consumers in that state and had to remove faulty hot tubs from several customers’ homes by Jan. 1.

“You can’t trust them. You can’t trust a single word they say,” said former Oklahoma client Keith Mathis. “I hope [Florida prosecutors] sue them and sue their pants. I have no more mercy for them.”

Mathis said the faulty hot tub he bought for $2,800 remains at his family’s Oklahoma home despite a deadline when the Plakers removed it.

“Plackers are violating the Jan. 1 Consent Order,” a spokesman for the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office said. “We will give them the opportunity to eliminate the violation. But if they are unable or unwilling to do so, we intend to use the remedies available under the Consent Court and the Oklahoma Consumer Law.”

As the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office confirmed, Plaker paid restitution in monthly installments.

But Mathis worries that Plaker could offset the costs of his former Oklahoma customers with his new Florida customers.

“He’s using people to get money to pay off a debt he owes here,” Mathis said.

“That’s stupid,” Plaker said in response to Mathis’ concerns. “I’ve been great at double, triple, quadruple checking what’s out my door.”

In recent Facebook Marketplace ads, Plaker posted outdated videos that appear to show the hot tubs he sells are in working order.

Although Placker claims to have a similar video showing Piccirilli’s hot tub in operation, he declined to share the video with News 6, and Piccirilli said he did not receive a copy.

“When someone voluntarily tries to scam someone out of their hard-earned money, I have a big problem with that,” Piccirilli said.

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