Safe Step Walk-In Tub Co.


Country United States
State Tennessee
City Nashville
Address 402 Bna Dr STE 350
Phone (615) 391-0001
Website http://www.safesteptub.com

Safe Step Walk-In Tub Co. Reviews

Most Useful Comment
  • Jul 16, 2015

Safe Step Walk-In Tub Company promised us a "Godsend" of benefits for my injuries received in a fall. What they gave us was a tub of misery.

On election day 2014 I tripped and in the fall crushed my left calcaneus (heel). This began an extremely harrowing experience which I am still dealing with today. In January of this year I had been bedridden for more than two months. In those two months the only access I had to cleaning myself was a sponge bath in the bed. When I broke my heel I also dislocated the knee of my right leg. I could not walk, period. My heel was broken so severely surgery was not even performed as the surgeon felt there was not a piece of bone large enough to attach hardware to. We have allowed the heel to meld itself back together. Imagine a golf ball, misshapen, with the “dimples” pointing out instead of in. I will always have pain and a limp, I have a permanent disability from this incident.

I was disabled with back, hand, and arm injuries before this incident. I am a retired/disabled insurance agent. I was an agent in Colorado for more than 20 years. I had my own agency from 2003 to 2010 when I broke my left arm both above and below the elbow. After surgery installing a plate, a rod, and 23 titanium screws I was left reduced strength, loss of use and with permanent nerve damage. In 2011 I filed for and was granted full disability coverage through my agency policy and through Social Security. I have spinal stenosis, spondylitis, 17 herniated discs, 5 bulging, and they all have spurs or other deformities. I have broken my back, neck, legs, arms, feet, hands, fingers, toes, and skull. I have a hereditary disease known as Osteogenesis Imperfecta or “brittle bone disease”. My body does not produce collagen in sufficient quantities making my bones brittle. I am in constant pain and am prescribed numerous medications including methadone 7 times a day and Norco (double strength Vicodin) 6-8 times per day. When I contacted Safe Step Walk In Tub Company they said they guaranteed they could increase my quality of life dramatically.

In January Safe Step representative Tom Walton came to my home. I am 5’ 10” and weigh close to 300 pounds. My wife is 5’ 6” and weighs close to 300 pounds. We are not “average” size and some would say we are beyond “plus” size. Medically speaking, we are morbidly obese. I used to weigh over 400 pounds but had a gastric bypass to lose some of the weight before it killed me. I got down to 240 and that was about as good as I could do since I am very limited in the exercise I can do because of my bone disease. I explained this to Tom and he went over the benefits of the Safe Step Tub. The low threshold would allow me to bathe and even shower with the handheld sprayer. He assured me this would be a Godsend as I could exercise in the spacious tub and get the strength back in my legs to walk again. Plus the micro-bubbles would help clean away the dead skin cells I had and the water jets would massage my back and shoulders as well as my knees and feet.

He told us stories of many happy folks and told us about the caring company reps. He said he had sold a tub to a couple and the husband had died. The wife said she never used the tub so Safe Step came in and took the tub back and replaced it with a regular tub to help her out.

He took some measurements and said we had the appropriate amount of space in our master bath where we had an existing oval “garden” tub. We were very excited and signed up that very day.

True to Tom’s word Safe Step stayed in contact with us. When we could only finance $8500 of the total cost Safe Step financed the remainder in house at 0%. They really did seem to care. The tub was installed over a two day period and the workers were considerate and very nice. When they were finished we determined our water heater would be insufficient to fill the tub with hot water. The best we could hope for was a warm bath. Tom had looked at the water heater and said he felt with our body size we would displace enough water that the 40 gallon heater should be OK. After 1 warm bath I called and upgraded our water heater. The micro-soothe bubbles were supposed to warm the water as well but we couldn’t seem to get them to work. We also noticed the tile work around the tub left a lot to be desired. When I contacted the installer he said he wasn’t a tile installer he was a tub installer but he would come out and take a look. He came, found the micro-soothe function was not working and admitted the tile work was sub par. He promised he would order the part for the tub and come back to replace it and fix the tile. He came back and installed the part and said we would have to wait until he got back from his next series of installs in New Mexico and Kansas before he could get to the tile. That was approximately 3 months ago.

Now the troubles are beginning to surface faster than the micro-soothe bubbles. I tried the tub a second time. Hot water problem solved, yay! Micro-soothe bubbles bubbling, yay! My wife is helping me bathe and we attempt to do my physical therapy in the tub. Impossible. For me to get the water jets on my back I have to slide off the seat and hold myself there. The jets hit my back and neck but, I am very uncomfortable. I told my wife, we should have measured us instead of the walls. She tried the tub once and could not support herself well enough with her knee replacement to really get any of the effects plus she was literally wall to wall in the seating area. Never the less I just wanted to get the tile fixed. When you are paying over 15,000 dollars for a tub it should be perfect.

At this point I am becoming frustrated. I began communicating with the customer service manager, Laneachia Burton, a few weeks ago. I had left several messages at Safe Step about the tile work. Finally I said just cut me a check for $500 and I will get the work done. We kept e-mailing with promises she would talk to the company president and get back to me. After several days she told me she thought that we could get that done. I then offered to just live with the tile if they would install a no-threshold or low threshold shower and I would buy the fixtures. That was a no go. Finally I sent an e-mail with 3 options, get the $500, install a shower, or just come and take it back out and be done with it. I said they did not have to put my house back the way it was. We would just chalk this up as a misunderstanding and miscommunication. I told Laneachia perhaps the salespeople should measure the clients as well as the bathroom. She agreed that would be a good idea. She said she would get back with me. After another couple of days she e-mailed me saying the president had decided option 3 was the best. The installer would call me to set up a time when they could get the tub. They would take it back and the amount they had financed would be gone.

Only one small problem, I was still expected to pay the $8500 Safe Step received from the finance company.

My thought, how can they collect $8500 from the finance company, take their tub back, and then tell me I still owe the company $8500 because that is “out of their control”. I told Safe Step I would like them to take the tub, refund the monies they received from the finance company, and leave me alone. I would be in much worse shape than before I ever dealt with them but I will not pursue the matter any further. I will not post reviews or make any derogatory statements. I would encourage them to consider the size of their customers and not just the size of the space the tub is going. I notice on the contract they do offer a larger tub, one that would have easily fit in our space. However, this was never even discussed with us. My wife and I are both fully disabled and on a fixed income. In my eyes now, we were sold a “pig in a poke” and I am willing to forgive and forget putting the whole thing behind me. They said no way.

I have sent pictures of the tile showing huge variances in the grout lines, chipped (rather than cut) tile, cracking and loose grout, crooked tiles, etc. All I wanted was to get the shoddy work redone.

BOTTOM LINE: Safe Step Walk-In Tub Company will walk into your home and walk all over you. Once they have the money they simply do not care anymore. The finance company even had the VP of operations, on a recorded line, state the company would remove the tub and give the finance company back the monies paid. They would not fix my bathroom and the monies I have already paid would be lost. I agreed. Then they changed their mind and said they "misinformed" the finance company. They would come and remove the tub but I would still be on the hook for $8500. Or, they could put in a shower I can access in my wheelchair, if I fork over another $3,000. I sincerely doubt they will respond to this report or the same repoort filed with AARP and the BBB plus the message I put on Facebook. My message to all of you, do not do business with a company like this. They will put you off and put you off and then try to say you waited to long to have a problem. This is just wrong and not how people should be treated.

Mark as Useful [1 vote]

Write a Review about Safe Step Walk-In Tub Co.