Enlighten Sauna/ Maker of True Outdoor Infrared Saunas — Attraction in Burlingame

DO NOT PURCHASE FROM THIS COMPANY

My experience has been a complete disaster. Save yourself the time, money and, headache and purchase from another company. If you are still considering purchasing from Enlighten Sauna at least do yourself the favor and read my review.

I purchased the Enlighten Rustic-3, Slope Full Spectrum Sauna with an OUTDOOR shingled roof. This is an OUTDOOR sauna.

The shipping was a total fiasco and they had no answers for me. It took weeks of calls, texts and, emails to even find out where the sauna was in transit. Grade: D. Once the sauna finally arrived, the finish on the sauna had not dried properly and the packaging stuck to the lacquer coat. It took multiple calls, emails, and texts to get anyone to address my issue. Grade: D. Once I had a professional install the sauna one of the heaters stopped working within the first two weeks of first use. I had to get the heaters exchanged THREE times. This was over a span of several months as their support was unresponsive and it required me to badger them numerous times. They did not send a technician and I had to do the uninstall of the old heater and reinstall of the new heater. Also, during this time the sauna was not usable as it was not able to heat properly. Grade: F. After our very first rain, the sauna soaked up the rain like a sponge. Now, the sauna no longer heats properly. Don't forget, I purchased an OUTDOOR sauna and I live in Southern California where it does not rain a lot. Again, many emails, calls, and texts later, they sent me a new electronic panel thinking there may be some sort of electrical issue. I asked for a technician which they said was not available in my area. I am not an electrician so this is not something I am comfortable taking on myself. Also, the customer support person now says that WE should have "sealed" the sauna when we received the units. Wait, what?! This is an OUTDOOR sauna that we had professionally installed per the instructions provided. This makes no sense at all, however, given my experience I should no longer be surprised. Grade: F.

After about 9 months of owning this sauna, I am totally fed up. It appears their 3-year warranty isn't worth a damn since I am asking them to pick up the sauna and give me a full refund. As of this moment, they are refusing to do so.

UPDATE #1 After many more calls, emails, and texts they are now saying that in order for me to return the sauna I will need to pay 50% of the purchase price for them to come and pick up the sauna. This completely insane, but again, I should not be surprised.

UPDATE #2 (approximately 2 weeks since my previous update) After more texts, emails, and calls I finally spoke with a person named Mike. He said he was in upper management with Enlighten Sauna. After a lot of back and forth and a very unpleasant conversation, he said he would issue a full refund BUT ONLY IF I remove all negative reviews and sign a settlement agreement stating I will not write any additional reviews. Now we know why there aren't a lot of negative reviews because the only way to get your money back is to remove the negative review.

UPDATE #3 (3/26/2021) Today I received an unsolicited phone call from Maria. I assume it has to do with the BBB and California Attorney General complaints that I have now filed. By the way, as of today's date, Enlighten Sauna has an 'F' rating with the BBB. She reiterated that the only way Enlighten Sauna will refund my money is for me to sign a settlement agreement and for me to remove all reviews. I stated that I will not be blackmailed into doing that.

Update #4 I received a letter from the California Attorney General's office. They have received my complaint and will be engaging with Enlighten Sauna to resolve the issue.

As of May 28 I am still waiting on a resolution.

Stay tuned for more updates.

I cannot state strongly enough that BUYER BEWARE. This has been a total nightmare since the moment we ordered from...

Enlighten sauna is an absolute nightmare to deal with. They were paid in full up front. The sauna took over 8 months to be delivered. Once it arrived, our professional contractor discovered many flaws in the finish and execution of final product. The Clear coat was poorly done. The bottom of the sauna was not weatherproof at all. Then it was discovered they sent us the wrong sauna because it did not fit the space it was measured for.

We called enlighten and they assured us the correct one was sent. This is a lie. They tried to get us to cut the feet off of the sauna so that it would fit the space. This would have been a disastrous move, setting it flat on the ground, in Florida. They tried to get us to relocate the sauna to a different part of our house, which is completely unacceptable. We decided to have it sent back to enlighten ultimately. Enlighten said they would pay contractors to unassembled and re package the item for return. They agreed to pay $1200 to our contractors, which we paid up front.

It has been 2 months now and they've been jacking us around the entire time. Refusing to return texts, emails, voicemails. They assured us that a tracking number would be sent for the return money. No such thing has occurred yet.

This company has been extremely shady and has many customers very upset with them. They have all of the money for the sauna, the returned item, and we paid $1200 for repackaging. This company is a scam. Yesterday I received a call from Mike at enlighten sauna about my 1 star review iI gave them back in October last year. He confronted me on my negative review based on hard provable facts regarding our experience with enlighten. He claimed, i left a negative review over the July 4th weekend. Over that weekend I was at a cabin with zero cell service and no internet. He then left me a text message that follows after I missed a call from him, which I returned the call.

He said "lies lies lies, man up"

The reality is, I could have left a more detailed and scathing review of all the negative things that happened with the sauna we purchased from enlighten. I don't know how he found my number but looking at enlighten saunas reviews now, they've had at least 15 fake reviews taken down recently. Notice how all the negative reviews have up votes and almost none of the 5 star reviews have zero. Its amazing how they're lashing out at the customers they screwed over. THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM! PERIOD!

I'm beside myself in belief! This person is still trying to scam people years later!

Anyone even considering Enlighten sauna , READ THIS!

The quality of this product is extremely cheap! The workmanship is less than amateur. They will not last outdoors! The electronics are as cheap as it gets. My experience with their product was eye opening to say the least! There were cuts in the materials to route wires that looked like they used a jigsaw. The exterior finish on the one we ordered was suspect the instant I saw it and was destined to fail! The sauna we ordered was supposed to be custom sized to fit our space. It did not fit no matter which way we orientated it. When you have to call the arrourney general on a company...

My review is a long drawn out one and it ant gonna be pretty In July of this year me and my husband wished to order a sauna for health benefits I fiund enlightened Sauna on the internet I called sales talk to Maria She gave me prices and I said we'de think about it We did and than decided to purchase one She than preceded to tell me after I paid that I would have to wait 3 to 4 weeks for it to ship As I told her the first time we wanted it in 2 weeks when my son came She said she could change the type of sauna have it there sooner So we did 2 weeks went by no sauna my son came the begining of third week still no sauna I called Maria again She said it would be a week or 2 more Disappointment again! It didnt arrive I finally called shipping spoke to Mike He said it still hasnt shipped I was ready to cancel Enough is enough He said he would make me a good deal He'de upgrade us to 3 seater and pay just shipping cost and have it here the follwing Monday I said if it isnt were done It did arrive when he said we were so relieved Now the putting together part done by my husband Randy: The instructions said it takes two people to put it together so I hired a local day helper at 25 bucks an hour We leveled the base and started to assemble the sauna as instructed We put thhe walls together Than went inside the sauna and saw the one wall was upside down To assemble the sauna correctly we had to switch middle wall with end wall The latches had been put on wrong side for male female orientation We than put on the two door panels which didnt fit right either because the trim on the benches interfered with the seating of the wall all the way to the floor We trimmed the wood off the bottom of the bench trims to get the walls to touch floor Because the walls were in different positions the wires for the temp sensor wouldnt reach the control panel so I spliced new wires in Armond the tech at enlightened said this couldnt be because all of the saunas their are assembled before shipping to be sure everything fits ( except for ours obliviously) Next was the roof This was to be an outdoor sauna The roof looked like it was made in a backyard Ugly shingles cut poorly and metal trim that did not fit together While the sauna is fairly nice wood the roof is junk and it detracts from the look of the sauna I will burn it and make a nicer one when weather permits The floor heat plate came with a barely perceptible crack which opens up to a quarter inch gap when hot This must happen alot as Armond has tubes of calking to send out as a repair The plate is now only heating in some places Even though there is a defect warranty they wouldnt replace it The spa also takes three hours to heat up to 112 degrees We have yet to get it to 120 degrees loke it says for optimal benifits The instrutions are near useless as is the warranty and customer service Moral of this review by localy and see what your getting...