UPDATE: After this story aired, Jena Nowak, one of KC Hot Tub Repair’s owners, finally delivered the part that Chad Cook had paid her $500 for in September. Nowak said she’s had some difficulties but is trying to rebuild her business.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The last time Problem Solvers warned about this company the owners claimed they were an honest business, just having a few problems getting parts.
That’s not what their customers say.
Jason Jacobson had hoped to be soaking in his hot tub this summer. Instead, he’s talking to FOX4 Problem Solvers, wanting to warn others about Rick Harvey of KC Hot Tub Repair.
Jacobson called him on a Friday around 9 a.m. hoping to get his hot tub repaired. Harvey was eager for the work.
“I came home. He almost beat me here,” Jacobson said.
Harvey diagnosed the problem as a bad motherboard and told Jacobson he’d need to order a new one for $629. Oh, and he’d need the money up front.
“I had a bad feeling as he drove off,” Jacobson said.
He was so worried that he secretly snapped a photo of Harvey. That was Aug. 5.
Harvey was supposed to send him a tracking number for that motherboard, but Jacobson never got one. He called Harvey a few days later.
“Oh I had a fire. I can’t find my stuff. I’ll get back to you,” Jacobson said Harvey told him.
But he didn’t, so Jacobson called again. He said Harvey told him he’d be out there that week to get the work done.
It’s now been more than two months. Jacobson figures he’ll never see that motherboard or his money again.
He’s not the only one frustrated with Rick Harvey. Mark Bethard paid him $300 for a part two years ago, and he still doesn’t have it.
None of this surprises Problem Solvers.
We first heard about Harvey and KC Hot Tub Repair in 2019 when the pastor of Heart of God Fellowship in Buckner contacted FOX4. Harvey had promised to repair the church’s baptistry, but after collecting a service call fee, he took the broken part and disappeared.
“I don’t treat people like this, and I don’t expect people to treat me like this,” Pastor Bob Kaps said.
Back then, Harvey claimed he was running an honest business but having delivery issues. Apparently his problems have never gone away.
The Better Business Bureau has multiple complaints from people who also paid KC Hot Tub Repair for parts they never received.
While we were interviewing Jacobson, one of KC Hot Tub Repair’s owners and Harvey’s girlfriend, Jena Nowak, called Jacobson, wanting to know what Harvey had done to him and claiming she’s also one of Harvey’s victims.
“I have no money, no bank account and all I have is a man who is ruining me, ruining me, ruining me,” she said.
So what’s Harvey’s side of this whole mess? He told FOX4 by phone that he would fix Jacobson’s hot tub by the end of the week. He didn’t.
Problem Solvers tracked him down a Kansas City, Kansas, motel.
He mumbled something about a storage unit, told us to turn the camera off and then shut the door. We never heard from him again.
But it’s not just Harvey we want to warn you about. It’s also Nowak, his supposed former business partner.
She told Problem Solvers she’s trying not to get taken down with Harvey, but Chad Cook said she’s failed at that. It was Nowak who took his money.
“She needed the money upfront to order a new part,” Cook said.
He gave her a check for $500 for a new pump for his hot tub. That was Sept. 4. He hasn’t heard from her since.
“This has really taken the winds out of my sails as far as getting my hot tub repaired,” Cook said.
But there is some good news, Jacobson was able to get his money back by filing a fraud complaint with the bank he has attached to his Venmo account. The bank investigated the complaint and returned his money.
And although Harvey and Nowak might no longer be together, they’re still up to their old tricks. That’s why they’re both the latest members of the FOX4 Problem Solvers Hall of Shame.
