It finally happened!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mike Blute]

Bosco

I appologize if it seems I was trying to start fights, that was never my intention.


Was the pump replaced under warrenty?  Is this the same pump they replaced before?

I know you mentioned that the trip fee was not part of your orignal agreement. Was that ever resolved? Form tom's post it looks like there was a trip fee.

I know you mentioned they are looking at the cover, have they addressed the other concerns  (the floor, the vibration, the jets???)

I like the idea that the tech tested the pooling water for Bromine. That's nice trick. (Rather than the back and forth about the rain, if the tech on the phone knew that trick then it would have made diagnosing the issue easier;  Phone tecs: Are you paying attention? that's a handy tip to put in your library.)

Good luck.

[Bonibelle]

 

[Tom]

Now on to phase two...................THE COVER

Phase II update: replacement approved under warranty.  

[Cdn HockeyPuck]

Way to come through Arctic!

It looks like a happy ending will come out of this but I still wonder about the trip charge the dealer is charging for gas for an issue that is covered under warranty! :-?  Especially when Bosco can see the dealership.  

[Bonibelle]

Please lets let it go....the trip charge is a couple of hot dogs at the ball park. Bosco was angry about it, but I am sure he will feel it is no big deal at this point.

don't you love a happy ending..thanks Tom..

[In Canada eh]

I've stayed out of this thread until now.


[size=20]Nice job Tom!![/size]

[Tom]

Thank you for the back-pats but I'm still annoyed with myself   - if I'd only done my job right back in February etc.       :-/

Time to move on.   :-?

[bosco0633]

just got home from work and look what I see, phase two complete.  Tom I am very pleased that my tub is fixed and that the cover is being taken care of.  Tom another thing, if that service tech can be rewarded, positive profile or award or some crazy thing like that, it should be done.  His name was Norm i think.  He knew I was pissed, and when he came in, he took away all my concerns and anger right off the hop.  

He was empathetic to my issues and was able to diagnose the problem right away.  Honestly, if I can choose who will come and fix my tub it will be this guy from here on in.  He was so helpful, as were you Tom.

And for the record, I dont want people to think because things worked out that I am pleased.  I still want to fight this trip charge fee, it should be grandfathered in no back dated to all customers, the warranty needs to be explained better to potential buyers as I was lied to, and I think the service people that take the calls should be more informative.

When I paid for my tub and warranty, I expected that if something went wrong then it would be taken care of.  I did not think that someone on the phone would 1. try and walk me through fixing it myself via an email or talking it over on the phone. 2. I dont think that a proper respone to an error message should be "I dont know' and 3, I shouldnt be affraid of having someone attend when there is an obvious issue out of fear that I am going to be billed as it is a non warranty issue.

Tom, stop saying that you dropped the ball because at the end of the day, you told me that you couldnt help me, call my dealer.  So I did, twice, and it got me no where.  I didnt reply to you because I thought that there was nothing that you could do so I left it.


Now if you really want to make me happy tom, can you send someone to re-stain my hottub???

thanks again for all of your help tom, and for everyone offering support during this difficult time.  I have said it several times in my posts, I love my tub, I love my arctic tub, i still feel that the ball was dropped here but the efforts this week have helped restore a little bit of trust.  I only hope that the service methods are addressed with the Oakville company.

I dont want to think this, but I really feel that arctic has gotten to big for its bridges and is starting to forget the customer and concerned more about the dollar, but as long as they have solid guys like tom and norm kicking around, I will stay a satisfied customer.

[hottubdan]

OK  I am going to chime in now.

In the dealer's defense, they are actually doing customers, including Bosco, a service when they explain if the issue is not covered under the warranty it is billable.

Remember, it is the manufacturer's warranty, not the dealer's.  In the case of the Arctic warranty, tightening unions is not covered.  If a tech shows up and tightens a union who should pay for that?  The manufacturer is not going to.  If the dealer did not disclose on the phone, and it turned out to be non warranty, then Bosco or any other customer would have every right to be p*ssed.  You can't have it both ways.

[bosco0633]

welll dan, I wil say that it is trivial however, what about the person that is elderly or disabled and relys on the tub for theraputic reasons.  I mean what if they are unable to work on it.  I have heard an arctic story recently and it made me sick.  An elderly lady with MS relies on her tub for comfort.  One day a fuse blows and she physically cant get in the tub to fix it.  They charge her 100.00 an hour to come out and fix it, even after the situation was explained to arctic.  How is that not about the dollar, where the hell is the customer care??

If I pay for warranty I expect to be covered.  Why the hell cant a tech come to someones house and check the tub.  Non warranty claim?? as far as I am concerned it should be all covered under warranty that is why we pay the big ticket price for a good tub.

I purchased a warranty for my fridge and when the ice maker circuit board blew, how the hell was I suppose to know that? It was a 5 min. job but how could I, a non repair oriented person determine that on my own.  The company came and fixed the fridge for me.  I never got charged gas fees or a fee for it being minor.

I purchased a new vehicle last year, and the front shocks had air stuck in them, so when it was freezing cold the shock or strut whatever was banging and freezing up.  Im not a mechanic, they never said hoist the car up and take a look, it may not be covered under warranty.  It was there product, it was under warranty they fixed it, simple.

My wife took our other vehicle in for an oil change under warranty.  While there they replaced 3 call back pieces and noticed a tail light burnt out.  The tail light was a minor 5min fix, but they did it and for free. It was under warranty but this was not a warranty issue, but they still did it. Guess what, we have purchased 3 cars from this company, they know customer service.

I purchased an ipod from costco of all places.  i had it for three years and paid like 400.00 for it.  it went for a dive, and i had the box and reciept for it.  I took it back out of a 90 day warranty and they gave me all of my money back.  Thats good customer service.

I can keep going but I think that you get the point.  Take out being a owner or dealer or affiliated to a company. think about something that you own.  Think about times that you get warranty work done and think to yourself, wow I am so glad that I paid extra for that warranty. Think about that one time where you felt alone with no support even though you had a warranty in hand and how bad you felt.  

A warranty is a warranty it should protect you.  and if something is not covered under a warranty a good customer service driven company should say, they will take care of it.  If a tech is in the area one day during the week, why the hell cant a good customer service department say, we will send a tech to check the tub.  5 min or 10 min to check if it is the clamps come one please.  How much did that really cost the company?

I want you to think next time that you have a car issue or something that you no very little about.  Think about the service department saying check this this and this and only bring the car to us once you have done all of that or we will not cover it under warranty.  That would be pretty crappy in my opinion.

So dan, I am going to disagree.  With a good customer service dealer, I would say you can have it both ways.  I read a post from term saying that they go out and tighten those parts for FREE.  How many negative posts are here about his dealership? how many times do you see his customers join this forum and brag about the quality service, or if there was an issue it was addressed instantly!!!!  That is having it both ways dan.

[hottubdan]

Simple answer.  I think we can easily come to an agreement.  You are not complaining about the warranty.  Your are complaining about customer service.

Again, manufacturer has a warranty.  Dealer gets paid to perform warranty service.

Customer has an issue that is not warranty.  Your dealer (most dealers) charge for performing a service that is not warranty, which a well trained consumer could do.  You wish they wouldn't charge.  That goes under the category of customer service, not warranty.

Would you be so concerned if when you bought the spa they explained you have a warranty and there are a few things not covered.  Just as with a car, there are a few maintenance things you have to do, cleaning filters, water chemistry, tightening unions...and there are a few items that are not covered, such as filters and pillows.  Then if you had to tighten a union and they reminded you to would that be ok?

Would that be acceptable customer service?

Not saying your situation was handled well.  Not saying you got good customer service.  Just saying that in my opinion you got poor customer service, no issue with the warranty, other than wishing is covered what it doesn't.

[Too Tense]

I feel that it is the dealers responsibility to go over the manufactures warranty with the customer so their is a clear understanding as to what is and what is not covered under the warranty. This is one of if not the most important item that can make or break a sale. Also everything that is stated by the sales person should be put in writing so down the road its not he/she said this was covered.

I have been shopping now for 3 months and most dealers never mention anything about the warranty. Only a few have gone into details about the manufactures warranty and some have made statement that are very misleading. This has made me very cautious as to who I will do business with, right now I am still not sure. To spend up words of 12k on a spa and not know what problems will occur when you need service is quit disturbing.

Actions speak loader then words.

[Water Boy]

This thread reminded me of a old thread on here from a while back that was brought up about dealers that charge trip or gas surcharges while the spa is still under warranty.

You can see in this thread below that most dealers on this forum DO charge a trip or gas surcharge even while the spa is under warranty. Some even charge 50-75 dollars for a service call under warranty. Some also said that they had to just start charging this after the gas and oil prices went up, which led to upset customers like Boscoe.

http://www.whatsthebest-hottub.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1201537954

This is a normal occurrence with most spa companies and spa warranties. Every warranty reads that the dealer can charge the customer a fee to come out and service the spa. It is up to the dealer to decide if they want to charge that or not. Some dealers like myself and Term do not charge under warranty, but that again is up to the dealer.  

Also Bosco, you said that you were upset that the dealer tried to diagnose the problem over the phone. I found another thread where six dealers on this forum said every time they get a call, they try to solve the problem over the phone. I feel that it is good customer service to try and figure out over the phone what the problem is so when the service crew does go out they are equipped with the right parts to fix the problem.

http://www.whatsthebest-hottub.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1212277202

Glad to hear that you got all fixed up Boscoe. Sounds like the service tech did a great job!!

[Swell-Tub]

What a long thread! If the problem is under warranty then no trip charge. If problem is not under warranty then trip charge. There is plenty of markup for both the dealer and the manufacturer to pay for the trip expenses. The rest is just pure boloney IMHO. I've never seen such an attitude towards warranties as a have in this industry. If I didn't love my tub so much I would never buy one knowing that there is such a manufacturer / dealer attitude towards supporting what they sell. This post should be good for another 12 pages of discussion.  

Scott  8-)

[hottubdan]

We have satisfied countless customers by trouble shooting on the phone and resolving NON-WARRANTY issues.  No charge.  Spa fixed now.  Saved us money and time.  Saved customer time and money.  

Seems to me to be win/win.

I'm not trying to stir the pot.

Just defining what is warranty and what is customer service.

Warranty is the legal obligation of the manufacturer as performed by the dealer.

Customer service harder to define.  I know that we always strive to get better.  I know that we cannot satisfy all the people all the time.