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It's like mentioning Michigan at a Notre Dame pep rally.
I never dreamed that HotSpring would sell flash or go to Mexico but they did,
Let's be clear. Watkins Mfg. makes the Hot Spring brand and several others. They make Hot Spring and Tiger River in Vista, CA (last I checked USA). They make Caldera and every other brand in Mexico.
....it was something I never thought I would see.
You still haven't seen it.Watkins is a manufacturer of portable spas.HotSpring Spa is a brand of spa (made by Watkins).Watkins has a plant in Vista, CA and one in Mexico.HotSpring Spa has no factory...it is a brand name.HotSpring Spas are made in the Vista, CA factory.I hope this added clarification helps.Terminator
So lets go back to the Cal spa topic...This will shock everyone, I think Cal has made more of an effort in the last few years at fixing their name than most manufactures. I've fought Cal for years on the local dealer level and swore that I would never even consider them on my floor...In fact I said that unless Casey Loyd (owner of Cal Spas) jumped in his little jet and flew out here in person I would never consider them but a few of my friends that felt the same way have been selling them for awhile and said they are one of the best companies they work with now. They also said that Cal is working extremely hard at changing their reputation. I do notice that when I look at the online complaints it seems that there is a lot more factory intervention to get problems fixed....I'm not sure how much that has to do with them bringing in new managers like Jim Ferguson (Sundance Jacuzzi) and Paul Gould(Dimension One) but it is a huge step in the right direction.The one thing I know for certain over the last several years is that everything changes constantly in this industry.I never dreamed that HotSpring would sell flash or go to Mexico but they did, I never dreamed that Coleman would become a Canadian company and trade hands as much as they have, I’m shocked at how many moves Sundance/Jacuzzi has made and yet survived (now the rumor is they’re moving to Mexico). So to say that I’m impressed with what Cal is trying to do shouldn’t surprise me as much as it does, everything changes...
You HS guys are killing me...Your starting to get as defensive as the Arctic boys. [glow]Funny when you sell against Coleman you refer to them as a Canadian company when they are made in AZ.[/glow]John and Jeff Watkins started making HotSpring Spas out of their Garage until Tom Neal came in and really marketed it. Then the three of them set up a factory making only HotSpring Spas until MASCO bought them. So if I refer to all Watkins made spas as HotSpring forgive me, I've been around long enough to remember when that was all it was and if you think HS has nothing made in Mexico then your either misinformed or kidding yourself. I'm also sure that most HotSpring dealers sell the Mexico product on their floor without bringing that up but would have no problem bringing up the Canadian Manufactures.I'm not the only one that looks at it this way...My last truck of spas the driver was telling me that his brother had been stuck at the Mexico border all day with a load of HotSpring spas.Maybe we should just say that company owned by the Screw, Faucet and cabinet company! I could go further into that also...MASCO was actually a Screw factory that was founded by an Armenian immigrant named Alex Manoogian.
When I sell against Coleman I never mention Canada or AZ. I simply mention that Coleman seems to be having a hard time finding/keeping a corporate buyer and is $540,000,000.00 in debt.The geography lesson doesn’t seem to be needed at that point.
We need more money spent here not Mexico and Canada....
That's understandable when your selling a product that isn't made in the USA to not bring the subject up but for the Manufactures that are part of the struggling US economy it's a common thing brought up on the sales floor. We need more money spent here not Mexico and Canada....
You HS guys are killing me...Your starting to get as defensive as the Arctic boys.
Hey! Wait just one minute We need more money spent on the North American economy. Like it or not our two countries economies are tied very closely together