My neighbor called the other day to tell me that her new friend is seriously interested in a hot tub. Funny, that's two people in the last month that I know will be buying hot tubs. My neighbor said her friend was very disappointed with her shopping experience as every dealer that she visited had only negative things to say about the other brands of tubs. She said at the end of the day, she decided maybe there wasn't a good tub out there and she was just frustrated.
My experience with my tub was totally the opposite..My sales person only addressed what was good about the Marquis tubs. When I challenged with negative things that other dealers told me, she pulled out the competition's brochures and we evaluated side by side the differences. Never did she trash the competiton. I left feeling that I knew what I was buying.
This is how it should be. All the negative stuff does not sell tubs, it just confuses the customer.
One example was that my tub (and I think this is still the Marquis configuration) does not have a circ pump. Other tubs that I had considered did. Together with folks on this forum and my sales person, I was able to evaluate the value of the circ pump and if it was as critical as some dealers had me believe. So real conversation about real differences, but no negative comments about the competition.
So at this point, I told my friend that I will recommend
MY DEALER...and not a brand of tub to her friend. He will sell her based on the merits of what he sells not on the negatives of what others offer!! .
I am guessing that dealers are willing to travel further to make a sale, so I hope he can help her!