Traveling Spa Circus coming to our Town

[Water Boy]

Just heard the commercial on the radio today. I called their 800 number and someone actually answered. I was expecting a answer machine. He told me it will be the biggest show in KS ever and said that it will have over 100 spas to look at. I asked him what spas would be there, and he said all the major manufactures. I said what ones. He said I cant tell you sir, you have to go to the show to see for yourself. I said, well, can I go to a website to preview. He said, no you cant sir, you must go to the show to see the deals in person. I then said have fun scamming people as this is a joke of a show.

Buyer beware to any Kansas people looking for spas. You have been forewarned. There will not be all the major manufactures there. This is false advertising. This is one company and one company only that does a traveling road show. Do a search on here for the Traveling Spa circus and you will see for yourselves!

[wmccall]

Been awhile since I heard them, they did tone down the advertising a bit over the past couple years, at least here. The 800 number forwards to the guys cell phone.

[Hot Tub Guru]

Call you chamber of commerce!!!!  Call the BBB.  You sell a major manufacture and you won't be at the Master Spa scamming show.

[East_TX_Spa]

They came through Tyler, TX last weekend.  Our store over there was extremely busy Friday and Saturday and our salesperson was able to sell 3 spas with 3 others coming back and buying Monday & Tuesday.  General feedback from people was:

1.  Ripoff- very obvious that Master Spa was the only manufacturer there
2.  Anger- people in East Texas don't like to be mislead
3.  Disgust- very aggressive sales tactics...not the way to win the hearts and minds of folks around here

I'm sure they sold a few spas and I'm sure we'll be hearing from these consumers when they need service.  Then, we get to tell them that they have our condolences but we do not service their spas in spite of what they were promised at the expo.   Leaves a real stain on the whole, increasingly sordid industry.

On a brighter note, I'm pretty excited about some of the new spas Watkins is putting out....should really make us more competitive in the value-priced market.

Hope all of ya'll are well, gotta get back to my underground propaganda activities.....

Term

[ejf The Spa Guy]

They just came through Spokane this last weekend, and to boot they just put 11 spas in our backyard, there is a lot fenced in on the street behind us and they are staging there for delivery!!!! funny they chose this spot , they were at the fairgrounds which is about 3 miles from us.As usual they said they were having the biggest sale, final clearance,garbage again,In the lot they have phoenix spas (biue island) they have a couple phoenix swim spas a used bullfrog( it is on its side and you can see were they dug alot of foam out to fix leak repairs, also have a couple master, couple other spas could not get close enough to sell. and I heard from some customers they had 2 bbq islands there,,,,they were unloading these things yesterday , try to get pix on these....a least we got a few spas from there advertising,  good luck you guys when they roll thru.....

[Water Boy]

Whats crazy about all of this is we have a local Master dealer in our town. That is complete BS imo. Their local dealer called here this morning as was not very happy about that at all, and I can't say that I blame him. He knew nothing about it of course until they just rolled into town. I am planning on checking it out tonight, and I will let you all know what I think!

[Water Boy]

Well, just got first word of the circus. Lots of spas there, but all dirty, several with  cracks in the shells, and broken parts on the tubs being displayed. Commercial advertised spas starting out at $2995, the cheapest one there was $3995, and that was a small two man tub with cracks, not a 6 man as advertised. Very rude and pushy salespeople. Claimed the spas were "re-poed from dealers that went out of business in a tough economy," which we all know is a complete lie. Asked what spas were there and the girl said Master. One of them there said Legacy, and the lady said I thought Master was the line here, and she said, " a Chevy is a Chevy." All spas there were Master, Legacy, and Down east, all in the Master family. I wonder where all the other lines of all the major manufactures are at??? 

Asked for literature or brochures or warranty cards or manuals, and they have none to give, nor do they want to give. Said that there is a three year warranty. Asked if it is a parts and labor warranty, and said its a three year warranty. Asked who worked on them, she said that the local stores do. Asked which store specifically, and she said, "no idea". There is a master store, call them. I'm sure the owner of that store will love hearing that!!

Pretty much a complete joke, and its a shame that lots of people will be duped into these spas and that they will be all on their own starting after they write the check. Buyer Beware!!

[ejf The Spa Guy]

Beerman,
  man and can you believe the consumer actually falls for this.....its a shame they either cannot see thru it, or just don't wanna believe.....yeh i had the same thing they did not want to give any brochures, and there ad said local service company onsite during the sale, could not find them, they could not use " check the local master store" it looks like he dropped them earlier this year when g.e dropped the flooring........it looks like they delivered a couple of the spas yesterday out of the lot next door, ........keep you posted

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

Just a little FYI on warranties... According to the FTC;

Making Warranties Available Prior to Sale

The FTC's Rule on Pre-Sale Availability of Written Warranty Terms requires that written warranties on consumer products costing more than $15 be available to consumers before they buy. The Rule has provisions that specify what retailers, including mail order, catalog, and door-to-door sellers, must do to accomplish this. The Rule also specifies what manufacturers must do so that sellers can meet their obligations under the Rule. These provisions are explained in this section.
What Retailers Must Do

If you sell directly to consumers who come to your place of business to buy, you must make written warranties available at the point of sale. You must do this with all written warranties on the products you sell warranties from manufacturers, as well as any written warranties you extend.

The Pre-Sale Availability Rule requires that sellers make warranties readily available to prospective buyers either by displaying them in close proximity to the warranted products, or by furnishing them upon request prior to sale and posting prominent signs to let customers know that warranties can be examined upon request. The Rule does not specify any particular method for fulfilling its requirements. For example, an appliance retailer might post a refrigerator warranty on the front of the appliance, or in the freezer compartment. Or, a retailer of small products, such as watches or electric razors, might keep the warranties readily available behind the counter, or keep them indexed in a binder near the warranted products, and post signs stating their availability. Any of these methods is acceptable.

[Water Boy]

Thanks Doc, thats good to know. Arent Dynasty spas kind of know for not knowing providing warranty information to people when they ask? Not to get away from the circus, but I have seen people say that its like pulling teeth to get the warranty out of them.

[Water Boy]

Found this video about a show in Albuquerque. Pretty much sums it up!
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/critics-spa-show-is-shallow-on-choice/1530497740

[ejf The Spa Guy]

Beerman
wow that pretty good, it would be good to see more stories like this ...., thank you for sharing this ...hopefully consumers will see this......

[Summitman]

Update about the show.  (Beerman and I actually work together at the same store if yall didnt know that)  Heard that the show has gone badly and a customer that talked to one of the salesmen said that they would never come back to our city again.  Only sold 3-4 tubs as of 4pm on saturday. Also, our store has never had more leads and deals done in one day.  Funny thing is everyone of the leads had been to show and were utterly disgusted with it and its tactics.


I visited the show last night, and was impressed with the amount of tubs there but unimpressed with the carelessness of layout (spas crooked, not lined up properly), rudeness of salesman, and dirtiness of all the tubs.  I moved the diverter on one spa and it crumbled in my hands.  Ive never seen plastic do that before.  Several spas with huge sections of the cabinet broken off as well.  I realize that consumers dont know a bunch about spas going into the sale and can be wrongly directed sometimes but people would be crazy to buy these things. 


It has been fun messing with their rude salesman that answers the phone all weekend.  I think he may have finally caught on to me.

I honestly cant believe a mfg, believes that this is a good idea to do this to their reputation. 

[Leisureworks]

So if you sell so many spas when the shows come thru, why do you continue to belly ache about them?  Shouldn't you be happy?  Newsflash...their advertising is helping your business!

[Tman122]

So if you sell so many spas when the shows come thru, why do you continue to belly ache about them?  Shouldn't you be happy?  Newsflash...their advertising is helping your business!

Except it gives the industry as a whole a butthole look.