OK Jacuzzi 480/470 Owners...The time has come -

[chelseapaws]

This winter has been particularly harsh on our 480's cover.  The time has come to bite the bullet and compare options.  I knew going into this model that there would be few if any aftermarket options, but wanted to hear it from you... 

Has anyone had to replace their cover yet?

Approx cost?

"Quality" (i.e. Doc) 3rd party replacements?

I have an approx cost of $500 from the dealer.

Regards,
Kev

[watzup]

You can type in "spa covers" in google and come up with about 6 or so dealers.  Go thru the options and compare, read the reviews. You will get you $$ there. 

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

This is an unusual and difficult cover as the top of the spa is NOT flat (like most spas). We're not currently making a cover for this, as are most cover manufacturers.

[TwinCitiesHotSpring]

One thing to remember if your doing some shopping around online is that make sure you are comparing apples to apples, for example a lot of these places advertise any cover for $350 shipped to your door but that may only be a 1lb foam, no vapor barrier, 1 year limited warranty, 3" to 2" taper whereas your factory cover may be 2lb foam, vapor barrier, 2 year warranty, 4" to 2" taper, etc. etc. so if you "upgrade" these $350 base price covers to equal specs your at the $500 mark not saving a penny, plus some of these places take 3-5 weeks (unless you pay to expedite) where your local dealer may have one in stock....I have no knowledge of the specs on Jacuzzi covers so these are some things you'll need to look into...good luck

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

No vapor barrier? I've never heard of such a thing! Not sure I've seen only a 1 year warranty either.

[Swell-Tub]

Just replaced the cover on my J-470. It sun rotted here in the desert. Anyway my cost was $425 from my Jacuzzi dealer. They loaded it in the back of my pickup and offered to deliver it to my home. I had my son help me install it and it was very easy. The new one seemed to be better quality than the one that came with the purchase. Really it was not a big deal at all.
 

[Shaamus]

To the OP:  I would guess you're going to pay close to the $500.  As a company we looked at the cover when one of our wholesale dealers brought us one.  We have no intention of ever making it.  It's a ridiculous design of a spa from a cover standpoint.  It's pretty though.



As for the dealer posting the standard line about buying covers online, I'd recommend you not pitch the customer in such a dramatic fashion.  Problems you're going to run into are 1) Most customers are going to actually be driven online to see if you're right about what they are selling as being so bad and 2) When they realize you have exaggerated and they can buy a cover online a little cheaper than what you sell for, they're going to start to wonder what else you're "overcharging" for.

You should be up front with them and sell them on the value of doing business with you.  You're a Hot Spring dealer so you have some advantages to pitch over other dealers.

- Acknowledge that there are some good and reputable companies online selling covers, but it could be a crapshoot if you don't know what you're looking for.

- Acknowledge that you're more expensive and that isn't necessarily based upon quality of the cover, but on the quality of the experience.  You have higher overhead in maintaining the local store that they like to frequent to visit the spa professional with questions.  This comes with a price.  But it's also a local touchpoint for problems as well.  For example, we empower our local dealers to do first level warranty inspection to save the customer time and freight cost.  Our direct customers don't enjoy this layer of convenience of working with a local dealer.

- Offer them value for your increased margin.  Offer measurement services.  Offer delivery and installation of locking hardware.  Offer haul-away of old cover.  You don't even have to give them all of that for free.  The point is that you CAN offer those services.  Online companies can't.  Give them a spa cover care kit that may run you $8 but have a MSRP retail value of $30.

- Offer them choices in models.  96% of our direct customers do not order the basic cheapest cover.  People want choice.

- Pitch your Hot Spring only features like the built-in plates for every cover.  That Hot Spring logo on the cover is powerful (for HS owners, that is)



Take my advice however you want, but the more you exaggerate how horrible ALL of us online resellers are and don't address a successful method of competing with us, the more customers you're pushing out to the internet to shop.