Noob trying to find the best manufacturer customer service

[nymxracer]

 I think I've narrowed it down to a Sundance, Marquis, Artesian or HotSprings but I'm worried about how they handle warranty work without the dealers involvement. Can anyone share their direct experiences with these companies? If I had to make an analogy I'm looking for the Lexus of hot tubs, not the Mercedes or BMW. This way if the dealer is jerking me around then I can count on corporate to step in and make it right. I'd like to hear from people who were in a situation where the manufacturer stepped up and did the right thing. An example would be.... the tub stopped working , it's the middle of winter and the dealer says he can't get to me today. The manufacturer then approves and pays for another repairman from somewhere else to get me going before it freezes up. It's things like this that I'm worried about because pretty much every dealer in the nyc tristate area gives me the feeling that the will help but they aren't going out of their way for me either. Thanks in advance.

[Hottubguy]

I think all the manufacturers are going to have you use the authorized dealer. What about all the dealers gives you that feeling?  Most dealers will prioritize things In the dead of the winter.  Do you know anybody who has bought tubs or has dealt with any of the dealers?  Have you checked reviews of the dealers?

[nymxracer]

I'm about 45 mins from every dealer and that's without traffic. I don't know if it's just my area but all the dealers I've met talk out of both sides of their mouths. I understand they need to make a profit but I also feel that they will tell me anything I want to hear just to sell a tub. Last thing I want is to be in that position with a 8k item that will be scrap if it freezes up.

Anyone I know that has a tub is either close to the dealer or hasn't had any problems yet. Call me cynical but I'm not confident in the online reviews because I think most are b/s.

 Let's say the dealer can't make it soon enough and it freezes over, then what? Just playing devils advocate because I like to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

You're imagining a analogy that simply doesn't happen (ok, MAYBE once in a very rare blue moon...if that). What you're asking for simply doesn't exist in this industry. It's ALWAYS the dealers responsibility to take care of warranty work in a timely fashion (you can always call cooperate and complain, and there's a very slight chance the manufacturer will put pressure on the dealer...but this would be rather rare). And they do. If it's under warranty, it's under warranty...once you call the dealer to report a problem, it becomes their problem. Very VERY occasionally you might have a dealer go out of business (in which case the manufacturer will find someone else to do the repair), or the dealer may say the issue is one you caused and require payment from you, and you deny being responsible (99.999% of the time, in this case, the customer is in fact responsible). The brands you're looking at are top of the line, and I've never seen any complaints with regards to your concerns.

IMO, you may want to rethink owning a spa with such fears.

[nymxracer]

You're imagining a analogy that simply doesn't happen (ok, MAYBE once in a very rare blue moon...if that). What you're asking for simply doesn't exist in this industry. It's ALWAYS the dealers responsibility to take care of warranty work in a timely fashion (you can always call cooperate and complain, and there's a very slight chance the manufacturer will put pressure on the dealer...but this would be rather rare). And they do. If it's under warranty, it's under warranty...once you call the dealer to report a problem, it becomes their problem. Very VERY occasionally you might have a dealer go out of business (in which case the manufacturer will find someone else to do the repair), or the dealer may say the issue is one you caused and require payment from you, and you deny being responsible (99.999% of the time, in this case, the customer is in fact responsible). The brands you're looking at are top of the line, and I've never seen any complaints with regards to your concerns.

IMO, you may want to rethink owning a spa with such fears.

The last sentence has been crossing my mind the more I think about it.

[Jacuzzi Jim]

Where do you live?  Just guessing New York or New Mexico maybe by your log in?   And yes Doc hit it straight on, it's up to the dealer to take care of you.   

[wmccall]

I did have an experience with Dynasty when the dealer in my area closed and I still had warranty left. There was no other Dynasty dealer for at least 80 miles.  Dynasty hired a couple of local independents to do the warranty work, but I had to pay a visit charge.   The worst part of that arrangement was getting Dynasty to answer the phone and their inability to know what was inside my tub despite giving them my serial number everytime I called. 

[nymxracer]

Where do you live?  Just guessing New York or New Mexico maybe by your log in?   And yes Doc hit it straight on, it's up to the dealer to take care of you.

I'm in the nyc tristate state area.
In a perfect world, yes the dealer should but I'm trying to be prepared for the non-perfect world.

[nymxracer]

I did have an experience with Dynasty when the dealer in my area closed and I still had warranty left. There was no other Dynasty dealer for at least 80 miles.  Dynasty hired a couple of local independents to do the warranty work, but I had to pay a visit charge.   The worst part of that arrangement was getting Dynasty to answer the phone and their inability to know what was inside my tub despite giving them my serial number everytime I called.

So unicorns do exsist! This is exactly the info I was looking for. Thank you wmccall. 

[Hottubguy]

I did have an experience with Dynasty when the dealer in my area closed and I still had warranty left. There was no other Dynasty dealer for at least 80 miles.  Dynasty hired a couple of local independents to do the warranty work, but I had to pay a visit charge.   The worst part of that arrangement was getting Dynasty to answer the phone and their inability to know what was inside my tub despite giving them my serial number everytime I called.

So unicorns do exsist! This is exactly the info I was looking for. Thank you wmccall.

Different scenario here. His dealer went out of business. I think you're thinking way to much into this

[Spatech_tuo]

Where do you live?  Just guessing New York or New Mexico maybe by your log in?   And yes Doc hit it straight on, it's up to the dealer to take care of you.

I'm in the nyc tristate state area.
In a perfect world, yes the dealer should but I'm trying to be prepared for the non-perfect world.

Being originally from Upstate NY myself I can think of more than a few areas where you might be that are just not going to be around the corner from a dealer so I understand that but you could always look around your area to see if you have an independent service guy as a fallback and maybe you could say to the dealer "if I have an emergency and you're not available do you have a backup person in my general area".

[nymxracer]

I did have an experience with Dynasty when the dealer in my area closed and I still had warranty left. There was no other Dynasty dealer for at least 80 miles.  Dynasty hired a couple of local independents to do the warranty work, but I had to pay a visit charge.   The worst part of that arrangement was getting Dynasty to answer the phone and their inability to know what was inside my tub despite giving them my serial number everytime I called.

So unicorns do exsist! This is exactly the info I was looking for. Thank you wmccall.

Different scenario here. His dealer went out of business. I think you're thinking way to much into this

Actually, that's a scenario that Im interested in hearing. He had a warranty and through no fault of his own he had to pay for part of the repair in the form of a "visit charge". If I'm understanding correctly he wouldn't have paid anything if the original dealer did the repair, or do you always pay a VC?

[nymxracer]

Where do you live?  Just guessing New York or New Mexico maybe by your log in?   And yes Doc hit it straight on, it's up to the dealer to take care of you.

I'm in the nyc tristate state area.
In a perfect world, yes the dealer should but I'm trying to be prepared for the non-perfect world.

Being originally from Upstate NY myself I can think of more than a few areas where you might be that are just not going to be around the corner from a dealer so I understand that but you could always look around your area to see if you have an independent service guy as a fallback and maybe you could say to the dealer "if I have an emergency and you're not available do you have a backup person in my general area".

 I was told they deal with it as it comes and I would probably involve the regional rep. So I asked will I be responsible to pay and I couldn't get a yes or no, which in my experience usually means yes. Guess he was thinking about the visit charge I just learned about but didn't want to say it. 

[Spatech_tuo]

I did have an experience with Dynasty when the dealer in my area closed and I still had warranty left. There was no other Dynasty dealer for at least 80 miles.  Dynasty hired a couple of local independents to do the warranty work, but I had to pay a visit charge.   The worst part of that arrangement was getting Dynasty to answer the phone and their inability to know what was inside my tub despite giving them my serial number everytime I called.

So unicorns do exsist! This is exactly the info I was looking for. Thank you wmccall.

Different scenario here. His dealer went out of business. I think you're thinking way to much into this

Actually, that's a scenario that Im interested in hearing. He had a warranty and through no fault of his own he had to pay for part of the repair in the form of a "visit charge". If I'm understanding correctly he wouldn't have paid anything if the original dealer did the repair, or do you always pay a VC?

Visit charges (trip charges, travel charges ... whatever name you want to use) are not just used by independent service guys or dealers doing work on brands that they don't sell. Every dealer has their own policy as to whether they use it and how, sometimes linked to distance or after a certain distance, sometimes a set fee for all, sometimes they'll waive it for a given time frame as part of the spa purchase...

There is no standard and this is something that should be discussed when purchasing the spa.

[nymxracer]

Again, I'm not looking to be a PIA, im just trying to size up the landscape before deciding on which manufacturer to go with. Seems like the are all quality tubs with similar pricing  so I feel the manufacturer who does the right thing deserves my business and support. This aspect would definitely make me choose one over the other.