My experience so far

[KillerIsMe]

This is my first post here so please bear with me.

My wife and I are new to this and we went in with our eyes wide open, and so I've been paddling around in the back bay of this forum for a few months now, trying to gain insight, information, and pieces of advice from the knowledgeable folks here before plunking down a chunk of money for a hot tub. It's been a great learning experience.

Now I know mostly everyone here says to try out as many tubs as possible to find the perfect one for us, and in a perfect world that's just what we would do, but unfortunately it's just not feasible for us to wet test - or even dry test - every tub we are interested in. We don't live in a metropolitan area or even in an area relatively close to a population center - we live "way out there" in rural northeast Pennsylvania where there just aren't a whole lot of dealers around. As a matter of fact we are within delivery/service range of maybe six potential dealers and even that number is a stretch, because after the dealer 20 minutes from us the next closest is well over an hour away and they get more distant after that. That's just our circumstances.

We researched hard for several weeks trying to determine which companies had the best warranties and reputations for quality and customer service, and then we took a few road trips to actually look at and climb inside tubs. From those trips we figured out what size and configuration were best for us and then we started calling "local" dealers to see who would actually come here, and to see what brands each of them sold (all are small, family-operated places with only two, or maybe three possibilities at most). Each of the hot tub companies available to us have specific models in the configuration we decided on and so our choices at that point were narrowed considerably, and those choices were narrowed even further by our budget (everyone has a budget - whether or not you're willing to move that line is up to you. We figured we would move the line by a couple thousand if it was worth it to us to do so, but we had no intention of moving it from $8000 to $12,000). So in the end we really only had a handful of tubs to choose among, and we chose what we chose based heavily on the dealer interactions. It went like this:

Hot Springs dealer A - gave me quotes on lots of tubs, just not the ones I asked for.

Hot Springs dealer B - never returned my calls.

Jacuzzi dealer - didn't return calls or emails for about a week, and when they finally did they wasted everyone's time by arguing with me over whether or not I actually called/emailed. In the end they were very nice but the trust factor was not there.

Marquis dealer - drop-and-go delivery (placement and set-up would be on me).

Bullfrog dealer A - far away and wouldn't budge off higher quoted price (she wouldn't throw in steps either).

Bullfrog dealer B - relatively close, answered the phone 24/7, and lowest quote of all the other dealers.

We went with the Bullfrog from the second dealer and, really, the choice was easy. We may live to regret it but if we do we won't be suicidal about it because we set our budget at a spot where the hit from a mistake will be more of the "lesson learned, move on" variety rather than the "oh my God we're ruined!" type. And no, we didn't wet-test (although we did dry-test) because that was not available to us (unless we drove four hours to Pittsburgh) and you can feel free to flame me for it if you wish, but I figured this: no tub is going to be perfect for all of the people all of the time, and not even for all of our family all of the time. If it were so there would be only one design. As it was we chose a well-reviewed tub, which all got into and the tub was comfortable for everyone with plenty of legroom (big concern), so we'll fill it with water when it gets here in three weeks and get back in and get busy living. And that's our experience so far. What say you all?

[BullFrogSpasMN]

which model did you go with? Bullfrog is a good premium brand that you should enjoy for many years to come! Happy Soaking!

[KillerIsMe]

Thank you my Friend. We went with an R7

[BullFrogSpasMN]

Thank you my Friend. We went with an R7

excellent choice, it is our #1/#2 seller depending on the month along with the A7....Price wise its of course not the cheapest of options out there, but when you compare it to other spas on the market that sell in that "around 10k" price range I think it's one of the better values overall for the features/warranty you are getting....JetPaks? NeckMasseuse? Oscillator? Versa? Rainshower? your going to love it for years to come!

[Jacuzzi Jim]

  Yes you made a good choice.   About wet testing we always preach it here, but maybe 2 in every ten people actually come in and wet test when buying a spa.   

[KillerIsMe]

Thank you my Friend. We went with an R7

excellent choice, it is our #1/#2 seller depending on the month along with the A7....Price wise its of course not the cheapest of options out there, but when you compare it to other spas on the market that sell in that "around 10k" price range I think it's one of the better values overall for the features/warranty you are getting....JetPaks? NeckMasseuse? Oscillator? Versa? Rainshower? your going to love it for years to come!

Actually, if by "around 10k" you are referring to the R7 our cost with steps, same-color Jetpacks (we wanted the Neck Masseuse), delivery and start-up, cover lift, and including PA tax was nowhere near $10,000. Nowhere near.

  Yes you made a good choice.   About wet testing we always preach it here, but maybe 2 in every ten people actually come in and wet test when buying a spa.   

We would have loved to have wet-tested before buying, and my daughter and I went to a Bullfrog dealer about three hours from us because they had an R7 dry and an A7 full. The saleswoman said we were free to jump into the A7 but she was pushing the R7 floor model so hard onto my daughter it made us both uncomfortable and we left after dry-testing it. My daughter is 10. It was shameless salesmanship.

 

[Spatech_tuo]

  Yes you made a good choice.   About wet testing we always preach it here, but maybe 2 in every ten people actually come in and wet test when buying a spa.   

I agree that maybe only 2 of 10 wet test in general but I'd bet the % is higher for people who take the time to come to a website like this and ask for info. They're probably more apt to follow through on a wet test so lets keep hammering the point! 

[BullFrogSpasMN]

  Yes you made a good choice.   About wet testing we always preach it here, but maybe 2 in every ten people actually come in and wet test when buying a spa.   

I agree that maybe only 2 of 10 wet test in general but I'd bet the % is higher for people who take the time to come to a website like this and ask for info. They're probably more apt to follow through on a wet test so lets keep hammering the point! 

c'mon now, I'm in sales...no need to create more "stalls" 

[Spatech_tuo]

  Yes you made a good choice.   About wet testing we always preach it here, but maybe 2 in every ten people actually come in and wet test when buying a spa.   

I agree that maybe only 2 of 10 wet test in general but I'd bet the % is higher for people who take the time to come to a website like this and ask for info. They're probably more apt to follow through on a wet test so lets keep hammering the point! 

c'mon now, I'm in sales...no need to create more "stalls" 

If interested in Bullfrog I'd recommend multiple wet tests on separate weekends for the same model. 

[Jacuzzi Jim]

  Yes you made a good choice.   About wet testing we always preach it here, but maybe 2 in every ten people actually come in and wet test when buying a spa.   

I agree that maybe only 2 of 10 wet test in general but I'd bet the % is higher for people who take the time to come to a website like this and ask for info. They're probably more apt to follow through on a wet test so lets keep hammering the point! 

c'mon now, I'm in sales...no need to create more "stalls" 

  No doubt!    I suggest wet testing way more here than I do during an actual presentation in the showroom. 

[wmccall]

This is my first post here so please bear with me.

....and you can feel free to flame me for it if you wish,

You usually won't see that here, this forum is usually more on an adult level.  Though we recently did have a person get upset and take their ball to play elsewhere    Welcome to the forum, I imagine most of us will be glad to hear how it goes for you.

[Sam]

I love the R7.  I think it is one of the best hot tubs out there bang for buck wise.  What did you pay for it?  You definitely should have been somewhere near $10k for what you got, maybe a little over for a long distance delivery or something.

Anyway, grats on the spa.  Please stick around and report back after you get it. 

[KillerIsMe]

I love the R7.  I think it is one of the best hot tubs out there bang for buck wise.  What did you pay for it?  You definitely should have been somewhere near $10k for what you got, maybe a little over for a long distance delivery or something.

Anyway, grats on the spa.  Please stick around and report back after you get it.

Well you have to keep in mind we are in an area where there are not many dealers, so you might think that would drive the prices through the roof, but there also aren't a lot of people here either so the demand is not sky high. That being said, the whole R7 package delivered and started up, including Pennsylvania tax was $7990.00. An A7 would have been $8990. For the sake of comparison, because I don't know if that's a good deal or not, the other Bullfrog dealer was $8470 for the same thing but that was a special he was running and the day we were there was the last day. It would regularly be about $400 more than that. Again, just for comparison to your area I received a quote on a Jacuzzi 345 for $10,995 plus tax and on a Hot Spot Rhythm for $6995 plus tax. I had others but would have to look back through my emails to see them.

And I sure will post back with pictures when it's all set up.

[Sam]

Wow, those are ridiculous prices.  I can't see how they sell for that low.

[KillerIsMe]

Well it's the beginning of August and our tub is expected in about a week or so, and this morning the electric work was done. We called the same guy who built our house to do it because he's an honest man and has become a friend of ours over these past 10 years. He had to install a 60 amp breaker in the basement box and run the wire about 30 feet across the ceiling to where the outside GFI box for the tub would be. After that he ran 35 feet of wire through underground conduit to the tub location, leaving 10 feet at the end for adjusting the location. Altogether for 80 feet of wire, the outside GFI box (50 amp),  the inside 60 amp breaker, conduit, and labor for the trenching and electrical work he charged $381.00. I will come back to post when the tub arrives.