And the dealer is how important?

[zzaphod42]

Jonathan,

I am assuming that the new dealer would be competent.  Its survival of the fitest.  If he goes out of business, fine another will open and do business.  

With a major brand, you are probably right. However, there will always be a learning curve involved with a new business. Yes, the new guy on the block will probably repair your hot tub to the best of their ability, but are you going to be happy if it takes two - four weeks for a repair?

As someone else posted, you can take your water sample, buy chemicals, etc at ANY dealer regardless if its SD, HS, etc.  Not to pick on you or any specific for that matter, but it both sickens and angers me when I hear dealers trying to brainwash people by saying YOU mUST COME to me!  Gag!  This is the 21st century!  Hello!

I agree completely. Any dealer who feels that you MUST buy product from them soley because that is where you bought your hot tub is completely unrealistic. At the same time, whether fair or not, the more loyal the customer is, typically the better, friendlier, and faster the service. Hot tub dealers and their staff are human too! Treat them well, and they will treat you well. However, that works both ways; if they treat you well, you should treat them well in return.

To address your technician quality question - Spa technicians are a dime a dozen.  Really!  Anyone who can obtain training from the manufacturer or technical school can fix spas.  It's not rocket science.

I will answer this one with a question: Would you rather your hot tub, which is under warranty, to be fixed in one day, one week, or one month? Either way it is COVERED under warranty, but if you have to wait a month to use your tub again, I doubt you will be happy about it.

Again, I am not picking on you.  IN general I wish the general spa buying public would smarten and possibly end the silly games/tactics dealers play.

D/C

Again I (partially) agree. SOME, and I repeat SOME dealers do play games with their customers. However, there are also some very honest dealers out there as well. This may come as a shock, but speaking as one, it is entirely true.

On a lighter note, friends and family call me too honest. When asked "Does this make me look fat?" - I am willing to answer "Yes a little," which is often follwed by a night on the couch. If you didn't think it did, you wouldn't ask the question. - This applies to both men and women!

Joe

[newtotubbing]

Thanks Lori,  I am waiting with much anticipation for my new stress reliever!

D&C,  

I am in an IT related job and can tell you that my 20 years experienceand knowledge in the IT industry far outweighs anything any new graduate from the local PC repair school has to offer.  I can diagnose a problem over the phone in 3 minutes after a local tech struggles for hours with it.  

Experience does count for something in my book, with IT , with law, with tax accounting, and probably with hot tub repair.

Again my newbie .02¢!

Jonathan

[empolgation]

... not very.

To me, you choose a brand and a tub, not a dealer. Oh yes, there was a brand I was very interested in purchasing but had to rule out purchasing because the dealer was uh... let me just say not the best person on earth. Unfortunately the best dealer in my area whom I thought was great didn't sell a brand that worked for me. The remaining dealers that sold brands that I was interested in made no good impression - thereby leaving me to choose between "the lesser of the evils" if I were to choose based on Dealer.

As I see it, the dealer's importance is that they are in business, give you a fair deal and deliver the tub that you buy satisfactorily. If you purchase from a one of the bigger known brands everyone talks about here and you have a legitamate issue with your dealer after your purchase, you have the manufacturer to lean on to take care of you.  

When shopping among dealers Brand is important!
A good dealer can be a great benefit, but if he doesn't sell the tub I want it just doesn't matter.

[Bill_Stevenson]

I am amazed that no one has mentioned the concept of "Value-Added".  When I was shopping for our new tub, the dealer was a BIG part of my decision.  Here is why:
1.  The local dealer has an inventory and can provide the all important wet tests.
2.  The local dealer offers advice and knowledge to help the consumer to make the best choice based on their needs.  This was especially important to me because I knew bupkis about hot tubs when the buying process started.  
3.  The local dealer delivers and sets up the tub.  He can also provide a referal to a qualified electrician, will know the codes, can assist with information about the foundation etc., etc., etc..  All of these items can make the difference between a happy experience and a total mess.
4.  The local dealer provides after sales support, answers questions, does water analysis, sells chemicals, offers accessories that the consumer can hold and touch before making a decision.
5.  If needed, the dealer provides service support, warranty or otherwise.
6.  Given two dealers, one local who provides all of the above, and one further away who has no investment in the sale to me, which one would I chose?  The local guy.  Price is not as important to me as service.  

With all that said, if someone else does not value the service that a local dealer can provide, and if price is more important, then it is their perogative to go for the low price.  That is called free enterprise.  That is why the worst retailer in the country is also the most successful:  WalMart.  People dumb enough to buy on price alone go there.  They can have it.  Service?  What service?  

Me?  I'll pay a premium and not worry about it as long as the service is there to justify that premium.  You pays yer money and you takes yer choice.  If you want good treatment, attention to detail, courtesy, competent help, and an assurance of satisfaction, step up.  

Regards,

Bill

[ttodd1]

D&C,  

I am in an IT related job and can tell you that my 20 years experienceand knowledge in the IT industry far outweighs anything any new graduate from the local PC repair school has to offer.  I can diagnose a problem over the phone in 3 minutes after a local tech struggles for hours with it.  

 Experience does count for something in my book, with IT , with law, with tax accounting, and probably with hot tub repair.

Again my newbie .02¢!

Jonathan

Thank you - just what I was going to say..  Anyone can get trained but experience goes so much farther.

[Dave_L]

This is an interesting discussion, however it raises one very important question to me. Just how reliable are hot tubs?

I ordered a Jacuzzi last Saturday from a dealer that is located 75 miles away.  My wife and I felt it best met our needs. Our only local dealer sells Beachcomber, which through wet tests, just did not "do it" for us.
This left us with the risk of going to a non-local dealer which supposedly is selling a good quality tub. To me life is about taking reasonable risks. I felt by purchasing a tub from a manufacturer with a good reputation that the risk of distance-related service costs should be minimal.  However, in seeing this discussion I am not so sure now.  

I enjoy doing my part in keeping the economy rolling(own my share of toys) and rarely have found the local dealer to be of significant importance since I always try to buy product with a good reputation.

I recall basing the purchase of my first personal computer (many years ago) from a local dealer, on the service he would be able to provide. Big mistake. Threw that unit out after 2 years and having been buying reputable name-brand computers from non-local sources ever since. Never have had a servicing problem.  

If our Jacuzzi becomes an expensive service issue, I will seriously have to rethink the importance of owning a technology that is supposedly used to relieve some of lifes "stresses".

Dave

[Spa_Tech]

Dealer selection should be about 50% of your final choice.

No, I didnt stutter. It should be half the reason why you select your spa. Despite the availability of cash and carry spas, and internet spas, nothing outweighs the value of having someone who knows what theyre doing to guide you and support a product that they know well.

[empolgation]

Hmmm...  I like the CalSpa dealer, who's been in business 25 years, more than twice as much as the Hotsprings dealer in business 2 years... I guess I should go with that that Calspa dealer.

Okay... a bit dramatic, but darn appropriate considering some of the pharisee presented here.  

[zacman]

When I decided to start looking for a spa, I first went to the yellow pages and called two companies that serviced spas - they were not dealers.  I asked them questions about which brands they considered to be the best, reliability of brands, which required less service and so on.  Any way, since these companies are out there can they be used for warranty service, and if not, how would it work out to use them instead of a difficult dealer post warranty ?  I raise this issue to address the comments that if you don't buy from the local dealer you may be ignored when you need service.

[zeuspaul]

Dealers Don't Make Spas


The manufacturer is more important to me than the dealer.  I do think it is a good idea to buy from a local or near local dealer vs *mail order*.  If my first choice is from a manufacturer who doesn't have a dealer in my area then I will most likely move to the second choice.  I don't want to risk having a 1000 pound lemon in my back yard and dealing with someone 2000 miles away.

If a dealer has chosen to represent a manufacturer that makes marginal spas then I don't want to buy from that dealer no matter how good his service is.

What I want from the dealer is a first class spa and a pleasant buying experience...knowledgable, courteous and to the point....and then not to see him again til I'm ready to buy another spa.

If I have to establish an on going relationship with the dealer then I don't need a spa.  I simply don't have time to drive out of my way at odd hours or on the weekends to buy chemicals from the guy no matter how nice he is.  I know that's what he wants and manufacturers probably indicate such to them.  Why do you think D1? stopped selling chemicals on their Internet site?

If spas are unreliable and need constant maintenance by the dealer then I don't want a spa.  I simply don't believe all spas are unreliable.  I know several people with spas who have little or no problems with their spas.

I am all for good quality dealers.  However there is no way I can base my buying decision on the dealer.  All spas are not the same.  I have to make my decision on style, features, size, efficiency,...the actual product itself...and price where the manufacturer and the dealer play a role  I will live with the spa on a daily basis.  Hopefully I will only have to visit with the dealer on rare occasions.

.

[aaahhh]

My main reason for starting this topic was to make a new buyer think. And from a past purchase of my new boat. It rang my bell when I read the post concering a  new BMW. In 2002 I bought a brand new Fourwinnns Boat.

I dock it in the water all summer.  After my complete 2nd season of the boat sitting in the water from May to October. The gelcoat allowed water to seap through and cause blisters on my hull. I was one season out of warrenty for this problem and I new it when I purchased my boat that this problem does exist.

Well prcchasing a Fourwinns to date has still been a great choice. My dealer went to bat for me and resolved the problem in about 10 day's. Of course he could not do much if Fourwinns said NO.

But insted Fourwinns sent someone out to my home picked up my boat fixed it and put it back in my garage for me at no cost to me. Not one red cent.

Now if my dealer wanted to be a D**k about it he had the oppertunity. But he did not.

So don't think for a minute when I purchased my Marquis this event did not go through my head. This was the life experiance that I learned from. Today when the boat dealer see's me out on the lake they pull up and ask me if I am still a happy camper three summers after the purchase of my boat. So when I deside I want to step up to a new boat you can put money on the fact I am going back to where I know I will be taken care of.

I found it pays to talk to friends, family customers, ect when considering a major purchase. People love to talk.
There is nothig like an honest opinon.

I just wanted someone if only one to learn how valuable a good dealer is. Disapointment is no fun. Thank You all for your time and opinions.

Jeff

[Spa_Tech]

I think many of the posts on this thread are symptomatic of a decline in real service.

The expectation expressed in the following statement from zeuspaul;

"What I want from the dealer is a first class spa and a pleasant buying experience...knowledgable, courteous and to the point....and then not to see him again til I'm ready to buy another spa."

Is only grounded in utopian wishes for peace among mankind.

This statement doesnt take into account the following...

1) Everything that is engineered, breaks.
2) Both buyers remorse and total satisfaction do not occur in a vacumme.

The decline in services to me seem to be attributed to a 'vending-machine' mentality- Stick a coin in and what you want is dropped for you to collect. Instant gratification. It seems you can find this in every market... even cars and spas.

With a car, most people have grasped the basic maintenance required to keep the car running... Spas on the other hand, are another deal altogether. Yeah, I can hear you now, spas arent that difficult to take care of and anyone can do it.

But that doesnt explain why as an independent service technician that fully 70% of all my repair calls are maintenance neglect or chemical damage related. On par the people that have these problems inheirited the spa or bought a spa from a retailer that either didnt know how to support the product or never had the intention of supporting the product...leaving the spa owner to fend for themselves, often guessing at water care or maintenance.

I suppose shopping for brand with get you so far, but you have to keep in mind that with your eyes closed you cannot differentiate hot swirling water from a mediocre spa from hot swirling water from a 'first class' spa. All spas do about the same thing- In my opinion, its the dealers that are different, not the product.

[Bill_Stevenson]

This is addressed to Dave L.

In your situation you are doing the right thing.  Jacuzzi is a good brand and you don't have an acceptable option from a dealer nearer to you.  

When I was looking, one of the spas that I wanted to consider was Emerald.  The nearest dealer to me is about 75 miles away, and Emerald told me that they could not find a local dealer in my area.  They recommended that I buy a brand with local dealer support if at all possible.  They knew that by giving me this advice they were losing a sale.  That information was given to me in separate telephone calls initiated  by them from both their VP of Marketing, and their area manager for Florida.  I concluded two things from this experience:  First, that Emerald is a very good company.  Second, that local service could be quite important.

Your situation is different, however, in that I had several options available to me.  You do not.  In your place I would do what you have done.

Regards,

Bill

[dazedandconfused]

Bill hit the nail on the head:

'They recommended that I buy a brand with local dealer support if at all possible'

Yes, buy a spa (anywhere you get the best price) as long as that brand has a local dealer that can support.

[autoplay]

D&C....what do you do for a living,if anything?