Divine / Clear Water Hot tubs at COSTCO

[Sam]

Clearwater's quality and support has gone to complete garbage over the last couple of years, so I can only imagine the divine aren't faring any better.  Especially since they use lower quality components, despite what the lady at the factory said.  I have seen them both in person and can assure you that the divine are not the same quality.

Also, as said before, Costco is indeed the middle man.  They also do not have the savings you get when shipping an entire truckload of spas vs every single one solo, which many dealers do.  Shipping is expensive.  The costco spas also typically get dropped off at your curb with zero knowledge, thus orientation or advice.  Also, better hope you don't cause any damage trying to get it from your curb to your backyard.  There are other intangibles that also often failed to get factored into these comparisons.

Full disclosure, I'm a brick and mortar dealer and thus take my word for what it is as a "competitor", but I've also shown myself to be fairly objective I believe in offering my opinions.

[jackie1]

I've read many posts on the other forums about clearwater, tubs probably 4-5 years old with many happy customers. I guess the Divine you may have to watch out for cost cutting, but the clearwater memebers on the other forum had had good things to say about their tubs.

[castletonia]

Ditto what Sam said.  I sold Clearwater briefly back in 2008.  Horrible quality control.  Every spa on our initial order (turned out to be our only order) had issues.  All were issues that should have been caught during water testing which lead me to believe they don't water test their spas.  Once the stupid issues were resolved, I did have pretty good reliability, but that was one truckload only. Even up until last year I dealt with Clearwater a bit regarding service.  They only had one in-house tech, hard to get a hold of and sometimes took days to return voice messages. 

If Clearwater was priced like an inexpensive hot tub, like Nordic or Viking, I would maybe look past the issues, but for how much they were from a wholesale standpoint, no way would I accept their issues and lack of dealer support.

[Sorrentino100]

Depending on where your located, you may be able to purchase a Bullfrog hot tub from Costco. I know they have events during the year that feature them. They are a quality tub and offer a good warranty.

[The Wizard of Spas]

Buying food, etc. is great from CostCo.  But would you buy a car from Costco?  Would you buy a house from CostCo?  Saving money is always a great thing to do.  But think long-term.  This is a poor play when buying from box stores:  No support long-term.  Yeah, they may "offer" delivery, warranty, but get into the nitty-gritty:  Delivery will be drop-ship, service will be by some hired-gun, and who works on it when its out of warranty?  Is there a reason the price is lower?  Its probably b/c the unit is some special-stripped down version of the real thing.  Maybe it's not.  Point is- Most of the time when people try to save money in this industry, they end up paying way more in the long run vs. had they done it right the first time.

Sorry to be the contrarian.  I am not against CostCo.  I am just against hot tubs bought at CostCo- Seen too often what happens post-sale when this action occurs.

[Tman122]

Imagine this, your a manufacturer that produces 5000 tubs a year. A company like Costco comes to you and says " we want to buy 1000 units from you but we are only going to pay you this much per unit" The manufacturer of course says wow 1000 units? You bet we can, and Costco purchasing and manufacturer sales shake hands. The production foreman gets orders from management to make them fast and use less fiberglass, insulation, glue, ect. to meet the price point. Everyone is happy except one person. And that guy was happy when he bought the tub cause he saved money over the quality manufacturers tub. But then he realized that it costs a ton to operate and it developed a couple leaks in the first year and the shell seemed a little flimsy in the middle and the service sucked. They wanted him to install it and fix it himself.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

[BullFrogSpasMN]

Imagine this, your a manufacturer that produces 5000 tubs a year. A company like Costco comes to you and says " we want to buy 1000 units from you but we are only going to pay you this much per unit" The manufacturer of course says wow 1000 units? You bet we can, and Costco purchasing and manufacturer sales shake hands. The production foreman gets orders from management to make them fast and use less fiberglass, insulation, glue, ect. to meet the price point. Everyone is happy except one person. And that guy was happy when he bought the tub cause he saved money over the quality manufacturers tub. But then he realized that it costs a ton to operate and it developed a couple leaks in the first year and the shell seemed a little flimsy in the middle and the service sucked. They wanted him to install it and fix it himself.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

then fast forward 2-3 years....Manufacturer realizes they made a big mistake because Costco does not support and/or service tubs in the field and local dealers typically want nothing to do with it, manufacturer pulls plug on the wonderful "Costco Program" and all associated parts/information with it so now 3 years later the end consumer is stuck with a "Island Breeze" or whatever name they slap on them and now you must go to a local dealer for advice, water testing, replacement filters & water-care products, service, winterizations, etc....My advice, skip all of that, spend a little more money with a local dealer (It's not like a local dealer is overcharging, its like Tman said you are literally getting a better built spa anyway) and be happy in the end! Good Luck!

[Hottubguy]

Ditto what Sam said.  I sold Clearwater briefly back in 2008.  Horrible quality control.  Every spa on our initial order (turned out to be our only order) had issues.  All were issues that should have been caught during water testing which lead me to believe they don't water test their spas.  Once the stupid issues were resolved, I did have pretty good reliability, but that was one truckload only. Even up until last year I dealt with Clearwater a bit regarding service.  They only had one in-house tech, hard to get a hold of and sometimes took days to return voice messages. 

If Clearwater was priced like an inexpensive hot tub, like Nordic or Viking, I would maybe look past the issues, but for how much they were from a wholesale standpoint, no way would I accept their issues and lack of dealer support.

Not much has changed with Clearwater the company