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This risk feels inherent to your industry, and should be factored into your calculations without having to pass this on to the consumer, because it absolutely erodes any trust or goodwill, and sets off alarm bells in the customer. This happened to me during my hot tub purchase experience and I instantly crossed off the dealer from the list. Don't listen if you think you have it figured out, but consumers are giving you valuable feedback.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion.Where I work, we don't charge deposits for wet tests, but are considering it. For reference, we only sell hot tubs and build inground pools. I had a customer and his wife in on 3 different occasions looking at a Caldera Cantabria and Hot Spring Envoy NXT (expensive spas). They were also looking at a Sundance Aspen and some big Maax Spa. I already had the Cantabria filled but had to drain and move a Grandee NXT in order to fill up the Envoy NXT, which we had to move. Altogether, about 2 hours of work and then I had to have the Envoy heat up and make sure water chemistry was right. Well, something came up and they couldn't make it in on the Saturday to wet test. In good faith, I offered to come in on a Sunday, which we are closed on, and accommodate them. Guess what, they never showed and ducked my calls for the next few days only to leave a message on the store answering machine after hours saying they decided to buy the Sundance.Call it my job or whatever you want, but I did a lot of work, made the extra effort only to get stood up. If that is not reason enough to charge a refundable deposit, I don't know what is. I try to see the good in people and generally speaking I know when a customer is not someone I care to do business with, but things happen. If anything remotely like this happens to me again, I will start charging a refundable deposit.If you choose to eliminate a dealer and brand because of their practice, that is your right to do so. If it is a reputable dealer, then there will be no issue getting that refund if it doesn't work out. If its a shady dealer, its in your best interest to look elsewhere regardless. Rules, warnings, regulations, policies, etc are in place for a reason. Most people are trustworthy but the few that are not ruin it for everyone else.
If you are being burned by customers, stop to consider the *type* of customer you are attracting, and also the type of customer you are *repelling* (see silversun's post above as an example). Hint: people spending $10-$15k on a hot tub are the people driving the $50k+ vehicles, not the $2k beaters from Joe's lot. Know your market, and know your customer.
aug0211: Good luck with your exciting search! I tried several of these same tubs and quickly settled on Sundance as my favorite brand with Hot Springs a close second. It sounds like you have the opportunity to wet test an Aspen. Jump on that and give it some serious consideration. Sundance's powerful jets drew me to the brand generally. With the additional third pump on the Aspen, I can divert three of the four corner seats to full, dedicated power. I really like this feature. In the Optima, it looks like you can only get two of the four corner seats on full blast. Plus, the Aspen's additional pump lets me run the foot dome jets while getting full power in the other seats. Oh, and there are also two "whirlpool jets" in the Aspen that I didn't think I would use all that much. However, they are great for relieving sore muscles with intense and focused therapy. Sometimes you have to contort yourself to hit the muscles that need attention, but I continue to be surprised at how many different ways you can sit comfortably in this tub and get a different hydrotherapy experience. This might be something to consider for both your daughter and yourself. Size-wise, we discovered that you can really stretch out comfortably with another person or two in the tub without bumping feet, which is a nice feature. It's usually just one or two of us in the tub, but the extra size seems to make a difference. And the "love seat" bench is surprisingly comfortable. You can even scoot forward and rest your head on a little groove on the lip of the tub. When wet testing the Optima, experiment with the diverter knobs to get a sense of the tub's versatility. Ditto for the Aspen. As silversun pointed out, the Kingston and Claremont are much more shallow than their 880 series cousins. My local dealer has a Kingston on the floor right now. The seats don't look nearly as molded as they do in the 880 series models. My dealer said the 980s are more of an entertainment tub than a solitary soaking/hydrotherapy tub. It sounds like you're a serious buyer and are choosing a model. I don't understand why the dealer wouldn't be more accommodating.
Quote from: aug0211 on December 20, 2018, 10:01:27 amIf you are being burned by customers, stop to consider the *type* of customer you are attracting, and also the type of customer you are *repelling* (see silversun's post above as an example). Hint: people spending $10-$15k on a hot tub are the people driving the $50k+ vehicles, not the $2k beaters from Joe's lot. Know your market, and know your customer. There is no outward difference between the two. The person who sets up a wet test but then blows it off without warning drives the same type car, dresses the same, talks the same ... as the customer who is respectful.
Quote from: castletonia on December 20, 2018, 02:10:41 pmEveryone is entitled to their opinion.Where I work, we don't charge deposits for wet tests, but are considering it. For reference, we only sell hot tubs and build inground pools. I had a customer and his wife in on 3 different occasions looking at a Caldera Cantabria and Hot Spring Envoy NXT (expensive spas). They were also looking at a Sundance Aspen and some big Maax Spa. I already had the Cantabria filled but had to drain and move a Grandee NXT in order to fill up the Envoy NXT, which we had to move. Altogether, about 2 hours of work and then I had to have the Envoy heat up and make sure water chemistry was right. Well, something came up and they couldn't make it in on the Saturday to wet test. In good faith, I offered to come in on a Sunday, which we are closed on, and accommodate them. Guess what, they never showed and ducked my calls for the next few days only to leave a message on the store answering machine after hours saying they decided to buy the Sundance.Call it my job or whatever you want, but I did a lot of work, made the extra effort only to get stood up. If that is not reason enough to charge a refundable deposit, I don't know what is. I try to see the good in people and generally speaking I know when a customer is not someone I care to do business with, but things happen. If anything remotely like this happens to me again, I will start charging a refundable deposit.If you choose to eliminate a dealer and brand because of their practice, that is your right to do so. If it is a reputable dealer, then there will be no issue getting that refund if it doesn't work out. If its a shady dealer, its in your best interest to look elsewhere regardless. Rules, warnings, regulations, policies, etc are in place for a reason. Most people are trustworthy but the few that are not ruin it for everyone else.As aug0211 says, "That's why they call it work". Nothing you said here responds effectively to his (and Silversun's, and Michael Russell's) very thorough and insightful posts above. Rather, this post reinforces what they say above and exemplifies the kind of thinking they are advising we steer clear of. Wow.
Maybe you should ask yourself why they're not coming back to your store? Customers don't care how many times you've been burned. We don't want to be penalized for it. We're not interested in hearing complaints about how hard it is to fill up a tub or move it. We'll just go somewhere else. Somewhere that makes it easy for us. When i bought from my dealer they had 5 of their most popular models on the floor filled with water and ready for customers. I didn't have to arrange anything. They made it easy for me. The problem is you're only asking consumers to see it from your POV, and not looking at it from customers.
Quote from: silversun on December 21, 2018, 08:05:43 amMaybe you should ask yourself why they're not coming back to your store? Customers don't care how many times you've been burned. We don't want to be penalized for it. We're not interested in hearing complaints about how hard it is to fill up a tub or move it. We'll just go somewhere else. Somewhere that makes it easy for us. When i bought from my dealer they had 5 of their most popular models on the floor filled with water and ready for customers. I didn't have to arrange anything. They made it easy for me. The problem is you're only asking consumers to see it from your POV, and not looking at it from customers.In my opinion, your last sentence is the basis of the whole discussion. You say I need to see it from your POV, but you also need to see if from my POV. I bend over backwards for my customers, get great reviews/respect and have a good closing ratio. Yes, some of this is because I represent premium brands, but it’s also due to how I treat my customers. There is always a middle ground if both parties want there to be. That is why I don’t yet request deposits. If the OP and the dealer cannot agree on a compromise to the deposit situation, then it falls in both of them regardless of how good eaches intentions are.
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Topic: First Time Purchaser Help (Read 32006 times)
