Opinions on a CalSpa pitch

[IJM241]

Hello all, I realize I'm new posting here, but I've been reading these boards, for the last five years and have had many laughs. I've never felt the reason to respond before, I just watched JA shoot himself in the foot, and let the regulars take care of him. This post I felt I had to respond to.

Yes, I'm a spa salesman, I've sold a lot of different spas (Hot spring, Sundance, Marquis, D-1) to name a few. I was the manager of a Hot Spring store in Boulder, CO less than 20 miles away from JA when he was going on his rants in 2000

I realize that Cal Spa is the spa that dealers love to hate. I also realize in the past and maybe to this day, that there were dealers that weren't the most reputable and honest dealers. I believe you could find that with any spa manufacture. Those are dealers I would choose not to work for.

Now for the reason I decided to post. I first would like to say I know Stuart and I have great respect for him, but I do have a problem with this post. I do not believe for one-second that any Cal Spa salesperson in the state of CO said a spa had three 7HP pumps, because it doesn't exist. Was this a customer that said this? Or you have concrete knowledge that a salesman said this? I realize that customers don't always remember every thing they were told to the tee. I was told today that a D-1 Lotus Bay has 14HP worth of pumps, we both know that is breakdown and stretching it. I guess my point is I could talk for days about how many false things I've heard from customers on every brand out there, but I would never type that this is ABC's spa pitch.

Wetone, funky holes for ozone gas off? Please enlighten me on this one.

So on that note, not trying to start a war, just had to speak my mind. Every spa out there has it's faults. I feel spa ownership is only as good as your local dealer. I realize 10 years ago Cal Spas probably had some shady dealers and made a lot of news. The one thing I know is the Cal Spa dealer in CO has been in business since 1989 and has a great reputation for taking care of their customers. All I'm asking is don't label all Cal Spa dealers and salesman in the same boat.

[spahappy]

Please with all do respect, tell me why Cal Spas will set up anybody and everybody including car dealerships to sell their spas. I've been in this business for a long time and the dealers that sell Cal Spas are always the ones I trust the least.

You claim to read these boards often, how could you have missed all the service warranty issues that have been brought up on this and other boards pertaining to Cal Spas and the dealer issues.

I find it hard to belive that what Stuart posted was the straw that broke the camels back. Their have been far worse posts about Cal Spas many times before.

I think this is odd. The first post from you is right after the show in Vegas. Stuart was there, Cal Spas had a big pressence there, this forum was most likely discussed somewhere at the show, and now you show up out of the blue with your nose out of joint over some of the better, lesser damaging comments made about Cal Spas.

I don't doubt there's a few sales reps reading this forum today. You'll have a hard time convincing me that Cal Spas has ressurected the standards they have for dealers.

Spahappy

[IJM241]

Just a real quick reply. No, I'm not a rep. Nose out of joint...I like that. That's not the case I promise. As far as reading these boards, all the way back in the bravenet days 2000, 2001.

As far as other Cal Spa issues, they have never pertained to me or any dealer I've worked for. As I said before, I'm not saying they don't exist. The one thing that I know for a fact is the Cal Spa dealer in CO is an extremely well respected dealer in our state and takes great care of their customers.

I have no intention of debating this back and forth, the only reason I posted was to state I do not believe any Cal Spa salesperson in the state of CO said they have three 7HP pumps, because it doesn't exist.

All I was asking is please don't label all Cal Spa dealers and salesman the same, or in your words the same as traveling Phoenix spa salespeople.

[Chas]

So ... not trying to start a war, just had to speak my mind. Every spa out there has it's faults. I feel spa ownership is only as good as your local dealer. I realize 10 years ago Cal Spas probably had some shady dealers and made a lot of news. The one thing I know is the Cal Spa dealer in CO has been in business since 1989 and has a great reputation for taking care of their customers. All I'm asking is don't label all Cal Spa dealers and salesman in the same boat.

That's a fair request, and I will try to honor it. I have had many problems with the factory, and the special sales teams who go to shows. But you're right: that doesn't mean there aren't some dealers out there with white hats on.

I'm sorry, my remarks were and are aimed at the dozens of salespeople who have not done the right thing in CalSpa booths at local home shows, county fair, NSPI shows, Aqua shows and other events. In the past few years, I rarely get anyone into my showroom who reports that the local CS dealer has lied or spoken ill of us or the products we sell.  But I assure you, that has not always been the case.

I'm sorry to say that I still get service calls from CS owners who can't get warranty work because they simply chose the wrong colored shell or bought a spa off the floor, or got a discount, or added a pump, or bought on a Tuesday or other things. This is not a reflection on the dealer - and certainly not on you - in fact I feel bad for anyone who tries to sell these spas in an ethical way: he will end up 'eating' a lot of service work because in my experience the factory has more ways to cancel a warranty than I have pounds to lose. If you really do sell these tubs with good customer service, you're working much harder than I am.

[salesdvl]

Ok, maybe I'm out in the weeds but I thought the whole point of the hartford loop is that water can't get into the unit if the check valve fails?
 

Maybe CalSpa thought you only needed the Hartford loop if the spa was going to Connecticut.  :-/

[HotTubMan]

Now for the reason I decided to post. I first would like to say I know Stuart and I have great respect for him, but I do have a problem with this post. I do not believe for one-second that any Cal Spa salesperson in the state of CO said a spa had three 7HP pumps, because it doesn't exist. Was this a customer that said this? Or you have concrete knowledge that a salesman said this? I realize that customers don't always remember every thing they were told to the tee. I was told today that a D-1 Lotus Bay has 14HP worth of pumps, we both know that is breakdown and stretching it. I guess my point is I could talk for days about how many false things I've heard from customers on every brand out there, but I would never type that this is ABC's spa pitch.

Considering NSPI was this past week, isn't there a very strong chance that CalSpa has a new model with 3*7HP pumps and that Stuart got this pitch at the show? Just wondering if you considered this possibility before your rebuttle.

I had not considered what you suggested either, and I agree that consumers mis-quote dealers all the time.

Stu! Who made those comments to you?

HTM

[wmccall]

"If you leave town and water gets into your Ozone unit,

Anyone know how the water knows you've left town?

[HotTubMan]

Anyone know how the water knows you've left town?

They have more devious water in CO than in oHIo

[stuart]

Hello all, I realize I'm new posting here, but I've been reading these boards, for the last five years and have had many laughs. I've never felt the reason to respond before, I just watched JA shoot himself in the foot, and let the regulars take care of him. This post I felt I had to respond to.

Yes, I'm a spa salesman, I've sold a lot of different spas (Hot spring, Sundance, Marquis, D-1) to name a few. I was the manager of a Hot Spring store in Boulder, CO less than 20 miles away from JA when he was going on his rants in 2000

I realize that Cal Spa is the spa that dealers love to hate. I also realize in the past and maybe to this day, that there were dealers that weren't the most reputable and honest dealers. I believe you could find that with any spa manufacture. Those are dealers I would choose not to work for.

Now for the reason I decided to post. I first would like to say I know Stuart and I have great respect for him, but I do have a problem with this post. I do not believe for one-second that any Cal Spa salesperson in the state of CO said a spa had three 7HP pumps, because it doesn't exist. Was this a customer that said this? Or you have concrete knowledge that a salesman said this? I realize that customers don't always remember every thing they were told to the tee. I was told today that a D-1 Lotus Bay has 14HP worth of pumps, we both know that is breakdown and stretching it. I guess my point is I could talk for days about how many false things I've heard from customers on every brand out there, but I would never type that this is ABC's spa pitch.

Wetone, funky holes for ozone gas off? Please enlighten me on this one.

So on that note, not trying to start a war, just had to speak my mind. Every spa out there has its faults. I feel spa ownership is only as good as your local dealer. I realize 10 years ago Cal Spas probably had some shady dealers and made a lot of news. The one thing I know is the Cal Spa dealer in CO has been in business since 1989 and has a great reputation for taking care of their customers. All I'm asking is don't label all Cal Spa dealers and salesman in the same boat.

I have to laugh here!

Your tune certainly has changed since you went to work for cal spas.

I have pretty good handle on what goes on in this industry especially in my own area. I you want a blow by blow on the history of that dealer we can do that both under the Calspa name and the Jennco name. I also can talk in detail about the history of most of the salespeople there.

There are case after case of issues with Cal Spa all over the country that we can pull up.

I did get this info from a Customer that did by from CalSpa and is trying to get out of it. Knowing the salesman that sold them and some of the other things said, I would believe that they were misled.

My biggest question here is not the pump HP but the separate GFCI, many people play HP games but the GFI story is a new one to me.

Here are some of the consistent mistruths that I here from this dealer; "We have the only safety suction in the industry and your children will be in danger with other brands", "only CalSpa has GE motors", "Our heater and Ozone are unconditionally warranted for life” (except if any of the standard things that cause failure happen). These are just a few of the deceptive statements I heard over the last year and like I said they have been consistent, not just one customer.

I would love to get into a conversation over ethics and personal reputation of CalSpa vs just about any brand. Likewise, maybe we should have the same conversation about our personal histories, after all you’re the one that alluded to the fact that I might be fabricating this…..

[Charger Fan]

As a Cal Spa (and D-1) dealer, I can tell you that there is no separate G.F.C.I. that runs only with the ozonator.  The "Quest" Ozonator pitch is simply that if the unit gets wet for any reason, the ozone generator itself will shut down, without tripping the G.F.C.I.  The spa will continue to run, even if the ozonator itself shuts down.  That's it.  And yes, this would only happen if the check valve failed in the first place.  

As far as (3) 7.0 hp pumps--absolutely not true.  There is no such spa, and Cal Spas does not sell, promote, or market any such spa.  Whoever supposedly heard all this was either mislead or very confused.  It just simply isn't true.  You can't believe everything you hear.  Is Cal Spas perfect?  Of course not.  But in this case, you are wrong.

[Yorag]

Well, I can speak from experience with respect to purchasing, owning and trying to obtain warranty service from Cal Spas. As far as I am concerned, they failed miserably in all 3 areas.
The dealer misrepresented the type of spa I purchased indicating on the sales slip that it had a 10 year shell warranty and giving me a Cal Spa warranty for the same. The dealer went out of business and my spa developed about 13 blisters in the shell during year 6. According to Cal Spas authorized service rep., the blisters were caused by poor manufacturing techniques. The service rep. also determined that my spa didn't have a 10 year warranty but only a 5.
I argued with Cal Spas customer service people for over a month about this and I can honestly say I have NEVER been treated so badly by any manufacturer. If you want to read the details of this issue, check out my post titled:

"Take my Cal Spa.......Please"


I am convinced that Cal Spas is only interested in making money, they could care less about customer service or who reps. them.
And as far as the features of their spas are concerned, I wouldn't believe a word any Cal Spas salesman says. There's good reasons why most reputable tub dealers don't carry them.

[Chas]

I have found that out of all the brands I have competed against, Cal is the most likely to have salespeople who don't thoroughly know the product. As a result, many of them make claims that are errors -

[IJM241]

Stuart...Please share with me the history of Spa and Leisure Of Colorado and the Jenco name.

[Charger Fan]

You may be right Chas, but I can guarantee you that NO salesperson would have said that the ozone sytem has it's own G.F.C.I.  That makes absolutely no sense.  How does saying that strengthen the sales pitch anyway?  If anything, it weakens it.  Not even the worst salesperson could make that mistake.  I also am personally insulted by some of the blanket accusations of ALL Cal Spa dealers being dishonest.  Our dealership is the leader in our market.  We have been in business since 1971 (selling spas since 1985).  We have a lot riding on our reputation.  If Cal Spas was truly as bad as most of you make them out to be, we would certainly not be a dealer of theirs.  Take it from someone who actually deals with them on a daily basis, and not from someone who THINKS they heard this or that from a salesperson.

[Chas]

You may be right Chas, but I can guarantee you that NO salesperson would have said that the ozone sytem has it's own G.F.C.I.  That makes absolutely no sense.  

Could have been trying to make the point that a flooded ozone system will not trip the GFI. That's true of most of the new CD systems, by the way. I often hear people mangle sales info on systems they aren't real familiar with. I send our sales people out on service calls and deliveries with our techs and grunts to get them aquainted with the hardware.

I'm glad to hear you say that your dealership is interested in giving good customer service. Any hot tub dealer who does that is a welcome addition to the hot tub industry, and I'm glad to have you around.