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This is somewhat routine, and can vary conserably from dealer to dealer depending on circumstances. In my case My Dynasty dealer covers a huge part of the state, but I'm just accross town. If I have a legitimate problem they never charge me that fee, but it is in the warranty. They have sold tubs to people who live 60 miles away that it takes 90 minutes to get there, those people are charged the trip charge and the dealer has always been up front about that.Oh, my dealer also reserves the right to charge that fee. If my tub isn't heating and my filters are clogged, he probably even then wouldn't charge, but if I called twice for the same problem, I bet he might. On a big ticket item where the end user doesn't have to understand the device being used you almost have to have that option to make people think twice about calling. I do in-home computer service and I work on a lot of older systems. If I repair an internet connection and then the user calls me and tells me they can no longer print, I'll go back and see if its something I did, but if its unrelated, I reserve the right to charge for the trip. It makes people think before they call.
Huh. Maybe I should run my own spa business. You guys all take wednesdays off to play golf, right? -
Had a customer call last week, the symptom he reported "same thing as last time", any other help or details to identify, "just send someone out". The tech got out there 67 miles one way, turned the breaker off to reboot the spa and turned it back on, walla it's fixed and no problem found, no warranty reimbursement. The customer called to negotiate the house call charge. Go figure, with customer comments or attitude indicated in this thread, when they squeeze all of the juice out of the lemon, I might as well give him the store keys, have him pay the bills, do the water test, deal with customers that expect everything to be free and lock up at night. Thank God we have been blessed with more good customer than the alternate choice. Out of 300 new ones a years we are bound to get a few that you just want to fire. In 21 years we have gone back and repossed the spa with a chashiers check in hand for their purchase price from unbelievably demanding and condesending people that expect you to do everything for nothing when they treat you like the lowest life on this planet. Let them go to my competitor.
The actual problem that started this thread remains a mystery. But how can any of us make such assumptions. Customer service does come at a price, and it is usually borne by the dealer, but some things you gotta charge for.
Below is a pic of the broken shockFrankeyboy
.....I have had it about a month and a half. Recently the plastic brackets that attach the shocks to the metal framing of the cover lifter cracked and fell apart. The lifter still works, but it takes a lot more effort to lift it. .....Frankeyboy
A few days ago a customer called to say that his spa was broken. He told me it is set on 98* and his thermometer is reading 102*. His spa is sitting on his deck in the middle of a Texas summer sun. I told him it is just hot and gave him some suggestions on how to cool it off. No, he insisted the spa was broken. Our service manager called him and explained it to him. No, he insisted we come out and fix the spa immediately.Service manager went out, did a diagnostic, found nothing wrong. We did not charge him as he is a new customer.A week later he called to say his spa is set on 95* and it is actually 102*. We went over the whole scenario again and he insisted we come out and fix the spa. Again, nothing was wrong with it, but he was charged a service fee.I believe we tried everything we could to save him some money. I can only assume he thought that we did not want to provide him service. Sometimes, it just goes like that, but only on rare occasions.Terminator
So, I put the money down on a new Bahia.To me this was the clear value choice. But the last leg of the journey was not very enjoyable.The dealer we wanted to go with was willing to "match" our best price for the tub. Then a couple of red flags went off. Like a $50 per trip for service. Swapping out the 04 model (the quote was for the 05). Maximum 1 hour onsite delivery or a charge would be assessed. No 12 months same as cash. The unfortunate aspect was that this dealer seemed to be very knowledgeable about the tubs and and was willing to make himself available by cell phone every day until 11 pm.The HotSprings dealer was less of a pleasure to deal with. We called them up and said we had decided on the Bahia. I guess the sales guy decided this was the appropriate time to be a jerk. He then said how bad of a tub the Sundance line was and that Sundance "finds" ways of voiding the warranty. The sales guy then proceed to state untrue facts about the Bahia. Fortunately for me, I have high speed internet access and finding the owners manual for the Bahia, I was able to defunct many of the myths that he stated. I think his last ditch effort was that he faxed me a comparison sheet of the Bahia vs the Caspian vs the Mallorca (the hotspots line of tub). Saying that if I were shopping for a price point then I should have been looking at the HotSpots line instead of the far superior Tiger River line. After looking at the comparison sheet between the three tubs, he convinced me that the Bahia was the best value of the three tubs.So everyone always wants to know the deal that others got. Your math may very, but:2005 Bahia delivered with coverResin stepsSun glo lighting optionExtra filterSample set of chemsFull size of chems ($90 retail value)Covermate III (hydraulic lift)All options installed12 Months Same as CashNo service fees for warranty work (trip fee)NO OZONE $5395 + tax (6% in Michigan)Now the waiting begins. An elusive date of 3 to 7 weeks delivery time. Which is somewhat okay considering we have to get homeowners association approval for said hot tub.
For the life of me I am really trying to get my bearings right and figure this picture out. I realize it is the end of the hydraulic lifter that is attached to the pivot point represented by the "nut" anchored to the frame of the lifter. Is this attached to the spa? What are you holding next to it? The tension clip has orange something on it, is that rust or corrosion? I am sorry to say this, but I can't make out what is broken. I don't see the plastic or what appears to be broken and see something that appears to have corrosion on it. Can you help me out here to see what is broken?
Regardless of how much a person pays - things like trip charges should be disclosed by the dealer before a person pays for the tub - maybe have it on the sales contract……
The dealer we wanted to go with was willing to "match" our best price for the tub. Then a couple of red flags went off. Like a $50 per trip for service..... Maximum 1 hour onsite delivery or a charge would be assessed. No 12 months same as cash. The unfortunate aspect was that this dealer seemed to be very knowledgeable about the tubs and was willing to make himself available by cell phone every day until 11 pm