Dealing with dealers

[graice]

We are soon to be buying our first tub so I am so glad to have found this group!
We have three dealers in our area so if we want to avoid buying from the big box retailers ( and I think we do) our choices are limited to Marquis, Hot springs and Great Lakes.  Have taked seriously to both Marquis and Hot Springs about smaller to mid-size spas.  We are wet testing a marquis Quest tomorrow and have not seen that model mentioned anywhere on the forum so I am wondering if anyone is familiar with it.  We have been quoted a price of 6300(pre-tax).  We would also like to test the hot spring but when asking the dealer about price he insisted that we put a 100  dollar deposit down (refundable) or the prices would only be good for that day and he also only had his largest tub for testing.  Seemed like a red flag to me but I'd like to know if that kind of sales deal is common.  Any opinions would be welcome.  Thanks

[golferm]

The Hot springs dealer seems very hard to deal with.  However, it's a great brand, so you may want to plunk down the $100 and do the wet test, however, I'd ask him first off if you're plunking down the $100, get him to fill up the tub you're really interested in.   Say you've narrowed it down to his tub and another and see if that helps.  

Mark

[Spatech_tuo]

As long as that $100 is refundable go ahead. The dealer probably just wants to be sure you're serious and not just making him go through hoops to fill a spa and ready it for the wet test (lot of work). People think they should be able to wet test anything they want but the work to do so is a pain, well worth it for a serious buyer but not so much for a looky-loo person.

[golferm]

Agreed.  Good points spatech.  If you're ready to make a buying decision , then definitely go for it, as long as it's refundable.   Maybe use your credit card, so you have some protection.

[stl-rex]

The way I read it, he wanted $100 bucks to talk price, not to fill another tub.  Graice - perhaps you can clarify.  Was the HS dealer willing to fill a different tub as part of the $100 deposit or; was it just to talk price; or was it both?

As a buyer, I would consider it mostly reasonable to get a $100 deposit to fill a tub you were very interested in if it was inconvenient to fill it.  We tested some models at Sundance and they just siphon water from tub to tub (scheduled in advance no deposit was required).  As a buyer, I would be put off if asked to pony up $100 merely to talk price.

[Spatech_tuo]

We tested some models at Sundance and they just siphon water from tub to tub (scheduled in advance no deposit was required).  

True, but a lot of water remains in the plumbing where you can't see it. If that water is not evacuated it'll trn nasty over time. After you left, spomeone had some work to do to fully drain that and clean it out.

If the deposit is for wet testing a dry spa or to hold a sale price (very typical) that will be coming to an end and it's refundable then I would understand it.

[Rayman]

IMHO anyone who is willing to wet test is serious about buying a tub, it took us over a year to get up the courage to wet test cause we wanted to make sure we were ready to buy a tub if we liked it.  I don't know though how other people are though.

Let's here from a dealers point of view...Do you get alot of people wanting to wet test who are just looking??

Ray

[graice]

Thanks for the input.  Just to clarify, the $100 was to hold the price.  My understanding was that wet testing the smaller tub was not an option.

[stl-rex]

True, but a lot of water remains in the plumbing where you can't see it. If that water is not evacuated it'll trn nasty over time. After you left, spomeone had some work to do to fully drain that and clean it out.

If the deposit is for wet testing a dry spa or to hold a sale price (very typical) that will be coming to an end and it's refundable then I would understand it.

"Prices good only for that day" smells of used car-ism.  Perhaps not, but unless factory subsidies were ending that day, that price should be good until tomorrow or the next or next or.......  It's a poor sales tactic in my opinion.  If you have to bribe them for a price, what will you have to do to get service if needed?  It would definitely put me off, especially if other dealers were not doing the same.  I encounted no such attitude at my HS dealer and am not putting the HS spa down in any way.

[Spatech_tuo]

"Prices good only for that day" smells of used car-ism.  Perhaps not, but unless factory subsidies were ending that day, that price should be good until tomorrow or the next or next or.......  It's a poor sales tactic in my opinion.  If you have to bribe them for a price, what will you have to do to get service if needed?  It would definitely put me off, especially if other dealers were not doing the same.  I encounted no such attitude at my HS dealer and am not putting the HS spa down in any way.

Good point. What it really means IMO is anyone can get that price for that sale time. After that if may be attainable but you have to haggle to get it. For me and others like me, there is no difference but for people like my wife there is a difference as she admittedly is allergic to haggling whereas I consider most everything in life to be negotiable.

[JJ]

It sounds to me like the Great Lakes dealer deserves a chance to earn your business.  The Hot Springs guy has a bad case of hubris.

[poopsy]

BE CAREFUL...i put $500 down on an optima last year and the guy that poured our deck robbed us so we took him to court as he didnt structurally do the pad for the hotub or the stamped patio//it just got resolved ..but when i called the dealer to tell him the situation he said no refunds- we were set to do the 1 yr no intrest no payment thing - i pleaded to refund the 500 untill this was sorted out but he said no....in fact the salesman still calls us and says.."hows the spa doing"...GEEZ...
anyhow i plan to go back into that dealer within the week and see if he will honor the contract now(for an optima) as we had the pad repoured and done correctly along with the stamped patio....i have a feeling they will either say....too bad or..."this tube has gone up $1000 now so if you pay that price we will honor it!!!!!

I told this dealer numerous times every month or 2 about the status of our situation..we cannot do anything till the whole court process is finished and it may take a year!!! so they put the Optima back in stock and told me to call them when its settled...we will see!!!!

[ebirrane]

I love hot springs spas, but $100 to hold a price is just silly. This dealer needs to know that you are both a serious and intelligent buyer.

People on this board may be able to give you info on whether this dealer's prices are in the ballpark for your general geographical area.  Beyond that, remember this is the guy who is going to be doing your service if anything goes wrong on the tub.

At our hot springs dealer, we had a pushy salesguy-type who turned us off.  We asked when he worked and he gave us his schedule and we came back one day to talk tubs when he was not in.  We got the actual owner of the store and liked him much better.  So, try another sales guy, maybe it's just a single person's approach and not indicative of the dealership as a whole.

-Ed

[aaahhh]

Graice,

Just courious did this salesman say "if you could buy a better hot tub I will double your purchase price". Acting like Hot spring is so superior of a spa that he will actualy give you money twice what you paid for a different brand hot tub if you could find one better than Hot Springs?

[TubsAndCues]

I'd be curious as to why a dealer would require you to put money down first.  For me, I'm more than happy to let prospective customers try out any tub they want.  It may take some work, but it's well worth it.  I'd ask around your town and find out what kind of reputation the Hot Spring dealer has.  He's got a great product, but the after sales relationship should not be overlooked.

One other thing to consider, I've heard of people posing as customers just to get a free soak in a hot tub.  They tend to be younger people, but not always.  Who knows, maybe he's run into a lot of that and wants to keep the users to a minimum.