Problem tub or problem HS dealerÉIÕm confused

[Chris_H]

Nope, $75 dollars isn’t bad.  I am sure they are probably losing money on the deal.

1.How many hottub repairmen are there compared to those other professions?  It is simple economics of supply and demand.  
2.The consumer needs to use a factory-trained repairman or your warranty will be voided.  
3.A trained technician needs to understand both electronics and plumbing.  
4.How much does it cost to get to a house just for gas?  
5.How much insurance for the car cost per service call?  
6.How much does the repairman get per hour of work?

I am an accountant and get between $100 and $200 an hour.  That is cheap for accounting services.

[ssbraun]

I agree with Chris H...when I was a field service tech for a major industrial pump / compressor company, we charged 75/hr and had trouble covering costs even at that.  Commercial insurance rates can be very high, as are fuel costs.  Also, the techs may not be able to bill out 8 hours every day, and their salary has to come from somewhere

[salesdvl]

Electricians=$100 per hour
Plumbers=$85 per hour
Master Carpenters=$45 per hour

Not to take anything away from hot tub technicians, but is the level of training and difficulty comparable to the occupations listed above?

Spa techs are highly trained.  And if they do good they get a banana.      

[drewstar]

BTW, I don’t mean any disrespect of the tech people on this forum but don’t you think $75 an hour is somewhat expensive to repair a hot tub? In these parts costs are as follows:

Electricians=$100 per hour
Plumbers=$85 per hour
Master Carpenters=$45 per hour

Not to take anything away from hot tub technicians, but is the level of training and difficulty comparable to the occupations listed above?

The hot tub guy store is about 4 miles from my house. I agree he can’t just run over everyone’s house at the drop of a hat. However, I just walked in his store one day and bought my hot tub on the drop of a hat, and I buy all my chemicals etc there not online like lots of people. Maybe an offer of a courtesy call to my house would have been nice?

Yea, I do think it's a bit high. but....

Although, I do understand.  My friend owns an appliance repair business and he charges $65 just to show up at your house and 75$ an hour for work.  You have to keep in mind he doens't earn $75 an hour. That money covers travel time, gas insurance, the store, the phones, the guy who answers the phone and the time he puts in stocking his store, researching parts and looking up schematics, etc etc etc.   (Say he gets 4 hours of billable servive hours in. between driving around town, and back and forth to the shop. At $75 an hour the company has made $300 for the day. Start to deduct overhead and costs, and you'll see the tech is making more like $100 a day. he aint getting rich.

Sears does the Exact same thing.  Buy a brand new Stove and it breaks? $65 bucks to get the guy out there, unless you want to bring in your stove to thier repair center.  

[SerjicalStrike]

Not to take anything away from hot tub technicians, but is the level of training and difficulty comparable to the occupations listed above?

This is a very specialized field.  You cannot just go slapping new parts in to any old tub and hope it works.  
You are welcome to find anyone else to fix your spa, but usually the dealer can do it more efficiently.

[drewstar]

This is a very specialized field.  You cannot just go slapping new parts in to any old tub and hope it works.  
You are welcome to find anyone else to fix your spa, but usually the dealer can do it more efficiently.

Small nit, no a customer who wants to keep his warrenty intact cannot find just anyone else to do it.  I am not welcomed to find anyone else to do it.

It's frustrtaing to shell out $$ to get a warrentied item repaired, but it seems to be the way of all business's today.

I do understand the economics of it all, but what I find frustrating is with some repair centers i've delt (and this is not exclusive to hot tub repair, although i have had problems) with is thier lack of apprecaition of my time and costs.  

I pay to have a service call on a warrenty item that you sold me, and in order for me to be home, requires that i take time off from my job.  So not only do I have to pay the repair tech $65 to show up, ussualy I have to take a day  (or at least half a day) off to accomodate you.  I don't get paid that day. So, my warrentied item  just cost me several hundred dollars in service fees and lost income.

What makes it worse is when they don't have the part in stock and after comming out and diagnosing the problem, you tell me  "We'll be back next week". (sure no charge, just another lost day of pay for me).      In some cases,  some products just aren't worth it to fix!

One time after arranging for both my wife and I to be home to meet with a hot tub technician at my home,  they cancelled at the last minute because they had to do inventory. I flipped out.    

[shabba34]

I understand an applicaple trip charge for a warranty service call, 25-50 $ depending on the distance traveled.  This is at the dealers discretion per the Hotspring warranty.  But a 1.5 year old Jetsetter still under warranty that has a possible leak (Which is unlikely, unless it is a bad ozone check valve), the dealer is required to fufill the warranty, Parts & Labor.  I do understand the dealer trying to diagnose over the phone with the customer to get a better idea of the issue rather than travel to the customers house uneccesarily for a courtesy call.  The dealer gets paid for discovery hours on a leak while a spa is under warranty.  $75.00 and hour while under warranty is ludicriss(spelling).  Granted, this customer most likely had a low water level that constituted 2" of displacement water shooting from the jets.

[SerjicalStrike]

It is not the dealership's fault that someone needs to be home.  A hottub outside with the GFCI outside as well does not need anyone home.  

I personally hate that dealerships charge a service charge for a warranty call.  The only thing I could see is if the call is more than an hour out of the way or the customer demands service on a day when we are not in their area.  Then I think a travel charge is ok.  

The other side of the coin is that this should all be in a document that the customer signed so they are aware of the charges.  If you were aware of the charges, there is no reason to complain.  

[drewstar]

It is not the dealership's fault that someone needs to be home.  A hottub outside with the GFCI outside as well does not need anyone home.  

I personally hate that dealerships charge a service charge for a warranty call.  The only thing I could see is if the call is more than an hour out of the way or the customer demands service on a day when we are not in their area.  Then I think a travel charge is ok.  

The other side of the coin is that this should all be in a document that the customer signed so they are aware of the charges.  If you were aware of the charges, there is no reason to complain.  

Serijacal,  I wasn't directing my flame at you speficifally. And sure, it's not anyone's fault that I have to be home, but nothing upsets me more is a service team that seems to be indiffernt to thier customers about the costs to have the new product fixed.

Given that, though I can see why a dealer would say "Check this out before you have me come out" That's  a good thing in my book. As well as if they say "lets try to figure it out before I come out. At least if I do have to come out, I should have the parts".    I am all for that.

[Chris_H]

It is well within the dealers right to charge $75 for mileage, but not within his right to charge $75 an hour for a spa under warranty.  There may have been a communication problem there.

Quite honestly, I know of two dealers that last year started charging a low rate for mileage.  One is $20 and the other is $35.  Both dealers said it has cut out the bullshit service calls they used to receive.  That is probably the best reason to charge for mileage.

[drewstar]

It is well within the dealers right to charge $75 for mileage, but not within his right to charge $75 an hour for a spa under warranty.  There may have been a communication problem there.

Quite honestly, I know of two dealers that last year started charging a low rate for mileage.  One is $20 and the other is $35.  Both dealers said it has cut out the bullshit service calls they used to receive.  That is probably the best reason to charge for mileage.

To clear it up, I was talking about repair techs for all products  in general. No. I would not expect to pay for labor on an item under warrenty, and don't belive any reputable dealer of any product would.  Sorry if I had confused any one. I thought i had chosen my words carefully.

[SerjicalStrike]

And sure, it's not anyone's fault that I have to be home, but nothing upsets me more is a service team that seems to be indiffernt to thier customers about the costs to have the new product fixed.

Agreed.  (if I was a little blunt with my earlier response, I apologize)  A dealership should be able to work with you to get a time that works best for both for you.  During busy service seasons, this can be difficult sometimes.  

Like you said, a dealer wants to be as prepared as possible before they come out.  The more information you can get them, the less likely they are to have to make a return call.

[Guzz]

On the original problem, the jetsetter only holds 200 gallons so it doesn't take much to lower it a couple of inches.

[mxw128]

This occurs not only in the HotTub industry, but also in applaince repair and in the Automotvie industry (Get your car fixed under the manufactuers warrenty, and you will still pay a $50 co-pay, even though you brought the car in).

Interesting, I've never had to pay a "copay" for bringing any of my vehicles back for repair under the manufacturer's warranty.  (I've seen some non-manufacturer's warranty that inlcude this) What make of cars do you own??

At least in my area, Northern VA, the pratice of including a "trip charge" varies with the dealer... but I had to specifically ask to get them to tell me about it when I was shopping.  And even then some dealers tried to talk around it and didnt; want to direclty admit that they would charge it.

[East_TX_Spa]

I've said it before, we cover a HUGE territory (NE Texas and NW Louisiana).  We've NEVER charged a trip fee or charged a customer who had a spa under warranty.  Our service department makes a small profit, but we consider it to be part of doing business.  None of our competitors in our market even have service departments, they subcontract everything.  That is one reason why we OWN our market.

HotSpring is very generous in compensating us for warranty work.  If other companies fall short of that mark, it's just one more reason why HS has been the #1 selling spa in the world for 20 straight years.  If the individual dealers can't make due with what they're being given, then they need to take a look at their overall business plan, in my opinion.

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