Little Tyke Spas and da Mean Ol' Alligator Updait

[East_TX_Spa]

Mondays are my day off and my little girl happened to not have school yesterday, so we went to Tyler to see the Little Tyke Spa Show.

Before we left, I took a couple of pics of our backyard:


Here's one of our pond.  Grouchy Ol' DMcJ decided he'd swim over to say hello:



When we arrived at the Tyler Mall, there was a big circus tent with lots of Little Tyke Spas all displayed in different states of disarray.  Since my little girl doesn't understand spa jargon, I tried to explain the things we saw in a way that she'd understand.

This spa didn't have any underwear.  Well, it was more like panties than real underwear:


This spa had little pimples on all the corners of the shell.  As a matter of fact, most of them did.  I told my little girl that there was evidently an outbreak of Spa Pox at the toy factory and the Toy Maker had found no cure :


This poor little button had been pushed to death and you could see it's wee electronic skeleton inside:


None of the spas had straight lines.  All of the cabinets were sloped inwards like a giant had sucked all the air out from underneath.  I explained to Savanna that this was the air tight seal that makes a thermal pain spa so efficient, but (bless her heart) she said "Then why are there big gaps all around the cabinet?"



I told her to start acting like an adult spa shopper and quit asking logical questions!!!

I told her that this spa was probably from a broken home and no one loved it:


Savanna said "Daddy, it looks just like the storage shed at your store that the wind blew down."  She was right, it did:


When the very nice man told us we could have any one of these fantabulous spas for $18,000 or less, we just couldn't believe it to be true.  Savanna even thought this one would be a wonderful winter home for our grouchy pet alligator DMcJ:


When I closed my eyes, I could almost picture him swimming happily in his own little heated swamp:


OR (I told Savanna) we could go home and shoot that alligator in the head, make some alligator stew, and take the money we saved and go to Disney World!!!  She thought that sounded good.

Terminator

[Chas]

Wow. I sure don't know what brand those tubs are from, but they have obviously become the MASTER of the spa show method of selling.

What other brands of tubs where there at the show?

[drewstar]

Was this some "factory returns" roadside blowout? I thought Master Spa delt via dealers?

[Chas]

Oh it was Master spas?    

Seriously: they do have a road show. It goes around the country, and they advertise as if it was going to be a home show or at the very least a spa show with many makers represented. When you arrive, you get to see Master, and some of the derivative tubs that Master makes, along with the various gazebos and other items, which Master offers.

They get help from some of the vendors - though I haven't heard this happening at ALL of their shows: chem companies and others will send reps to display some product and answer questions.

Bottom line: it's not what you would expect.

[drewstar]

Yea,  but those tubs were used and abused.    Factory refurbished?

Is it true Master Spas has a new line out? The Baiter?

[Micah]

 I thought Master Spa delt via dealers?

Only if the dealer caves in to their threats and puts up with their crap.  
Their sales pitch to me was " We are going to be on your street, either in your building or across the street. You don't want us across the street"
With a sales rep like that, who need quality products?

[hymbaw]

They get help from some of the vendors - though I haven't heard this happening at ALL of their shows: chem companies and others will send reps to display some product and answer questions.

I don't see any evidence of a chemical company being anywhere near that tub

Term,
Lord only knows how many potential customers they have snatched from your spell with that display of [glb]hypnotically[/glb] sparkling water!

[wmccall]

Oh it was Master spas?    

Seriously: they do have a road show. It goes around the country, and they advertise as if it was going to be a home show or at the very least a spa show with many makers represented. When you arrive, you get to see Master, and some of the derivative tubs that Master makes, .

........................................Bottom line: it's not what you would expect.

I can pretty much verify this. The exception, in my area is was actually a pretty good home show. We were in the market for some bathroom remodling which we just had finished by a company we hired at the show. I'll post a couple of pics from our new Microban shower

But as for the hot tub part of it, you hit it right on the head, in my opinion, their radio ads were outright lies.

[East_TX_Spa]

Term,
Lord only knows how many potential customers they have snatched from your spell with that display of [glb]hypnotically[/glb] sparkling water!

The very sad part of this tale was that an elderly couple was sitting down paying $6500 for one of these toy spas.  Somewhere, Mr. T cried.



Terminator

[Spatech_tuo]

I went to their spa show within the past year to see what they were about and the 2 things that stood out to me was the poor cabinetry (extra important in a thermopane IMO) and the shell anomolies. Now the sales guy said the shells were blems but more than one was like that and why would you show spas like that at such a highly touted event. I was less than impressed from a visual quality standpoint. For the $$ they put out to run that dog and pony show I'd expect the product to be looking it's best.

[East_TX_Spa]

Chas and drewstar, it was a dealer out of Dallas that said they travel around the state selling spas.  He also said that they had authorized local service people who would take care of the spa here and in Longview.

He also stated the spas have "tons of jets and major horsepower, 4 pumps at 17.5 hp".  All they had were Little Tyke Spas and about 4 outdoor kitchens (which I liked) and a rickety redwood gazebo.

The nice young man indicated to me that Mr. T had cried a lot over the weekend.

Terminator

[drewstar]

But the spas in you pictures looked used.

Where these billed as new, or refurnished?

I heard of getting a shady deal and saying "it fell off the truck" But these look like they really did fall off the truck.

A dirty, grimey,  arjuny  truck.

[East_TX_Spa]

New Spas

Some of the better picture opportunities didn't turn out.  There were a couple of spas turned up on their sides with jets that had fallen down into a pile in one of the corners.  The blistering/bubbling in the shells was horrendous but I could not get a good picture.

The blow molded plastic cabinet was soooooooo tempting to throw a kick into, but I knew it would cave the side of the spa in.  My daughter's Little Tyke Toys are made of the same type of blow molded plastic.

I wanted to jump up and down in one of the empty spas like I do at my store, but I could just picture the mess I would have made in the Little Tyke Spa.

I actually have to admit that even the Sunbelt Spas that I've seen looked better crafted than these.  They were a complete and utter joke, and I surely did not expect that.

Terminator

[Chas]

They were a complete and utter joke, and I surely did not expect that.
Terminator

Yes, but at least they are ETL listed. More than can be said for some....

[Wisoki]

Now she's on all the pages!