Why People Buy a Certain Spa

[Micah]

We have the equipment door off of one spa.  Hot Spring, Caldera, D1, and maybe others have a finished looking equipment bay.  I was surprised to find that with Jacuzzi and Sundance, a company with a good reputation, when you remove the door (many wood screws later) you are looking at equipment with the insulated shell right there.  Did not look finished to me.

Have they changed?  Do other brands have the finished look? :-?

I think d-1 has the cleanest looking equipment bay.  It is so impressive.  I just wonder what purpose it serves.  As a repair man of many many years, I cant think of a single reason to enclose your equipment bay.  But as a salesman I bet we can "make up" quite a few reasons why having it enclosed make one brand superior to a brand that dosent.

[windsurfdog]

As far as "finished" equipment bays, I think you will find that TP spas purposefully do not have a finished, enclosed equipment bay in order to circulate pump heat throughout the cabinet.  And, specifically in the case of MS, pumps are mounted on 3 sides of the spa.  This helps to dissipate the heat as well as giving more room in which to mount the equipment.  The downside is that to fully service the pumps, one must have room on more than one side available, which really isn't a bad idea anyway should a leak appear.

So, putting emphasis on a neat equipment bay or, conversely, faulting a TP spa for not having a "finished" equipment bay isn't necessarily a desired characteristic.

[Zep]

re: "I think d-1 has the cleanest looking equipment bay"

[Mendocino101]

Here's the thing, This board and the spa owners here are a ANOMALY the average person who comes looking for a spa does not wet test, knows very few of any different brands, does not know about TP or FF insulation. What they want to know is jet count, colors, stereos, how nice it looks. Because some other salesman down the street has told them that their brand of magic spa takes no chemicals , never needs to have the water changed, etc, I have said this before but most people are so much comfortable buying a car because while they may not know how put air in a tire, they at least they ridden in one but not with spas. So the flash appears to be best and more jets must certainly make it better. and to be fair that would seem to make sense but we all know it really does not work like that. So take the sides off a spa and show them all the waysit works most would be bored and walk out as, sad as that may sound it is very true.

[Gary]

Well first to answer Zep's remark, I am not a dealer, I only fix them and fix them all.

As a service tech and a consumer advocate I get frustrated with some manufactures do.

Someone mentioned can they can both "flash and quality" and the answer is yes but the price of the spa gets very high.

So manufacturer A builds a quality spa that looks cool also and it cost $10k retail.

Manufacturer B builds a cool looking spa that retails for $7K.

Both tubs are 7' square so the customer cannot understand why spa manufacturer A is $10K.

Yes, there are savvy consumers that figure it out but I think a lot are getting shafted.

The dealer is the blame also as he/she can do a better job on selling quality.

I am not saying you cannot get one of the cheaper flashy spas that last for years with no problems, but odds are you will not.


Second, I glad the post got a good discussion going.


Bottom line, the better manufactures are adding flash/fluff to their spas these days but when you still build a quality tub it will cost.


I try to stay neutral with brand names but if asked I will tell you what I think. I have worked on a lot of spas and I know who is good and who is not.

[Steve]

Mendo was tired when he wrote that I bet!

Your point is valid though my friend. Only a small percentage of shoppers give a rats ass about looking at the "guts" of a spa unless your sales pitch is based around that of course.

People want to know if it's comfortable, therapeutic, has a good warranty, is energy efficient and that you'll look after them. I don't know of too many consumers that will purchase a spa from someone they don't trust and gives them bad info regardless of how pretty the guts are...

Steve

[Mendocino101]

Steve,

Your right but I think most customers all assume that the spa will be comfortable no matter what, that why forget wet testing dry testing can be a chore at times. I think at the end people come in and might have budget in mind and want to see what they can get for that, regardless of what they actually may be getting, meaning usually bigger is better, more jets, etc. Most people do not care about the real quality of the product since again. every place they go they are going to hear the old "were the best story" yet very few salesman will take the time or really even know their product well enough to show a customer what really makes them different and again this board is an anomaly that would not apply so much to the dealers here. We try keep our sales approach simple buy we definitely try to help the customer understand the differences in spas and what each feature and benefit and how it will help them.

[windsurfdog]

Mendo,

You make excellent points in both of your last posts and I couldn't agree more.  

Though I know my brand of spa isn't high on yours or others lists, I assure you that it is high on mine after wet testing, mulling, reading, thinking, asking, looking, owning, using and maintaining...and this after almost 3 years of ownership.  

I cannot imagine someone plunking down $6,000 to $12,000 without beiing as thorough as I felt I was...but then again, maybe my $8000 meant more to me than others' money.

Anyway, your and Steve's points are right on the money...and it's just a shame...

[Mendocino101]

Mendo,

You make excellent points in both of your last posts and I couldn't agree more.  

Though I know my brand of spa isn't high on yours or others lists, I assure you that it is high on mine after wet testing, mulling, reading, thinking, asking, looking, owning, using and maintaining...and this after almost 3 years of ownership.  

I cannot imagine someone plunking down $6,000 to $12,000 without being as thorough as I felt I was...but then again, maybe my $8000 meant more to me than others' money.

Anyway, your and Steve's points are right on the money...and it's just a shame...

Hey WOW thanks for the compliment but one thing again, its the marketing not the spa. I mean its is a very reasonable that what you like and I like will never be the same and thats alright, I may think a certain spa is greatest thing and you may not like it in any way, forgetting any particular brand. I just think that "most" shoppers come in and most do not care about the things that get discussed here as quality components that any shopper should look for, but rather most come in looking at price, size, stereos, lights, waterfalls. I had a customer come into our store this week who bought a spa week ago from some home show, they thought they got a great deal as they payed less than four grand for a 6 person spa but its 110, now we all know that 6 person and 110 = zero performance. and forget the operating cost when they get there first bill. But they think at this point they got a great deal and the fact that in less than a week they are coming to us for help with water care and asking us about a tech does not yet seem to register with them.

[Steve]

I can't help but feel sorry for a lot of spa shoppers... Most have never owned a spa and have no concept on what to consider in this purchase. It's for those reasons that some buy spas like the one Mendo mentioned above.

First, they enter every dealer and get told that "we are the best, blah blah blah... and then they need to make a $7000 + decision based mainly on marketing hype and salesmanship.

They get told of proprietary features that they won't be able to find anywhere else and how BIG the company is so we MUST be the best and so on... Then comes the FF/TP sales BS.

The consumer has "built in" assumptions thinking that more jets are best and bigger horse power is a good thing. Then they flip from those two "key aspects"   of the purchase and move right to lights and waterfalls, etc. Is it any wonder why some manufacturers choose to build crappy spas at low prices?

Food for thought...

Steve

[windsurfdog]

I will have to say that had I been a spa shopper without access to the internet, without choosing to participate in forums like this and Doc's, without taking the time to thoroughly peruse more than 10-20 manufacturers' websites over a period of at least 6-8 months that I would not have had anywhere close to the amount of spa knowledge that I did have before my purchase.  Once again, a spa is a big ticket item and I just can't fathom nonchalantly walking into a showroom and plunking down $6-12k without any homework or wet testing...crazy indeed...

But, then again, some people must have MUCH more disposable income than that to which I'm accustomed... :-/

[East_TX_Spa]

As has been stated, the members of this forum are the exception when it comes to spa shoppers.

Shoppers want value.  They want quality.  They want peace of mind with the dealer.  They want to work with someone they can trust.  That's what we (East Texas Spa) offer our customers.  That's why they refer their friends, family, coworkers to us year after year.

The quality and integrity of the salesperson and shopping environment account for over 50% of the entire process, in my experience.

Terminator

[marks]

Term is absolutely correct (surprising as it sounds).  When I bought my spa two years ago I did the leg work and narrowed it down to a Hot Springs Grande, Sundance Optima or Beachcomber 580/750.  On a Friday morning the wife and I went to look at and wet test all three.  We ended up with the Beachcomber 580 and it did not have much to do with the wet test.  By the way, I would have been happy with any of the three so I did not try to push her in any direction.  Price was not too much of a concern, all the spa’s where within 2K of each other and where in the range we had expected.  This is what happened.

Hot Springs – Show room is in an old pool store and not very nice.  She would not even wet test. The Hot Spring product was dismissed without even a serious look because of perception of the show room.

Sundance – Nice show room, but the salesman would not leave us alone and was very pushy and made all kinds of crazy claims.  Did wet test but did not like the salesman so the sale was off.

Beachcomber – Nice show room, salesmen (owner) down to earth.  Told him what spas we where looking at.  His comment was something like “those are all great choices, can’t go wrong with any of them.  That sold my wife.  Wet tested and bought the 580.  Kind of surprising because I thought we would like the 750 better.  So wet testing did help, but only after picking the dealer we liked.

So bottom line it all hinged on the dealer.  I am betting that if I lived near Term's store I would be the owner of a Hot Srpings Grande.

[nsavarirayan]

I think its just like anyone else.  I am very particular and savvy when shopping for big ticket items because I am certainly not rich and need my money to do its best for me.  That goes for when I purhcased my HD TV a fe wyears ago when most people did not know what Hd stood for.  My in laws were the type to walk into a t=store looking for a big ticket item - then believe what the sales guy says and walk out without even looking at the net or researching at all anyones opinion of the product.

I am looking for my very first spa now that I finallly got the buy off from teh Wifey -i am so glad I am the way i am otherwise i would have never found this forum and learned soooo much about different hot tubs and how they tick.  When i first initially started looking I thought costco was the way to go or something used off the paper.  Now my eyes have been opened and there is just a ton of info you need to know - in fact its a bit daunting as well.

So thank to all of you who have taught me soo much.

[Steve]

Shoppers want value.  They want quality.  They want peace of mind with the dealer.  They want to work with someone they can trust.  That's what we (East Texas Spa) offer our customers.  That's why they refer their friends, family, coworkers to us year after year.

Terminator

Did ya take that from one of your radio ads?