Customer Service

[newtubcpl]

Something for potential new tub owners to try. Yes, your dealer is the front-line person for customer service, but take some time and email/call the manufacturer and ask questions BEFORE you buy. See how long it takes them to respond via email. How long were you on hold on the phone? Try different times of the day, and see if you get different response times, answers.

Its not everyday you have 5-10k to drop on a purchase, make sure its the best one for your money.

[Vinny]

Good post!

I also did that with my "potential" buys. Although my list was short due to budget, I too would e-mail my questions to the company to see how fast they would respond and the answer to my question. Found that some manufacturers don't respond and some within hours. Also called a few to see if I can get answers and I had no problems.

The other thing I'd like to add is to go to the dealer a couple of times (driving by is OK) at different times and days to see if their open. I was interested in a tub from a really close dealer but every time I went there he was closed. I even e-mailed him to see what was up and a couple of days later he e-mailed me back that he wasn't getting people in the store - so he closed up early and wasn't opening his store on Sunday. Also, he informed me that he was on vacation and would be back in a week. Question - if my tub was "broken" and I needed it fixed what would I do? E-mailed company with that question - answer - unless it was an extreme emergency, you would have to wait for the dealer to come back.   This response was from one of the major players in the hot tub world!

[zzaphod42]

Something for potential new tub owners to try. Yes, your dealer is the front-line person for customer service, but take some time and email/call the manufacturer and ask questions BEFORE you buy. See how long it takes them to respond via email. How long were you on hold on the phone? Try different times of the day, and see if you get different response times, answers.

Its not everyday you have 5-10k to drop on a purchase, make sure its the best one for your money.

You know what this post tells me as somebody working in the hot tub industry? It tells me that the standards of the industry as a whole need to be improved. If customers have enough fear of buying that it is necessary to contact the manufacturer by phone and email, not to mention go into the dealers store multiple times as well as call and email many times, then we need to change the image of the industry.

I know when I bought my car earlier this year (Toyota Corolla - IMO best quality for my limited budget) I never considered contacting the manufacturer, let alone multiple times by phone and email. Did I shop around before buying? Of course I did. But I did my homework on cars in general first, decided on a couple of different vehicles, and then went shopping. I felt that by purchasing a good quality vehicle, with a good reputation, that if something happens I will be taken care of. More importantly, the number of things that go wrong, if any, will be few and far between.

I guess a few things need to change: dealers as a whole need to step up and take care of their customers better, manufacturers need to build a more reliable product and customers have to realize that hot tubs are made by people, and nobody is perfect.

Joe

PS Do people spend this much time and energy deliberating over purchasing things like four-wheelers seadoos or snowmobiles?

[HotTubMan]

PS Do people spend this much time and energy deliberating over purchasing things like four-wheelers seadoos or snowmobiles?

No they don't. Why? Because there are not 100+ manufacturers of the products you mentioned...

[Vinny]

Let me comment on what zzaphod42 said as a consumer. BTW I'm not a salesperson.

As I researched for my hot tub first on Docs website for many years (about 3) and then here recently (6 months) I have read bad things about almost all tub manufacturers. That concerns me - I know that there is garbage out there but there can't be only 5 decent manufacturers out there. Some of the hot tub professionals here will point out why not to buy a particular brand because of ...   But if you bought my tub (insert brand here) it's superior because ...  MOST of you do not. If you read the posts as a non hot tub professional it's amazing - at one point I considered NOT to buy a tub but then realized I probably will miss out on something good.

There are 2 dealers close by (besides the one I mentioned) that are forever having sales - WHY? I walked into one of them and was quoted a price and 2 weeks later I saw it advertised for $400 less - good thing I didn't buy. - If it is a legitimate sale - great - but every month?

Another thing is warranty service - if the selling dealer is supposed to take care of the tub under warranty - what happens to the purchaser of that tub if the dealer goes under or goes on a two week vacation? Should the consumer have to pay additional fees if service is needed even though the consumer has no control over it. As a consumer, my answer is no. It seems that warranty service is different than in cars - I can go to any same brand dealer to have warranty service done.

Zzaphod42 said he bought a Toyota earlier this year, I bought a Hyundai - we both came to a conclusion that the car that we chose is the best car for us.

I put down a deposit on a Artesian Island series spa and after a couple of days I started thinking I was an idiot  for buying a lower quality tub with a lesser warranty. I called the dealer and asked her if I should "upgrade" to the Gold series for the longer warranty - she reassured me that my purchase decision was fine and not to worry. Why did I worry? Because of what I have read about leaks and failures and what's the best. I second guessed myself on my purchase, after all the years that I wanted a tub I couldn't enjoy the fact that I was finally getting a tub.

Maybe the industry does need to change it's image. Maybe there needs to be less infighting as to "the best" title - let's face it there is no best of anything. We all can't afford $10,000 hot tubs and if something is truly garbage fine lead us away from it  but every product has a niche.

[Yorag]

I would have to agree, there seems to be a inherent planned obsolescence buit into about 95% of the spas available these days. So who cares about customer service when you're just going to throw it away before it's even 10 years old.

As a very disatisfied Cal Spas owner, we did a lot of research before making a purchase 7 years ago. We looked at Sundance, Hot Springs and a few others before deciding to purchase the Cal Spas. We purchased our Cal Spa for $4500, many of the others we looked at were nearly twice as much. Just because a Mercedes is pricey doesn't mean that there isn't  other quality manufacturers out there for less money. Price doesn't always dictate higher quality or better customer service.

Do you think the dealer was going to tell us that Cal Spas had a horrible service record replete with unresolved warranty claims? I think not....
Do you think they were going to tell us that our spa would be disposable after about 7 years use? I don't think so.
Do you think the dealer knew he'd be out of business 4 years after our purchase? I doubt it.
The bottom line is the portable spa business has a reputation of being sleazy akin to that of the used car dealers of old.
Commisioned sales people who's only motivation is to make a sale, could care less about the customer service you'll need in 4 years.
From my experience there are huge markups in the spa industry so you never know what you're really getting anyway. Top that off with lousy cutomer service and you've got yourself a recipe for dissatisfaction.
Am I bitter, yes. It's not very enjoyable spending nearly $5000 for something that lasts only 7 years, and then have to take legal action against the manufacturer in order to preserve your rights under a warranty that the manufacturer will try to invalidate for the most ridiculous reasons.
It's all about customer service, if the manufacturer can't provide it, you better look elsewhere. Send emails, write letters, read the fine print. You're not buying a car, you're buying a luxury item that you need to be confident that you can own and enjoy for more than just a few years.