Okay, I went by the Hot Springs dealer and all I can say is that's 20 minutes of my life I'll never get back.
What an utter waste of time, didn't provide ANY information at all other than to say repeatedly "you have to try them to see the difference" - no kidding. He asked me a question and then as I was anwering him he saw a Porsche through the window and walked away from me with some comment about how I'd like to have that (reminded me of Homer Simpson - "ohhhhh shinnyyyy"). My answer was that I really don't care about what people drive. I asked what the key differences were in the lines he carried - answer "the jets" and that was it. I mean come on people! It appeared that I was more of an inconvience than anything else. He didn't even want to talk about the HS models, he wanted to talk about Caldera instead. I pointed out the different seat back of the HS - he made some non-committal remark about yeah the jets are different. I asked about warranty - he handed me a brochure on the Caldera - gee, thanks for that. He then said that I should come back with my wife - why, so he could waster her time as well?
Without a doubt this was even worse than being ignored, I actually left this place feeling pissed off - I made the effort to find this place, drive there and go in. It's hard to believe these guys have been in business for 40 years.
This person didn't do one single thing right on any level.
I had the same experience when shopping for a hot tub. I visited dozens of dealers and really none of them were very good.
1)Hot Springs dealer wanted to sell me what he had not what I had requested. Would not listen to me or could not get a call back from him.
2)Sundance dealer badmouthed the competition and came across very slick and a weasel.
3)Beachcomber was the best of any dealers and I wet tested there. Would have bought but tub didn't feel right for me or the wife. Also had a different sales person give me conflicting info on a wet test. This person should be taken off the sales floor imo.
Ended up buying Emerald from dealer who had been in business over 50 years. Gave me as much room as I needed. One price for each tub I looked at. No haggling, take it or leave it. A low key no nonsense here is quality tub and we will be here to back it up. SOLD, Did get a cash discount of almost 10%.
PS: Had to drive by at least 5 competitors to get to this store.