Welcome to our forum.
In my search for a hot tub. When I talked to 2 different dealers both of them wanted to charge me a trip fee for doing warranty work, I am 45 min from both of them. I can understand a trip fee if I did something wrong or I broke something, but I guess I don't understand the logic of something that I paid my hard earned money for with a warranty and the dealer making a profit from my sale. Its not like I can bring the hot tub in for service work.Do theses dealers not get reimbursed from the MFG? or do they not have that much faith in the product that they sell that they have to charge the costumer a travel charge and get reimbursed from the MFG?Can the buyer negotiate the contract when buying the hot tub/ travel charge while the tub is under warranty? And get it in writing.Can others tell me what you have done on this matter? The brands are Hot Springs/ hot spot and Jacuzzi.Thanks for your input.Coleman
Over the years, in order to keep the price of a spa as low as possible, many manufacturers have been reducing the amount they pay to deals for doing warranty work. And reducing it quite significantly...to the point, that's it becomes a LOSS for the dealer. Their options are to either raise the retail price of the spa to cover warranty work (which can now make them too much more expensive that the guy down the street), or charge a travel fee. Either way, ANY warranty is NOT free. You pay for it in the cost of the product you're buying...or, in this case, in a travel charge. FYI, if you were to buy a new car, and it breaks down and needs to be towed to the dealer for "warranty" repairs, the vast majority of the time YOU'LL be responsible for getting it to the dealer. Most products, if they break, you have to return in at YOUR expense to get it repaired.