Jacuzzi J-480 Jacuzzi Jim ?

[Spatini]

OK , I know i'm waffling here , Pelican or Piper but I just found out about the Jacuzzi Dealer somewhat close ( 85 miles away ) and he is filling a 480 for me to wet test tommorow, I wont go into how I got here as that info is in previous post, I am now down to the Piper which I love and the J-480 which I hope I will love ,
Here is my Question to those in the know If I love the tub , the dealer told me the price was $ 9680.00 for a fully loaded 08 J-480 , now when I went to Jacuzzi website I noticed a deal if you use thier ( Jacuzzi ) credit card between March 14 and april 6 they would give an additional 2000.00 off if paid  in a year. so would I now be looking at $7680.00 for the tub I only ask cause I guess I would have to buy tommorow or go back saturday and buy to beat the april 6 deadline on the Spring sales incentive?

[Jacuzzi Jim]

 From what I have been told that 2000 is off MSRP which is prolly around 13,000 +
  If it fits you and you like it? 9700 for the J-480 loaded would be a fantastic price!!   I really, really doubt he is taking 2 grand off that price, he wouldn't be much above cost at that point.

 The pelican bay is bigger, but the quality/filtration/jets of the Jacuzzi J-480 will kill it in my opinion, the lounge in the 480 is not for tall people, but I have sat in it and just stretch my legs past the end, or bring my knees up a bit and its ok.

[Spatini]

Thanks for the quick response, as I am only 5' 10 and the wife is 5'2 the lounge may fit right , I thought that sounded like a pretty good price but I'm glad you confirmed ,, Now if only it fits !! as for the 2 grand I thought that Jacuzzi corp would eat that and not the dealer ?

[dax]

Last year when I was looking, my final two choices were the Jacuzzi J480 and the Sundance Cameo.  I liked both.  The decision came down to price and dealer rep, so I went with the Cameo.  I was quoted a price of $10,500 on the J480, but that didn't include stereo.  So the price you mention looks pretty good.

[Saved by Grace]

You will fall in love with the lounge in the J480.  We have been in it two times.  However, the price we were quoted was $11,300 without the stereo.  If I know I could buy it $9700 I wouldn't be wasting my time looking at anything else.  Thanks for the post, now I know I need to work on a much better deal.

Thanks,
Fred

[ndabunka]

OK , I know i'm waffling here , Pelican or Piper but I just found out about the Jacuzzi Dealer somewhat close ( 85 miles away ) and he is filling a 480 for me to wet test tomorrow, I wont go into how I got here as that info is in previous post, I am now down to the Piper which I love and the J-480 which I hope I will love ,
Here is my Question to those in the know If I love the tub , the dealer told me the price was $ 9680.00 for a fully loaded 08 J-480 , now when I went to Jacuzzi website I noticed a deal if you use thier ( Jacuzzi ) credit card between March 14 and april 6 they would give an additional 2000.00 off if paid  in a year. so would I now be looking at $7680.00 for the tub I only ask cause I guess I would have to buy tomorrow or go back saturday and buy to beat the april 6 deadline on the Spring sales incentive?

Your not going to get it for anything much under $9K in any market.  The $9,700 does seem to be a fairly competitive price point.  As others have stated, the "mfg discounts" are typically off "List Price".  However, I have seen credit card companies doing this more and more.  In many cases, it's funded by the credit card companies and not the product but the most i have seen as an incentive is around $200.  If you take a look at a typical financing plan, they often show a price point and then add interest over a certain period (say 4 years/48 months).  If you add up the interest on a $10K "loan" during that time for the tub, you could get $1,200 to $1,500 in interest alone if it's a high interest rate.  Many of these companies do allow you the "Option" of paying it off early and therefore getting a rebate on all interest paid plus the savings for not having to pay interest for those next three years.  IMHO that type of "calculation" is deceptive.  I don't know if that is what is happening on your offer or not but it is a marketing ploy (usually seen in the furniture industry).  The thing is that if you miss one payment or don't pay it off BEFORE the first year, you get stuck with the higher interest rate.  What happens if your employment conditions change, an accident, etc.  The finance company doesn't care, they just want your money. So, be carefull with ANY financing incentive.

[Spatini]

after seeing what others have been quoted Im thinkin maybe its $1160 and he already applied the 2k to get me to the store, at any rate doesnt matter to me , the deal is pretty straight forward from Jacuzzi
http://www.jacuzzihottubs.com/financing/index.html
all I'll do is get the card , get the discount , and then pay it off , but as you said some may do this , miss one payment and then have to pay back interest and , yep they got ya. I will have to make sure there is no early payment penalty. anyway I guess I will see tomorrow.

[Tailhooker]

Last year when I was looking, my final two choices were the Jacuzzi J480 and the Sundance Cameo.  I liked both.  The decision came down to price and dealer rep, so I went with the Cameo.  I was quoted a price of $10,500 on the J480, but that didn't include stereo.  So the price you mention looks pretty good.

I got the same quote...$11,500 with stereo but not sure that even included lifter or steps.

[dax]

I got the same quote...$11,500 with stereo but not sure that even included lifter or steps.

The $10.5K quote I got for the J480 included lifter, steps, and their higher output ozonator.  If not for the dealer, I may have gone with the Jacuzzi.  Less than six months later, the dealer no longer carries the Jacuzzi line.

[IL Parrothead]

Yeah, you've been quoted a good price for that spa.

[Saved by Grace]

I called Jacuzzi customer service today and spoke to a very helpful lady.  She told me that the program is only available at participating dealers.  (unfortunately we are not in an area with a participtating dealer)  She told me that the MSRP on the 480 without the stereo is $15,410 and with stereo it is $17,270.  

First off, just imagine what kind of stereo system you could set up for $1,860.  With that kind of markup involved I can now see why the first dealer we were at said we had to get the stereo.  They could look like a hero by discounting it heavily and still make a very good profit because there has to be a substantial mark up to get to close to $2,000 for a stereo.

The other thing she told me is that the 2k in the program is real money.  The dealer of course would use it in the manner they wanted because each dealer sets the actual retail price.  If they would normally discount the tub at $11,300 that doesn't mean they would reduce it to $9,300.  They could start at $12,500 and end up at $10,500.  It sounds like the original poster (spantini) was a lucky one and found a dealer that is a "participating" dealer and at the same time using the $2,000 to really sell at a low price.  Spantini..I jump at $9,680 and pay it off before the year is up.  What a bargain.

I on the other hand have a dealer that isn't participating in the program.  They don't use GE Money Bank so it's no go on the 2k.  However, I told him the $11,300 was high and he came down $500 to $10,800.  So tomorrow after we drive 3+ hours to test the J375 we have a better price on the J480 to work with if it ends up being the direction we go.  This $10,800 is a long ways from the original qoute we got from the salesperson that said we had to get the stereo and that was $12,300.  It really pays to become educated on all of these things and this forum has helped a great deal.  I hope someone can find this info useful.

Thanks,
In His Peace,
Fred

[Spatini]

OK , so I just got back from my 200 mile journey on the quest for the ultimate spa for me. I got to my Jacuzzi dealer and he had the spa ready so I jumped in and gave it the test , I really did like the lounge , the back massage felt very much like the moto massage only it was all over at the same time and not moving up and down , I liked that also liked the foot massager in the lounge, The diverters actually made sense , compared to some of the other brands, as each pump ran 2 seats and you use one divertor for two seats position (a) ran seat 1 , position (b) ran seat two ,and position (c) split power and ran both seat at the same time, very straight forward in position A or B the corrosponing seat got full force and a very powerful massage, I liked the back jets in all three seats each one different than the other. I liked the Neck jets in one of the seats better than the other two seats but in all three I had to really slide down in my seat to get it to hit right, but with the foot dome i could slide down and hold my position fairly easy and get a foot massage to boot. I liked the waterfall feature on the raised back wall ,But I am wondering how easy the cover will be to remove over this and in the future how is will it be to replace?
 
Now as far as the pricing goes for the 480 with everthing it was 9600.00 and he did not have a clue about the 2000 incentive on Jacuzzi website , he also did not use GE as a creditor so the 2k was not viable here , but at 9600 I guess I can not do better, This is a great deal.

 Now comes the real problem , as you know I really liked the Artesian Platinum Elite line , and being only about 5 miles from that dealer I thought I should go back and try it again , just to clear things up in my head , Well it didnt work, I got back into the dove canyon , ( they do not have a Piper Glen there and the Pelican was dry), as the seating is set up the same as the piper and pelican the wet etest should be about the same in any of the three , I found That I still prefer the seperate pumps and controls at each seat ,( why dont other companies do this , its awesome ) The jests seemed more robust in the seats and I liked the neck jets better, but I still had to slide down to get them to hit right,I could feel  the calf jets better, Iliked Jacuzzis back jets and foot jets on the lounger better but liked artesian on loungers calf jets as jacuzzis were just air.

All in all I liked the Artesian a little better than the jacuzzi for therapy, but at 12999 for pelican loaded and 10999 for the piper loaded thats  1400 differance I dont know if I liked that much better, As for all the bells and whistles ( which come in second after therapy ) The Jacuzzi wins for me on the Waterfalls, Stereo system, Lighting and also the control panel was much easier to read and understand. I can make both work where I plan to install.

I really thought when I narrowed down to 2 this would be easy !! Any thoughts?

[Saved by Grace]

Spatini,

I just want to know how I can buy a J480 with a stereo for 9600.  Nevermind that, how much would it be without the stereo???  8500??

Really though, is this dealer multi location and really high volume?  And what is his location as far as freight costs.  Are you located near the manufacturing facility?

I think you are probably doing the same thing we are....trying to find the perfect one.  We are shooting for not over doing our thinking tomorrow when we take our 200 one way trip.  Which ever one feels right and we get a good price on is the one we are ordering.  We can't go wrong, can we?  Then it's time to focus on adding onto our deck to be ready for it when it arrives.

Good luck making a decision.  Remember, the sooner you decide the sooner you'll be able to soak in your own tub in your own surroundings...that's what I'm looking at.

Thanks,
Fred

[wewannahottub]

SBG and Spatini--

Good luck both of you!!

We took our 200 mile trip to find the artesian dealer today after work--so we were pressed for time (and of course, my relief was 1/2 hour late!!)  

So, we went to State College PA where I am familiar with the route since my oldest son goes to PSU there--but we didn't know whee the dealer would be.  Well, sad to say, that near 6 hour trip was wasted--since we  couldn't find the dealer and didn't exactly plan well--we didn't bring the phone number--Saw some beautiful scenery though.  ANd I had been wanting my hubby to go on that trip anyway to pass the Horshoe Curve on Altoona--for all you train buffs!!

Well, probably won't do anything more til around tax day when our Arctic dealer has the dynasty spa and some arctics to test (in one shot).

Good luck to all and have a god weekend--gotta get to bed since I work 12 hour shifts this w/e!! 8-)

Happy spa shopping---

Chrisi

[ndabunka]

...I really thought when I narrowed down to 2 this would be easy !! Any thoughts?

Don't go anywhere NEAR the Caldera's then...or the Dimension One....or the...LOL, I think you'll get my point.

Actually, the DimOne's are pretty darn pricey so you can probably throw them out but you may want to try Marquis and/or Caldera as they should both be under that $10K mark and have similar features