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Stu,I own a spa dealership so I understand where you are coming from. The dealer covers it under the assumption that my guys didnt teach the customer good enough how to take care of the spa. You know what, this kind of service to reasonable customers is EXCELLENT at getting you referals. I do know where you are coming from, it sounds like maybe you should consider a increase in your spa pricing.
Im not asking you to take my advice, I just dont really like the idea of being on a consumer board complaining about consumers is all. Your right this industry needs more respect to continue on, but you are venting to friends (which is fine) for the whole consumer world to see. Service is and always has been a profitable part of my business, so maybe you could take some advice on that.
I think consumers really need to hear some of the challenges we face...I gotta tell you that not everyone makes a profit on their service dept....I do, and I hope everyone (consumers and industry people) understand the necessity of that. As far as your advice...I didn't say I wasn't welcoming it I said I was not really posting for that. Everyone's area is different; I would love to PM you and ask some questions about your area and how you do your service department. [glow]The day I can't learn something is the day I need a new job!!![/glow]My Father was a blacksmith and farrier...He often told me that we need to constantly train people how to handle their horses in order to create good customers. I was surprised at the something as minor as holding a horse made all the differance to us when we where down there shoeing.The internet hurts our business so often I think it's good that we can use it for good to train consumers on how to handle their horses on a broad scale and help ourselves in the long run.
Im a firm believer in this, I visit this site daily for this reason alone. I only wish I knew what I know now ten years ago, when I was so raw. I sit back and look at how I handle certain things back then and can only laugh now. And dont get me wrong those that successfully service customers daily should be well rewarded in the long run and deservedly so.I agree that the internet hurts our business; this site alone has cost my business three spa deals in the past six months from some of the mud slinging that goes on. Sad thing is two of the three spa deals decided to NOT buy at all. All three being good people that got some untruthful advice via the internet. And only one of those good people are soaking in hot water daily now. We need to be very careful about whats said and done on the internet with our industry and be sure we understand sarcasm and inside jokes are hard to see from the consumer end.
I never even asked about trip fees when I purchased my hot tub. I assumed any warranty repairs would be completely free of charge, as they should be. The small reimbursement from the manufacturer along with the healthy profit my dealer made from my sale should cover incidentals.If my pump motor dies because it has a bad winding, I would expect to not be out a dime for the replacement. On the other hand, if it burns up because it was full of leaves and algae, then that's MY fault and I would expect to be responsible for the repair. Fortunately, I'm intelligent enough to know the difference.If you purchase a new car, the manufacturer and dealer absorb 100% of the parts and labor cost of a warranty repair. Most brands will also pay for towing back to the dealer and some will provide a loaner. A few others will even reimburse you for meals and lodging if the breakdown occurs away from "home". My Infiniti provides all these benefits and it's by no means the most prestigious brand out there. Also, warranties have increased on automobiles over the years. It used to be 12 months or 12,000 miles. Then the standard became 36 months or 36,000 miles. Most brands offer significantly longer standard warranties than that these days such as Hyundai's 10 year or 100,000 mile powertrain warranty.Laptops (even "cheap" ones under $500) will typically pay for shipping costs to and from a service center. I realize far more laptops and cars are sold than hot tubs, but there's a lot more profit in hot tubs than in consumer electronics or cars. When you scale production and overhead costs, there's no excuse to have to pay for a warranty repair for a hot tub.
I never even asked about trip fees when I purchased my hot tub.