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Bill,I agree that back in early 2004 when I started talking to them, they seemed like an awesome company. But I think in late 2004 they had something else going on. They released their 2005 model lineup in Sept, their Cygnus line got A LOT of jets put into them and they also seemed to decrease the size of the jets. Also, they started adding the air blower ports as jets (I don't know if you can or can't classify them as such), and it sounded like a slick marketing campaign to me.I saw and LOVED the 2004 Cygnus 7009 and got a price of $7000 which blew the competition away. I knew that this was my tub. The marketing VP sent me an e-mail about the great news for 2005 and told me about the jets and increasing their warranty to 5 years parts and Labor on their Cygnus and Elite lines. He even said he will personally handle my order since we had some dialog going for a while. I was excited that they improved upon a already great tub! In October 2004, I had to go and see the new design and quite frankly, IMO, the tub was underpowered - I can only describe it as it had too many jets now. I contacted them and told them of my disappointment and they acknowledged that a lot of dealers were complaining about the same thing BUT they are going to fix the problem and all the new tubs which would be what I would get will get the new plumbing. I asked when are they shipping the new tubs to the dealers so that they will be available to see (assuming that a dealer will order another demo tub) and they said it's up to the dealer. AND they increased the price to about $9KI was extremely disappointed in them for 2 reasons - 1) how does a manufacturer put out a product without fully testing to see if it meets specs and expectations (I know many do but this was/is MY money) and 2) I read the new warranty and it is below copied from their website:Warranty Labor CoverageDuring the respective warranty labor coverage of the particular spa, Emerald has made an agreement with its authorized dealer on a schedule of warranty reimbursement. Any additional expense beyond this agreement, including but not limited to extra freight expense, travel time exceeding a normal service area and additional labor required to complete the warranted repair etc. are not covered under this warranty. The Emerald Spa Corporation authorized dealer reserves the right to assess additional charges required to complete the service call that are beyond the schedule of warranty reimbursement.Obligation of PurchaserThe purchaser must establish by dated sales slip, invoice or installation receipt the date of original purchase. Transportation costs incurred to and from Emerald Spa Corporation for replacement spa, spa shell, power pack or any part related to the spa are the responsibility of the purchaser. All costs for the removal and re-installation of the spa, spa shell or power pack are the responsibility of the purchaser.To me this was worse than their original 3 year warranty - why should any customer pay for freight on a part for a warranty call.I agree that they WERE a great company but I think they are different today!!Vinny[/quote It's too bad Emerald doesn't have a better warranty because I think they make a heavy duty tub. To make a customer pay freight because of a defective shell just does not set well with me. They could easily do better.