gillman

RANTS? Hardly. Reality sucks for Master right now, because of the history THEY'VE created for themselves. I'm just pointing that out for consumers to see in this forum. My salespeople don't bash anyone in our showrooms, but they do know how to help customers to perceive reality. Nothing wrong with that. I don't sell HotSpring, but I'm sure glad my competitors do. Funny, the Masterbaiters in my neck of the woods (for years now) have been claiming $20-30 a month as well...How does Master do it!! On the other hand, telling people they'll get all their money back in 3 years, or telling them "reps from 10 different manufacturers will be present" - is a slightly different league of lying than under-estimating energy costs. After all, when's the last time you purchased a vehicle and managed to achieve the claimed MPG rating on the sticker? I know I never have, nor have I known anyone else who has. Attempt to minimize it all you want, but when it comes to lying and deception, Master is in a league all it's own - regardless of who's pushing the buttons; corporate, show teams, or the dealers. I would never associate myself with such a known liar. That would be the kiss of death. I rather enjoy competing head-to-head with Master, as we actually do so a few times a year at some legitimate fairs/shows. My salespeople are thrilled when a customer tells them they've spoken to Master. Those are the "lay-downs" for us. Posting in here has nothing to do with any local problems with Master, I just enjoy informing others about what might not be as obvious to them as it is to me. Heck, maybe a few savvy dealers will print off this thread and hand it out for customers to read in areas where they are struggling against Master. I already know my local Masterbaiter is on the ropes. He can't even use his own name to advertise anymore, and protesters have even come to his "events". I'd just like to see a few more of them (that are guilty of the same deceptiveness) end up with the same fate. After all, isn't everyone supposed to reap what they sew? Oh, I FULLY realized this fact almost 2 decades ago. Which is preciesly why companies like Master, which consistently EMBARRASS our industry need to reform themselves or go sell something else. Master doesn't just steal sales away from other dealers/manufacturers, they often turn people off of spas completely - especially people who WOULD HAVE bought a second, third, and fourth spas, in their lifetime, if Master hadn't poisoned them from the start. I think it's great to aggessively go after new business in creative ways, but when you go about it without ANY ethics, any successes will be short-term at best. I'm not bashing a peer. I'm revealing history and tendencies about known cheater. Any denegration here clearly began with Master. History has shown that they will continue to denegrate this industry unless outside forces get them to stop. Customers reading this forum - at least MY words - need only to be scared as hell to do business with MASTER. The sooner that all customers realize that there are MANY other brands of spas, that are sold by ethical manufacturers in a legitmate fashion, the better off this industry will be as a whole. I truly suggest you do as many other Master dealers are doing, and get off the ship now. It's obviously sinking. It's an average spa (for the money) at best, anyhow, and the name is only going to become more and more of a hinderance as time goes on.

They spent years lying to people and telling them they'd get all their money back in 3 years. They lied in their advertising by using the terms "Cash-back" and "Rebate" to refer to cashable vouchers - which they KNEW was illegal to do - and some dealers were even popped for those tactics. Don't think for 1 second that, just because the CASH-BACK SCAM is over, that Master is suddenly going to give up their lying ways and start playing fair. It's not in their nature to do so. Two things are for sure in this country right now: 1) If you want find examples of private industry that are failing miserably, just follow the labor unions. 2) If you want to find examples of lying, slimeball, and unethical sales tactics, just follow Master Spas.

It sounds like you better stop eating paint chips and put your helmet back on.

That "spa show" will have Master, Down East, and maybe some other junk that doesn't compete directly against Master/Down East - like Freeflow and/or Softub. To cover themselves - and their false advertising - they may have a few old used basket-case tubs from Hot Springs, Sundance, Coleman, Jacuzzi, etc... These will all be old garbage they've hauled away when deliverying new spas. That way, when customers ask, "Hey, where are the Hot Springs/Sundance/Coleman/Jacuzzi spas I heard about in your ad?", the salesman will point to the pile of rotted, garbage spas and say, "There they are, take your pick, $99 each." Now that Master can no longer get away with lying to people, by telling them they'll get their money back in 3 years, their only way to compete is to lie to get them "in the door" in the first place. In many areas, Master "dealers" have even stopped using the Master name in their radio ads, because more and more consumers are aware (as they should be by now) how deceptive a company they are. The name has quickly gone from a help to a hinderance, and they are losing dealers (especially ethical ones) at an alarming rate. The fact that Master spent years lying to people to sell spas, and is now lying to people just to get them to come and listen to their slimball saleskids, should really tell all consumers something. I do give Master credit for one idea, though. They clearly have realized that it is impossible for them to compete on a level playing field. Therefore, they waste NO time playing fair, and simply continually work on new ways to cheat. They must have full time people at the factory (called Materbaiters) working on newer and better ways to trick customers into buying all the time. Yep, they'd have to in order to come up with scam after scam after scam.

One more aspect to consider. If the cost of the disconnect is LESS than a day's pay at your job (and you decide to "save money" by not installing one), you'll have lost money the first time you have to take a day off work and sit home waiting for the spa tech to show up. Of course, if you're comfortable leaving your house unlocked all day, or don't mind giving your spa dealer a key to your house, then the above point is moot.

Thanks everyone for the help. As one of the posters suggested, I did some research on the master rebate - WOW!!! What an eye-opener, but I don't think that's what this High-pitch Eric look-a-like Master salesman was talking about. I called him back yesterday to ask more questions about the rebate - now that I was better informed. He said Master stopped using the Cash-back Rebate, because it was too much of a paperwork hassle for buyers, and that now it's an INSTANT REBATE. Although that struck me as odd, because the ad I heard said the rebate was "back by popular demand". I asked him about the current legal action against Consumer's Trust, and he said all of that was being made up by Master's competitors. Then he told me he used to be a Chippendales dancer. That was just toooooo weird, and since the bs was getting deeper than my boots could handle, I decided to trade my boots for Reeboks, and RUN AWAY!!!! Thanks again.

Recently, a local spa dealer selling Master baited shoppers with advertising that mentioned rebates of something like $9,000. I thought it sounded too good to be true, so I went to check it out. Anyhow, I met this salesman who looked just like High-pitch Eric, from the Howard Stern Show. I asked him to explain how this rebate worked, and he was very vague about the whole thing. All he would really say is that I could get an $18,000 TV spa for around $9,000. I asked him if any other buyers (before the sale) had actually paid $18,000 for the same spa, and he said lots of them had. I don't know if I believe him, as he didn't seem very credible to me. I guess all I really want to know is whether or not this rebate thing is legitimate or not? Any help or experience from other buyers is appreciated. Thanks!