outrag1

Thank you John. I appreciate the advice and that's kind of what my gut is telling me too. It's just hard to swallow that much of a price difference if a person thinks a new product will have minimal issues... I haven't pulled the trigger yet, but experience has taught me that price is not everything, especially with something this big and stationary. -Bob

NH dealer knows about the price difference and doesn't seem too concerned. He said something about some dealers low balling the price to get the sale.... I guess I'm asking at what price point does it make sense to go with the local dealer? If prices were equal, the closer dealer would make sense. If the closer dealer were $1000 more or $500 more, are there considerations with warranty service or other maintenance issues where the proximity would make the extra cost worth it???

Hello, I'm new to the forum. We have been looking for a hot tub for our 2nd home in NH and we live in MA most of the time. We are up to the 2nd home pretty much every other weekend and vacations, holidays, etc. We have researched many tubs such as Hot Springs, Sundance, and initially Master Spa (no longer looking there). Dealer location limits and models available to look at, let alone wet test makes this a difficult process. We are also restricted by size somewhat and felt that the Caldera Martinique would fit into our screened in porch. We wet tested it in MA and thought it was very nice. Looking into the Caldera line a little further I thought the Tahitian, being similar to the Martinique but a step up in series was the way to go. The problem is the following: MA dealer, 2 hours away from 2nd home will sell Tahitian new with package for $8000. I know this is a pretty decent deal. Future warranty work however will cost me $200 for transportation costs (4 hours round trip). This company has been in business about 30 years and many years ago sold Hot Springs as well, but Watkins wanted them to switch to Caldera several years back. NH dealer, 15 minutes from 2nd home will sell Tahitian new with package for $9500. This is close to the price I was getting just doing phone research from a few other dealers as well. This company has been in business for approx 8 years and they also sell D1 and Nordic. So obviously the $1500 difference with the MA dealer is a big deal. I could get warranty work 8 times over to equal this difference with the NH dealer. The problem I have is that I would much rather have someone closer to the home, that could address an emergency or come when I'm not there during the week for maintenance, etc. Both dealers seem to be reputable, registered with the BBB, etc. The NH dealer is in a touristy area with skiing, etc. and maybe can charge more, I don't know. Also wanted to state that both "packages" are similarly equipped. I think the NH place supplies some extra chemicals in full size bottles, but other than that, they both have spa frog, ozone (which is standard on the Utopia series), cover lifter, steps, etc. What would you do? Thanks - Bob