Great Deal, I Think, I Know!

[Duck Man]

Getting the Caldera Martinique 06' model. for $4495.00. Adding Monarch CD Ozone for $250.00. I stumbled on a Caldera buiseness that was closing his doors. So now we get an idea of the mark up on these things.

[Kreg]

Great deal...until you need service or something...

[Duck Man]

Already talked to Watkins the manufator about it. They said it's not a problem, they sub-contract people to work on tubs all the time for people that buy from out of area dealers. Even if I have to pay a few dollars for labor, the savings are worth it.

Plus the dealer that I am buying it has a HS store closer to my house that can help with tech support.

[Rolexor]

What was the regular retail price on this? As far as warranty goes, I would roll the dice if it is a big price difference anyway. I think you get a ton of people in here that are in the business and make these slanted comments. In your case you still have access to having work done under warranty anyway.

[Jim_The_Jim]

Already talked to Watkins the manufator about it. They said it's not a problem, they sub-contract people to work on tubs all the time for people that buy from out of area dealers. Even if I have to pay a few dollars for labor, the savings are worth it.

Plus the dealer that I am buying it has a HS store closer to my house that can help with tech support.

Here is some history for you. When the economy is bad the spa companies make cheap crap. Their dealers take the brunt of this and go out of business.

How could a dealer for one of the largest companies on earth be going out of business, whey they say they have gained in the market share, which by the way the market is really small right now because of the all the crap going on with the economy.

What is going to happen is you are going to pay a hell of a lot of money for a service technician to come out, because they do not cover his full price. They also do not cover the drive time.

[Duck Man]

What was the regular retail price on this? As far as warranty goes, I would roll the dice if it is a big price difference anyway. I think you get a ton of people in here that are in the business and make these slanted comments. In your case you still have access to having work done under warranty anyway.

Retail is about $7295.00

I was quoted at 3 other dealers for $6800.00 to $6995.00

Here is some history for you. When the economy is bad the spa companies make cheap crap. Their dealers take the brunt of this and go out of business.

How could a dealer for one of the largest companies on earth be going out of business, whey they say they have gained in the market share, which by the way the market is really small right now because of the all the crap going on with the economy.

What is going to happen is you are going to pay a hell of a lot of money for a service technician to come out, because they do not cover his full price. They also do not cover the drive time.

Would you like the phone number so you can call the dealer and ask him why he's closing one of his stores? Actually I think he is moving his store location to another city. Thats beside the point... I am getting it for over $2000.00 cheaper than the 3 other dealers that I talked to. And as for as the warranty goes, Caldera has one of the most reputal warranties and service record. If I need to pay a sub-contractor $150.00- $200.00 to save $2000.00 so be it...You do the math.

I should have know you were going to comment.

Jim you are like herpes....just can't get rid of em'.

Are you still selling Morgan spas?

[Spa User Guy]

Retail is about $7295.00

I was quoted at 3 other dealers for $6800.00 to $6995.00

Would you like the phone number so you can call the dealer and ask him why he's closing one of his stores? Actually I think he is moving his store location to another city. Thats beside the point... I am getting it for over $2000.00 cheaper than the 3 other dealers that I talked to. And as for as the warranty goes, Caldera has one of the most reputal warranties and service record. If I need to pay a sub-contractor $150.00- $200.00 to save $2000.00 so be it...You do the math.

I should have know you were going to comment.

Jim you are like herpes....just can't get rid of em'.

Are you still selling Morgan spas?

That is a great deal on that spa, I have a good friend who has had a Caldera for 6 trouble free years. A nice spa in my opinion. For the price you are paying you should be very happy. Congratulations and enjoy the hot water.

[Rolexor]

I say it all the time here, I bought a used spa for 1000.00 including delivery and haven't had a problem yet. It's not like the manufacturer in your case made some crappy spas for this dealer because he's going out of business or moving or whatever, you're getting the exact same product as Joe Blow is selling down the street. It is a commodity and only has as much value as consumers put in it.

Any companies who lower their quality will feel the pain in loss of market share, which in a tight economy is something they can little afford to do. Retailers would drop their lines faster than a hot potato if they were dealing with upset customers all the time due to shoddy workmanship.

Last I checked getting a new spa pack is pretty cheap anyway, compared to the savings you are looking at and that would be a worst case scenario. I am tired of hearing from the doomsdayers, if they feel that the product is that prone to failure they should find a different product to sell. The reality is that is their way of seeding doubt and fear in the community at large to keep them from exploring other options.

[spa Dr.]

.

What is going to happen is you are going to pay a hell of a lot of money for a service technician to come out, because they do not cover his full price. They also do not cover the drive time.

HOW DO YOU SERVICE A SPA IN , OH LETS SAY FLORIDA JIM?

IF YOU SAY THERE IS NO CHARGE JIM THEN YOUR'E A LIAR.

I FIGURE THA TYOU UPS THE PARTS AND EXPECT THE CUSTOMER TO FIX IT

BTW, Congrats on a great deal DUCK MAN!!!

[Jim_The_Jim]

HOW DO YOU SERVICE A SPA IN , OH LETS SAY FLORIDA JIM?

IF YOU SAY THERE IS NO CHARGE JIM THEN YOUR'E A LIAR.

I FIGURE THA TYOU UPS THE PARTS AND EXPECT THE CUSTOMER TO FIX IT

BTW, Congrats on a great deal DUCK MAN!!!

We call a service company and send them out to fix any problems.

We use a thing called money to pay them with. I don't know if you know what money is

because you must be hurting for money if you don't see much of it.

Let me make this clear to you.

1/ Our spas are made to a much higher standard.

2/ We built our entire line to be sold over the net, so we have very low overhead.

3/ We put the money into the spas and into serviceing them. Not into advertising and sales commissions.

By doing that we have been shipping spas for the last 9 years all over the country to smart shoppers.

The only time we have had trouble finding service is when the customer lives out in the desert. And we have still managed to find someone to fix it. It just took a while because there were no dealers, and no spa repair people within 80 miles of the customer. So, we found a retired plumber who lived near by to go out and fix a tiny leak.

It is not that hard, you just have to know what you are doing and you have to have spas that don't break down so that you don't have to spend a lot of money on warranty.

I hope that answers your questions.

[spa Dr.]

We call a service company and send them out to fix any problems.

We use a thing called money to pay them with. I don't know if you know what money is

because you must be hurting for money if you don't see much of it.

Let me make this clear to you.

1/ Our spas are made to a much higher standard.

2/ We built our entire line to be sold over the net, so we have very low overhead.

3/ We put the money into the spas and into serviceing them. Not into advertising and sales commissions.

By doing that we have been shipping spas for the last 9 years all over the country to smart shoppers.

The only time we have had trouble finding service is when the customer lives out in the desert. And we have still managed to find someone to fix it. It just took a while because there were no dealers, and no spa repair people within 80 miles of the customer. So, we found a retired plumber who lived near by to go out and fix a tiny leak.

It is not that hard, you just have to know what you are doing and you have to have spas that don't break down so that you don't have to spend a lot of money on warranty.

I hope that answers your questions.

no it does not answer my ??? do you pat 100% of the cost of repair?

[Duck Man]

We call a service company and send them out to fix any problems.

We use a thing called money to pay them with. I don't know if you know what money is

because you must be hurting for money if you don't see much of it.

Let me make this clear to you.

1/ Our spas are made to a much higher standard.

2/ We built our entire line to be sold over the net, so we have very low overhead.

3/ We put the money into the spas and into serviceing them. Not into advertising and sales commissions.

By doing that we have been shipping spas for the last 9 years all over the country to smart shoppers.

The only time we have had trouble finding service is when the customer lives out in the desert. And we have still managed to find someone to fix it. It just took a while because there were no dealers, and no spa repair people within 80 miles of the customer. So, we found a retired plumber who lived near by to go out and fix a tiny leak.

It is not that hard, you just have to know what you are doing and you have to have spas that don't break down so that you don't have to spend a lot of money on warranty.

I hope that answers your questions.

Jim, no one in here values your opinion....get lost!

[Trigger]

[ 'Jim_The_Jim' date='Aug 19 2006, 10:25 AM' post='11471'

We call a service company and send them out to fix any problems.

We use a thing called money to pay them with. I don't know if you know what money is

because you must be hurting for money if you don't see much of it.

So you pick up the phone and call a stranger who isn't busy doing something else. Let's hope he knows what he's doing. Let's hope and pray he's a decent person before you send a total stranger into someone's home to work on a very exspensive peice of equipment.

1/ Our spas are made to a much higher standard.

And what standard is that? You claim to "follow" ANSI, but that's not a "higher" standard. How is it higher, than say, Artic's? or Coleman, or Jaquiazi? Actually those spas have saftey certifications, ETL, UL listings. Your "higher" standard is ia figment of your imagination, rattleing around like a lonely marble in your delusion brainpan.

2/ We built our entire line to be sold over the net, so we have very low overhead.

And low volumes, and poor customer suppport, and no infrastructure to support, deal or develop products.

Internet business can be great, but the fact is your not Amazon. You're not Walmart, you're not Ford. Basically you on par with cousin charlie who's selling homemade sock puppets on E-bay. You take cut rate tubs and modify them in an old barn behind your house, with absolutey no regard to saftey. You Slap up a web site and declare yourself an engineer.

3/ We put the money into the spas and into serviceing them. Not into advertising and sales commissions.

No. No you don't. You don't have any service. You have to contract it out to who ever's name is in the phonebook and is available that day. To imply you reinvest revenue into Service is a lie. You may spend some of your ill gotten profits by sending a hack down to swap a pump, but that cannot be claimed as putting money into service. But when you run your own books, I guess you can say anthing.

No sales commisions? That's not true. The majority of people you call "reps" are 100% commissioned shills. You're own site has an employement section, where everyone who is needed to help you haul those broken down units across the country in thier pickups, or try to figure out why you didn't properly insulate a spa is 100% commissioned. On a percentage basis, given that the majority of folks you deal with are 100% commisioned, I would say pay much more in comissions than other companies. Much more.

By doing that we have been shipping spas for the last 9 years all over the country to smart shoppers.

Smart shoppers? I dunno, That's a very subjective opinion. I know a few that bought your products and they feel like fools. For 9 years? That's nothing in the industry. In fact, it's not long at all.

The only time we have had trouble finding service is when the customer lives out in the desert. And we have still managed to find someone to fix it. It just took a while because there were no dealers, and no spa repair people within 80 miles of the customer. So, we found a retired plumber who lived near by to go out and fix a tiny leak.

No. On your own site you mentioned "Actually we have had two occasions where finding a service tech was impossible, because there was none. I belive that statement is misleading, as you simpley acknowege there are times when you can't provide ANY service. I suspect it's much more than two, Actually as I type this there is a customer in Maryland who cannot find anyone to help them...but whatever-- you answer to yourself and can claim anything. However, I am finding that the vast majority of claims and statements you make contradict other statments you've made.

Also folks, let's consider response time as a factor. If it takes you 3 weeks to get a flunky out to a customer, Jim counts that as a successful service call. But without a service department, that's what it is.

The bottom line is not being able to provide service to a customer is not an option. But with Jim Arjuna and Haven spas it seems to be more of a guidline and a "would be nice to do" suggestion. Eventually Jim finds an out of work plumber to wander over to a customers home and hopefully patch up the problem.

Actually Jim brags about sending a retired plumber to fix a spa. I'd prefer to have a factory trained tech who understands the entire system and won't just patch a pipe, but also cast a trained eye on the entire system to ensure it's running correctly. As we've talked in other threads, filters, electrical, insualtion, sanitation, many many things are invovled in the SAFE and efficenet running of a tub. But if you've got some guy you never met and proabably doesn't know a hot tub from a dvd player, maybe Jim or sandy or the cat (or who ever is around that day) can talk him through it.

It is not that hard, you just have to know what you are doing and you have to have spas that don't break down so that you don't have to spend a lot of money on warranty.

I hope that answers your questions.

Actually, while it may not be "hard" it is involved and requires an investment. It requires a commitment. Service isn't a part time deal. Having properly trained technicians who understand the complete unit is a must. Trainign them. Paying them for thier hard time (not on a catch as catch can basis. Yuo don't get loyalty, you don't get commitment. you don't get guarentees. YOu don't get standards, you don't get consistency. You get a fly by night guy who might do an acceptable job. ). You want to ensure that the person who you are sending to thier house is trained, qualified, has the right parts, understands hot tubs on a very detailed level, and is not some ex-con, or alcholic, or what have you. We can also talk about service call centers and dispatch, but you and sandy watching an internet board, yea, I guess that could work ok most of the time.....hopefully.

Remember folks: Barnyard tubs = barnyard service. This is espically true when the owner is a donkey.

[Stevie]

And who is it that's caught in the middle when Jimmy calls the local vacuum repair depot and he can't figure out why the breaker keeps tripping? Does this guy have the parts on hand? NOPE! He goes out after he has looked after HIS OWN customers and stares at it like a deer in headlights for a while and then calls Jim to send some parts that he think may fix it.

2 weeks has gone by and the guy has a few minutes to run back to this house and tries to figure it out. Ooops...forgot that we may need this other part... DARN!

4 weeks later (he was on holidays for a bit) the vacuum repair guy shows up again with some duct tape and flat head screwdriver to fix this overpriced POS while the customer (we'll call him Mr.Idiot) stand there scratching his head and is pissed because he hasn't been in his POS for almost 2 months.

Get the picture? Yeah... well thought out system Puddin Head!

Steve

[Duck Man]

And who is it that's caught in the middle when Jimmy calls the local vacuum repair depot and he can't figure out why the breaker keeps tripping? Does this guy have the parts on hand? NOPE! He goes out after he has looked after HIS OWN customers and stares at it like a deer in headlights for a while and then calls Jim to send some parts that he think may fix it.

2 weeks has gone by and the guy has a few minutes to run back to this house and tries to figure it out. Ooops...forgot that we may need this other part... DARN!

4 weeks later (he was on holidays for a bit) the vacuum repair guy shows up again with some duct tape and flat head screwdriver to fix this overpriced POS while the customer (we'll call him Mr.Idiot) stand there scratching his head and is pissed because he hasn't been in his POS for almost 2 months.

Get the picture? Yeah... well thought out system Puddin Head!

Steve

Hey dumb a$$,

Already talked to Caldera and there is a service tech in the area and the manufacturer will warranty any service and parts. Yeah puddin head, I thought it through.

Some people can't take it when others get a deal.

What kind of tub do you have loser?

[Stevie]

Hey dumb a$$,

Already talked to Caldera and there is a service tech in the area and the manufacturer will warranty any service and parts. Yeah puddin head, I thought it through.

Some people can't take it when others get a deal.

What kind of tub do you have loser?

Ummmm, that post wasn't directed at you ducky....Please read it again and notice the name JIMMY. I am extremely happy for you and love to see people excited about their purchase.

I have a Hydropool but it is being replaced...

Oh, and James Arjuna is AKA Puddin Head.

Please take your time with your well thought out, sincerely worded apology (especially after that very abusive personal message you just sent me!!).

Steve