Does Bullfrog ever respond to your phone calls or messages left on their web based message page?

[Davekro]

I am very happy with my Bullfrog hot tub. I am very disappointed in the complete lack of customer service from Bullfrog corporate to even-return-an-inquiry to me, ever.


I am very curious if you have gotten responses from Bullfrog when you have either left a voicemail message or when you have sent a message via Bullfrog's website messaging page. Personally, I have never been gotten back to via either method, period. Before I purchased my 2023 Bullfrog A6L Select 1/6/24 (date I gave the dealer full cash payment), I sent several questions directly to Bullfrog (both phone and web msg.) in research mode trying to confirm my leaning toward purchasing a Bullfrog brand tub. Crickets. After my purchase, I sent a few more inquiries directly to Bullfrog, even giving my serial number, date of purchase, and dealer. Still zero response to either method.


Unfortunately for me, the brand-new Bullfrog dealer I purchased from, is just as bad. I read all the posts saying that dealership choice was as important as hot tub brand. I could see that a known good dealer was important, maybe not 'just as important' as the brand, but significant. I balanced trusting a new dealer who gave me a price thousands less than the very large other dealer in my area. The large dealer, with 8 stores, got many bad reviews on various sites. They had experience, but not a record of follow through with their customers. After getting the great price quote from the new dealer, I wanted to see if the internet rep for the large would match the price. They just strung me along disingenuously, even lying to me. So the big experienced Bullfrog dealer had a poor reputation. Being impressed with the Quality of what I had read on Bullfrog, there was no 'trusted' Bullfrog dealer options, unless I was willing to look into dealers maybe 6+ hours away, which I did not.

[CanadianSpaTech]

Manufacturers want you to deal directly with the dealer that sold you the spa and is in part why a reputable dealer is "Just as important". If you are unhappy with the customer service with your dealer... show up at the store around 1 pm on a Sat. when the sales floor is at it's busiest and let them know how disappointed you are in a mildly loud voice. I am 100% sure they will kiss your ass.. pronto...lol

[Davekro]

@CanadianSpaTech

Aside from the lengthy explanation following, I hope you can make it down to the question at 2a) at the end of the post. Big Thanks in advance.

Thank you for your response. I was planning to go to the store soon and to 1) Get a $600 reimbursement check they owe me, 2) Bring in the cover they gave me with my 2023 Bullfrog A6L Select trim hot tub that does not fit at the corners, and 3) Swap out a bad JetPak.  I was going to go in mid-week, but your idea of going on a Saturday is a very good idea. I may have to hang around in sight of the store and wait for some potential customers to walk in, but after months of no response to things they promised, it is a small thing if I need to wait around some for customers to be there.

1a) The salesman had agreed to my request to get a newly released Covermate Zero model cover lifter. They never ordered it. When I called on 4/4/24, 2 months after the spa was delivered, the salesman said he was not able to order it through the Leisure Time Inc. website. I had sent him the link several times asking him to order it. I did not believe him, so while on the phone, I pulled up the site, added to a cart, hit next, then selected ‘Buy’ to verify it was able to be purchased. To my surprise, the next page said “Your Order has been placed”! I assumed it would ask for my payment info and I could stop there. The order went through. He said, don’t cancel it, we’ll just reimburse you for it. That sounded great to me, because I now new for a fact that the lifter was ordered -and- being shipped directly to me, great!

1b) When I had paid $17,000 cash in full for the brand new (dry) Bullfrog tub on Saturday, Jan 6^th. He said they could deliver the spa in the following week and they would contact me to coordinate a time. I did not hear from them the following week and got no replies to voice mails and emails just checking on the status. I continued to be ghosted the second week as well, so on Friday Jan. 19^th of the second week with not hearing from my dealer, I drove 30 minutes to the dealer. It was closed with a sign saying “Closed for Sight Inspection”. Now I was stressing, thinking this new store had closed down and maybe I was scammed. I drove another 40 minutes further away to their other store, where I knew the owner worked out of. I spoke to him for a while, he apologized for the salesman’s lack of response and said he never should have promised delivery the second week of January. The owner scheduled the delivery for 1 ½ weeks later on Jan 30th. I got a call the morning of the 30^th saying their airbag broke and they needed to reschedule three days later on Feb. 2^nd. The tub was delivered Feb. 2^nd.

After the dealer’s initial 2 week non communication, then finding the store closed on Jan 19^th, when the tub was delivered on February 2^nd by my salesman and two others, I asked him if he would be willing to throw in a $200 Gecko in.Touch 2 Internet Module Kit to make up for his misinformation about the quick delivery as well as ignoring all my contact attempts in the two weeks after I gave him my $17,000 in actual cash (the owner’s request). He said, no problem. He never ordered the $200 internet kit, just like he never ordered the Zero Cover Lifter. I was waiting for the dealer to send me a $600 check before I ordered the $200 Internet Kit. No reimbursement check to date, obviously.

2) Now this issue with the cover not fitting Bullfrog’s redesigned 2023 A Series tubs with 4” radius corners instead of prior year's 8” radiused corners. I did not think to ask about the corners on the cover not fitting the 2023 redesigned corners until the cover lifter arrived. This Zero model cover lift screws into the sides of the cover. I thought, before putting screws through this cover, I had better be sure this is not the wrong cover. I don’t want to put holes in it, then try to exchange it for a correctly fitting cover.

The ill-fitting cover, I have been using for three months, now has some damage. Due to not having a cover lifter to hold it in place when the tub is being used, the cover has slipped and torn an 8” section of the seam at the cover’s center fold of the grey vinyl underside. I repaired it well with a 13” strip of 4” wide Flex Tape. Opening the zipper, I was able to apply a 4”x 13” strip from behind the vinyl seam and on the outside (underside of the cover). It does not look bad at all, other than there being the 13”x4” white vinyl over the gray undercover. I feel the repair will outlast the cover itself. Flex Tape, MAX, 4 in x 25 ft, White, Original Thick Flexible Rubberized Waterproof Tape - Seal and Patch Leaks, Works Underwater, Indoor Outdoor Projects - Home RV Roof Plumbing and Pool Repairs

2a) Am I wrong to believe the dealer bears some if not all responsibility for this cover incurring damage due to his negligence in not providing the cover lifter that was to be included with the purchase, and he should accept it in equal exchange for the correct cover he should have given me with the tub at installation? Or should I give him some compensation to accept the repaired cover in exchange for the correct new properly fitting cover? Maybe let him off the hook for the $200 Internet Kit he promised? I do still feel his extremely unacceptable behavior in never replying to any calls or information requests, should be compensated for in some way. Weeks ago, I sent him pictures of the ill-fitting cover asking if he gave me the wrong cover…. Crickets!!!

Here is the thread I posted about the cover not fitting the shell correctly at the corners (with pictures).

Do the corners on your 2023 A Series Bullfrog COVER have 8” radius, so then are 2” SHORT!

 

 

[CanadianSpaTech]

First bypass the salesman and deal directly with the store owner. He will likely have the final decision anyway. If you are still unsatisfied go to the MFG. Keep on them until they respond. 

About Salesmen... IMO the first question to a sales person when you are shopping is "Are you on Commission or are you an employee of the company". Know what you are dealing with. A commission salesmen's job is to extract as much money out of you as they can and still get you to sign on the bottom line. What happens after that is not really a concern for them. Larger stores will have Customer Service or a Service Dept. to address anything after the sale. Once you sign their job is done and they get payed. For a lot of stores the day you meet the sales person and they are your best friend in the world is likely the last day you will deal with them unless you go to the store and corner them. If a sales person makes a claim or some sort of offer have them put it in writing. They are (not all) talkers and talk is cheap.

Knowing if they are commissioned will also help you in negotiation. They have a bottom number that is mandated by ownership and your job is to get to that number and then decide if that is within your original budget. I advise not to buy on the first visit. Hammer them as hard as you can on price and accessories... then walk away. Leave your contact number but tell them it's still above what you want to pay and have to think about it... and wait. They hate this. They have spent their time and get nothing all the while thinking they got you at a good number and they are getting a payday. A good sales person will contact you in a day or 2 to try and salvage the sale. This is when you can control the negotiation (by phone). You can tell them the price is still to high and see if they are really at their bottom number. For the salesmen at this point and they think they are going to lose the sale some is better then nothing. Some will break and some won't and some can't. " I have a budget and this is my number". It's a negotiation and it's your money. Play hardball. If you can get them down 10% from your first visit quote that's $1700. In your case you are past all that but you still have cards to play if you feel you are unsatisfied or feel they are being unreasonable. Always try to deal with the store first but if you still feel upset then social media is an option and although you might not get satisfaction to your needs you can at least prevent the next guy from going through what you went through. JMO

If you have to rectify the cover damage try and get just a cover skin (the vinyl) and not an entire cover. Would be cheaper.

 

 

[Davekro]

@CanadianSpaTech

 

Good idea to just forget about my salesman, and just go directly to the store's owner and deal with him directly, because HE has to authorize paying me reimbursement for the cover lifter and the promised Internet Kit. Thanks for the idea that a new 'cover' for the hot tub cover assembly could be an option if they have an issue with my return. I am tempted to carefully mask and spray the white Flex Tape to match the color of the underside vinyl, dry it out well, wrap it in the plastic (Ha, I may even still have the original plastic it came in ;o) and turn it in that way and not mention the repair. I honestly believe the repair will last as long as the cover and would be fine keeping that repaired outer covering, but of course it would not fit the correct cover for my spa.

Social Media: Is it better to post negative reviews, THEN go to them? Would that be akin to your suggestion of sharing my dissatisfaction with them when physical customers are present? That actually would be easier, because there is a good chance there will be no one in their store when I go there to get this all taken care of. I have not played the social media card yet. I figured I'd wait until I either get things ironed out with the dealer or hit a wall and I am displeased with the final outcome.

Good information sir. I feel better going in to work this all out with the info you have shared. Thank you.

My 'salesman' is the stepson of the owner and his stepdad hired him to open a new store in Tracy. The owner's other two stores are in Oakdale, ≈ 35 mins further away from me. The first store is Fireplaces. This is the store the owner works out of and has been around a long time. He is a fireplace guy that added hot tubs just early in 2023 when he opened a second store in the same town of Oakdale with fireplaces & hot tubs (not Bullfrog) in early 2023.

I'm not sure if he approached Bullfrog or visa versa, but in October 2023, he opened a third store for Bullfrog spas & fireplaces in Tracy. That is where I bought my hot tub from. In early January of this year, he had not yet sold any hot tubs. I guess that is why he was highly motivated to give me a very low price on a floor model A6L Select. The Select is the highest price trim level. I would not have gone for that trim level except for the fact that he had this tub on the floor, he could deliver it in a week (ha, ha), it had never been wet tested (except at the factory) and was built just 2.5 months prior. So the price was amazing and well below what the larger Bay Area Bullfrog dealer would sell one of their floor models for. I felt that between (my perception of) the brand quality and the price savings, I was willing to take a risk on a brand-new dealer, knowing their service people, being fireplace installers, had next to no hot tub experience. They had been to the Bullfrog factory for training, but that is a small thing. Turns out that they ended up closing the Tracy Bullfrog store last month and moved the Bullfrog tubs from Tracy to their Oakdale hot tub/ fireplace store. Any service I was to get was always coming from their Oakdale location(s) anyway, so no change there.

[CanadianSpaTech]

12 hours ago, Davekro said:

Is it better to post negative reviews, THEN go to them?

I'm talking to ownership first and make sure they are actually aware of your displeasure.

Contact Bullfrog and also make them aware. 

You were given advice to vette the dealer as much and the brand and price before you bought. You took a gamble and selected price and product but lost on the dealer. New to the business and without a track record. I might have made the same choice. That's life.  I'm sure once you get past this you will have years of enjoyment. 

[Davekro]

On 5/7/2024 at 5:35 AM, CanadianSpaTech said:

I'm talking to ownership first and make sure they are actually aware of your displeasure.

Contact Bullfrog and also make them aware. 

You were given advice to vette the dealer as much and the brand and price before you bought. You took a gamble and selected price and product but lost on the dealer. New to the business and without a track record. I might have made the same choice. That's life.  I'm sure once you get past this you will have years of enjoyment. 

Yes, I rolled the dice and got snake eyes for the dealer portion. I do feel great about the actual hot tub and the price I got it for. So I fully agree that once these bumps are in the rearview mirror, I will have many years of enjoyment from this hot tub. I am not even much concerned about this dealer's lack of service experience. I am a DIY person well versed in troubleshooting, that being enhanced tremendously by helpful folks like yourself on the internet willing to help folks out with your experience. I always figured I would troubleshoot any problems, describe the conditions/issues to the dealer as well as the probable solution, then his call if he wanted to come out or just send me parts that I could install. Short of that, I could report dealer issues to Bullfrog directly. We'll see how that plays out. I'm not really sure I would get much benefit from the $200 internet Kit, so I may forego that request as a show of goodwill towards my future relationship with this dealer.

Kudos to you and all the generous, experienced souls who follow the hot tub and pool forums to help people out. So many very helpful people on this and other forums. I too enjoy responding to new hot tub owners when they ask many of same questions that I did a few months ago. IMHO, paying it forward makes for a rewarding journey. You, and the many helpful souls like yourself, ROCK!

Thank you, Dave