Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: Mbains on September 30, 2015, 12:10:38 am
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There are only 3 dealers in my town. Jacuzzi is the only one that will let you wet test. Sundance and Hot Spring say No, insurance liabilities. Would you buy one you couldn't wet test?
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I wouldn't. You're investing a lot of money and to me at least, I wouldn't be giving out that money if I wasn't sure what I was getting. And the only real way to know what you're getting is to get in the tub and feel the jets, the height of the different seats, if it has a lounger are you going to float out of it, etc., etc.
Having said all that, I think that most of the dealers on this site will tell you that most of their customers don't wet test before they buy. Really don't understand that, but I've heard different dealers on the site say that is their experience.
To me, a good analogy might be buying a car. Would you buy one without the chance to go for a test drive? Again, I wouldn't. And the reason I wouldn't is that it is a lot of money for a purchase I would plan on having for some time. I want to know everything I can about that purchase. Same thing with a hot tub.
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I agree with QuickBeam. Before we decided on our tub, we were fairly sure about which hot tub we wanted. I'd studied the brochure and decided on the model that looked the best. We sat in that model dry and it felt really cramped, so we wet-tested the next model up (extra $2000) and discovered that the massage seats weren't nearly as good as they were described in the brochure. I am really glad that we didn't buy the tub and then discover those issues when it was sitting in our backyard.
We ruled out several tubs because there was no one in our area willing to fill them for a wet-test, and we ended up buying our Jacuzzi at the location that had the model we wanted to wet-test, even though there was a closer location (they are all part of the same company here, so they probably didn't care where I bought it.)
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Buy at a dealer out of town. Vote with your dollars. Simple.
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Like I said in your other thread, no way would I invest that kind of money without knowing if you would love it or not. My experience is similar to others who wet tested first. I had my mind set on a particular tub. I first sat in it dry and found it way to cramped for me and my wife. So then I found one bigger that fit me fine dry. But once wet tested, I found I wasn't really that happy with the jets. I ended up wet testing several until I found the one that both my wife and I truly loved. When making this kind of purchase, don't settle. I wouldn't even settle on a tub I merely liked. I would have to love it. The only way to know that is by wet testing.
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I would say the reason has nothing to do with insurance. I would bet the sole reason is that virtually nobody wet tests for various reasons. For some they don't feel comfortable doing it and others are content sitting in the tub empty. This whole year I've had 3 people wet test spas and one of them came from someone on this forum. I agree with you that it's best to wet test and I always offer but you should see the looks I get when I offer it
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I would say the reason has nothing to do with insurance. I would bet the sole reason is that virtually nobody wet tests for various reasons. For some they don't feel comfortable doing it and others are content sitting in the tub empty. This whole year I've had 3 people wet test spas and one of them came from someone on this forum. I agree with you that it's best to wet test and I always offer but you should see the looks I get when I offer it
I had a tough time convincing my wife to wet test with me. I had to tell her we were not buying a tub unless she did so...that got things moving.
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Lol, I had to do the same thing with my wife. Her attitude was "get whatever you like". But I kept drilling in her head that I could love a certain tub that would not fit her, and she might not enjoy the jets as much as I. I kept telling her, there was a tub out there we both would love and the only way to know is to wet test. Now that we enjoy our tub daily, she couldn't imagine going with another tub. My dealer also was impressed with the fact I wanted to wet test, and said he had done all of three wet tests in the last few years. That really blows my mind, it's not like you can return it if you don't like it.
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Lol, I had to do the same thing with my wife. Her attitude was "get whatever you like". But I kept drilling in her head that I could love a certain tub that would not fit her, and she might not enjoy the jets as much as I. I kept telling her, there was a tub out there we both would love and the only way to know is to wet test. Now that we enjoy our tub daily, she couldn't imagine going with another tub. My dealer also was impressed with the fact I wanted to wet test, and said he had done all of three wet tests in the last few years. That really blows my mind, it's not like you can return it if you don't like it.
I also laughed when certain dealers told me they wouldn't fill a tub for us to test as once they did, the tub had to be sold as used.
Really?
They just glazed over when I asked them how they managed to sell new tubs that were filled and run at the factory before being delivered to their showroom.
::)
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There are only 3 dealers in my town. Jacuzzi is the only one that will let you wet test. Sundance and Hot Spring say No, insurance liabilities. Would you buy one you couldn't wet test?
IMO, just having been around here 10 years and visiting many dealers, if they say no because of insurance liabilities, I suspect they don't have the right insurance, or that is an outright lie they have been told to give. Even where I work you get the "here is the answer you give" line.
Sure you can buy and be happy without a wet test, but it sure helps ensure you pick the right model. If I was in your shoes, I would probably let the other two know I was going to wet test and it will play a big part in my decision. Now if I had been in another persons Hot Springs Vanguard and knew I liked it I could get away without wet testing, but I would guess a large number of buyers are buing their first tub. This should be more important than it is to some dealers, but hey its an expense, if the competitors don't need to do it to make money they may not have to either.
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Let's combine this thread with the "sex in a hot tub" thread and see what happens! ;D
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Thank you everyone. I am going to insist on wet test
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Thank you everyone. I am going to insist on wet test
Just be straight, no wet test = no need to discuss anything further.
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Thank you everyone. I am going to insist on wet test
I think this is smart. Based on user feedback on here, it seems that a lot of people who do wet-test before buying find that the tub they thought was their "dream tub" turns out not to be based on some deficiency that was only uncovered by sitting in it with water in and jets on.
If I hadn't started reading this forum a few months before we purchased, I would not have known the importance of a wet-test and would likely have a very mediocre new LaZBoy Spa right about now!
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Lol, we have one of those in my area. That was one of my first stops. The guy lost me at 2 year warranty. Plus, they weren't all that cheaper either.
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Lol, I had to do the same thing with my wife. Her attitude was "get whatever you like". But I kept drilling in her head that I could love a certain tub that would not fit her, and she might not enjoy the jets as much as I. I kept telling her, there was a tub out there we both would love and the only way to know is to wet test. Now that we enjoy our tub daily, she couldn't imagine going with another tub. My dealer also was impressed with the fact I wanted to wet test, and said he had done all of three wet tests in the last few years. That really blows my mind, it's not like you can return it if you don't like it.
I also laughed when certain dealers told me they wouldn't fill a tub for us to test as once they did, the tub had to be sold as used.
Really?
They just glazed over when I asked them how they managed to sell new tubs that were filled and run at the factory before being delivered to their showroom.
::)
this blows my mind...gimme 3 days and I'll have ANY tub I have in-stock hot and ready to test ;D
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Lol, I had to do the same thing with my wife. Her attitude was "get whatever you like". But I kept drilling in her head that I could love a certain tub that would not fit her, and she might not enjoy the jets as much as I. I kept telling her, there was a tub out there we both would love and the only way to know is to wet test. Now that we enjoy our tub daily, she couldn't imagine going with another tub. My dealer also was impressed with the fact I wanted to wet test, and said he had done all of three wet tests in the last few years. That really blows my mind, it's not like you can return it if you don't like it.
I also laughed when certain dealers told me they wouldn't fill a tub for us to test as once they did, the tub had to be sold as used.
Really?
They just glazed over when I asked them how they managed to sell new tubs that were filled and run at the factory before being delivered to their showroom.
::)
this blows my mind...gimme 3 days and I'll have ANY tub I have in-stock hot and ready to test ;D
Same thing no matter what the brand. I thought it weird, but seems to be the norm.
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I can't stress enough how important buying from a dealer is, but all dealers are not the same. One of me local dealers(only 6 miles from my house) had 10-15 tubs on the sales floor. Only two were filled. And he wasn't going to fill any other ones either. But one of the two that was filled was on my short list. I then asked about how much of a discount I would get if I bought the floor model. He said he didn't want to sell it because he would have to discount it by it being a filled floor model and then would have to turn around and purchase a new one to replace it.
Now the dealer I bought from(20 miles form my house) had three tubs filled. But he was willing to fill any tub I wanted to try. At the time they were running a memorial day sales promotion of 1000.00 off any 880 series. I was out of town and couldn't get back to wet test the two I narrowed it down to before the promotion ended.
It was also their policy to collect a deposit(50% I think, could have been less) before placing an order. So I asked my dealer if we could work something out and he told me as long as he had my word I would buy one of the two, he would order both so that I could get in on the promotion. And this was without me paying a cent up front since I was away at the time. Now that's going the extra mile.
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Based on most user feedback on here, I think you can count on at least 50% chance you are NOT going to love your tub if you don't wet-test it before installing it.
How in Hades name do you come up with this "statistic"??
Keep in mind, the VAST number of people buying spas never see this or any other forum.
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Based on most user feedback on here, I think you can count on at least 50% chance you are NOT going to love your tub if you don't wet-test it before installing it.
How in Hades name do you come up with this "statistic"??
Keep in mind, the VAST number of people buying spas never see this or any other forum.
37.4% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
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Haha... let me clarify what I meant by that:
Even just in the current list of threads, you can read countless posts from users who are doing the circuit... Trying out tubs that were front-runners "on paper", which then fall off the short-list due to some deficiency uncovered in the wet-test that was not obvious by looking at the corporate website/brochure/or by just sitting in the tub dry.
My point was that if a person were to BUY the tub based on the "on paper" info alone, their first "wet-test" of that tub would be when it was installed and running in their own yard. If that is when said deficiency is discovered (which would otherwise have made itself apparent in the showroom during a wet-test) then they are stuck with a tub that is less than satisfactory.
Now, whether most people would just "be happy with it" because they hadn't actually tried out any OTHER tubs by which to have a comparison, is a whole other matter.
A couple of our friends bought a house which came with a 2-yr old Sundance Cameo 880. They love it. We visited and went in their hot tub (my "wet-test" of that tub, one which would have been on my shortlist) and really did not like it for a variety of reasons. So we crossed it off of our list. I would have considered the Optima, but our local dealer would not fill one for us to wet-test so I had to cross it off the list too.
Anyhow, my point was simply that lots of people on here have stories of wet-testing their "dream tub" and finding it to be a lunch-bag let-down, only to go on to find their dream tub somewhere else. Had they bought the dream tub based on paper/dry test alone, they wouldn't have found the tub that was much better when sitting in it with water.
(Wow, this turned out much longer than I anticipated. I'll just shut up now! LOL! :)
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Lol, we have one of those in my area. That was one of my first stops. The guy lost me at 2 year warranty. Plus, they weren't all that cheaper either.
THIS! :) By the time we got into the only LaZBoy model we would have considered due to the cramped feeling of the other model(s), we were within $1000-2000 of a MUCH better Jacuzzi tub (not to mention other top brands.) It just didn't make sense. Before I tried it, I thought I was going to LOVE the "ReclinaSeats with 17 different massage setting options", individually selected right at the seat, but alas I floated out of them and quite frankly I really couldn't tell the difference between the massage settings because there was so little jet action that they all felt the same.
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Based on most user feedback on here, I think you can count on at least 50% chance you are NOT going to love your tub if you don't wet-test it before installing it.
How in Hades name do you come up with this "statistic"??
Keep in mind, the VAST number of people buying spas never see this or any other forum.
Well I look at it this way. If the first tub I wet tested would have been the tub I bought(hotspring envoy), I would have been very happy had I not wet tested anything else. I'm mean come on, who wouldn't be happy with an envoy lol. But after wet testing several others, the envoy got bumped down. So if everything who bought a hot tub actually wet tested the tub they bought along with a few others, I'm sure that number would be much higher than 50%. Where do I get that logic? Well if you search this forum alone, you will find out of all the people who wet tested different tubs, the ones who bought the first tub they wet tested would be much smaller than the number of people who didn't.
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I just recently purchased a D 1 Lotus after looking and researching for 3 months. After doing a wet test on several tubs. The First tub I wet tested was the Caldera Tahitian the tub was nice with lots of power but I felt like I was sitting high and didn't get any jets to hit my problematic neck. I am not a tall person only 5'6" . The next spa I wet tested was a D 1 Californian that the dealer haWd to wire and fill for me to wet test. This tub with the adjustable headrest and neck jets were absolutely great for my neck, but I didn't fit well and floated out of the lounger. From there I went back to the Caldera dealer and asked if the would fill the deeper Niagara with the Atlas neck jet set up, they said no that I already tried the Tahitian and should know from that if I liked the tub. I told them I didn't like that one that's why I wanted to try the Niagara, so they lost the sale. I then went and wet tested the Bullfrog A 8 and tested both neck jet packs that they had to offer and didn't get the relief to my neck I was looking for. As well as I didn't find the seats very comfortable to sit in. I was very disappointed because I really wanted to go with the Bullfrog, I felt it would be the best tub for longevity. So I went back to the D1 dealer and they then moved and filled another tub for me to wet test, this was the Lotus. For me hands down the best overall message and neck relief that I've been looking for in a nice deep tub, but not to deep for my 5'6" self and 5' wife. My recommendation is to wet test first! You are spending a lot of money and the whole point is to be comfortable and get what you are looking for in a spa. I won't even get into my story with the shady over priced Jacuzzi dealer on Long Island.... Stay away
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Don't buy one without a WET TEST!!!! Don't take any other person word that a hot tub will fit you or is the right one for you! the dealers that wont wet test a hot tub are lazy and just wanting to make a quick buck without putting a lot of effort into the sale! What happens if the hot tub don't fit you? Is that dealer going to give you a FULL refund? Don't thing so and you are stuck with a hot tub that you spent your hard earned cash on and don't like so you wont use it as much. We went thru 2 dealers that would not wet test, I thanked them for there time and have not been back! The first dealer said no problem for a wet test after 6 months of looking and a lot of questions We asked for a wet test the salesman got back with me and said that they don't but have some filled up just so you can stick you hand in to feel the water :o I thanked him and moved on to a dealer that had no problem wet testing 2 hrs away and it was cheaper, Guess which dealer got my business? A month later I got a email from the first dealer that had the tub filled up with water ready for a wet test I thanked him for his time and told him we bought a hot tub from another dealer that had no problem wet testing the hot tub we wanted, Been happy since then.
What type of customer service will you get from a dealer that wont put in the time and effort for a wet test????
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Anyhow, my point was simply that lots of people on here...
That's my point. Far less than 1% of people that buy spas are "on here".
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Anyhow, my point was simply that lots of people on here...
That's my point. Far less than 1% of people that buy spas are "on here".
Truth for any forum. Even the really big forums with 300K members or more only represent a tiny portion of the buyers...and usually most of those are on the forum trying to fix a problem.
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[The metaphor is going to bounce back and forth on this one.]
I don't think it's required to have a wet test to love your spa, or that people who don't wet test can't love their spa. However, I think wet testing greatly reduces the likelihood of being disappointed, and greatly increases the chances of finding one you'll like even more. It's kind of like marriage and sex. Stick with me here...
Not so much in our culture, but lots of marriages have been or still are of the arranged variety, where the parents choose and negotiate who marries whom. I wouldn't personally want that kind, and some people do end up miserable, but others have levels of marital satisfaction that range from "This isn't so bad," to "I got lucky, I like him/her," to mutual love and passion that's equal to any you'll find in marriages where people chose each other. In spa terms, it's a single jet in your back in the community spa. If that's all you've ever known and you love hot water, that spa is frickin' awesome.
Other marriages follow from some kind of mutual courtship where the bride and groom choose each other. In rare cases, some people don't believe in pre-marital wet tests, so they get engaged based on a lot of other features and priorities and count on the wet stuff to be fine once they get to it. As far as they can tell, she has nice pillows, he's got adequate pump, and some vague conversation about ozone is enough to close the deal. They get married. Sometimes this doesn't go well, but again, it's also possible and common for people to be certain they married "the One", and if all you've ever known is dry dates with a few people, adding hot water to the marriage will probably feel frickin' awesome (at least until kids), and it's hard to imagine anything better. Once people are committed, to marriage or anything else, it's psychologically more comfortable to reinforce the wisdom of that decision, rather than considering alternatives that may have been better, but are no longer an option. ("I couldn't love any hot wife tub more, because this one is mine and it cost $20K with the deck!")
At the more selective end of the spectrum, we have people who date lots of other people and "wet test" each other, so they develop more extensive ideas about what they do and don't like. This one has softer pillows. That one pumps better. "I had no idea kegel jets were even a thing!" Something about ultra-violet ozone. They've laughed before, but realize they laugh more with each other. They already know what it's like in the hot water together and it's the frickin' awesomest they've ever had. So, they get married...because no one told them about kids. Long-term, it can still fail, be so-so, or be fantastic, but if nothing else, it probably started out with a more deliberate and thorough custom fit.
Wet test your spouses, people – that's what I'm saying.
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People shop for tubs with their eyes and their ears. Smart ones wet test and listen to their backs and their rears.
Its not uncommon for a spa to look the part but once you get in your find its not all its cracked up to be. The time to find out if a spa is all you imagined is in the showroom wet test as opposed to how many find out which is in their backyard when its too late.
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SoCal Monkey just won the internet for today. That was great!
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Wet test your spouses, people – that's what I'm saying.
Marriage counseling on a hot tub forum!!!
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That is the most I have ever LMFAO reading something on the net. I needed that.