Deciding to buy a hot tub is a major deal! You’re probably looking at spending several thousand dollars, making major renovations to your property all while envisioning a future that includes warm water, bubbles and a relaxing environment. There aren’t that many things that can change your lifestyle so radically. So, if you’re asking yourself where I can get a hot tub for my garden, you should ruminate on this for a while before pulling out your checkbook. You may have seen pop up hot tub dealers or spa expositions whisk through your town. In fact, they may have given you the idea about buying a hot tub in the first place. But before you purchase a hot tub in the parking lot of your local shopping mall or down at the state fairgrounds, ask yourself some questions about the validity of these operations. To get you started, we’ve come up with a few of our own.
How Reputable Are These Dealers?
If you think about it, how easy is it to discern the reputation of a retailer that only exists in your community for a few weeks? Compare that to a business that’s maintained a showroom on a main street for a decade or more. Which one would you trust more? The answer is quite apparent. Local companies rely on the reputation to keep them in business. If a business becomes known for dishonest practices, it won’t be keeping its doors open for long. But pop up hot tub retailers have found that they can stay ahead of their reputation by moving from town to town. If you have a need to follow up on your purchase from a traveling sales company, how will you be able to find them? You may have their business card, but if they’re three states over, how much help can they be? When making a large purchase such as a hot tub you should look into the reputation of the company selling it to you. It can be the difference between buyer remorse and a happy customer.
What’s the Quality of Their Products?
Hot tubs have become very popular household additions. With that popularity has come a boom in hot tub manufacturers. But the fact is that there are only a handful of top-quality hot tub brand names on the market. These are the companies who have been doing it for decades and place pride in their name and their work. But this has caused a proliferation of cheaper, poorer quality hot tubs that have a higher profit margin. Invariably, these are the types of hot tubs that traveling retailers are trying to offload. They can sell them for cheaper, make a bigger profit and still make them seem like a good deal. Do some research into quality hot tub manufacturers and only go into the buying process after educating yourself. You might be able to realize, with just a little bit of knowledge, whether or not you’re getting your money’s worth.
What About Aftermarket Service?
Local retailers depend on creating long term relationships with their customers. Without these types of relationships their business wouldn’t last long. Pop up retailers, on the other hand, are mainly focused on creating one-time customers. Once the sale is made, they need to look towards the next sale, not what’s happening with their previous customers. If you’re in need of service after the fact, you’re much more likely to get it from a local retailer than you are from a company that has no fixed address. Like most other major purchases, maintenance and servicing of a hot tub requires expertise and experience. Having this kind of knowledge available to you locally will go a long way towards a happy hot tub lifestyle.
To find out more about the benefits of becoming a hot tub owner, download a free buyer’s guide here.