Who you buy from is
important.
And
How we service
our customers.

by Jim Arjuna

One of the most common questions we get is:  How can we sell spas over the internet and get them serviced?  It is actually very simple to accomplish.

So far every time I look for service people we find them within an hour or two.  I use the internet to find them.   Occasionally, we don't get them to call back right away, because they are busy fixing spas.    We try to get the spas fixed within two days if the spa is unusable, like the pump quits for some reason.  So far we have had only one out of state internet spa that needed a pump replacement, but the pump did limp along until the new one arrived.  And to this day no control boards have needed replaced.   That, of course, could change.   Most of the problems are cosmetic or a sticky jet or something like that.
Because I choose the equipment, and it is darn good equipment, we do not have the breakdowns that others have. Price of the component is not a primary reason for choosing the component.   My experience and knowledge is.

( 2008 update.  Of course all of this has changed, just because of the volume of spas we have sold.  However, even with much higher numbers we still on average have two warranty service issues per month.  That is nothing compared to other spa companies, who don't make quality products.)

Because I have had to do warranty service up in the mountains of Colorado, starting  years ago, I learned to find spa repair people near the customer's house so the $150 drive charge didn't happen.  Back then it was really inconvenient for  us in lost repair time while the repair technician was on the road, and the cost to the customer was silly;  when there are plenty of service people near by their house.

Spas have now been around for over 15 years,  (hot tubs longer) and because of that there are a lot of spa repair people out there. 10 years ago, I would have had a hard time getting the spas fixed, but not any more.   Our spas are easy to repair.  The components are easy to access.  They just plug into the control box, and  unscrews or unbolts in minutes.
 

There are independent spa repair people who do not sell spas.    When I talk with them I often find that they are already doing warranty work for other spa companies.   What we are doing has already been done successfully for many years.  Occasionally there is a screw up, because of communication problems, but the customer always gets taken care of.

I much prefer to have customers well taken care of, instead of trying to cut costs by finding the least expensive spa technician.  Some warranties pay less than $25 to  $35 per hour.  We can't afford to do service for $35 so why would I expect anyone else to .
With normal warranty pay the warranty customers get put on the back burner.  The repair company will try to fit you in sometime in the next two weeks to three weeks.   They use warranty for fill in work.

We do not like having our customers unable to use the spa,  so we get the money to the repair company fast and we pay a bit more for the service.   The attitude of the spa tech also improves when he is being paid better.   We also know the service rates across the country, so we keep the costs under control.

There is an old saying in sales;  "You can get good quality at a reasonable price.   You can get cheap slow response, low quality service.  Or you can get good quality service  but you will have to pay for it."

The cheaper the spa, the slower the warranty service, and  customer service suffers.  A technician who is better compensated will take better care of my customers.

Here is another nice thing about buying from us, you can pick the service person you want to work on your spa.   We do prefer to work with service people we have  a rapport with, but it is more important that you as the customer get someone you feel comfortable with.

I write a lot of information based upon first hand experience.   If  I had to sit here at the computer and figure how to write a bunch of inferences like "Our spas are built to last", I would have to ponder each and every sentence to make sure the story is a good one,  and I would have to have a really good memory . Since my memory isn't as good  as it used to be, I stick with being straightforward.      How is "Our spas are built to last." an almost lie?   It implies the spa will last a long time.  What it really says is the spa will last some amount of time; a day, a week, a year,  several years, or a decade or three.  In other words it doesn't say anything  meaningful.

Take a look at the web sites and the brochures of many other spa companies.   How much fluff and sales words do you read?  Lots of technological words and safe words, security words,   I call those sales pitch words.    Lots of nonsense and no information on spa insulation or jet pumps or anything.    It is mostly hype.

Some times people (prospective buyers) get so wrapped up in money and price.   They are easy prey for the cheap spa companies.   We have found that people who buy cheap, often wind up paying more, become angry when the service doesn't come, and pay for their own warranty service anyway.  If the spa is cheap, there probably is no money for service, so you just don't get good service at all until you call your lawyer and spend $1500 for a retainer so he will write some ugly letters.

There is a store here in Denver that sells really lousy spas and compares them as better than the big boys, selling  them for about half of what a quality spa would sell for.   Cheap spa buyers are their prey.   The cheap spa store will tell the cheap spa buyer what he wants to hear.  "These are the best spas at half the price!"  If you WANT to believe that you will believe that.
 

We are glad to do great service for our customers.   We often get referrals from a spa customers when we go  the extra mile for them.  ( We have gotten some of our service people to now be Haven Representatives for us.)
 

(If you want fresh clean oats, we have them.   If you want oats that have already been through the horse, you will have to go elsewhere.)