My partner and I started looking at spas a few years ago, but we weren't really serious about it. He was looking for a spa that would be able to hit the sides and back of his legs as well as the neck and shoulders. We've been in a few spas in the past, and none of them did an adequate job of this. Seeing the Thermospa commercials, we decided to order a DVD. That was when the calls started. The salespeople were fairly insistent-- a bit high pressured but not unduly so. We ended up having an inspection for a potential spa.

When the representative came out, he was very nice and answered our questions. We wanted to get it into a green house, and he said that if need be, they could get a crane out to shimmy the tub inside.

When we sat down to discuss the price, he gave an astronomically high figure, like $23K. But he said that he could bring it down to $15-$16K. He talked to his manager, and the final price was $14.6K. It was only after we agreed to the deal that he said that he could sell us the ozonator in that package b/c it was under contract negotiations. And if we needed a crane, it would be $1000 extra. But, he would be able to get the ozonator for $500, no problem, and maybe he could get a few of his friends to come out and help get the tub into place. Already, we were feeling like this was a bit of a bait and switch.

Well, 5-6 days after our 3-day cancellation expiration, he called us back to let us know that the ozonator was going to be $750 instead, and that was the best he could do. Well, I talked to the manager, and long story short, we got it down to $550. So, with everything (Manhattan Diamond package, 5-foot covered stairs, and ozonator) it came out to be just under $16K with tax.

We bought the tub at the end of September, but we havent gotten it yet-- our fault, not theirs. The greenhouse isn't ready, and we've decided to place it temporarily somewhere else to use it over the winter. It will hopefully be delivered by 11/29/07.

I haven't sat in the tub yet, so I can't say what the quality or cost of running it is like, but I'll keep people posted. This is significantly more than what I planned to spend on a hot tub, but it does come with 179 jets, 7 pumps, and the ozonator which is supposed to cut chemical usage down to 10%. We'll see.