Last week I crash landed back to planet Eagle Leisure after a 3 week holiday to a rather sad and sobering email. It was an email from Coast Spas stating that we are no longer an authorised Coast Spa dealer 🙁
Welcome home Debbie!
So, what lead up to this? It wasn’t completely out of the blue.
But, before we get to that, let’s talk about the elephant in the room.
What does this mean if I already have a Coast Spa hot tub from Eagle Leisure?
Before we go any further let’s get this out of the way. Because I know that if you have already purchased a Coast Spa hot tub, this will be your number one worry.
What does this mean for your warranty or servicing if you already have a Coast Spa installed or on the way to be installed?
DON’T PANIC.
I repeat do not panic.
If you already have a Coast Spa hot tub installed. Or if you have purchased one that is on the way for installation, this news makes absolutely no difference to your life.
We are still here. We still hold the warranty on all new Coast Spa hot tubs that we have installed. And going forward, we will still be offering servicing and repairs on all old and new Coast Spa hot tubs along with a range of other brands. We hold the warranty on any parts we sell, regardless of our relationship with the manufacturer.
When it comes to replacements or repairs we have a large stock of current and historic Coast Spa hot tub parts. We can get most parts such as jets, filters, covers and much more directly from our usual part wholesaler based here in the UK. And if worst comes to worst and it’s a very Coast specific part, we can still buy official stock through a Coast Spas dealer.
If you are a current Coast Spa hot tub owner nothing will change for you. We’ve got you. Please don’t panic.
We still maintain that Coast Spas are one of the best built hot tubs in the world. We would not have sold them for so long if that weren’t the case. And remain strong advocates for the brand. We hope that if you have a local supplier in your area that you go and have a look if you are in the market for a hot tub. You will NOT be disappointed 🙂
Find you local Coast Spas dealer.
Why do we no longer sell Coast Spas hot tubs?
So back to what happened.
The background to this letter is that about 2 months ago we made the decision as a company that we couldn’t continue to only sell Coast Spas. And as a result we would have to take on a second manufacturer. This brand we decided was Artesian Spas.
Coming to that decision was a long and tough process. And we didn’t make it lightly. We knew that going down the route might very well mean we had to end our relationship with Coast Spas. We’ll get to what prompted the painful decision a bit later one.
We contacted Coast to let them know the decision we were making and why. And we had hoped that they would allow us to continue to sell both, allowing us to accommodate our future customers with two brands, but this sadly wasn’t to be.
So, why could we not just stock both?
Or in other words, why did making the decision to stock Artesian result in us no longer stocking Coast Spas.
Some hot tub manufacturers have an exclusivity clause. Which means if you stock their product, you are unable to stock another manufacturers to avoid conflicts of interest.
We did of course course, know this going into our relationship with Coast Spas. And as Coast Spas do build, in our opinion, one of the best hot tubs in the world we were willing to agree to it.
Why did we decide to switch from Coast Spas to Artesian spas?
So, if we knew that taking on another brand might end our relationship with Coast, why did we do it? What pushed us to risk a partnership that we’ve been involved in since 2001?1. UK available stock levels
2. Price
3. Ease of contact
4. Exclusivity
We believe that our decision to stock Artesian has and will continue to alleviate these issues for us and our customers going forward. And will allow us to provide a smoother experience for our customers. However, this is in no way a reflection of our love and appreciate of Coast Spas and the hot tub that they manufacture. However, personally, for our company the relationship with Coast Spas was no longer conducive to either company.
1. UK available stock levels
As with all of our products from all manufacturers and suppliers, we rely on a readily available UK stock to help us meet the needs of our customers within a time limit which is desirable to our them.
How selling Artesian Spas benefits our customers…
What we really need to successfully serve our customers as a business is a large stock. Readily available in a UK warehouse, to cherry pick off of as required. Artesian Spas have a large UK stock. They stock hot tubs (and some swim spas). And they constantly have new containers on the way. So if something isn’t in stock, chances are it’s on its way. This works better for our business model as it means they hold a large amount of stock that we can pick off of as required and have delivered to us within a few days.
This doesn’t mean that Artesian Spas have every single model and combination in stock. You might still have to wait if you want something very specific. But they do hold a wide variety of the most popular models and options within UK stock. So there is usually something suitable. And the good news is, if you do want to do a custom order the wait time is approx. 8 weeks.
2. Coast Spa pricing
There is no doubt that Coast Spas build one of the best hot tubs in the world. And we think that they are well worth the money for a premium quality hot tub with innovative features. However, we maintain that we put our customers first and are very aware that not everyone is willing or able to pay that price.
We’ve found, between £4000-£7000, is what the majority of people are willing to spend in Scotland.
Coast Spa prices start from £4995. However, once we added in what we consider to be the essentials such as full foam, lighting and Ozone (which we rarely sell a hot tub without), and accounted for delivery, installation, cover, cover lift, steps and chemical kit, we were struggling to get anything under £7500. Our average Coast Spas hot tub price is between £7500 and £12,000.
Of course, you get what you pay for. And we very much believe that Coast Spas are worth the high price tag that they command. But, that doesn’t diminish the fact that in our experience, it wasn’t what the majority of people were willing to pay in Scotland.
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What this meant for our customers
We struggled to cater to anybody who didn’t want to spend upwards of £7500. Which we found was a lot of people.
We’ve noticed, that despite the increase in cheaper online hot tubs, there was still a huge market people wanting to buy quality hot tubs from a trusted local supplier. But, they still wanted to operate within a budget, and for many people this was below what we could offer.
How selling Artesian spas benefits our customers…
If you are looking for the cheapest hot tub, we as a company still aren’t a good fit for you. But, what Artesian do allow us to offer is a wider range of price points.
They have the Garden Spas and South Seas range, as well as selected specials that are within the 4/5/6/7k range. And, if you do fancy splashing out on a top of the range model for £17,000 then you can do that too.
Working with Artesian allows us to continue to provide a hot tubs from one of the best manufacturers in the world, for a price that is in our opinion a little more budget friendly with all the added extras. And that is suited to the price point that we’ve found most of our enquiries are budgeting for.
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3. Our Coast Spa contacts are based in Canada
Coast Spas are made in Langley, Vancouver. Which, is great, as it means they can create stringently controlled, high quality hot tubs.
But, we buy directly from Coast Spas themselves and not through the UK distributor, which means when we need support we have to contact their employees who are based in Canada.
For us, we found this made it difficult to get timely support. With an 8 hour time difference, it could be tricky to communicate with the Coast Spas employees in Vancouver. This could in turn affect the level of service and support we could give to our customers.
Please note: It is our understanding that any new dealers will go through a UK based Coast distributor. So there experience would potentially be very different to our own in terms of contact and support as they would be dealing with a UK based team. However, this was not our experience as we dealt directly with the Coast Spas employees in Canada.
What this meant for our customers
We visit Canada yearly to keep up to date on any new product developments. But on a day to day basis support from the team in Canada is limited and restricted due to time difference. And communication can be slow.
Plus, as there isn’t a central UK stock of parts that we were made aware of. If we weren’t able to source something from within the UK, parts for warranty and repairs it could take a while to arrive from Canada to the UK. While we tried to mitigate this problem by holding some of our own part stock, or buying from other UK suppliers where possible, there was inevitably situations that arose where we didn’t have parts available, which resulted in increased waiting time.
Working with Coast Spas was making it difficult for us to deliver as high and fast a service as we wanted to.
How selling Artesian Spas benefits our customers…
Two years ago I met a man. Now now… don’t get carried away. This is a story of a purely platonic relationship.
His name was Sean. And he is the dealer development manager for Artesian UK.
His job.
To help us help you.
Sean stopped by our showroom over two years ago. And quickly became one of the most positive and influential voices in the industry for us, long before we ever even considering stocking Artesian hot. His integrity, kindness and general willingness to help has not only been integral to our relationship with Sean. It’s a quality extended through the entire company.
What’s helpful for us as a company, is that we deal with the Artesian UK team who are based in Doncaster. They are available for us via phone or email 7 days a week. They regularly visit us in Scotland. And we can do down and visit them if need be. Plus, don’t forget about UK overnight shipping if we ever need anything.
Having contacts within the UK makes such a difference to our sanity as a company. But most importantly it allows us to solve any problems quickly, providing a better and faster service to you.
Artesian advantage
We have a UK based Artesian contacts to help us solve any problems, or answer any queries FASTER
4. We could only sell Coast Spas
As you know while we were working with Coast Spas, we were unable to stock any other manufacturers.
For a long time, the exclusivity clause was what kept us loyal to Coast, as we loved the product and didn’t want to be in the position of not being able to sell it so we didn’t want to risk that relationship by looking at an alternative stockist.
However, in the end it was what led to the end of the our relationship.
If we were not held by this clause, it is likely that we would have trialled another brand along side Coast Spas with the aim of providing a wider range of models for our customers. But, being tied to one manufacturer meant that we had to really consider our option before we made a decision. Which, in hindsight is not a bad thing.
It meant by the time we decided to bring on Artesian, we were positive that it was the right decision for us and our customers going forward.
What this meant for our customers
We choose, to stock Coast Spas. And in doing so, committed to exclusively representing their brand. We do still believe they create a great quality hot tub. But it is impossible to create a hot tub for everyone.
This meant that if Coast Spas didn’t suit you for whatever reason, we couldn’t help you.
How selling Artesian Spas benefits our customers…
We think that stocking Artesian spas already opens us up to a wider range of people due to the wider range of prices.
But, we are also not obligated to only sell Artesian Spas. For now, we have chosen to exclusively stock Artesian Spas while we go through this transition. However, if at any point in the future we feel the need to, we can bring on another manufacturer.
Stocking Artesian Spas, gives us the opportunity to provide what we feel is the best hot tub option for you.
Artesian advantage
We can provide you with the best hot tub for you
In summary
Sadly, our time with Coast Spas has come to an end. We had hoped that by being upfront and honest about our planned relationship with Artesian we could continue to stock both manufacturers. But, that wasn’t to be.
It was a tough and somewhat bittersweet decision. Although we know that it’s what we need to do to allow us to provide the best possible service to our customers going forward. It’s still a very sad. As a small family company, business is personal. And we form strong attachments to the companies we work with, including Coast. We enjoyed the time we had with Coast Spas and the opportunity to sell what we still believe to be one of the best hot tubs in the world. We’ll continue to be fierce advocates of Coast Spas and encourage anyone with a local dealer in their area to go and check out what they have to offer.
However, we’re really excited about this next chapter with Artesian. Working with them over the last few months has been amazing. Not only is it helping to solve some of the problems we’ve been facing over the last few years. But it’s been seamless and pleasant experience. And it’s allowing us to focus out time on the really important stuff – you 🙂
They say honesty pays, and maybe it does. Just not in the way we expected.
Plus, Artesian Spas sent me a mug to keep me fuelled with coffee and tea throughout the day. So, for that i’ll be forever grateful.
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