Transcript of Video Titled “Massage Chair Industry Update – February 27, 2019”

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Alan: Hi, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com’ and today is our biweekly massage chair industry update for Wednesday, February 27th, 2019, and we’ve got a few things we need to cover today. Not a lot in the way of new models, or discontinued models, or anything like that, but mostly some policy chitchat, and a couple of good tips for you, for those of you that are looking for a massage chair.

[SCREEN TEXT: Infinity Overture Arrives Next Week!]

Alan: Anyway, to begin with, the Infinity Overture, which we’ve talked about in the past, and which I will be doing a more comprehensive review and video on when I go out to visit Infinity in the next month or two. That chair – which is kind of an upgraded version of the Infinity Presidential, the difference is that it has calf rollers, voice recognition, and a wireless remote control – that chair will be, it was supposed to be delivered, I think, this week or last week, but it’s delayed until, I believe, early next week. So, anyway, we have some pre-orders on that chair, and that chair will be in stock next week. So, if you’re interested in the Overture, and you’ve been wondering or waiting for stock to come, now’s the time to speak up and get your chair. So, the Overture will be in stock next week.

[SCREEN TEXT: 29″ Clearance Space Needed for Novo XT2]

Alan: Also, we’ve gotten information from Human Touch that the Novo XT2 – you know, some of these chairs are pretty big – as a matter of fact, most of them are pretty big, and some of them come in more than one box. The XT2, the Novo chairs, have always come in one big box, and so sometimes clearance through a really tight corner can be a challenge, and so we include white-glove delivery on that chair because of the size of it, and the girth of it. And Human Touch sent an email out to us last week saying that you need to have a 29-inch clearance for the Novo XT2, and when they say a 29-inch clearance, I am thinking, and well, from my experience of delivering chairs, that means doorways, stairwells, and tight corners. So, make sure that if you’re thinking about getting the Human Touch Novo XT2, which is a beautiful chair, a wonderful chair, just know that you’re going to have to have a little extra, you’re going to have to have 29 inches, and 29 inches is not bad. I mean, a standard doorway nowadays is what, 31, 31, 32 inches maybe, but there’s some, like maybe some pocket doors, or some small basement doors that are a little bit smaller, a little narrower, and so you want to make sure you’ve got at least 29 inches of clearance down the stairwell, and through the doors, and make sure you’ve got a little room to negotiate it if you have a bend in the hallway. These chairs, of course, can be stacked up on end, and swiveled around, but anyway, just a good piece of information to have.

[SCREEN TEXT: Our Lifetime Labor Warranty – Dispelling the Myths!]

Alan: Now, I wrote an article this last week on my blog about my Lifetime Labor warranty, and I wanted to talk about this two weeks ago, but I forgot to, and I want to bring it up today because we’ve had some questions from people that – well, actually, maybe not questions so much as I’ve had comments from people that have talked to some of our competitors in their search for a new chair, and they’ve mentioned ‘Oh, Massage Chair Relief has a Lifetime Labor Warranty’ – and these competitors, and I won’t mention who they are, because it serves no purpose to do that, but the reason I’m bringing this up is because I want to put people’s mind at rest about what the Lifetime Labor warranty offers. A couple of my customers have told me that this Lifetime Labor warranty that we offer is only good for people in big cities because the techs that are available are only available in big cities. Well, nothing could be farther from the truth. We have found that about 98%, over 98% of our customers have, so far that have made a claim on our Lifetime Labor warranty have had a technician in their area. As a matter of fact, the only ones that I can think – well, you know, even that’s changed because we’ve added a third network of techs that have even a larger base, and a larger reach of their techs around the country – so pretty much anymore, almost everyone can have a tech within striking distance of their home. The issue is sometimes it’s going to be more than 25 miles, and our free service calls, the service call is always free on our Lifetime Labor warranty, but there’s always a travel premium of a dollar a mile, if you do not live within a 25-mile radius of the local tech, and even that, we have plenty of techs still in, I mean, techs in plenty of areas, the vast majority of areas around the country. But sometimes someone lives out in a place that’s out of the way, and maybe the tech lives 50 miles away, or 40 miles away, or even more, or maybe less, but more than 25, well then, there’s a dollar-a-mile premium that’s charged, that we are charged, and that we charge you. But you know, people can say ‘Well, I’m going to have to still pay,’ but you’re not going to have to still pay for the service call, and you’re not going to have to pay for the first 25 miles, so this Lifetime Labor warranty is valid, and you can see testimonials on our website. If you go to our Lifetime Labor warranty page, you’ll see the conditions, with the talk about the 25-mile radius, you’ll see testimonials of people that have used it, you can also see a Q&A section, where we’ve taken some of these questions that customers have, and most of these questions come from, I mean, most of them, of course, just come from the customer asking ‘Now, does this apply, does this work, and will my zip code work?’ But and of course, you can always call us or email us with your zip code to find out how close the nearest tech is to you, and if there is not one at all, which I typically will doubt, then I’ll let you know that as well. But don’t let the naysayers make you think that our Lifetime Labor warranty is some kind of like bait and switch, or Lifetime Labor scam. It’s not, we honor it, I pay money every week for people’s chair repairs that are out of warranty, and so I want you to be aware that our Lifetime Labor warranty is legitimate, and we have money set aside in kind of a, I wouldn’t call it an escrow account, but it’s like a savings account for the Lifetime Labor warranty, so the funds are there to cover it. Now, it’s not cheap, the Lifetime Labor warranty, it costs us money because, especially with certain companies whose, a lot of their chairs break down, we pay out quite a bit. But it is something that my customers appreciate, and it is something that I appreciate, and when it is done for me, and so no one else does that because it is a costly thing, and you know, most people are in business not to spend money, but to make money, and but this is something that I feel pretty strong about. And anyway, so Lifetime Labor warranty is a good thing, and the myth is that there isn’t coverage for most people around the country, and that is a complete, false statement. Now, if you have a competitor that says ‘Well, we’ll match that, we’ll offer you a Lifetime Labor warranty too,’ but buyer beware, caveat emptor, because if it’s not written anywhere, and it’s not on their website, or whatever, they may not, or they may have certain conditions that they will apply when you call, you know, five years down the road, or six, seven years down the road, or there might be a change in ownership, or etcetera, etcetera, and it’s not even a written policy that they can even remember making a promise about. So, anyway, just buyer beware, but also just please be aware that we do honor this warranty, and if you need references to talk to, give me a call, I’ll gladly provide them, and anyway so, but anyway, that’s a little blurb on our Lifetime Labor warranty.

[SCREEN TEXT: Utah Showroom – By Appointment Only!]

Alan: Our Utah store, we’re going to be going back to by appointment only. During the fourth quarter, it’s busy, and we’ve had someone in the store since last July, but I’m finding that it’s just, the cost is not outweighed by the benefit. And so, I’m going to be going back to appointment only for the Utah store, and now on the Google page, it’ll have some hours, but that’s only because I have to on the Google page. It doesn’t have a check box for ‘by appointment only,’ or a place where we can put that. So, you may look on our Google page and see some weird hours. We’re going to put up weird hours, so it’ll make you want to call, like ‘Why are they only open from one in the morning until two in the morning?’ but we do that because if we give the legitimate hours and you come to the showroom expecting someone to be there between 11 and 6, you’ll be disappointed and you’ll be upset at me, and that has happened in the past. So, anyway, but I just wanted to let you know that our Utah store hours are going to be – oh, and I will be – usually, I’ll be the one that’ll be there to meet the customer at that appointment.

[SCREEN TEXT: Lots of Great Deals on our Pre-Owned Directory!!]

Alan: We’ve got lots of good open-box chairs, we have had this many in a long time, and so if you’re looking for a deal on a chair, and I mean, really good pricing on these $8000 chairs, or $8000 or $9000 chairs, look at my pre-owned directory. If you go to my website, look across the navigation bar, there’s a tab there that’s called ‘Current Deals,’ or ‘Current Sales,’ go, there’s the new chair specials, and then there’s the pre-owned directory that you can look at, and click on that, and go see what we’ve got. We’ve got a Novo XT2 that’s in immaculate condition, we’ve got a Presidential that was a floor model, we have a Maestro for $4999. We have, oh my gosh, we have an Ekon for $4999, we’ve got some wonderful chairs, and we’ve got our floor-model Luraco Legends, which are $4490, they’re regularly $7790 now. So, anyway, I just wanted you to be aware that we have some very, very good prices, and very, very good deals on pre-owned chairs, and understand that our pre-owned chairs have the existing warranty, the remainder of the existing warranty, usually when you buy a used chair and it’s not from an authorized dealer, you don’t get warranty coverage. This will have warranty coverage, and our Lifetime Labor warranty applies, and free shipping still, even on the cheaper chairs. Anyway, have a look at that if you’re looking for some really, really good deals. There’s no, we don’t have a return policy for those pre-owned chairs, so when you buy it, you know, the sale is final, but it’s well worth the money spent, so if you’ve, well, whatever. Anyway, give me a call if you have any questions about it, you can always reach me, or someone in the store.

[SCREEN TEXT: Recommended Height Limits for Massage Chairs Can be Confusing!]

Alan: Well, the last thing that I want to talk about is something that is kind of a, it’s kind of a tough subject to deal with, with every chair that we carry, because I’m not familiar with every chair that we carry, but it is the height, the maximum height restriction on, or recommended height restriction on massage chairs. Now, the reason I have a problem with this, and the reason that is not part of My Chair Finder software that we have on our website – My Chair Finder software is a software that we designed that’ll help you kind of isolate chairs that will fit the needs that you have, but we’ve not been able – I have been hesitant to put height limits on it because, and I’m going to tell you why, this is the deal. Let’s say you are 6′ 4″, and you find a chair that in the literature says 5′ 1″ to 6′ 4″, it’ll fit someone from 5′ to 6′ 4″, and then you sit on the chair, you buy the chair, and you find out that the chair doesn’t reach up to the top of your neck, but it still fits you, you see what I’m saying? These chairs, or these companies will say it’ll fit someone up to 6′ 4″, and that is probably two, it will fit someone 6′ 4″, but the question is, will it massage your whole body, will it massage to the top of your neck? Most people’s low backs are fine, the mid back’s fine, and even the shoulders are fine, you know, the top of the shoulders here. But to get it up the neck, some of these chairs, like I remember one chair, in particular, it was a Japanese-made chair, and it said yeah, we can fit people up to 6′ 4″, the chair wouldn’t even fit my 5′ 7″ manager. Well, it would fit him, but it wouldn’t even massage his neck, and he was only 5′ 7″. So, when they say the spec is 6′ 4″, you want to kind of, and you’re a tall guy, you want to kind of question that, and don’t just buy in to the spec, the spec listing right away, you make sure that you have tried the chair out, or you talk to someone who is 6′ 4″, or talk to us at the store, and say ‘Hey, has anybody sat in this chair that’s 6′ 4″, will they fit?’ and then we’ll let you know, and if we haven’t we’ll find someone that’s 6′ 4″. I’ve got, my neighbor at my Utah store, he’s 6′ 2″, so I’ve had him come over, on new models, I’ll say ‘Curly, sit on that chair, and tell me if it reaches the top of your neck,’ and here’s the other thing, some people are 6′ 2″, but they have the torso of someone that’s 6′ 4″. So, you might have, and you know what I mean when I say this, you might have a longer torso relative to your legs, or you might have even torso to legs, or you have really long legs and a short torso. I have short legs and a longer torso, so when I sit in a chair that’s designed for someone that’s like, for 6′ 1″, or 6′, sometimes it’ll just barely reach the top of my neck, just barely, and so, there’s, it’s not as cut and dried as saying it’ll fit people from 5′ to 6′ 4″, and also, another thing as far as the size goes, if you are 5′ and you sit in a chair, and your – and this is usually what happens is, the chair will default to a reclined, default – or it’ll recline to a default position, and when it does that, your feet may not hit the bottom of the ottoman. So, your thought is ‘Well, this chair doesn’t fit me because I’m too short, my legs won’t hit the bottom of the ottoman.’ Well, don’t quit, because if you simply use the remote control, and raise the ottoman up, that ottoman usually will meet your feet. Now, if you raise the ottoman all the way up, and it does not meet your feet, that chair will not fit you. There you go, and but, if you bought a chair, and this applies to any one, whether you bought it from us or anywhere, if you’ve got a chair, and it’s not fitting you, and you feel like you’re too short for it, the rollers will do fine on your back, if you’re shorter. That’s OK, because you know, the rollers can go up higher, the scan should at least hit it, and read the top of your, the base of your skull being here, and it should read it, and so you’ll get a good low back, buttock, if it’s an L-track, and neck massage, but the question is, will your feet get even massage? So, if you’re, the default position, recline position does not allow your feet to hit the bottom of the ottoman, don’t give up, raise the ottoman up. You might have to do that every time you sit in the chair, but it’s OK if you love the chair, raise the ottoman up, and see if that ottoman, if the feet come up, or the ottoman foot massager comes up and meets the bottom of your feet. If it does, you’re good to go. Anyway, that’s, those are some tips about sizing of chairs for people, because this size thing is a big deal. I can’t even count the number of times people will call me and say ‘Well, this chair is too small for me,’ ‘Well, the specs said it was, it would fit up to like 6′ 4″, and I’m only 6′ 3″, or I’m only 6′ 2″, and it doesn’t fit.’ So, anyway, be cautious about that, and make sure you understand the chair, and how it fits. Some people are OK if it doesn’t hit the top of their neck, because man, my problem is my low back. So, as long as it hits my low back, I don’t care if that roller comes all the way up to the neck, that’s cool, that’s fine. But if your neck’s a big deal, getting your neck massaged is a big deal, that, these are things you need to be aware of.

[SCREEN TEXT: 888-259-5380]

Alan: OK, anyway, I think that’s about it. If you have any questions, you can feel free to call me at 888-259-5380, and you can also reach out through our Facebook, or YouTube, or chat software, or emails, or whatever. We have lots of ways to reach out to us, and feel free to ask any questions you want, or call about any inquiries, or if you’re looking at a chair, and you’re not sure it’s the right one for you. Anyway, just feel free to reach out.

[SCREEN TEXT: Please “Thumbs Up” Like This Video!!]

Alan: If you found this video helpful, please feel free to thumbs up ‘Like’ us on our YouTube channel, and of course, help us spread the word about massage chairs by sharing this video on your, you know, Facebook, Google Plus, which is now in flux, you know, LinkedIn, Twitter, what else is there, Instagram now. Anyway, you know, we just appreciate you help us spread the word about massage chairs. But anyway, I am Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com,’ and I will see you again in two weeks. Bye bye.

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