Transcript of Video Titled “Massage Chair Industry Update – December 18th, 2012”
Alan: Hi, this is Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com‘ and today is our December 18th, 2012 bi-weekly massage chair industry update video, and we’ve got lots of things going on.
[SCREEN TEXT: Holiday Deliveries]
Alan: This is the week before Christmas, so Christmas is a week from today, and for the most part, I should tell you that Christmas delivery is – there’s not a good chance for you to get your chair by Christmas. Most of the delivery companies don’t deliver on Christmas Eve, which is Monday, next Monday. Some do, but there is still a chance to get a chair if you order today. You’ve got to order right away, so that we can get the order in, and have the shipment sent out today. If you’re ordering a chair, like an Osaki, which ships out of Texas, and you’re in a state close to Texas, there is a possibility that you’ll get them – you’ll get that chair, but – and Infinite Therapeutics is in Seattle. If you order an IT-8200 or an 8500, and you live in the West, there’s a good chance you might still get it. If you order an Inada and you live in Southern California, I can guarantee you’ll get it, or a Panasonic, or a Human Touch chair, I can pretty much – or an Omega chair – I can pretty much guarantee that you get that if it’s ordered today for Southern California, or actually in any western state. I live in Utah, our showroom’s in Utah, and we were told by our shipper that we could get an Inada chair here by Friday if we order it today. So anyway, today is the – I wouldn’t be pushing it, for the most part, you’re not going to get your chair by Christmas.
[SCREEN TEXT: Christmas Gift Cards!]
Alan: Now, having said that, we do have these gift cards, and I didn’t bring one with me, but they’re about this big. They are like a postcard, and we put them in a nice red envelope and we seal it with a little holiday mistletoe or whatever it is, a little sticker that has a picture of mistletoe or pine leaf or pine needles or something on it. But we can send that to you, which says, ‘To: So-and-so From: So-and-so,’ and my signature, from our company saying that a chair is on its way in your name. So, if you want a order a chair, but it’s not going to get there by Christmas, I can overnight one of these things to you, and you can have it under the tree to give your loved one to show that they’ve got a chair coming, and it’ll – most likely, it’ll be there next week, just a few days after Christmas – if not the day after Christmas. So, if you’re ordering, you’re almost out of luck to get a chair by Christmas, but we can send – we can order the chair now – and send the gift card to you so you can have that under the tree. Just let me know, call me at 801-651-2026, 801-651-2026, and I will personally handle your call and process your order for you to make sure that you get it as soon as possible.
[SCREEN TEXT: Stock Status]
Alan: OK. Let’s talk about stock status. OK, the HT-7120 in all colors is back ordered until late January. The HT-9500 in ‘Black’ is – there was no estimated time of arrival for that – so I would suspect it’ll be either here early or late January. The ZeroG 4.0 in ‘Espresso’ and ‘Black’ is back ordered until late December, so they should be here any time. That’s the new Immersion, one of the new Immersion chairs. The Sogno ‘Red’ is back ordered until December 27th, they will be shipping out the day after, two days after Christmas. And the ‘Black,’ ‘Ivory,’ and ‘Taupe’ OS-7075R from Osaki are supposed to arrive this week, so they will ship out this week. You will not get them by Christmas, but they will ship out tomorrow or Thursday, I believe they’re supposed to be in tomorrow. Also, the ‘Brown’ 7075R from Osaki is out of stock and is not scheduled to come in, apparently they’ve got a problem with the upholstery supplier of the ‘Brown,’ and so there’s no ‘Brown’ scheduled, and it may not be available until late January, so a ‘Dark Brown’ Osaki 7075 is not available. And I got to tell you, the Osaki stock has been a pain in the butt, mostly, in large part, due to this port strike that happened a few weeks ago, and it only lasted a week, but ships were backed up out into the LA Harbor, out into the ocean, waiting to come in. They were anchored out there, waiting for the strike to end, and the strike ended but all of the chairs kind of came in late. Now, fortunately Osaki did a magnificent job of getting the chairs out, and a lot of my customers have already received them – received their chairs, and should receive them this week, which is rather miraculous. However, they still did not have – still don’t have, and the – there were some ‘Dark Browns’ that came in on that shipment for the OS-7075R, but those have already all been spoken for. And there is a lesson to the wise, if you are going to order a chair and it’s on back order, do not wait for the chair to come in stock to order it because many of the chairs that are on back order have been spoken for already, even before they arrive. So, like the ‘Dark Browns,’ I think they are arriving tomorrow, but there’s two loads coming,they’re all spoken for. So, if you were to wait until tomorrow when their shipment’s in, you would not get it, you’d have to wait for the next shipment. And then, if you wait until that one comes in, then again, you’ll probably not get a chair. So, on most of these popular chairs, like the Osaki 7075R, the IT-8500, the Inada Sogno, order it now even if you see that it’s back ordered. And by the way, the only Sogno that’s back ordered is the ‘Red’ one, all the rest are in stock, the ‘Black’ leather has a little pressure on it, inventory pressure. And the Infinite Therapeutics chairs are all in stock, so right now it’s a moot point, but in the future if you call me and you say ‘Hey Doc, is this chair in stock,’ and I say it’s back ordered for another couple of weeks, don’t wait, order now. I know you got to pay with your credit card up front, but you’ll at least have a chair when it comes in, you won’t have to continually wait, so there’s a word for the wise.
[SCREEN TEXT: Correction on OS-7000/OS-7075R Assembly Video]
Alan: OK. Now here, I got to talk about an assembly issue on the Osaki 7075. Now, in our video, the boys, when they assembled that 7000, that Osaki 7000, in our showroom, they put the washers on apparently wrong, and I’ve had two calls now about this from my clients who set up the chairs and realized that the washers were put on in a mistaken manner. So, I went in a couple of weeks ago and changed that on – I didn’t change the actual video, but I added a little assembly correction note on the YouTube video description and also in our blog – and this is the correction: the large, flat washers need to go on first, then the small, lock washers, and then the nuts. The lock washer compresses when the nut is tightened on, and locks the assembly. Apparently, our boys did it backward, and which might actually result, at some point, in some problems with the assembly of the chair. So, a word to the wise, if you’re getting an Osaki 7075, and until we can fix this on the YouTube video, the large, flat washers go on first, then the small, lock washers, then the nuts go on. So, there you go. There’s your tip for the day to help you to, you know, to avoid any problems with the Osaki 7075 assembly.
[SCREEN TEXT: White Glove Delivery Tracking Issue]
Alan: OK, we talked about the strike, we talked about the assembly, we talked about the stock – oh, an interesting point that was brought up to me by Osaki – and this, I think, applies to most ‘White Glove’ deliveries, when you get your tracking information for – if and when you get tracking information, a lot of you don’t care for tracking information. But if you get your tracking information, and it gives you the website to go check your tracking information and a tracking number or a pro number, and you see there that the estimated delivery time is, let’s say, December 23rd, and you’ve ordered ‘White Glove’ delivery, that December 23rd is the date that the chair is delivered to the ‘White Glove’ company, not to you, to the ‘White Glove’ company, and then it’ll take a couple extra days for it to get to you. So, there’s a little bit of confusion with this, when you look at the tracking information, and you see a date for delivery, and you have ordered ‘White Glove’ delivery, that delivery date on the tracking is for the delivery from the long-haul carrier to the local ‘White Glove’ delivery company, and then they will contact you, and then work out a delivery time for you. So, that does not mean that’s the date that it’s going to be delivered to your door. If you do not order ‘White Glove’ delivery, and you’re ordering just typical long-haul delivery, then it would be more in line with that date being the date that they will actually bring it to your house. But that is an interesting post, I mean, an interesting note to be aware of if you order ‘White Glove’ delivery and you have the tracking information.
[SCREEN TEXT: Panasonic EP1285 Discontinued]
Alan: Let’s see, oh, the Panasonic 1285, from what I understand, is no longer being made, and so, there is existing stock, but that chair, from what I understand, has been discontinued in their production, and there is still product available, but once that’s gone, the chair is gone. You know, I think that is about it, there was lots to talk about with regard to the shipping, and with regard to the stock for Christmas, but I think that is just about it. This is my last broadcast before Christmas, so I’d like to – and I think it will also be my last one probably before the new year – but I would like to just take a moment to wish you all a happy holiday. I have been very grateful for the good people that I have come in contact with through this year. This has been a wonderful year for us, a lot of people have called me, and I’ve spoken to so many people and come to know so many of you, and I really have enjoyed that association, and you’ve made this year an absolutely wonderful. Thank you, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Hanukkah, Happy whatever it is that you’re celebrating this time of the year. I’d like you to know how grateful that I am for the fact that you’re watching this video, that you’ve patronized our business, that you trust me with your business. When I think about people spending, you know, upwards of $7000 on a massage chair, in many cases, sight unseen, and never having met me, yet they call, and they lay down the money for it. I really, really appreciate the amount of trust that that takes, and I respect that, and I will honor that trust, and I will do my very, very best to make sure that you are taken care of, and that I will personally make sure that any issues that you have are taken care of, and the right people are contacted, and the right resources are accessed. But I am very, very, very thankful, and I can’t express that enough in words alone, for your trust in me, and for your patronage, and for using our website as a resource, whether you buy from me or not, but use it as a resource. I know that our site is probably the greatest massage chair resource out there, and I’m very, very thankful for that. So, I would like to express that gratitude to you, and hope that you have a magnificent holiday season, and that there would just be – that there would be a blanket of peace that would cover us over these holidays so that these terrible tragedies could just stop for a while – and give us all a chance to just count our many blessings, and be grateful for what we have, and be mindful and prayerful of those who have lost and who are suffering. And I just pray that we could just have peace, just a nice blanket of comfort and peace for us over this holiday season. Thank you very much, have a wonderful holiday season. See you. Bye bye.