Massage Chair Industry Update – March 13, 2018 (Video)

March 16, 2018
 By Allison Bricker
March 16, 2018
 By Allison Bricker

Massage Chair Industry Update – March 13, 2018 (Video)


Transcript of Video Titled “Massage Chair Industry Update – March 13, 2018”

[SCREEN TEXT: SUBSCRIBE to Our YouTube Channel and be Notified of Each New Massage Chair Video!]

Alan: Hi, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com’ and today is our biweekly massage chair industry update for Tuesday, March 13th, 2018. Let’s see what we’ve got cooking.

[SCREEN TEXT: Panasonic MA70 Sale for $4999!]

Alan: The Panasonic – OK, as far as – there’s a couple sales going on right now. Panasonic is offering their MA70 for $4999. The MA70 was the precursor to the MA73. The MA73 has been a popular seller for us. The MA70 is for a shorter body, we found the neck massage to not be as strong, but the look and feel of the chair is pretty much the same, great overall massage, strong massage. It’s got heated rollers, 3D rollers, good chair, but for $4999, that’s a good price for a Panasonic, even though the Panasonic chairs are all made in China now, they are still designed and engineered in Japan. So, they have the Japanese ingenuity, but the cost savings of the Chinese manufacturing, and I understand that they’re made in factories that are either owned by Panasonic, or the quality control is overseen by Panasonic engineers. So, the quality of the Panasonic chairs is typically very, very good, so anyway, just so that you know.

[SCREEN TEXT: Osaki Pro Dreamer Sale for $4499!]

Alan: Also, Osaki just announced this morning that their Osaki Dreamer has $500 off until March 28th. It’s $4499, so there’s another sale for you to be aware of.

[SCREEN TEXT: Osaki Pro Ekon – Great Calf Massage!!]

Alan: Let’s see, the Ekon, and we’ve got the Osaki Ekon in both of showrooms now, and we really like this chair. It’s made in a very good factory in China. It’s what we call one of the high-end 3D L-track chairs, and one thing – and it’s got a nice look and style to it – it kind of reminds me a lot of the old Infinity Iyashi, as it was made in the same factory as the Infinity Iyashi, in that it has a sliding base. So, the chair can be put right up against the wall pretty much, and then when you turn it on, rather than it reclining right away, the base slides forward, I think, like 10 to 12 inches, so you don’t have to worry about it hitting your walls. It’s a true space saver, but what’s cool about this chair, the design is pretty cool, like the look of it is pretty cool. It’s got kind of that Plexiglas, or fiberglass exterior, which gives it a really nice sheen, and like kind of a cool look, kind of a modern, contemporary look, but it also has the upholstery on the arms, and throughout the rest of the chair, that give it that more traditional upholstered look. But anyway, the Osaki Ekon has – one thing that’s kind of cool about it, besides the look of it, and then the fact that it’s a 3D L-track – is that it has a calf massage that’s very unique. It has airbags that go up and down. It’s very reminiscent of the old Inada YuMe chair, where the airbags would go up and down, and knead your calves, but it also has a roller in the back of the calves. So, if you are looking for good foot-and-calf massage, I can’t think of many better, if any better than this chair, because of the – and it has a roller in the back – and there’s other chairs, the the uKnead Lohas, the uKnead Lavita, and the Apex Ultra that have a disc that rolls in behind the gastrocnemius muscle, which is the big calf muscle, behind your calf, but this one has a spindle roller, similar to what the foot rollers have. But it also has the airbags that go up and down and knead your calves, which is fantastic. So, the Ekon is really a good chair, I know Michael, in my California showroom, he really likes that chair, and he, that’s his favorite 3D L-track chair. We just got it in our showroom last week. I’m still, I haven’t even sat down to go through a full regimen of testing on it, and experiencing it, but I will, and of course, I’ll write a review about it. Anyway, the Ekon has that very unique calf roller, and airbag-kneading feature, so if you’re looking for a good calf massage, that’s your chair.

[SCREEN TEXT: Massage Chairs for Tall Bodies – What You Need to Consider]

Alan: OK, we have the – oh, I want to talk a little bit about tall – chairs for tall people. Now, as you know, or as you may or may not know, I have a software on my website now called ‘My Chair Finder,’ and you can go in to My Chair Finder and you can select the brands you want, the features that you’re looking for, the price point that you want, and this software will sort out every chair that falls within those things that you’ve selected. We have recently added symptoms. So, if you have like sciatica, or if you have shoulder pain, or if you get – depending on what shoulder pain – if it’s top of the shoulder, side of the shoulder, between the shoulder blades, top, you know, the back of the shoulder, top of the shoulder blades, or if you have headaches, you select those symptoms, if you have symptoms, and the chair will, again, also combined with your budget, combined with the features that you like, combined with the brands that you’re looking for, it’ll spit out all the chairs that will have that. The one thing that we want to add, but it’s really tough to do this is, height. Like, and I’ve had this asked of me by a number of customers, why can you not have, like this chair, and like I want a chair that will handle someone that’s 6′ 5″, or 6′ 4″, here’s the problem. The literature, and this is important for you to know, generally speaking, when you’re shopping for a massage chair, and you are 6′ 3″, and the specs of a massage chair say it can handle 6′ 3″, chances are, you’ll sit in that chair, and the rollers will not reach the top of your neck. It may hit the bottom of your neck, it may hit a little up the neck, but it will not get all the way up the neck. Not on all chairs, like the Infinity 8500, that chair says it’ll massage someone that’s 6′ 5″, and it does hit the neck of someone who’s 6′ 5″, but when it says the chair will fit someone who’s 6′ 5″, or 6′ 4″, or 6′ 3″, or 6′ 2″, and by the way, this issue is really just with tall people, shorter people, for the most part, can fit in you know, a chair. If it says it’ll fit someone that’s 4′ 10″, or 4′ 6″, like a Panasonic chair, it will fit the shorter body, but it’s the higher end that’s tough. It’ll say the chair fits someone up to 6′ 4″, and it will probably fit someone up to 6′ 4″, but it will not, in most cases, massage the full neck. So, if I was to put on there the specs that are put out by each of these massage chair companies, and their models, and the spec says this will someone from 5′ up to 6′ 4″, and you’re 6′ 4″, and you buy that chair, and you sit in the bloody thing, and you’ll see that the rollers only go up to the base of your neck, well then, you’re going to be disappointed. So, until I have a chance to sit in every chair, and have every person that’s 6′ 3″, or 6′ 4″, or whatever that limit is that the chair specifies, until they can sit in it, we really don’t know for sure if it’s going to fit you. And here’s the other thing, some people, like I have a longer torso, shorter legs, I’m 5′ 9″, but my torso is maybe for a more 5′ 10″, 5′ 11″ guy. So, if I sit in a chair that says – well, I’m not a good example – but let’s say someone is tall, like 6′ 4″, but they’re all legs, and their torso’s maybe the torso of 6 footer, and I’ve never had that problem in my family, we’re all short legs, long bodies, but if you have that, someone that’s 6′ 4″ might sit in a chair, and have a good massage, if they’re 6′ 4″. But someone who has a longer torso might sit in that very same chair, and the rollers will not hit the full neck. So, it’s not just a matter of whether you’ll fit in the chair, and whether it’ll massage you’ll neck, it also depends on your body shape, your body sizing. If you’re more torso than legs, chances are, a chair that says it’ll handle 6′ 3″, or 6′ 4″ will not handle that, but if you’re more legs than torso, and you have a shorter torso, it might just fit fine. So, there’s all these variables that come in to play when you’re talking about fitting a chair for someone, and ideally, you want to sit in the darn thing. I can tell you, if you’re between 5′ 1″ or 5′ 2″, and 5′ 11″, pretty much every chair will fit you. I remember once we had a chair in our showroom, it was a small Japanese chair, and the specs said it fit people up to 6′ 4″, I think, or 6′ 2″, my store manager, Michael, was 5′ 7″, or is 5′ 7″, and it didn’t massage his neck, but it fit someone who was 6′ 3″, or 6′ 4″, it just didn’t massage anywhere from the shoulders up. So, it’s really a very subjective thing, and very personalized to your body type, but we’re pretty safe to say that if you’re between 5′ 1″ or 5′ 2″, and 5′ 10″, 5′ 11″ pretty much any chair will fit you. If you’re my size, 5′ 9″, again, pretty much any chair will fit you. But I just wanted to talk about that, because we get a lot of questions about, you know, for people who are taller, and can’t find a chair that fits them, and can’t understand why this says, why the specs say that the chair should fit someone 6′ 4″, yet it’s not massaging them. So, that’s the answer to that.

[SCREEN TEXT: Massage Chair Returns – Things to Consider!]

Alan: Also, here is just something that’ll be of assistance to you if you want to return a chair. Here’s the deal: Everybody has a return policy. Some return policies are miserable, like a seven-day return policy, I don’t think that’s a great return policy. There’s also return policies where they will charge you a 25% restocking fee, and this, and that, but they all have a return policy of some sort. Well, the return policy sounds good when you’re shopping because ‘OK, great, I can return this chair,’ but what you don’t take in to account is that you have to get that chair packed up, and you have to get it ready to ship back, and in most cases, you have to ship it back, you know, calling UPS, or FedEx, or whoever else, and you have to take care of the shipping. It’s expensive, and putting the chair together, or disassembling it, and getting it ready for shipping is a pain in the rumpus. Some of you might have, you know, some sons that can help you do it, lifting it, putting it in the box. Some of you may be, you know, young, and vibrant, and you and your wife can do it, or you and your partner can do it, and you can get the chair in to the boxes, and get it packed up and ready to go. However, most people, it’s a challenge. So, here’s a couple suggestions. Number one is, keep the original boxes, and packing that you got with the chair. You’ll fall in love with your chair as soon as you see it, and you might throw away all the packaging, and then you’ll sit in it for a couple of days, or a week, or whatever, and you realize ‘Holy cow, this chair is not for us, so we got to return it,’ but all the packaging is gone. Well, that is going to increase your cost of return shipping, like if it’s $300 or $400 for a regularly packed chair, it could cost you double. Or maybe, you know, 75% more to ship it back, because it’s a misshapen package, you know what I mean, a chair is a chair, it’s not a box. If you don’t have it in the box, it’s just this big chair that’s – and you got to have a pallet, and if don’t have a pallet, that – then there’s problems, of the risk of the chair being damaged. And if the chair is damaged because of poor packaging, you will get fingered for that. So, you will get nailed for that cost, so I just want you to be aware of that. Another thing about returning a chair, you might, if you’re getting a white-glove delivery, in other words, you’ve paid to have the chair delivered and set up for you in your home, they usually will take away the packing material. Keep the packing material, keep it, until you know for sure you’re not going to return that chair. And then the other thing about returning a chair, try – well, I’m a little biased because we have a no – we don’t charge for return shipping, and we don’t back-bill you for the original shipping. It’s a free return, but you still have to package up that chair, and you might have to get some help to package up that chair. So, when the chair is delivered to you by the white-glove delivery agent, maybe ask for their name and phone number before they go, because if you need it packaged up, you can call them, and say ‘Hey, you know, Bob and Mary came and delivered that chair for us, and I need it packaged up to get it ready to ship out,’ and they can come and do that. It might cost you anywhere, I’ve seen prices anywhere from $125 to $250, I think one case, one chair was $300. So, it’s not cheap to package it up, so just be aware of that when you’re buying a chair, because if you don’t, and you call your retailer, and you say ‘Hey man, I want to return this chair,’ and they say ‘OK, well, just have it ready to deliver, or you know, just get it packaged up and ship it to us, here’s our address,’ then you know, you’re going to have to do that on your own, and it’s tough, it’s tough, and yeah. Anyway, those are some tips there for you that you might want to, you might want to consider for if you’re returning a chair, if you’re getting white-glove, and you want to annotate who the delivery guy is, or the delivery people are, and then also, just know that if you don’t return the chair in the original packaging, the chances for damage are far greater. And if there’s damage on route from the shipping, the shipping company may not be at fault, because they’re just shipping the chair, but something gets – you know, another package gets pushed up against it, or you know, it, whatever – it rubs it, and the material gets thrashed, I had one chair returned by a fellow that all the exterior, every part of the exterior, the chair back, the arms, the ottoman, all had scuffs and scrapes, and I had to replace the whole darn thing. Well, they had to pay for the replacement of the whole darn thing, but the whole thing had to be replaced, and if it was in a box, none of that damage would have occurred. So, I hope you find this helpful, because returns, on paper, returns are great, they sound great. ‘Oh, I can return this chair, and Dr. Weidner has a free return policy,’ or ‘So-and-so only charges so much for a return, and there’s no restocking fee, great.’ Well, what you’re not thinking of is what’s it going to take to return that chair, it’s not easy. And so, just be aware, and of course, your retailer, whoever it is, should help you if you are in a bind, and you can’t find someone to – oh, and here’s another tip – if you can’t find someone to help you package up the chair, like the person that delivered the chair to you, go online, and look for furniture movers. And you can just have a local company that, you know, ‘Mary Jane’s Moving Service,’ or ‘Bob’s Furniture, you know, Delivery Service,’ and a lot of times, they can do that for you, and you’ll have to arrange for the shipping separately. Unless you’re with us, you buy from us, then you just let us know, and we arrange for the shipper to come pick up the chair, and it’s no cost to you. But getting a chair – oh, and here’s one more tip, before I forget – when you get that chair packaged up in the original packaging, it’s still going to be kind of flimsy. Most of the chairs come in a big box, but the main part of the box is a sheath that comes up, and there’s a cap on it, and there’s a bottom, and if you don’t have that strapped down, that thing can fall apart on route, and again, you’re going to be responsible for that damage if there’s falling apart of the packaging on the way back. So, I recommend people go to Harbor Freight, or Walmart, or Home Depot, or just any local store, and buy some of those cinch straps, you know, you use them for maybe cinching down a motor bike on the back of a truck, or cinching down a four-wheeler on a trailer, get some cinch straps, and cinch – get two – you know, at least just two of them, and cinch either end of it, so it holds that chair in place. Another thing you might want to do is go to – also, at one of those stores, you should be able to buy some shipping Saran wrap, it’s just – we call it wrap, you know, shipping wrap. But I call it Saran wrap, because everybody knows what Saran wrap is, and it’s on a spindle, and you can wrap it around the chair, and then that’ll also help keep it snug, and keep it together. But I would really strongly encourage using the straps, the Saran wrap is additional, and that wouldn’t hurt, but getting some straps is – that will protect you from being dinged royally when they nail you, or finger you for the damage on route, because you didn’t, either didn’t package it up at all – oh, and here’s another thing, I’m just a wealth of information today. If you cannot get a package of a box, if you can’t get a box, and you have to ship the chair back as the chair sits, get a pallet, put it on a pallet, and wrap it up with shipping blankets. You can buy those shipping blankets from, again, from those same kind of stores, Walmart, Harbor Freight, Home Depot, wrap it up with the blankets, and then use the Saran Wrap around it, and just try to cover as much of the chair as you can with a blanket, and then use that Saran wrap to kind of hold everything together. These are good tips, and trust me, these tips come from years of return hassle experience, hassle for the retailer, hassle for the customer, most importantly, and hassle for the shipping company to have to deal with this flimsy thing coming back in pieces.

[SCREEN TEXT: Keep the Boxes!!]

Alan: So, anyway, I hope I haven’t gone off on a soapbox too much there, or given, you know, burned your ears with all this information, but it’s good information, trust me. This is stuff that happens all the time, and we deal with it, and it’s not so simple as just saying ‘Oh, a return policy, I’ll just return it. Well, think about what that entails. It’s not, you know, it doesn’t package itself up, it’s you know, whatever, and keep the boxes. Keep the boxes, until you know you’re not going to get rid of it.

[SCREEN TEXT: 888-259-5380]

Alan: Anyway, OK, so I think that’s about it. Of course, if you have any questions, feel free to call me at 888-259-5380, myself, or my staff will be able to answer any questions for you. You can reach out to us on Facebook, or on any of social media platforms, we’d love to visit with you and answer any questions that you have. We also have a chat feature on our website, and when the store is open, one of my staff will be able to answer your questions through the chat room. So, anyway, we’re always available to you, and we want to help you make the right decision about a massage chair.

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

Alan: But anyway, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com,’ if you found this video helpful, please feel free to thumbs up ‘Like’ us on our YouTube channel, and of course, spread the word about massage chairs, if you don’t mind, through your Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Facebook accounts. We appreciate you helping us spread the word. I hope you have a fantastic day, and I will see you again in two weeks. Bye bye.

Click on the following link to watch this Massage Chair Industry Update on our YouTube channel.

11 Things You Absolutely Need

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY! GET MY FREE REPORT.

11 Things You Absolutely Need to Know Before You Even Consider Investing in a High Quality, Robotic Massage Chair
DOWNLOAD NOW
Massage Chair Relief BBB Business Review
Shopper Award
Since 2005, Massage Chair Relief has been selling the highest quality massage chairs for home and business use. We offer a wide selection of chairs and information to help you choose the brand and model that is right for you
© 2023 Massage Chair Relief. All Rights Reserved
magnifiercross