Transcript of Video Titled “Massage Chair Industry Update – March 18, 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 Monday, March 18th, 2019.
[SCREEN TEXT: My Visit to Human Touch to Check Out the New Super Novo]
Alan: A couple of weeks ago, I went to visit my showroom in Southern California, and when I came there, and when I got there, I also dropped by to visit Human Touch, and had an appointment there to visit with David Wood, the CEO there, and some old friends that I’ve associated with through the years at Human Touch. And they introduced me to the Super Novo, which is their new model, an upgrade from the XT2, the Novo XT2, which is going to be coming out in the second quarter, probably around June, and great chair, a very nice chair, and you can read about it on my last blog post, where I show a video, and I explain the differences between the Super Novo and the Novo XT2, as well as a video that I had taken that was also on our YouTube channel, but I have it on the blog post as well, so you can see the little walkthrough, done by Vicki, about that chair. But anyway, it’s a nice-looking chair, it’s an Alexa-voice-activated chair, they’re calling it a virtual therapist, and it’s pretty cool how it works, but anyway, take a look at that. We’ll have more about that chair as time goes on, and as we get closer to the launch date. They had the prototype in their showroom at the main headquarters in Long Beach, and that’s why I was able to see it, and play around with it, and sit on it.
[SCREEN TEXT: Human Touch Novo XT2 Price Goes Up to $8499 on 4/1/2019]
Alan: Speaking of the Novo XT2, the price has been $7999, and that price will be going up April 1st to $8499.
[SCREEN TEXT: Fake Massage Chair Reviews!]
Alan: Also, speaking of blog posts, I wrote a blog post a couple weeks ago called ‘Fake Massage Chair Reviews,’ and I’ve had a lot of hits on that article, and it’s an article I kind of pet peeves about fake – well, I don’t kind of have a pet peeve – I really have a pet peeve about fake massage chair articles, and these are articles that are either paid, or paid for, or fake. So, in other words, they’re just, somebody hires a company that does fake reviews and they sound very legitimate, and very real, and they use some of the keywords from that company, and so it makes it sound like they’re real customers. There’s an app, and I mentioned this in one of my previous updates, but there’s an app called ‘FakeSpot,’ which will help you to identify on Amazon and Yelp which reviews are considered fake or paid, and which ones are considered legitimate, and the one company that I’m talking about in this video is based on an experience that one of our customers had. I don’t mention the name of the company, but ‘FakeSpot,’ the customer told me about this app, ‘FakeSpot,’ found that 97% of their reviews were fake or paid, and that’s significant because a lot of people depend on these reviews to make their chair buying decisions. And so, if it’s a fake ad, I’m sorry, a fake app, sorry, a fake app, if it’s a fake review, then you are, it kind of leaves you in doubt, or uncertain, or insecure about that decision. So, I find that that app ‘FakeSpot’ is quite a helpful app. It’s really the only way that you can identify them, and recently I saw an article about the government cracking down on fake reviews, where they’re going to try to get rid of them and penalize companies that use them, and I don’t know what, how they will penalize them, and if it’s a monetary fine, or if it’s even something that’s convictable, like a charge, like a crime. But anyway, just so that you know, you can read that article and I talk about a very interesting story in there, about a customer of ours that got mixed up with a company that was kind of, just a little alternative in the way that they handled their chair promotion.
[SCREEN TEXT: I DO NOT GET PAID FOR ANY REVIEW I WRITE OR RECORD!!]
Alan: Also, and speaking of reviews, I would like to mention here that none of the reviews that I do for chairs, or any interviews I do with heads of companies, or any interviews that I do with, you know, any of the features of the chair models that I have, and I have quite a few chair models, and videos that I’ve put out over the years. I have not been paid one cent for any of those reviews or any of those interviews. Those were done of my own volition because I felt like the industry needed some reviews, and some feature highlights, and some chair videos, because a chair, ideally, is something you sit in and are able to experience it, but there’s so few opportunities to do that, and so few places around the country to do that, that we started doing videos back in 2009 to highlight certain features about the chairs. So, even if you can’t sit in it, you get a pretty good idea of what the chair is like, and it would help you make that decision. Well, that has blossomed in to, you know, hundreds and hundreds of videos, but it’s also blossomed in to competitors doing the same thing, and I’m pretty sure, at least I’m pretty sure that even they do not accept money from the massage chair companies to do those reviews. These reviews are pretty much, for me, a labor of love and a labor of trying to help you, the consumer, get the right chair for you, and avoid the pitfalls in the search for a massage chair in this very convoluted industry and market. Anyway, so I receive no money, I wish I received money. Believe me, I wish I received money for it, but I don’t, it’s all on my own dime.
[SCREEN TEXT: My Visit to Health Mate]
Alan: OK, I mentioned to you that I visited Human Touch. I also visited Health Mate, which is another one of our suppliers, they’re also in Southern California, close to our showroom, and tried out a couple new models that they’re working on bringing out right now. We have the HM-5200, which is a 3D L-track with calf rollers, and heated rollers, even though I can’t really feel the heat. It reminds me of the Maestro, where it has heated rollers, but you don’t really feel the heat. It must be a real sub-sensory type of heat, like the old DreamWave had. They said they had heat, but you could hardly feel it, but it was still having the dilation effect of heat on the low back, even though you could hardly feel it. And I have a feeling that some of these rollers are like that, but Health Mate says that the 5200, and I asked them to confirm it with their people in Korea, their factory, or their facility in Korea to make sure that it is heated, and they say yes, even though the one in our showroom and the one in their showroom, I couldn’t feel it. But anyway, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t, it’s just sub-sensory, if there is such a word. If you want a heated roller, you go to like a, if you want a heated roller where you can really feel it, the Panasonic MA73, the Panasonic MAJ7, the Infinity Presidential, all those chairs have heated rollers, and man, you can feel them, it’s warm.
[SCREEN TEXT: Pre-Owned Directory – Great Chairs, Great Prices]
Alan: But anyway, I just wanted to mention that about Health Mate also, and you know, I’ve got quite a few chairs on my pre-owned directory right now, and they’re not all returns. There’s quite a few of them that are floor models because we’re turning them over. Usually, the beginning of the year is when we start to turn over some chairs, and we have chairs like our floor-model Inada Nest, like our floor-model Infinity IT-8500X3, and all of them are at very, very good prices, and oh, we’ve got our floor-model Maestro from our California showroom. There’s lots of good options, and boy, oh boy, if you want to save some money and get a brand-name chair, you know, please feel free to check out our pre-owned directory. And then of course, we have regular sales going on also, like the Ogawa chairs are on sale, the Fujimedic Kumo is on sale, the Dreamer is on sale for $3999, and the Summit for $3999. So, there are lots of good deals, and you can find them on the pre-owned directory. Well, I’m feeling a bit under the weather today, I’ve got a bit of a flu, so I’m not going to go off and pontificate on any particular subject, like I usually do. Go read my ‘Fake Massage Chair Reviews!’ article, I feel like that has a lot of good information in there, and it will help you to avoid the pitfalls of fake reviews, and it’s really misleading because you’re buying a chair under the auspices of reviews that you are led to believe are legitimate and true, when in fact, they all aren’t, and that is a very important thing to know.
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Alan: But anyway, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com’ and if you found this video helpful, please feel free to thumbs up ‘Like’ us on our YouTube channel.
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Alan: And of course, reach out and communicate with us either by our phone, which is 888-259-5380, through chat, through Facebook, through YouTube, through whatever, through our online chat support system. But anyway, feel free to call also and inquire if you have any questions about anything we talked about today. I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com,’ and I will see you again in two weeks. Bye bye.
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