Transcript of Video Titled “Massage Chair Industry Update – November 15, 2016”

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Alan: Hi, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com’ and today is our massage chair industry update for Tuesday, November 15th, 2016. And we are gearing up now for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales rush, and from here to the end of the year, it’s quite busy, and the availability of stock starts to decrease substantially with each passing day, whether it be colors, or stock models altogether being back-ordered until the new year. So, if you’re going to get a massage chair, get it soon.

[SCREEN TEXT: Black Friday/Cyber Monday Coming Soon!!]

Alan: Now, we are going to have a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale, which we have every year. It’s a big deal, it’s annual, but I’ll tell you what, if you call me ahead of time, and you want to get a chair ahead of time, and beat the rush, give me a call. You can reach me at 888-259-5380, 888-259-5380, and we can give you what sales we do have available for Black Friday, we’ll make them available to you now. But anyway, just beware that if you’re going to get a massage chair for Christmas, boy, oh boy, act quick, or you might be out of luck. Even after that Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend, it’s very, very busy.

[SCREEN TEXT: Stock Status]

Alan: OK, let’s talk a little bit about stock. Actually, there’s not a whole lot to talk about in the stock department. Human Touch was back-ordered on the Navitas, and the ZeroG 5.0, but those are supposed to be back this week. So, it’s pretty much a moot point to talk to you about it, but just know that stock is pretty good, as far as I’m aware, on most chairs right now, and it will be until Black Friday. This is the time when most companies will load up on their stock, make sure they’ve got chairs available.

[SCREEN TEXT: Ogawa Chair Sale]

Alan: The Ogawa sale is going on right now, it’s going on, and it will be going on until October, or sorry, November 23rd, and then they’re going to be giving us a new sale. It might be the same one, but they’re going to give us a new sale at that time. And right now, the deal is, with an Ogawa Smart 3D, or an Ogawa Active, you will get a free extended warranty, and with the Refresh, you get a free foot massager, but that may change on Black Friday. We’ll keep you posted.

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Alan: You can see our blog, and of course, I would encourage you to subscribe to our – download my free report, you know, ‘The 8 Things You Absolutely Need to Know Before You Invest in a Massage Chair,’ that report, you can download it anywhere on my website, on the bottom – and when you download that report, you’re on my mailing list, and you’ll be sent any updates as far as sales go, what discounts are happening. We might not even be aware of some of the sales until the last minute before Black Friday, and so if you want to be kept up to date, go ahead and download that report, and you can be kept apprised of whatever sales are going on, either through us, that we offer, or that the other companies will offer, like Ogawa, or like Luraco, or like you know, whatever, Osaki, who knows, you know, Human Touch, whatever. Whatever they’re offering, as far as sales for that Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend, we will let you know, just subscribe to my email list, and download that report, and you’ll be on the list.

[SCREEN TEXT: Sale on Human Touch Navitas Sleep – Model to be Discontinued!]

Alan: OK, now, the Navitas, I just mentioned to you that it is in stock now. They have all the colors in stock, but they are going to discontinue that model as soon as that stock is gone, and I don’t know how long the stock is going to last. They just received a new shipment, it might last months, but they’re not going to be ordering any more chairs. So, if you want to get the Navitas Sleep, that’s the chair that has like 36 programs, and it has the calf massage that rolls up and down the sides of your calves. It’s a wonderful massage, I really like the chair, I’m a little disappointed that it’s being discontinued, but anyway, you want to jump in and get on that, and they have a sale on that chair right now. I think it’s $4999 on the Navitas, it’s regularly $5999, but it has been on sale for $4999. So, that’s actually a very good price for the Navitas Sleep, we like that chair quite a bit. OK, now, I had a great question. This is actually a question from my manager, Michael, at my California store. He was asking about the warranty on the tablet on the Ogawa Smart 3D massage chair, and now the Ogawa Smart 3D comes with a tablet. That’s how you operate the chair from, you know, as a remote control, the tablet doubles as a remote control to an app, and we just had one of their reps at our showroom when I was in California last week, and he demoed the Ogawa Smart 3D chair for us, to see how it works, and show us exactly how to use the app. But anyway, Michael asked the Ogawa guy when he was there, if that Samsung tablet also has a three-year parts-and-labor warranty, like the chair does, but we found out it does not. The Samsung tablet comes with a one-year parts-and-labor warranty. If you have a problem with the tablet, it breaks down, you got to go through Samsung to get that replaced. That was a great question, I thought, that I’d never even thought of before.

[SCREEN TEXT: Infinity IT-9800 Now Synthetic Leather Upholstery]

Alan: Now, the IT-9800 from Infinity, this is another question I had from a customer, he had heard that the Infinity IT-9800, which has traditionally been a leather chair, they’re now moving to a synthetic leather upholstery, which means a fake leather. And even though it’s hard for me to tell between real leather and fake leather half the time, this is a question that someone brought up to me, asking if they were going to to switch to a synthetic leather. Well, I called, and found out that they are switching their new stock over to a synthetic leather. So, the IT-9800, which is a Taiwanese-made chair, as opposed to Chinese, or Japanese, or American made, is going to have synthetic leather upholstery, very good to know.

[SCREEN TEXT: Osaki Maxim in Both Showrooms & on Sale at $2895 Until Christmas]

Alan: Now, the Osaki Maxim, I have been talking about that chair somewhat over the last number of updates. We got a new Maxim in our showroom in Salt Lake City, and I just got a new Maxim in our showroom in Southern California. So, if you’re in Southern California, or Arizona, or anywhere in that Southern California area, or close proximity to it, you can go to the showroom and try out the Maxim. It’s a good chair, I really like it, great chair for the money, and we have it on sale for $2895 throughout the holidays. So, it’s regularly $3295, on sale for $2895, that’s a great deal on that chair. We really, really like that chair, it’s a great bang for the buck, as I would say, and that chair, priced at $2895, is until, as far as we know, December 24th.

[SCREEN TEXT: Check Out the Great Review on the iRobotics 7 on our Site]

Alan: Now, I have a customer, and he wrote a review about the iRobotics 7, and I was so impressed with that review, I thought I would just tell you about it. It’s a very, very, very descriptive review, and he breaks down his whole experience of buying the chair, assembling it, putting it together, moving it, and then, of course, using it, and it’s a great review. The review has been posted to my site. Go ahead to Massage-Chair-Relief.com, and go to the Luraco iRobotics 7 page, this is the chair he wrote the review on, and it’s a lengthy review, a great review, pros and cons, I really was impressed with the review. So, I thought I’d tell you about it, because the iRobotics 7 is a very popular chair. This is our top-selling high-end chair, and it’s got some great features, foot rollers, zero gravity, over 100 airbags, like the Inada DreamWave has. It’s made in America, with some imported non-critical components from Taiwan, but a great chair, and that review is a great review, so go ahead and take a look at that.

[SCREEN TEXT: Holiday Chair Shipping Schedules!]

Alan: Now, like I mentioned, we’re getting close to Christmas now, so one thing you need to be aware of are the Christmas shipping schedules, and I don’t know all of them yet. I’ve only received Human Touch’s, and I’ll go over that with you, but there are – I mean, if you want to get the chair by Christmas, you’ve got to make sure that you’ve got your chair ordered in time – and if you’re getting white-glove delivery, well then, you need to be aware of what the white-glove delivery schedule is. And so, like let me, just as an example, now Christmas this year is on a Sunday, so you’re not going to get a chair on the 24th, which is a Saturday, so the latest you can get the chair is the 23rd, for Christmas. Now, let me give you Human Touch’s schedule, and this is a pretty good – and then remember, when I give you the delivery schedules for massage chair companies, these are the guaranteed delivery schedules – it doesn’t mean you still can’t get your chair by Christmas, or by whatever, you know, New Year’s, or whatever, it just means that these are guaranteed delivery times. Now, let me give you an example, for Human Touch, if it’s a business delivery, it has to be shipped no later than Friday December 9th. Also, for residential deliveries, December 9th. So, that is a Friday, that’s the third Friday before Christmas, so you’ve got to order before December 9th for guaranteed delivery. If you want white-glove delivery, it has to ship no later than December 5th, which is pretty much three full weeks before Christmas. Now, white-glove delivery always takes longer, it usually takes two weeks, but three weeks for guaranteed, and the reason they’re giving you these really conservative delivery estimates is because if the chair ships out of California, as does Human Touch, and you’re having the chair shipped to Connecticut, or south Florida, it’s going to take some extra time, and you don’t know how the weather’s going to be, you don’t know if there’s going to be snow impeding the delivery from somewhere between, you know, California and Connecticut, or whatever. So, you never quite know what you’ve got, but three weeks is a fair shake at a guarantee. Now, but I’m going to tell you also that most chairs will deliver, white glove, in two weeks, and most chairs will deliver in one week, for regular delivery. But again, that depends on weather, it depends on any hiccups in the delivery route, it depends on how busy the Christmas shopping is, and as you know, Christmas shopping is extremely busy, and it also depends on where you live. If you’re out in the boonies somewhere, and you’re not near a major hub, you got to allow a day or two, or three, or four for that. If you’re white-glove delivery, you got to allow for at least two weeks, but sometimes if you’re out in the boonies, and you’ve got a shipping company that only goes out to your town once a week, you’ve got to give them time. So, three weeks is a good guarantee. However, if you live in California, in Southern California, where we have our showroom, by golly, you could order, probably the Wednesday before Christmas, and we could get it to you, because we do our own white glove for our local customers, in Southern California. And we can go pick up that chair and bring it to you, if you’re ordering from like Human Touch, or uKnead, or who else ships out of there, Ogawa. So, if it’s shipping out of Southern California, and you’re in Southern California, we can probably get that chair to you a couple of like – you can order within a couple days of the end of that week before Christmas – but I would not be thinking that that’s what you’re going to do. You just want to make sure you get the chair ordered well ahead of time, just so you can avoid the rush, but at the very latest a week ahead. So, like Infinity ships out of Memphis, and out of Seattle, well, if you live in, you know, Washington, or in Tennessee, well, you’ll probably be OK to get that chair within a few days, but if you live anywhere else around the country, you still need a week. Even if it’s shipping to, you know, locally to where we have one of our showrooms. But anyway, that is important, shipping deadlines are important, and again, get on our mailing list, by downloading my free report, ‘8 Things You Should Absolutely Know Before Investing in a Massage Chair,’ I will update you on the shipping/delivery dates, so just so that know. Alright, enough of that.

[SCREEN TEXT: My Rant on Massage Chair “Review” Sites]

Alan: Alright, a couple of things I want to touch on. One is kind of a bone I have to pick, the other one is just good knowledge. The bone I have to pick is this: I get phone calls from people who have been on a review site, quote, unquote, review site, reviewing massage chairs. Now, there are very few, if any, legitimate review sites out there. Most of those review sites, if not all of them, are – I would consider them bogus sites, they’re URLs, or web addresses that are bought from, you know – with a name like ‘MassageChairReviews,’ or whatever it is, and most of those chair review sites will list, you know, top five, or top ten chairs, and some of them, I’ve never even heard of them. They’re no-name brands, or it’s a chair that’s 15 years old, or 12 years old. My goodness gracious, it’s embarrassing, like I read those reviews, and it’s embarrassing, like, the review lists. But invariably, those sites will lead you to another site that is an online retailer, who will try to sell their chair to you, or whatever their chair, whether it’s chair that they’ve imported themselves, which I still consider a no-name brand, if it’s only been less than a year, and they’ve got no history, and there are some – quite a few companies out there that are pushing their chairs that way, but they’ve got – but it’s surrounded, their top five is surrounded by four other chairs, that either we’ve never heard of, or they’re throwing in, like here, it’s just hilarious, like I’ll see, I’ve looked at a couple of these sites, the number one ranked chair is a chair I’ve never heard of. It’s a Chinese-made chair, probably in a small factory in China, that has a high failure rate, and has terrible customer support here in the United States. That’s ranked number one, or two, or three, and then they’ve got a chair like the Inada DreamWave down at number 10, or the Luraco iRobotics 7 isn’t even on the list, or you’ve got the, you know, a good Human Touch chair not even on the list, and I’m thinking ‘Geez, are you kidding me?’ Well, I hate to use the word scam, it’s so harsh, but it’s bogus, and I feel kind of strongly about that. I had someone call me just this morning, asking me about a Panasonic 30007, do you know that chair is like 11 years old? It’s an old chair, it’s a good chair, don’t get me wrong, but it is not one of the top ten chairs out there, and this guy was led to believe that it was. And it didn’t meet his needs, but I was thinking to myself, are you kidding me, like I’m not saying it’s a bad chair, but it’s certainly not in the top 10 sellers. It’s definitely not a top 10 seller, but it’s also definitely not a top 10 as far as modern features, modern technology, as far as, you know, being able to fit a wide range of customers. Anyway, I just – and the guy told me he was on this site that’s a review site – well, a review site, whatever that means to the people putting those sites up. This is not like Consumer Report, where it’s a legitimate publication that reviews all products, and does legitimate reviews. My heavens, I would be very leery of those sites. If you have any questions about them, you call me. I will not lead you astray, and for those of you that have been my customers, or that have contacted me about a chair, I have told many customers that’s a good deal, or that’s a bad deal whether I sell them the chair or not, or whether I even carry the chair, and we will definitely not lead you astray. My mandate is not to try to screw people out of their money at all costs, just to make sure that I make a profit. My mandate is to educate you about what chair is right, and what chair is best for you, and in some cases, it’s been a chair that I have not carried, or it’s a chair at such a good price that I can’t even match it, and I will tell you that. And there’s other retailers out there that are trustworthy and honest, but I would be very careful about some of these websites that are considered, you know, expert resources for you know, the top 5, or top 10 massage chairs. I look at the lists sometimes, and I just shake my head, I just can’t understand how they can get away with putting stuff like that, and then that people believe it, that’s even more hilarious.

[SCREEN TEXT: 888-259-5380]

Alan: But anyway, I’m sure I’ve offended somebody in this little rant, I don’t mean to offend people, but I do mean to protect you, and make sure that you’re not getting led astray, or messed up, or whatever, and pardon my vernacular. Sometimes it’s a little coarse, a little rough around the edges, I’m a Canadian occupier, that’s just who I am, so I hope I haven’t offended anyone. But if you have any questions, just give me a call. You can call me at my toll-free number, 888-259-5380, and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have. You may not believe me, you may think I’m full of BS, and that’s fine too, but I’ll be as honest with you as I can, and not lead you astray.

[SCREEN TEXT: Warranty Talk]

Alan: And the last thing I wanted to talk about a little bit – maybe we’ve gone too long today – but anyway, I’ll just go on a little bit longer. The warranty explanation, this is something that creates more confusion in the minds of people, almost as much confusion as the fake review sites, but I’m just going to give you an overview of what the warranties are. Warranties will either be one year, or three years, parts-and-labor, in-home warranty, pretty much every massage chair company has a one, or three-year, parts-and-labor, in-home warranty. The only company that I can think of that does not have a parts-and-labor, in-home warranty would be Panasonic, because they don’t do in-home repairs, they do – you have to have your chair picked up, and brought to an authorized service center to be repaired, if there’s an authorized service center near you – but all the rest are in home. Now, the Osaki Dreamer has a two-year, parts-and-labor warranty, but that’s the only other exception that I’m aware of is a two-year, parts-and-labor warranty, other than one and three. The Japanese, and American chairs, and the Ogawa Smart 3D have a three-year, parts-and-labor warranty. Now, some of them have additional parts warranties, so most of the Chinese chairs will have one year, parts and labor, and then a second year of parts only, and some companies will have one year, parts and labor, and three years parts only. So, you have an additional two more years, above the parts-and-labor year, of just parts, and I can think of Human Touch that does that with like their Navitas, and their new Novo XT, and the uKnead Lavita chair has a one year, parts and labor, three years parts. And then most of them have a structure warranty, which is either a third year of structure only, or a fourth and fifth year of structure only, and those chairs I just mentioned to you that have one year, three years, parts and labor, and parts, have usually the fourth and fifth year of structure coverage. The one year, parts and labor, with the second year of parts, usually have a third year of structure coverage. So, it’s either one, two three, or one, three, five. Now, people will say – oh, and the other exception to that would be Panasonic, and Luraco, they have a three-year, parts-and-labor warranty, with two more years of parts coverage – now, some people will tell you ‘Oh, this company told me that I have a five-year warranty with the Ogawa Smart 3D,’ or ‘I have a five-year warranty with the Human Touch Navitas chair.’ Well, people are led to believe they have five-year, parts-and-labor, in-home coverage, that is not what you have. You have five years, limited warranty, so there’s a parts-and-labor, full warranty, and then there’s a limited warranty, which is one, three, five, or one, two, three, or three and five, or whatever. So, make sure that you are clear on what that coverage is, if someone tells you ‘Oh yeah, you got a five-year warranty.’ Well, people might think that’s five years, full, parts-and-labor coverage, and nobody really offers that, and if they do, it’s usually a small, or a no-name brand company, and you know, buyer beware. OK, so that’s one thing to be aware of. The second thing is that most of the companies will offer you an extended-warranty offer, so you can buy one or two extra years of parts-and-labor coverage. So, a chair that has a one-year, parts-and-labor coverage, now you can add one or two more years, so now they have two or three years parts-and-labor coverage, still has that extra year of parts, and the extra year of structure. Or in the case of like a one, three, five, you’ve got one year, parts and labor, with one or two extra years, so now you’ve got two or three years parts and labor, and now you still have another year or two of parts, and another year or two of structure. It just adds on to the existing warranty tree. Now, so here’s another thing that gets a little confusing. If you’re told, by a retailer, that you can buy a five-year extended warranty, you cannot buy a five-year, parts-and-labor extended warranty. Like Inada advertises it as a five-year extended warranty, I believe Human Touch also advertises it as a five-year, premium warranty, extended warranty. It does not add five years to the warranty, it makes it a total of five years, parts and labor, that’s what it does, and so extended warranties can be deceiving and confusing as well. So, just be aware of that, that’s something that’s confusing to customers. They buy the chairs, and they don’t know they were misled, until the chair breaks down one, two, or three years down the road, and then it’s too late. There’s no recourse, and you’re kind of stuck with whatever the warranty is. Of course, we offer a free Peace-of-Mind-Lifetime-Labor warranty, that’s important to know, and you might want to just read the conditions on our website, if you want to get more details on that. But anyway, OK, I’ve ranted enough today. That’s pretty much it. That’s our massage chair industry update for the week of November 15th. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call me. I’m always available, and if I’m not available my guys at the showroom in California are available. We’ll make sure that you get your questions answered. If you found this video helpful, please feel free to thumbs up ‘Like’ us on the YouTube channel. And of course, if you like this video, spread it around, you know, on your social media platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Twitter, whatnot, help us spread the word about massage chairs. Well, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com,’ and I will you see you again in two weeks. Bye bye.

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