The Five Biggest Mistakes When Buying A Walk-in Bathtub

1. The first mistake is a common mistake. Never get just one quote. Never accept just one source of information. That means shop around. If you call store A, have them come and show you their products and give you their pricing. After store A gives you their estimate, and sometimes a very pushy sign now gimmick, tell them, "thank you very much, but we are still shopping for the best price." Most people understand this part of the process even the salesperson. If they don’t understand that, you do not want their products in your home. They’re looking out for themselves and don’t have your best interest in mind at all. Call around. Search the internet. Try large companies and give the smaller companies a try too. It can be stressful, but in the long run you will know that you have gotten the best deal you could find.

Never ever make your decision to buy with the salesperson in your home. That is the most important issue and you must communicate that with the salesperson so there is no confusion. If you don't say that upfront, once you let a big company with an aggressive sales representative in, no other company will get a chance to give you a price. They won't leave until either you throw them out, or they sell you the tub. They will try every trick in the book to get you to sign a contract that day. They all will claim to have the best tub on the market. They will also all claim that you can’t get their pricing anywhere. Do not listen to it. Make your decision after they have gone. You will see a company’s true colors if you do not sign their contract that day. Here’s an industry secret, once the salesperson cannot get a signature on his contract, the next oldest trick in the book is to have a so called manager or somebody else call and try to save the sale for the salesperson. Don’t listen to them either. You need to make your own mind up after you have seen other products and other prices for similar products. There are no shortage of home improvement companies now these days. If one cannot understand that you might want to look at all your options, they are not somebody you want to deal with. Sales is a tough job but that is not you, the consumer's problem. 

Finally, keep in mind when choosing a company, the ones that have the celebrity spokesperson and the ad on TV every 15 minutes spends 10s of millions on advertising and they have to recover that advertising money somehow. They get that money back by building that into their pricing so give the company who doesn’t advertise on TV a chance.

2. This mistake may surprise you completely. It's whether or not a walk-in bathtub is even right for you in the first place. People make this mistake often due to salespeople not giving them the correct information and misleading people that anyone can just walk right in their tub.

A “Walk-in” tub, as the name implies, requires you to be able to walk. In fact, you need to be able to walk fairly steadily and stably, as many walk-in tubs still have a step you must raise your feet over while you’re entering and exiting. If you have trouble walking steadily and standing back up from a sitting position by yourself then a walk-in shower is a far better option for you. We’d like to point out that Senior Safe Solutions of PA’s walk-in tub does have the smallest step in the industry. All other tubs on the market have higher steps than Senior Safe’s due to their framed design. To see the difference between framed and frame-less tubs please view the video at the bottom of the page. Senior Safe Solutions of PA, as our name implies, places your safety as the most important issue for us. We would not try and sell you a walk-in bathtub if you cannot use it safely.

3. Assuming that large home improvement companies are looking out for your interests. Walk-in bathtubs are becoming more and more common. More and more companies are starting to take advantage of seniors. You should expect a trained professional will study your situation, choose a design with options based upon your needs, and then professionally install and certify the work. There are a lot of steps that go into the process. The company you choose should have your safety and needs first and foremost instead of their sales commissions. Senior Safe Solutions of PA does not have sales commissions. Your safety and needs are job one with us.

4. One of the biggest mistakes many internet shoppers make is to forget to make a diligent search on the internet for feedback on businesses who install walk-in bathtubs. There are several well known companies who have several complaints filed against them. You should take the time to familiarize yourself with consumer websites such as: www.complaints.com and www.bbb.org.

Search complaints.com and BBB.org for the business that you are interested in contacting. Make sure you check them out before you contact any business. Just type in the business’ name and read every complaint you can find. Do not take any one complaint lightly. If there are several pertaining to the same topic you should avoid all contact with that business. At the same time do understand that home improvement companies do have a higher amount of complaints than any other type of business. The number one reason for that is salespeople do not always communicate properly the process of installation and what can and will happen. If the complaints are about salespeople not being respectful, you do not want that company coming to your home. Every person should be treated with respect and especially in their own homes. If companies are willing to hire people who are not respectful of their clients in their own homes you do not want to deal with that company.

5. The worst mistake is believing a salesperson when he or she says; you’re receiving the best product and the best price. A salesperson that works for a commission, and most do, will say or do anything they can to get you to buy that day. They lose money on their commission if they don’t leave your home with a contract so understand that telling lies is not a far stretch for salespeople who work on commission.

One of the biggest lies told is that steel framed tubs are the best on the market. That is simply not true. When a steel frame tub is installed it is adjusted on each end of the frame with a wrench to even out the tub and get the door to seal. What happens is that once the installers leave, you start using the bath. From you using the bath, as it is intended to be used, the frame and tub start to expand and move causing the door to start to leak. The doors on steel frame tubs are notorious for leaking. The last thing you want in your life is a tub with 60-80 gallons of water in it to leak.

We have a video which explains the differences between steel framed tubs and our frame-less design with a Kevlar door. Our bathtub is certified made in the USA and carries a bumper to bumper lifetime warranty. Everything on our tub is covered for life. Please watch the video.