My husband and I have been considering installing a swimming pool and possibly a spa for awhile. We saw an ad on the Litehouse website advertising a "Tent Sale" at their Sandusky location only. The sales ad boasted clearance pricing on scratch and dent as well as showroom model patio furniture, spas, swimming pools and grills.
My husband and I looked at Litehouse stores before and had talked with the sales people about different models of pools as well as spas. Nothing was on sale at that time and we had been waiting for a sale to arise to take advantage of the best price. We called and spoke with an associate who assured us that there were spas marked down by $1000 and a few marked down pools.
We drove a hundred miles, expecting to find the great prices that were highlighted in the advertisement. We even arrived just as the sale was opening, hoping to get the best selection. However, we were sadly mistaken when we arrived.
There was a tent in their parking lot with only 2 spas, still boxed and wrapped in plastic and a patio table. One spa looked as if it had been used, with white residue all over the inside. There were no swimming pools, grills, or other spas or patio furniture.
We went inside, and looked around for awhile at the spas and pool that were inside. We were soon approached by a sales guy asking what we were looking for. We started with the pool and immediately he began trying to sell us the model that was in the showroom with all of the bells and whistles. While Litehouse claims that their prices include delivery and installation, that is not the case. It is added on seperately and not discounted.
After listening to the salesman's speech about the pool, my husband asked where the pools from the Tent Sale were. The salesman said that they had last year's 15 and 18 models whose boxes were damaged, but they were in the "back" and kept pushing for us to take the larger pool, reitterating that it was a great deal. We knew from our previous trips to another Litehouse location, that the price he had given us was the retail price and that it was not a sales price.
We left the store to have a second look at the spas that were outside under the tent. One was clearly damaged, but neither had prices. My husband went back into the store, where he was informed that those were both new models priced at $6999. And, that they did have one scratch and show room model of a completely different spa, again in the "back" (stock room) which was discounted $1000.
For such a big sale, there really was nothing marked down or on sale. Everything seemed to be regular price, or only discounted 20% at the most. Maybe they really did have scratch and dent models that they were hiding in the "back". But they were not for sale apparently.
So, this "Un-Tent Sale" was nothing more than a ploy to get people into their store.
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