Icon Health & Fitness ripoff NordicTrack SL710 Completely Useless recumbant exercise bike and unsympathetic customer service people Logan Utah

I purchased this piece of junk in August 2004 on the advice of my physical therapist (I've had 3 back surgeries and have gained 100+ pounds as a result of this) because he said it was probably the only exercise I could do for awhile.

After surviving the worst hurricane season Florida has seen and getting the house back in order I started exercising faithfully every day sometime in November. Each week I would get a little stronger and increase the resistance level by 1.

Fast forward to the end of January 2005 - I'm up to a daily resistance of 7 for 45 minutes. It starts slipping then totally breaks with this horrible grinding sound. After waiting on hold 30+ minutes with Icon Health I get disconnected. I called back and got someone after only another 15 minutes. I explained the problem and they said they would order replacement parts and after they arrived I was supposed to call their installer to arrange to have the bike fixed. The parts came after a week (hub/axle, pulley, and frame bearings) and I was up 5 pounds after not being able to use the darn thing. Once I arranged for installation the tech came out and told me that there was a problem with this particular part, NordicTrack was aware of it and had made adjustments to the part. I believed him. He said he had never been to the same job more than once in a year.

Fast forward TWENTY DAYS. After reconditioning myself back up to a resistance of 7 for 45 minutes the exact same thing happens. After waiting on hold for yet another 30+ minutes I get disconnected AGAIN (seems to be a pattern.) and finally get someone after another 10 minutes (at least it was quicker this time). I explained that I was terribly annoyed that this had happened AGAIN and demanded to know what they were going to do about it. Their answer was to send out parts; actually it was just the hub/axle this time.

I lost another week of not being able to use the bike while I waited for parts & installation and gained the same 5 pounds I had just been able to take of in the TWENTY DAYS I had been using the bike again. They also sent out another repair tech than the first time. Maybe that's why the first guy had never been back to a job more than once in a year - they keep switching repair companies.

Fast forward ELEVEN DAYS. After reconditioning myself back up to a resistance of 7 for 45 minutes the exact same thing happens. After waiting on hold for yet another 30+ minutes I get disconnected AGAIN (yes, there is definately a pattern) and finally get someone after another 25 minutes (maybe they knew it was me again and that I was extremely pissed off). I explained the problem as patiently as I could (NOT easy to do at this point) and the girl's answer was that they could send parts again.

I screamed NO into the phone and demanded a brand new bike in a different model that wouldn't break. She said she would "try" to get the process started for me. I then demanded to talk with her supervisor. I was placed on hold while she got her supervisor off another phone call.

The supervisor wasn't much more help than anyone I had already talked to. Basically I have to send them the receipt and it will take "about a week and a half" for them to review the claim and get me a new bike. I asked what the hell I was supposed to do in the meantime and she said she didn't know. I asked if I should join a gym and send them the bill and she said that wasn't possible.

I asked if I should purchase another bike and get reimbursed and she said that wasn't possible. I asked if I should just stop eating for the next 2 weeks while this got resolved because I was sick of gaining weight because I couldn't use their product. She didn't have an answer for me except that she would "try" to have my order expedited. I told her I would fax the receipt within the hour.

Before I hung up I asked if the warranty on the new bike would be for the full year and she told me no, it would pick up where the old bike left off. I told her absolutely not, not with their track record and that I wanted a full year. She told me it wasn't up to her and that I would have to take it up with the people who would arrange for the new bike.

I wish I had known about this site last August or I never would have purchased this piece of crap. Now I have to sit around another 2 weeks and gain even more weight while these uncaring unsympathetic people decide what they want to do. I can only hope that whatever they replace this thing with lasts long enough to at least lose the extra weight I will have gained.

Jennifer
Palm Bay, Florida
U.S.A.