Treadmill rip off! (Read 2064 times)

I bought a Nordic Track treadmill from Sears in January,( well I purchased it in Jan, but it wasn't actually available until the end of Feb.) we also bought the three year extended warranty. Yesterday the thing starts slowing down, stopping, speeding up in the middle of my workout. Then it just stops. We call Sears, they refer us to Nordic Track. We explain the problem. They tell us to look for a loose wire. There is no loose wire. And then they tell us there is nothing we can do. At that point my DH asks about the warranty and is told that they are voiding the warranty (they said we have it in the garage. Huh? How do they know where we have it? It is NOT in the garage, but they are saying so they can void the GD warranty!) Talk about customer service! edited to clarify the garage thing. DH says they asked him where he was going to store it; the porch, garage, in the house, etc... well currently it is in the house, but it is not working so DH said he was going to put it in the garage- lucky they weren't talking to me I would have said at the dump! So all in all I spend about $1000 for the use of a Nordic Track treadmill for2 months and now I am stuck with a worthless piece of junk!

def. send a letter and a cc: to the pres.

Try the Better Buisness Bureau. They helped me one time with some charges on a cell phone that was incorrect. I called the company and they weren't helpful so I sent an e-mail to the BBB and they contacted the company for me and I received a full refund of the erronious charges and an apology letter from company. No other problems after that, and I've had service with them for at least 5 years now. Don't let these people slide by ripping you off. Sometimes you have to be presistant, but the squeaky wheel gets the grease. HTH.

Try the Better Buisness Bureau. They helped me one time with some charges on a cell phone that was incorrect. I called the company and they weren't helpful so I sent an e-mail to the BBB and they contacted the company for me and I received a full refund of the erronious charges and an apology letter from company. No other problems after that, and I've had service with them for at least 5 years now. Don't let these people slide by ripping you off. Sometimes you have to be presistant, but the squeaky wheel gets the grease. HTH.

All excellent advice. No company can withstand a serious letter writing campaign, some calls to the BBB and the state's attorney general ... and plenty of bad publicity. It may take you a while, but you'll get satisfaction. Start with a friendly letter sent to multiple address (at least the complaint department and the CEO) explaining the problem - and telling them exactly what you'll do if they don't un!#$% themselves. In addition to the above, there are a handful of very good sites online for consumer complaints (Google will help); you can also find out if other people are complaining, and how they solved it. Some people even start their own blogs publicizing their complaint. Such things get attention quickly. In the Internet age, if you're actually in the right, no company can withstand a determined customer. I promise. It just may take a little patience. I'm very surprised you're having troubles with Nordic Track. We've had one for 3-4 years, had at least half a dozen problems, and each time had a technician at our house within 48 hours. They usually subcontract the work, so you might be dealing with a separate company (or more than one).

In the Internet age, if you're actually in the right, no company can withstand a determined customer. I promise. It just may take a little patience.

Unfortunately, Sears has a track record of not caring about their customers and the internet age really hasn't helped at all. The only way to get help from Sears folks is to get a local manager on your side to pull strings for you.

GEORGE BUSH DOES NOT CARE ABOUT TREADMILL PEOPLE!!!

thanks for the chuckles. Of course I should have said the co. pres. LOL

I would go to the store where you bought it (if you bought it on-line go to your local store) Go to there service desk and tell them you want to speak to a manager (not just the person behind the service desk) Demand to speak to a manager if they don't cooperate. You tell him everything that happened and tell him you want to bring it back and get your money back. Tell him at this point you don't even want it fixed. Stand you ground and if says no, tell him you want the next person in charge above him and keep going, all the way to coporate if you have to. In the meantime, still file a complaint with your Sears credit card and try to put a hold on it. PS - Be sure to tell the manager, that you have opened a dialog on this issue on a running website with thousdands of members and people like me have expressed that I will not buy any exercise equipment from sears based on your issue. Who else is in?

hey there, holo! definitely call sears credit... they will put in a dispute for you!! we're having an issue with NT, too where they have decided they will no longer honor their warranty (which, of course, is illegal and against the magnuson-moss warranty act!) i agree that you need to file a claim with the better business bureau... you file with the utah chapter cuz that's where NT/icon fitness is... and you can do it online.. it's rather painless. you can chose to have them respond via email. of course you may not like what the company says at first! i got my response from theim which includes the statement: At this time, we will no longer offer parts or service on the machine that you have. Nor we will replace the machine or issue a refund for the original purchase from Sears. and we, too paid for their 5 year extended warranty! i've been dealing wtih NT for 6 months now (and sears... however sears was decent each time but i was also wthin my 90 return period) we've been through four treadmills, three different models... each of the 3 had different issues (one was DOA: the incline wouldn't work!) anyways.... we can't give up and give in! nordictrack is in the wrong and they can't get away with just refusing warranty service! (and refusing you warranty cuz you TM is in the garage? WHERE does it say ANYWHERE on their site that you can't have their TM's in the garage? sounds like something definitely covered under magnuson-moss... along the lines of when car dealerships try to deny warranty service when your windshield wipers break cuz you didn't change your oil... uhm.... sorry... no connection... it's under warranty!) please keep us posted on how this goes for you! i have a thread over at runners world with a brief... well... not so brief... but still a brief version of the whole order) http://forums.runnersworld.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/974106038/m/9291080374