On December 7, 2010 I ordered a CE-3.6 Elliptical machine directly from Smooth Fitness. At the time of purchase, I was told that the equipment was in stock and that it would be delivered within 7 to 10 days, and would be in delivered in plenty of time for Christmas.
On Monday December 20, 2010, I still had not received the equipment and had not heard a word from anyone. I called customer service who told me that the delivery company had my equipment and they would be calling me the next morning (Tuesday the 21st) to schedule a time on Tuesday or Wednesday to deliver the Elliptical machine. On Thursday morning the 23rd, I still had not heard a word from anyone so I called customer service again. This time, they informed me that the delivery company did not have my entire order and they would not get it until sometime the week of December 26th, and then they would call to schedule delivery. On Thursday morning December 30th they called to deliver and set-up the machine.
Upon assembly, the Elliptical was completely dysfunctional with none of the electrical equipment operational. So they called Smooth Fitness who entered a repair order (#215929) and told them to tell me that someone would contact me. Indeed an independent contract repair service representative did call and came out to evaluate the equipment.
He tested all of the electrical cables and the control panel that operates the equipment and found them all to be defective. He stated to me that he had been run ragged trying to evaluate and repair their equipment and that he had several units with the same issues. He then called the number that he had for Smooth Fitness technical support and reported what he had found. They told him to tell me that they were shipping a complete new set of cables and a new control panel, but they would not ship until Monday January 3rd. He further instructed me to call him to arrange a return visit when the parts arrived. When I got home from work on Tuesday January 4th, there was a small padded envelope in my front door. When I opened it, it was a short piece of wiring and nothing else!
The next morning I called the technical line that was on the copy of the repair order that was left by the repair service and indicated what I had been told and what I had received. After several minutes on hold, the technician came back and stated that yes they had not shipped the right parts. He then proceeded to tell me that I never should have been told that they would ship Monday January 3rd as the needed cables and control panel were on back order and that it could take several weeks even a couple of months to get them in!
At that point I ask to be transferred to customer service who abruptly informed me that there was nothing that they could do about it and that they were doing everything they could. When I expressed a desire to return the equipment, she become very short and hostile and quickly informed me that I would have to disassemble and package the equipment up correctly and that I was responsible for transporting the unit back to the freight terminal or paying them to pick it up, and that I was also responsible for all return freight charges. Now keep in mind that this equipment weighs almost 150 pounds and was shipped in a 2.5 foot x 2.5 foot x 5 foot high carton, and all of the Styrofoam packing material was substantially destroyed when Smooth’s delivery service unpacked and set up the equipment. I told them it was completely unreasonable to assume that an elderly couple who had paid to have the equipment delivered, unpacked and set up could facilitate the return of this equipment. They quickly informed me that that was too bad but that they had no intentions of doing anything different.
So, after ordering this equipment on December 7th, and having the charge hit my credit card on December 9th, I was stuck more than a month later with a completely useless piece of equipment that was now laying in pieces in our rec room!
On January 13th, I decided that enough was enough and that I would make the effort to return the equipment. So I called customer service who informed me that they would have someone call me back. When they did not return my call, I sent an email to
[email protected] and received an auto reply that someone from the returns department would be in contact with me. As expected, that never happened! So I replied to the auto reply indicating that I had not heard from anyone. Several days later, I received a call from Linda at extension 1167 who indicated that she was the Customer Service Manager. She asked what the problem was and I walked her through the entire scenario outlined above. She was very nice and very apologetic and said that she would look into to it and call me back right away. It has now been almost a week since I spoke to her and she has never called me back. Further, when I call her extension, I get nothing but voice mail. I have left messages but have received no response. So now it is January 26th and I still have the equipment laying in pieces in my rec room. TO BE CONTINUED!!!
