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Elliptical trainer with good warrenty recs

I workout 6 days a week and have a small home gym.


I bought an elliptical trainer with a 5 year warranty, it went wrong this summer within the warranty period, and it takes them months to fix when something goes wrong as they have to order all the parts in from China, this was admitted to me by the company that do all their servicing as well as head office. Current fault from July wont be fixed until November.


I want some recommendations for brands who will fix equipment quickly if it goes wrong, by that I saw within a couple of weeks, hopefully I am not asking for the impossible here.


I will be spending around the £600-£700 mark. Luckily this is an intermittent fault so I can still use the equipment this time, but if anything else goes wrong and the equipment is unusable, I will be buying a new elliptical due to the fact I use it so much. Any recommendations will be appreciated.

Comments

  • techno12
    techno12 Posts: 734 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 17 October 2015 at 1:43AM
    I had a Kettler machine (their base model, £300 ish) for several years, and although it broke umpteen times over that period (I crosstrain most days) it had an amazing warranty. In that time I had several engineer visits, each within a week or so of the latest internal breakdown. I also ended up being sent 2 complete replacement machines as the main frame broke twice, and was sent several spare parts - even after the 3 year warranty period (the same part kept breaking in the same way due to inadequate welding and would typically last 6 months before snapping)

    Kettler said that their base model was the only one made in China - the (much) more expensive ones are German-made. I think they were implying that those models ought to break down less often!

    Top-notch warranty service from Kettler.

    Anyway, being sick of the breakdowns, I bought a more expensive machine (by Spirit Fitness, around £600). I've had it for 3 years or so now and it hasn't broken down once, despite near-daily use. Amazing, as I've gone through loads of machines over the years from various makes and they all broke within months.

    So, I haven't tested Spirit's 10-year warranty ;-)

    You get what you pay for in the world of crosstrainers it seems.
  • Thanks for that.


    My one with the warranty problem cost £600, so not cheap and comes with a 5 year warranty, and 10 year parts warranty, but as useful as a chocolate teapot it would seem, as I train 6 days a week.


    I will look at Kettler (german made ones) for my next one, and give Spirit fitness a call tomorrow and ask them what the average time to fix their equipment is.


    Thanks
  • Slinky
    Slinky Posts: 11,065 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Can't remember what brand it is (husband uses it) but we bought one via John Lewis that went wrong. Somebody came to repair it, didn't have the right parts, went away and never came back. Couldn't get anybody else out. In the end had to complain right up to top level in JL who in the end sent us a replacement machine of a better spec than the original, which has been fine. I seem to recall the original machine was about £700-£800.

    Make sure you buy the machine from somebody who will give good customer service.
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