Sunny Health & Fitness SF-E3862 Magnetic Elliptical

I was able to put this elliptical together within 5 hours by myself. It would've been a shorter time but I didn't find the instructions clear when connecting the arms to the base. So I struggled with that longer than I should have. Then I thought I was in the clear until I got to the foot pedals. The pre-installed screws were screwed in too tight and they were made of a cheap metal. Just using the screw driver provided, destroyed the head of the screw. I was able to easily remove 3 out of the 8 screws using only the tools provided. The other 5 I had to use a wrench of my own along with the screwdriver provided. That method worked on 3 out of 5. The last 2 bent until one broke and the other had a permanent curve making both useless. I need to get replacements. I was able to secure the pedal covers enough so I could still use it until I got the replacement screws. So I moved on to the final step which was connecting the monitor to the base. That was very simple. I plugged in the elliptical and began going through the workouts and programming my weight/height/age etc. Then all of a sudden the screen froze and shortly after a loud piercing beep began, along with a large blinking E1 Error message on the screen. That's right! I never even got a chance to get on this thing before it went haywire. I contacted the number provided on Amazon as a support number for the elliptical but it turned out to be an Amazon call center and not Sunny Health&Fitness. The operator couldn't help me at all with the problem so I had to wait until the next day to call Sunny H&F. I called the next day and got someone right away, but it sounded as if this person was working from home so I didn't feel too secure about the help that I would be receiving. The woman didn't sound very concerned that this product had malfunctioned within a day of me having it. There was no urgency in her voice. She told me that she would start a help ticket for me to "get things going" and that she'd also contact the company to see what trouble shooting steps were available for this issue then she'd get back to me when she received the information, that was Friday around 2p.m. Pacific time. I received an email stating that a ticket had been started for me but there are "higher than usual amount of email inquiries" so it may take a while for someone to get back to me. That was a red flag for me. In the email it explains all the information that you will need to have when someone finally does contact you. I had all that ready but by Tuesday Evening I still hadn't heard back from Sunny H&F. I called them again on Tuesday to see what the hold up was and I was speaking to the same Woman that I spoke to the first time smh. She had no answers for me and told me the same thing that she told me the first time, that she'd call me back once Sunny Fitness provided her with a possible fix for the issue. I asked what the turn around time was for a call back because I didn't want the window for return eligibility to run out. She said someone would get back to me that day. Now it's Wednesday, 1:00 Pacific time and I still haven't received an email or a call from anyone from Sunny H&F. I hate to have to disassemble this elliptical and pack this monstrosity up, then drag it to a shipping company to return it but I will because I spent almost $1000 for this thing and I don't have that kind of money to waste. **Update 12/8/20** Sunny Fitness would not pick up the defective machine without a box however Amazon was gracious enough to pick up the defective machine and issue a new one to me in January of 2020. The new one was still a bit wonky depending on which mode I tried to use, but it was functional and I didn't want to go through the hassle of taking this thing apart again for the 2nd time so I dealt with it. I got on it to workout on 12/2/20 and I was greeted with the loud beeping along with the flashing E1 error message that I experienced with the original machine that was sent to me in December 2019. I contacted Sunny Fitness again and again they would do nothing for me. They told me to contact Amazon. I will NEVER purchase another product from Sunny Fitness ever again and I suggest that nobody else does either.