NordicTrack Commercial 1250 Treadmill

My wife wanted a good treadmill anddid adequate research when picking this one out. She has always been thorough in her research when shopping for big items. The NORDICTRACK brand name was a wise selection. As far as I knew they have been in the fitness equipment for decades and are known for quality. It arrived right before Christmas 12/23. As this was her choice for a major gift for the holiday. 12/27 Easily assembled in less that an hour following the video link. Nice tools came with the product and made the assembly easier. She went through startup and couldn't get to the main screen. After 45 minutes of restarts following the prompts to a point where the screen, repeatedly would not advance to the next menu. She reached out to tech support. Several attempts, including a complete reload of software, in a close to 2-hour phone session, all of led to the conclusion that our console (smart screen) was bad and needed to be replaced. The technician informed her that she would receive a phone call or email the next day or Monday on the part being shipped. Never heard back from him. After the weekend, and hearing nothing back, she was ready to ship it back. She has no patience when promises of service responses go unanswered. Right then, she scheduled a return order to send it back. I calmed her down and said let's wait and see what happens. It's the holidays and there may be delays. Throughout this whole time, I received calls from the shipping company and delayed the pick up. I truly believed that NORDICTRACK would come through to service a new unit. This can’t be anything more than a fluke occurrence. 1/2/25 My first call following up to see if there was any progress to our tech support. Spent an hour and eighteen minutes dealing with someone checking, on hold, checking, on hold….”Yes, we see your claim, please hold….parts are not available” “we will let you know” All the time given me on hold was an opportunity to research online a few things. I learned that the president of NORDICTRACK had resigned a few years back. Right around the time there was a class action lawsuit over defective equipment. Also, NORDICTRACK was sold to another company. IFIT/ICON basically. 1/7/25 My next call was just past closing time, oops. 1/8/25 Over my lunch hour, I made 4calls. Total time around 26 min. First to a service rep who was European, I’m guessing a rookie, had trouble with the language, wanted me to troubleshoot the machine like it was a new service call. Through my frustration, I told her this wasn't getting my service claim, which had been in progress with service, any closer to a solution. I fact, it was a setback and I ended the Call. Second one I messed up my choice in automated choices Third call was getting somewhere until he accidentally put me back to a recording explaining all my questions could be answered Through IFIT website. Forth call, was a rep who seemed to be very helpful. Saw the order for a new console, checked availability, said she would expedite the part, and I would see it in a few days. I was elated….for a few days. Then….she asked for photo of the serial number on the frame. I wasnt near the machine. I was sitting in my car on my lunch hour. She gave me an email address to send it to. When I got home, I took the photo, sent it, and got a response that it was recieved. Feeling like I was finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. AND THEN…..nothing 1/14/25, 29 minutes on this call. The rep easily found our service request. I provided the nessecary model and serial number. Put me on hold, and came back to tell me that PARTS WERE NOT AVAILABLE. I finally said. I'm done, cancel all requests. We will be returning the treadmill. Very Disheartening feeling after all the time on hold a various srevice people leaves me feeling like I got played by the whole group of customer reps and that for all the time I was put on hold was nothing more than reaching out to their supervisors and delivering empty promises and deceived me to delay this being resolved. Basically-”tell them we have the parts and we’ll ship it” So I acquired a pallet since the original box was gone with holiday wrappings. Also various shipping supplies and strapping. Bundled everything up tight, Next call that came from the shipping company I set the time for pick up, and sent it back. I gave them far more chances than I should have. And much went further to try to resolve this than my wife wanted me to.