Elliptical Horror Story

It’s difficult making a selection among all the elliptical machines available and finding one

a) where the elliptical movement is good
b) which fits your budget
c) that feels sturdy enough for the amount of punishment it’s going to take

But anyway, you visit stores, you look online and finally you make a choice. You get your elliptical trainer delivered and it appears just fine. Your fitness program begins in earnest - you don’t use the machine as much as you expected but you ARE using it… and then within a few months things start to go wrong.

The elliptical movement is not as smooth as before, there are noises coming from the machine, and then after a little while you can’t use it at all.

Then you’d expect warranty and customer service to take over when you have problems with a purchase as large as an elliptical trainer wouldn’t you - I mean these things are not cheap - over $1000?

Well, you might be wrong.

Read the problems one reader encountered with his NordicTrack elliptical.

What should you do if you’re thinking of buying an elliptical?

Read our independent free elliptical buying guide
Take a look at our reviews of ellipticals and best buys

There was a fair warning of problems in our review of the NordicTrack but unless you happened to see it before a purchase how would you know?

I have to say that NO machine is guaranteed to be error-free but with purchases of large fitness equipment like an elliptical trainer you do want to see the backup of great customer service who will look after you if you hit problems.