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The Top Five
Essential questions you should ask when buying fitness equipment
Ask yourself the following questions and read our expert trainer, Andy Hansen's comments. If you have any further questions or want to ask more information please use the form below.
1. What are YOUR health and fitness goals?
People often get so caught up in finding the best deal or the latest quick fix that they forget the most important question – “will this help me achieve my health and fitness goals”. The cheapest deal will often end up breaking after 3 months, or worse still, have little to no benefits towards your health and fitness goals. Stop and remind yourself at every step what you want to achieve and ask whether or not the product or package you are looking at will be the best to achieve those goals.
2. Am I getting the best advice from a qualified health professional or am I just being pushed towards what ever the sales person wants to sell?
You should always ask the background of the shop assistant/online assistance. Health advice from a sales person with no expertise in health and fitness is about as useless as an ab machine that claim to give you rock hard abs in just 3 minutes a day. Also make sure that the shop assistant has your best interests in mind. If all they do is talk about their products and don’t ask about you, your goals, your current fitness level etc, then it is safe to say that they are more interested in selling their products then helping you achieve your goals.
3. Is the importer a reputable and established company or just a ‘container in the back yard’ trader?
It is getting easier and easier to import products from overseas. What this means is that it is very easy for someone to bring in a container of cheap, poor quality products, sell them off through easy retail avenues such as trademe, and then disappear or re-brand when customer complaints start flooding in. To ensure the companys products are of a high quality, and to ensure that the company is going to be around when you need them for after sales support such as servicing, repairs and product advise, check the following things: How long has the company been established; do they have a fixed, long standing business address or are they just operating under a P.O Box number, or worse still, no address at all; do they have an 0800 number that you can call, and are they there when you call, or is your only communication through an online, nameless enquiry form.
4. Warranties
Many exercise equipment retailers offer vague warranties that over promise and under-deliver so there are a couple of important things to check.
Full warranty or ‘back to base’ warranty?
Does the warranty cover parts, labour and travel? Many online equipment websites only offers back-to-base warranties. This means that if something breaks you have to pay to have the machine transported back to wherever the company is based. For example, to transport an assembled treadmill from Wellington to Auckland would cost over $400.
Waiting time for repairs?
Does the retailer guarantee to fix any fault within a certain period of time? It is not uncommon for a retailer to make you wait months while they order parts from overseas and then arrange someone to repair a product. A professional exercise equipment supplier will have a full stock of parts on hand so as to be able to repair any fault within 7-10 working days. Unfortunately this is the exception, not the norm. An established, service orientated supplier will have a nationwide service team to guarantee a speedy service.
Is the warranty all inclusive or selective?
Does the warranty cover the entire machine or just certain parts. Often you will receive extended or even lifetime warranties on the most reliable parts, such as the motor and the frame, but very limited warranties on the more temperamental parts such as the electronics. If extended warranties are specific to only certain parts then there is reason to be concerned about the quality of the parts that aren’t covered.
5. Is there a qualified health professional that I can speak to regarding either the equipment or my exercise program after I have purchased the machine?
Purchasing exercise equipment is all about achieving your health and fitness goals. Do not under estimate the value of having someone in store who is qualified to design a program for you and answer any health related questions you may have. Having someone to help and support you greatly increases your chance of success, and achieving that success is the reason why you are buying the equipment in the first place.
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