Ps to those many many owners who had sheared bolts, you can drill a pilot hole with a cobalt drill bit, the use a left hand drill bit (comes in a set for removing broken bolts) to extract the broken piece. Good luck.

The repair system is as you described … call about the problem, they diagnose over the phone, they send a part, repairman arrives and then maybe he can fix the machine or maybe he can’t. So then maybe he must order more parts which can take additional weeks of waiting and rescheduling. This was repeated time after time for many different problems.

I had a great repairman (they are not IconFitness employees but independant in your area) but he could not understand Icon’s system. We finally agreed they would never replace my machine but just keep sending parts like they were doing (often these didn’t fix the problem so I accumulated a small inventory of replacement parts) even if it didn’t fix the problem while the machine was in warranty but just slow the process down as much as possible to minimize losses. Evidently, sending out a new replacement machine is such a big expense to them that they would rather keep sending parts even if it doesn’t fix the problem.

I work from home so I had time to make the calls to their customer service center … some there were poor and some were good … just like at any customer service center … but the waiting times were often incredible to speak to someone … sometimes 45 minutes to an hour. Fortunately, I had a speaker phone and could work at my computer while on hold.

2 issues were never fixed … I couldn’t move the stride control knobs without moving the machine to get my full weight into it since they were almost impossible to move in and out … evidently they were not milled properly. They replaced all parts related to this issue but to no avail. Also, there was a horrible clanking sound for most of the year … I mean really loud. They replaced all relavant parts … twice … with no impact.

There were many other problems but these were repaired.

To be fair in these comments, I must report that after a year I was given the choice of a full refund (I also had purchased the longest warranty available) of purchase price and warranty … but I spent many hours every month calling, checking on parts, setting repair visits, etc. Of course I took the refund.

Additionally to be fair, I did locate another owner who had as bad as an experience as I had and he said his local technician said that in about 200 service calls on Icon products in their region only about 4 were lemons like mine (and his).

I have now down enough research from forums and blogs to know that all ellipticals can have problems and I have read of companies that would not provide a refund like I’ve received. I was also allowed to keep the old machine even though it was termed “non-repairable” but would have to disasemble it to remove it from the room it is in (after the machine is put together it is wider than most doorways).

My only advice is don’t rush into a purchase and don’t believe the testimonials on any IconFitness web site … look for independant sites and understand that Icon has their own staff also making comments on these independant sites too. Good Luck to All.