Frequently Asked Questions
ANSWERS
Our site uses the latest in encryption technology through our card processor Paypal Payflow, one of the largest online card proces sor in the world. Paypal Payflow secures more than one million servers worldwide. Once you e nter the shopping cart section of the web site, you are transferred to a completely secure server.
If you wish to be like thousands of other people who have ruined their treadmill or at least bought themselves a new walking belt, GO AHEAD! Most of these products contain petroleum distillates that will absolutely ruin the belt. On the other hand, our Treadmill Lube has been specifically formulated to be totally synthetic and petroleum free! Additionally, we have a component in our lube that actually REPELS harmful dirt and dust. If you own a treadmill or if you are planning to buy one, you need to buy some of our World Famous Treadmill Lube TODAY!
Click Here to go to our Treadmill Repair, Troubleshooting section. Another way to reach it is to click on the navigation link on the left side of the page entitled Troubleshooting. In this section, you will find tips and an illustration that will help you adjust your belt.
We have added a new section called "Troubleshooting" that will help you with basic problems. The ones that are the most common are listed in the new Troubleshooting section. Click here to visit the troubleshooting section. If you need in-depth help email us your problem.
For most treadmills on the market, our lube works great. Here is our approved list (if a model is not listed after the name, our lube works on all models): Alliance, Athlon, BH, BladeZ, Bodyguard, Bowflex, Bremshey, CardioZone, Cybex, Endurance, Epic, Everyoung, EVO, Fitnex, Freemotion, Fuel, Gold's Gym, HealthRider, HealthTrainer, Horizon, Image, Ironman, Keys, Landice, Lifefitness, Lifespan, Lifestyler, Marathon, Nautilus, New Balance, NordicTrack, Pacemaster, Powertread, Precor, ProForm, Reebok, Schwinn, Sears, Smooth, Sole, Spirit, Sportcraft, SportsArt, StarTrac, Steelflex, Theradyne, Trimline, Trotter, Tunturi, Universal, and Weslo.
The truth of the matter is all treadmills will require maintenance or repairs at some point. There is no exception to this rule. All must be cleaned and parts wear out on any treadmill. A regular maintenance schedule will keep parts from wearing out prematurely and will help the treadmill operate more quietly and efficiently.
We guarantee that our World Famous Treadmill Lube will help your treadmill or your money back, less shipping charges. So, if you use our World Famous Treadmill Lube and don't like the results, email us and we will refund the purchase price of the lube, no questions asked. If our lube ruins the backing on your belt, we will replace your belt at no cost to you (this won't happen because we have tested it on every type of belt approved). If you need to use this guarantee, simply return the belt to us and upon inspection if the backing is ruined by our lube, we will buy you a new belt. If you have worn your belt out or if you have torn it up by abuse and neglect, don't try to use the guarantee because we have looked at thousands of belts and know what they should look like. If you have any questions on our guarantees, feel free to email us. This guarantee does NOT apply to other lubricants on our site like Performant Lube, Lube-N-Walk, etc.
First of all, we all carry certain biases with us that cannot be eliminated completely, but we try to be objective. Every human is never completely objective but since we don't receive a cent of commission on any treadmill we recommend, we don't have a good reason to be biased in any manner. DISCLOSURE- Beginning on November 18, 2016 we are participating in Amazon's affiliate program. To put the public at ease and to answer any question of objectivity, we will allow any treadmill or elliptical company to hire an outside, qualified accounting firm to audit our books and personal bank records to prove we don't get paid a dime for the ratings. We have made this offer for nearly 15 years and no one has taken us up on it but contact us if you want to take us up on this offer or if you want more information.
In the interest of full disclosure Treadmill Doctor does allow advertising on our website- we started doing this 15 years ago. Companies that manufacture fitness equipment, online retailers, and others all pay to advertise on our website. To find out more information please look at the information page for our Sponsored Link Program. Treadmill Doctor advertising is Pay-Per-Click (PPC) just like the ads that you find on Yahoo and Google. They are also clearly denoted by the term "Sponsored Link" located by each ad. This advertising is how we pay for the reviews. We also do consulting work and have done so for more than half the entire fitness industry. Since we have our finger on the pulse of what consumer's want, many factories come to us so we can help them connect better with customers. We also do web consulting, user testing, backend system analysis, implementation, and management, and parts pricing.
How can you stay in business if your main product is FREE? How do you make a living? Our reviews are the main reason people visit our website, but the main way that we make our money is through the sales of replacement parts and accessories for fitness equipment in general and treadmills in particular. This accounts for over 90% of our revenue. The remainder of our revenue comes from advertising, back-end services, consulting, local service, and web management.
As with all internet sites, the name of the game is to attract more viewers. We originally had planned to charge a nominal fee for the service, such as $19.95 (which would be a bargain) but we decided that to attract the number of visitors we need, we decided to provide this service for free. We hope that you will tell your family, friends, and others about this site when you see how good the advice is!
Our reviews are more complex than simply giving an opinion on a machine so they take time. Most representative treadmills are disassembled and studied then reassembled and operated before we provide any opinion on them. For this reason, if you cannot find a review online, it is either in process or we won't be reviewing it at this time. We are always open to suggestions but we cannot review every model due to time, money, and other limitations.
What are your standards for rating treadmills in your Home Treadmill Review section? First understand that these ratings are only our opinion but we have been in the treadmill business for over 100 years collectively, so we know how a treadmill should be built and it is not easy to fool us. Here they are: 1) WALKING AREA should have at least a 18" x 52" surface to rate AVERAGE. A larger belt is not necessarily a good thing. Get a belt large enough to make sure you won't have any problems. Don't get more size than you need because the larger the belt, the more strain is put on the drive system. We are now down rating treadmills with larger belts on terms of reliability so this category doesn't have a large amount of weighting. 2) POWER should have at least a 2 HP continuous duty motor without any monkey business to rate AVERAGE. Motor rating is one of the most fooled with areas so you would be wise to not take the advertised motor rating seriously. 3) CUSHIONING should be at least as forgiving as a soft track and have a stable construction to rate AVERAGE. The core components of the cushioning system should also be durable. Some very soft systems have proven to fall apart rather quickly. 4) RELIABILITY requires the COMPANY to have a track record of only one breakdown per 5 years with a 2 person family using it 5 days per week to rate AVERAGE. Companies without a track record will automatically see a reduction in their reliability rating. We don't want you to be the lab rat. 5) NOISE LEVEL requires the treadmill to be in our walk testing approximately 62 dBa to rate AVERAGE. 6) QUALITY of components and manufacturing should be equal to a Horizon LS780T to rate AVERAGE. 7) VALUE should be that the customer doesn't pay extra for features or for a brand name to rate AVERAGE. 8) WARRANTY should be at least Lifetime frame, 3 years all parts, and 1 year labor to rate AVERAGE.
As some of our customers have noticed we have changed the scoring on our reviews from the words AVERAGE, GOOD, POOR, EXCELLENT, and BELOW AVERAGE to a numerical scoring system. So people are wondering how the scoring works. Well here it is: 1 = POOR, 5 = AVERAGE, & 10 = EXCELLENT. Other users have also noticed that our numerical scoring system is not simply and average of the numbers. That is correct! We use a weighted scoring system that places more emphasis on some factors over others and NO we do not reveal our weighting system. The reason is that we have multiple copycat websites now trying to imitate us. Giving up our weighting system would be like giving up the secret sauce!
We purchased a local commercial equipment sales company on October 1, 2005. We ended offering commercial equipment in early 2007 but there hasn't been a large demand for commercial reviews. We do NOT sell any home equipment nor do we sell commercial equipment any longer. You need to have a local company to service your equipment, especially with commercial equipment.
The good news is that if you don't like the information we provide, you don't pay for it. If you will notice, the Treadmill Doctor does provide some basic guidelines for purchasing a used treadmill. The reason that we do not provide advice on all the models out there is because there are simply too many models to cover. If you ask for a specific model, we can provide the information for you for a small fee, but we are focusing our attention on new models at the present time.
At one time, we did charge for service advice but we had few takers. We do ask that if you benefit (and we can literally save you hundreds of dollars) that you make a small donation to help keep the information flowing- and give us some beer money. The donation button is located on our Troubleshooting page.
TreadmillDoctor.com, Inc. has the reserved trademark rights to TreadmillDoctor.com, Doctor Treadmill, The Treadmill Doctor, World Famous Treadmill Lube, The Treadmill Experts, GymTough Mats, GymTough Belts, Treadmill Shopper, Used Treadmill Shopper, Web Service Saver, and the TreadmillDoctor logo. TreadmillDoctor.com also has exclusive license to use other trademarks as a regular course of our business on the World Wide Web.
No. The pamphlet simply tells you how to best care for your treadmill. Items such as where to place it, electrical needs, cleaning needs, etc. are included but your owner's manual will have items that are much more specific to your model treadmill such as how to center the belt, troubleshooting, etc.
Will the Treadmill Buyer's Guide Pamphlet tell me which treadmill to buy? In a manner of speaking, yes but it will not give you a make and model number. Those change with the times and your circumstances. The guide gives you specific principles that will help you select the right treadmill or elliptical for you. Our guide also now includes a new pull out quiz you can take to help narrow down the selection for you and will tell you what price range to shop in. If you want to take a look at our selections for the best treadmills and ellipticals in each price category, check out our 10 Best Treadmills link at the top of the page.
Thank you for your order. We attempt to ship your order as quickly as possible and most in-stock items ship the next business day for all orders received by midnight CST on any business day. Due to drop ship requirements of some of our suppliers, Canadian orders may require additional lead times before an order ships. On Canadian orders, prices include the product and shipping. Brokerage, customs, duties, taxes, etc. are the responsibility of the buyer. Select products may be drop shipped or placed as a special order. This will add additional handling time to your order. If you have placed a drop ship or special order via our website or one of our online channels we will contact you via email to notify you. If you placed the order via our call center you will be notified at the time of purchase. Special order items are non-returnable. Products may be returned in NEW CONDITION within 30 days of invoice date for a refund or exchange. The refund will be based on the PURCHASE PRICE of the item in question and subject to a 20% RESTOCKING FEE. The refund does NOT include shipping charges. All returned items will be charged a $7.50 USD shipping fee to cover the cost of the original shipment. It is the customer's responsibility to contact our customer service department if a defective or incompatible product is sent in order to get a replacement. Do not go out and buy the product from another supplier before contacting us! Otherwise you will still be subject to the Restocking Fee! We quickly take care of any warranty issue. When returning an item make sure to include a copy of the original invoice sent to you inside the package and a note explaining the issue. If your shipment came directly from the manufacturer send it to OUR warehouse, not theirs, if you send it to anyone except us we will be unable to credit anything to your account, because we obviously do not have your part so there is nothing that we can credit, and many factories, unlike Treadmill Doctor, do not accept returns. Please insure your shipment. We are not responsible for damaged, lost, or misdirected shipments. Package your return carefully to avoid damage. Credit card payments will be refunded via a credit that will appear on your statement upon a successful return. This credit can take 7 business days to post to your statement; this depends on your bank or Credit Card Company. Check and money order payments will be mailed a check within 7 business days upon a successful return. If you have any questions regarding your order, feel free to email us at returns@treadmilldoctor.com.
All parts come with warranties from the manufacturers of at least 30 days. All our belts, except for padded belts for Icon machines, have a 1 year warranty. Icon padded walking belts have a 30 day warranty. The warranty covers defects in materials and workmanship but does not cover defects occurring as a result of abuse, neglect, intentional harm, vandalism, acts of God, etc. For electrical parts, the warranty does not cover failures arising from incorrectly connecting the part or failures arising from not correcting the underlying problem which is typically stems from worn drive system parts like a belt and/or deck.
Since we are a fast growing company, we regularly have employment opportunities in our Memphis office and warehouse. If you are interested in employment with TreadmillDoctor.com, please email us at jobs@treadmilldoctor.com. We offer competitive pay, performance bonuses for many jobs, health insurance, disability insurance, a 401k plan, and other benefits including paid vacation time. We are currently hiring for positions throughout the USA. Contact us if you have experience with electricity, fitness equipment repair, and have great communications skills. For more information about these positions please contact jobs@treadmilldoctor.com. TreadmillDoctor.com is an equal opportunity employer and we do not discriminate on the ground of race, color, religion, sex, marital status, age, handicap or national origin in the hiring, retention, or promotion of employees; nor in determining their rank, or the compensation or fringe benefits paid them.
For these types of issues we have developed the Treadmill Doctor Online Customer Service Center. You can get there by clicking the ?Login? button at the top of the page and then entering your email and password. Once you have logged on click the ?My Account? button that appears at the top of the page and you will be directed to our Online Customer Service Center. Form there you can use any of the links there to get any information you want regarding your orders.