NordicTrack Activation Trouble

We recently acquired a Nordictrack T 6.5 S Treadmill and experienced trouble in activating it, which was ultimately resolved, though with enough problem, that I recommend people not purchase anything from Nordictrack.

One of the key “features” of Nordictrack is that it works with with an “ifit” membership. The console screen that is built-in to the treadmill connects online to content, including coaching, and various “motivational” features. Of course, this service comes with a significant monthly charge, separate from what you pay to acquire the treadmill. Officially, this extra “service” is entirely optional. It gives extra features, but you can use the treadmill in “manual” mode, and use it just like a regular “non-smart” treadmill.

The catch is, Nordictrack goes to great lengths to force people to subscribe to their expensive service. Upon opening the package, I saw a warning message, stating that before using the first time, we had to go to “ifit.com/activate” to activate it. It seemed unnecessary, but not an issue. So, we assembled it, and left that to later.

But, upon visiting ifit.com/activate, we see that there is no mention whatsoever of activating a treadmill. Instead, there’s just a screen designed to sign-up for the ifit service. There’s no option to avoid the service, and activate. In fact, the only mention of “activate” is the option to “activate” an ifit membership. But, we didn’t want an ifit service. Searching for help was fruitless. There’s some mentions online if ending the service, but none of activating the treadmill without starting the service.

The support line naturally doesn’t answer, and puts a person on indefinite hold. The online chat feature, took a long time, and then the person who answered, asked a bunch of questions, including my address, at which point, they bailed, and said I had to call the Canada phone number instead. The American office will help you signup to ifit, but they’ll dump you on Canada to avoid it.

They Canadian number never answered. Ultimatley, frustrated, I went into the ifit signup. It clearly stated that I had to input a credit card, even though there’s a free trial period. There was no option to avoid auto-billing before giving a card. However, I didn’t want to do that. I ignored the direction, and clicked on continue, as though I had filled in the info, even though I left the card# blank (but did fill in everything else). It surprisingly let me in. I then was directed to download the ifit app, which would let me activate the treadmill. I then set the auto-renew to stop on the ifit membership on the web.

That was a lot of bother. I realize I could have just done the sign-up right away. But, I really hated the idea of signing up for something that’s not wanted. I’m sure some people just put in a credit card, and get billed at least once, when they don’t want it. On top of the ridiculous ifit service, there’s also a big push to pay for warranty coverage. It is absurdly overpriced, and charged monthly. It seems clear the treadmill is a loss-leader, used only to sell memberships and extended warranty coverage.

I can not understand why anybody would pay for the ifit membership. If somebody wants to watch recorded videos of coaching, that’s readily available for free on the internet. If somebody wants personal coaching, than it would make sense to actually arrange that separately. There’s no real benefit to all the tracking that’s offered, other than to the advertises that are likely sold all of this private data on users.

So, please don’t buy the treadmill. But, if you do, feel free to click on the Amazon.com (US) or Amazon.ca (Canada) shop now link below. I earn a small commission on purchases via these links.