Caliber Fitness Solutions caliberfitness.com refused to take responsibility for selling defective product Internet

So far I called the manufacturer directly and sent a follow up e-mail to them with photographs of the defective product design. I also referred them to the negative product reviews that I read for this product on Overstock.com. Those reviews further substantiated my claim that the product's design was defective. It was not simply an issue with the particular bicycle that I purchased.

I forwarded that follow up e-mail to the customer service department of Overstock.com. According to the last e-mail that I received from them, Overstock.com is currently in the process of getting me in touch with a legal representative from their company.

To Mr. Goodrum: I am still willing to communicate with you directly if you are willing to deal honestly with me. I am disappointed, however, that you are still in denial that this product's design is defective. I am also disappointed that you continue to distort the content of the previous communication that we had together.

I just called the number that you indicated. The representative that I spoke to gave me her e-mail address to send her photographs of the defect. I sincerely appreciate your comment, and I hope that it will lead to a quick resolution of this issue. Moreover, it will give the manufacturer the information that it needs to determine whether a product recall is in order. 

I've always enjoyed reading Rip Off Report but this one has to be the most ridiculous things I've ever read.  Its amazing that the OP is complaining to the retailer about his bike when he should listen to what this fellow Melvin is saying and contact the manufacturer about it.  He was even decent about not revealing you name and email address to protect your privacy but you went ahead and put yours up anyway.

I just found the identical product on Overstock.com. When I read the customer reviews, I noted that every customer who has used this product more than a few times experienced the same problem that I had. I just sent an e-mail to Overstock.com to ask them if they could tell me how to contact the manufacturer.

To Mr. Goodrum: For your own sake, I would advise you to contact the manufacturer. Now that I have conclusive evidence that this product line is defective, the manufacturer would have no choice but to take back the defective inventory that he sold you. I would also appreciate it if you could refund my credit card for the purchase price of the defective machine that you sold me. If you agree to do that for me, I will inform the Federal Trade Commission that our dispute was based on a misunderstanding. I will do the same for Rip Off Report.

If you still want to be nasty and unreasonable, however, the three complaints that I issued against you to the FTC will remain as is. My Rip Off Report will also remain as is.

1. Mr. Goodrum's accusation that I called up and harrassed his company staff was completely fabricated. The only person that I ever spoke to was himself. The rest of my communication with the company was via e-mail. Apparently, Mr. Goodrum likes to make up lies when he is caught doing something against the law.

2. To Mr. Goodrum: Engaging in unethical behavior is not called "doing your job."

3. If Caliber Fitness had any integrity, I would never have resorted to issuing complaints against them to Rip Off Report and to the FTC. In fact, this was the first time in my entire life that I have ever issued a complaint against a legitimate business. My advice to Mr. Goodrum is that screwing over your customers will never make your business  succeed.

4. Any other customer who purchases that bicycle from your web-site will be able to press criminal charges against your company for engaging in fraud. Since you were warned that the bicycle is defective, failing to remove it from your inventory and covering up the defect will allow any subsequent purchaser to sue you for criminal fraud. However, since I can't prove that your sale of the defective product to me was done with prior knowledge that the product was defective, I can't file that charge myself. Therefore, you can't accuse me of threatening to bring criminal charges against anyone. 

I've stated before you are free to contact the manufacturer Sunny regarding your equipment for service issues, we simply are not going to intervene on your behalf.  As with any business, our obligation is to deliver your equipment in a speedy manner in full working condition.  We also offer general service to all customers for parts and labor and work on your behalf unlike most companies which do require you to contact the manufacturer directly and don't even answer after the return policy expires. However you abused that courtesy when you decided to make those threats and you know that we're not talking about legal threats. 

You service warranty on your equipment is still available and valid so please contact the manufacturer for further assistance.  If you wish to speak to me directly, you may leave a message at our office number making that request and I call you back.  I would also recommend not putting your personal information and email address online as it could possibly result in spam mail and other attempted matters of fraud.  

Some points that Melvin Goodrum made that are factually incorrect:

1. The machine was not irreparably damaged by the larger screw that I used as a temporary replacement. If I really wanted to, I could get the other half of the screw out with the right tools. However, since the width of the hole for the screw to go in is so narrow, any replacement bolt would be stripped as well. A bolt of that thickness simply can't support the amount of stress that it needs to withstand. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure that out.

2. I actually did contact Caliber Fitness Solutions immediately after the original bolt fell out. The following was the correspondence that I had with Melvin Goodrum when the problem originally happened. According to the date of this correspondence, this correspondence took place on November 13, about a month after I originally assembled the bicycle. Therefore, my recollection that it was only a few days was mistaken. I apologize for that mistake.

Date: Friday, 13 Nov 2009 11:05:08 -0500
From: vince@caliberfitness.com
To: moshe.stempel@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: FW: a few problems with the SF-E805 SUNNY elliptical cardio trainer that you sold me

If you can take a picture of the part that fell out as well as the left pedal support tube to the mail wheel, I'll be able to determine the best course of action to resolve the issue. Do not try to screw that back in as it could possibly strip the bolt.

Moshe Stempel wrote:
Last night the large center screw that connects the left pedal support tube to the main wheel fell out. I kept trying to screw it back in, but it kept coming out again no matter how tight I made it. I used a special tool to screw it in as tightly as possible, but it still didn't help. Do you know what the problem is? I looked at the diagram on page 2 of the manual, but it was so complicated that I couldn't figure out what it was trying to show. The whole base of the machine came already assembled in the mail, so the problem can't possibly be connected to anything that I did when I assembled the other components.

3. The threats and harassment that Melvin Goodrum accuses me of was my threat of legal action in the event that the company refused to offer an acceptable remedy to my complaint. It is only a criminal offense to threaten to bring criminal charges against someone wrongfully. A threat of a civil charge for a violation of the implied warranty of merchantability is perfectly lawful. I refer you to business law textbooks to verify that fact.

Below is the actual product review that he sent posted.  We have highlighted the sections to where it proves that he was not factual in his statements.  We removed his comments because the equipment was damaged due to him putting a larger screw into the assembly.  For privacy reasons, I have deleted his name, email and IP address from this posting. 

Authors Name: 
Authors Email: 
Authors IP Address: 
Product Reviewed: SF E805 Elite Elliptical Trainer
Rating: 1
Review Title: very poor quality
Review Copy:

I have owned this machine for less than three months.
After a few days, I noticed that the left pedal support
tube was not connected well. It was held on by one little
screw, and it kept getting loose. I contacted Caliber
Fitness, and they told me that they would get in touch
with the manufacturer. I sent them an e-mail with a
description of the defective component, but they later
claimed that they never received it. In order that I
would be able to continue using the bicycle in the
meantime, I used a somewhat longer screw that held a
little better. However, as of this morning, that screw
cracked in half. That rendered the bicycle completely
unusable. 

A Caliber Fitness representative told me a few minutes
ago that he would still be willing to replace any of the
original parts free of charge. However, I decided not to
accept that offer, since the bicycle was never made well
in the first place. Therefore, while Caliber Fitness
technically honored their warranty, I still got screwed. 

My advice: Do NOT purchase this product. It would be a
complete waste of your money. 

My name is Melvin Goodrum, Owner of Caliber Fitness Solutions.  This customer had left out the detail that he had subsequently damaged his machine by using a much larger bolt than the manufacturers bolt which ultimately caused the bolts to be stripped from the machine.  He did not contact us until this had already happened where we could have sent him the proper replacement bolt for his bicycle  This incident also did not happen within a few days but in fact 3 months after he had used the bicycle so we are not sure as to the reason why the original bolt fell out and we were never given an explanation as a bolt simply does not fall out of a machine for no reason.

Even though he had damaged the bicycle which would not be covered under any warranty, I did make an attempt to contact the manufacturer to see whether we could send him a new assembly or a replacement bike.  This would have been at our expense however the following day I received word that this customer had called in and harrassed and made threats to our company staff so ultimately I had no choice but to end communication with him and refer him to the manufacturer directly as I certainly don't my staff to be threatened just for simply doing their jobs.

In all the 9 years we've been in operation, we've already worked with our customers to provide quality sales and service for all equipment that we sell.  If you ever have a problem with any type of equipment, its always best to contact the the company first rather than trying to fix it yourself.  Its also a good idea not to make threats against anyone as it is a criminal offense and you can be prosecuted for it. 

He is free to contact the manufacturer and request to have a new assembly sent to him or other option however for the reason that I'm mentioned above, we had no choice but to end communications with him due to the threats to our company staff

I just checked on the negative review that I posted on caliberfitness.com, and I noticed that it was "mysteriously" deleted. Therefore, not only did this company blatantly violate the implied warranty of merchantability, but they even tried to deceive other consumers by deleting my review. This is just another example of how unscrupulous this company is.