It appears as though Smooth Fitness, a 25 year old exercise equipment company has gone out of business, or at least will be filing for bankruptcy.
The online retailer did over 90% of their sales online, and was one of the first fitness companies to switch over to being strictly online. Because they eliminated brick and mortar stores, and the additional staff it takes to run these stores, they could focus on lowering the prices on their equipment.
To read more about the history of this company, check out what the Treadmill Review Guru has to say about Smooth.
Sadly, even though Smooth Fitness has apparently been struggling to meet and fulfill orders for several weeks now, it is only recently that they stopped giving customers the option to purchase their products. The company hasn’t officially said anything about suspending its operations. In fact, the website still looks normal and functioning in all aspects, except for the fact that they have decided to finally change the status on all of their products to be “out of stock.”
One customer who recently bought a treadmill from Smooth got this response about his pending order (full review found here, on Yelp):
“MESSAGE FROM BUSINESS:
Due to financial constraints, Smooth Fitness has suspended operations while we seek new financing. If you’re a customer who has placed an order that you’ve not yet received, we will either be in touch with you via email or post a notice on our web site early next week as to the status of your order. If you own a piece of equipment and have questions or need service, please check back with us next week. If you are interested in purchasing equipment, we ask that you periodically check our web site, http://smoothfitness.com, for availability. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your interest in SmoothFitness products.”
That is the closest thing to a notice of bankruptcy that is available at this point, but hopefully the company will come forward very soon and let everyone know what the situation is.
If you have a Smooth treadmill, there is a good possibility that the warranty will die with the company. This is common in the business world. A lifetime warranty usually means the “lifetime” of a company. In some cases the warranty is transferred over to the manufacturer of the item. If Smooth provides any updates about their company’s status, we will update our readers. It’s always scary when a prominent company in this industry goes under. For now, avoid Smooth and stick to ProForm Treadmills and Ellipticals.
