Sports & Fitness Outlet

After much thought, I decided I must post this to protect anyone planning on doing any business with Chuck and Julie Perroni , owners of Sports and Fitness Outlet, 6508 S. 27th Street, Oak Creek, WI. These 2 do business as Sports 1 Inc and at one time had a Play It Again Sam?s franchise but, lost it. My wife and I were shopping for an elliptical machine and had been checking with a series of different retailers. We visited Sports and Fitness Outlet and were initially impressed with Julie Perroni?s talk of customer service and how big name retailers can?t offer the personal service she and her husband do. She gave us the ?small Wisconsin business line? and told us how she and her husband like to treat customers as friends. She assured us they would beat any price in town. Oddly, the prices on their equipment can be negotiated. On December 9, 2012, we paid over $1,000 for what we thought would be a brand new, never used AFG 3.1 AE elliptical. We bought the machine from Chuck and were told we could not pick it up till Wednesday the 12th and that Julie would be there and another male employee to help load the machine in our SUV. Wednesday came, Julie was there but, no help to load the machine. I began to assemble the machine on Saturday, December 15th. After opening the large box, I noticed some pieces loose in the bottom of the box. Not giving it much thought, I began to assemble it. ½ way through, I found broken pieces, missing pieces and a metal arm that was machined wrong so the connecting bolts would not fit. I called the shop and got Chuck Perroni who offered to order replacement parts for me but, I needed to come back to the shop and show him what was wrong. On a cold rainy Saturday afternoon, I drove the 15 miles back to Sports and Fitness Outlet and asked about getting replacement parts from another machine in stock. Chuck told me they had no more? (I later found out that was a lie.) I pointed out the exact parts I needed ? broken, missing and bent. Chuck assured me he would order them and they would come to my home. On the 19th, I received parts from the manufacturer. Wrong parts. Chuck had ordered parts for a newer model. After a series of emails between Julie and my wife, we asked for a ?technician? to come to our home to install the correct parts. Sports and Fitness Outlet does not assemble its own equipment. A 3rd party out of Madison, WI began playing games with us. They refused to come to our home until they ordered they own parts. It took over 1 week to get the parts and then another 2 weeks of being told the 3rd party was busy. We asked Sports and Fitness Outlet for compensation for our troubles. Julie and Chuck said there was nothing they could do. I then said that they could refund our money in full or deal with our attorney who was preparing a law suit for fraud. After I had to take the partially assembled elliptical apart and return it to Sports and Fitness Outlet, we received a refund on December 30th. I had already called our credit card and asked them to stop payment. Julie met us and said she was ?sorry things did not work out.? No apologies. Just syrupy smiles that left me thinking ? ?shameless.? My personal opinion is that we were sold a used elliptical that someone earlier had tried to assemble. The loose pieces, broken pieces and bent pieces were too many mistakes for a new item. My wife wanted the elliptical to be able to exercise at home. She is a member of Weight Watchers and had lost over 90 pounds. She had hoped that using an elliptical would help her lose the last 15 pounds. During our nearly 3 weeks of dealing with the delay tactics of Sports and Fitness Outlet, my wife gained 15 pounds back. We purchased a Sole elliptical from Sears, got free delivery and set-up and a 3-year maintenance warranty for $100 more than what we nearly wasted on Sports and Fitness Outlet. Our Sole elliptical was brand new. No broken parts, no missing parts, no bent parts. It certainly looked like the AFG machine we were sold as ?new? was used and someone had tried to assemble it ? thus, the broken pieces and parts outside of their plastic wrappings. Sears treated us like valued customers. Sports and Fitness Outlet treated us like suckers. Our attorney told us that Chuck and Julie Perroni have been the plaintiffs in a series of law suits dating back to 1994. Chuck apparently has a temper as he has had 2 restraining orders against him. We are very happy with our Sears-purchased elliptical. We will never, ever do business with Sports and Fitness Outlet and the Perronis, again. We will make sure that our friends, family, co-workers and my wife?s Weight Watcher group never do any business with them, too. There are too many other far more reputable exercise and sports equipment retailers in the SE Wisconsin area than Sports and Fitness Outlet. Customers should be treated with respect and not like a quick score. The Perronis long list of law suits speaks for itself. Finally, they are not members of the Better Business Bureau ? no surprise.