Getting a Treadmill
I'm mad at Sears... but I just ordered a treadmill from them, anyway.
I've been doing lots of research into treadmills and I've been to a handful of stores checking them out, trying them, etc., working to make a decision of what type in my price range would work best. Most places I went to were too expensive or too cheap (ironically enough). I really hadn't found one I liked. Earlier this week a teacher suggested I should check out Sears, so I did an Internet search and found that, yes indeed, they seemed to have a promising treadmill in the price I was looking for.
John and I went out to the nearest Sears store in Unionville tonight to check it out. They informed us they no longer carry manual treadmills (and their electronic ones started at about $1000...), though they offered to call other stores in the area to see if they carried the model advertised in the Internet catalogue. He came back to inform us that, yes, they did have that model at a Sears in North Toronto.
So, we trundled in the van about 40 minutes to the Sears store that had my potential manual treadmill. Sure enough, ta da!, there it was set up on the display floor. We checked it over, tried it out, adjusted it to every angle, folded it up, rolled it around. It runs terrifically smoothly, padded handles at a good level (other models I tried made me feel all hunched up when I held the handles), good width on the tread, and a remarkably reasonable price. We bonded quickly, that treadmill and me, and I was ready to roll it right out to the van.
-Then- the salesguy told me that that model was new and could only be ordered and wouldn't be available for two weeks and that was true of all Sears stores. What?!? Two weeks? Treadmill denied! -No one- told us that at the first store when they sent us 40 minutes away to this second store. John observed later that it's likely a deliberate sales tactic, in the hopes of talking customers up to a more expensive treadmill that was available at the store right then. Wasn't going to happen. Deflated that I wasn't going to be treading in my apartment tonight, I left telling the salesguy I'd think about it.
Still, there's nothing to think about really. Once I got over a short sulk I knew that treadmill is exactly what I'm looking for and two weeks ain't that long. So having tried the treadmill and knowing it's the one I wanted, I came home and ordered it off the Sears website on the Internet. It's easily the biggest item I've bought on-line yet- I still get impressed when I order books or CDs through the computer :). Cool, too, that I could set things up on-line to have the treadmill sent to my nearest Sears store here in Richmond Hill so we can go pick it up there for free, no delivery charge.
So on January 19 I will own a treadmill. I'm pretty pleased about that, even if I do have to wait two more weeks. And I will have built-in motivation to use it as I plan to use the treadmill to walk the 1,049 minutes for the Idita-Walk Challenge ( http://www.idita-walk.com/ ) this year, starting February 1st, in warmth and comfort. No doubt Weight Watchers will be happy with me, too, as it ought to jumpstart my weight loss again (I've been plateaued for several weeks and holiday entertaining didn't help me at all).
QUESTION:
Still a bit stunned about buying my first fairly major item on the Internet. It got me wondering about the Internet shopping habits of you folks out there. Have you ever bought an expensive item on-line? Do you tend to keep your on-line shopping to small items like books, DVDs, games, etc.? Are you still reluctant to shop on-line at all? How often do you tend to buy items on-line? Did you do any of your holiday shopping on-line this year? I'd be curious to know.
I've been doing lots of research into treadmills and I've been to a handful of stores checking them out, trying them, etc., working to make a decision of what type in my price range would work best. Most places I went to were too expensive or too cheap (ironically enough). I really hadn't found one I liked. Earlier this week a teacher suggested I should check out Sears, so I did an Internet search and found that, yes indeed, they seemed to have a promising treadmill in the price I was looking for.
John and I went out to the nearest Sears store in Unionville tonight to check it out. They informed us they no longer carry manual treadmills (and their electronic ones started at about $1000...), though they offered to call other stores in the area to see if they carried the model advertised in the Internet catalogue. He came back to inform us that, yes, they did have that model at a Sears in North Toronto.
So, we trundled in the van about 40 minutes to the Sears store that had my potential manual treadmill. Sure enough, ta da!, there it was set up on the display floor. We checked it over, tried it out, adjusted it to every angle, folded it up, rolled it around. It runs terrifically smoothly, padded handles at a good level (other models I tried made me feel all hunched up when I held the handles), good width on the tread, and a remarkably reasonable price. We bonded quickly, that treadmill and me, and I was ready to roll it right out to the van.
-Then- the salesguy told me that that model was new and could only be ordered and wouldn't be available for two weeks and that was true of all Sears stores. What?!? Two weeks? Treadmill denied! -No one- told us that at the first store when they sent us 40 minutes away to this second store. John observed later that it's likely a deliberate sales tactic, in the hopes of talking customers up to a more expensive treadmill that was available at the store right then. Wasn't going to happen. Deflated that I wasn't going to be treading in my apartment tonight, I left telling the salesguy I'd think about it.
Still, there's nothing to think about really. Once I got over a short sulk I knew that treadmill is exactly what I'm looking for and two weeks ain't that long. So having tried the treadmill and knowing it's the one I wanted, I came home and ordered it off the Sears website on the Internet. It's easily the biggest item I've bought on-line yet- I still get impressed when I order books or CDs through the computer :). Cool, too, that I could set things up on-line to have the treadmill sent to my nearest Sears store here in Richmond Hill so we can go pick it up there for free, no delivery charge.
So on January 19 I will own a treadmill. I'm pretty pleased about that, even if I do have to wait two more weeks. And I will have built-in motivation to use it as I plan to use the treadmill to walk the 1,049 minutes for the Idita-Walk Challenge ( http://www.idita-walk.com/ ) this year, starting February 1st, in warmth and comfort. No doubt Weight Watchers will be happy with me, too, as it ought to jumpstart my weight loss again (I've been plateaued for several weeks and holiday entertaining didn't help me at all).
QUESTION:
Still a bit stunned about buying my first fairly major item on the Internet. It got me wondering about the Internet shopping habits of you folks out there. Have you ever bought an expensive item on-line? Do you tend to keep your on-line shopping to small items like books, DVDs, games, etc.? Are you still reluctant to shop on-line at all? How often do you tend to buy items on-line? Did you do any of your holiday shopping on-line this year? I'd be curious to know.