[WalkerFit]

Has anyone on here had any problems with equipment that they have bought from UK or even international sellers?
Any problems with service, the kit itself and so on.

But please remember that there are legal implications of saying this so if you mention the retailer/manufacturer by name please stick to factual incidents in your own experience that you can back up and let's not generalise and have a potentially embarassing libel case on our hands.

If you want to state opinion-please make sure that you state that it is your opinion on the basis of "A.B.C...."

Look forward to hearing them- Keep it Clean!

[Andy]

Lets also put good experiences from suppliers as well. would be good for people to know which companies to approach rather than which to avoid.

[GuyA]

Powerseekers Performance Training

Bought a 24kg KB from them at the end of last year - terrible customer service with very little communication; took over a month to deliver! Was pulling my hair out at the end...

Good KB though when it eventually arrived

Personally wouldn't go with them again

Wolverson Medical

Excellent KB and service!

www.strengthpowerspeed.co.uk

Fast delivery and excellent service

[Mister C]

Wolverson - bought a 32kg KB about a year ago, and service and product were both excellent.

Couple of weeks ago I ordered a Buddy Lee rope from strengthpowerspeed.co.uk After a week I'd not heard anything, so emailed Brian who said the warehouse had screwed up and not sent my order. It arrived the next day. Also, was charged £6.50 postage, and when it arrived it was in a Jiffy bag, sent by Royal Mail at a cost of 72p. Again I emailed Brian to say that I wasn't happy about this, and he refunded my £6.50 immediately. So, 2 problems, both sorted out very quickly, and got a bloody good jump rope too.

[Andy]

Wolverson - have been dealing with them for a while now for kb's for my sessions and also for other people. Great service, fast delivery and any issues sorted quickly.

Jordans - no real issues. A little delayed delivery when first started using them but fine since then. Also, had a few issues with a couple of bars - refunded with no problem.

Cathletics - sandbags. great service from aimee and when one of the bags split they sent a new 1 no problems. The bags are the ultimate sandbags but were a little cheaper on delivery.

[WalkerFit]

"Ultimate Sandbag"- got one of these- splits at the seams regularly- get it stitched up again- split it again- Not impressed at all to be honest.

Homemade bags- rubble sacks in mailbags have been much more resilient.

Weighted vests- again split, split, split,...not impressed with these either- anyone recommend a good one that is reasonably heavy?


Suppliers:
Wolversons are excellent- fair enough- Jason is a pal of mine but he really does go out his way to provide a good service.

Jordans: the bumper plates I bought have really distorted 5s and 10s and the 15s and 20s have lost loads of rubber from the edges- these haven't been really hammered either

Intense Fitness: Stan's gear WILL last a lifetime and is excellent if you can afford it.

York: Olympic Training Bar (20kg) meant to be rated to 1500lb- permanently bent after 240KG (484lb) on it- to be fair though it was a sample and they took it back straight away- not heard from them since though!

EXF Fitness: Was going to buy some squat stands/rack from these but had to chase them up 3 times- no returned calls or catalogue emailed as promised- products are good but service very sloppy to say least

[Schwinners]

Crossfit Reading - bought Ultimate SB... Delivery and service A1

Funckey - bought Gymboss and T-shirt... Again delivery and service A1

Newitts - bought KBs, weighted vest, speed harness from them. My 40lb weighted vest came through at 34lbs, but they gave me a 25% refund and was sorted with little fuss.

Ben/CFT re: weighted vests - I have the XLR8 vest from Newitts and it's held up well against calisthetics, burpees and a spot of sprinting. Defo recommend them. But then again, I've had no problems with the Ultimate SB so far...

[Rich]

Newitts - bought two 1 pood and one 2 pood kettlebells. Whilst they're not as good as my other 'bells (down to comfort/preference), they've still held up very well so far and are great value for money. Good, prompt delivery.

Pullum sports - I've had micro plates, two different pairs of weightlifting shoes, kettlebells, t-shirt and Rip's Starting Strength book. First class service each time... wish I had more money to get more stuff!

Funckey - did a trouble-free exchange of goodies with Chet. No problems. Plus I wear the FK.UK t-shirt to the gym as my lucky PR top

[Andy]

must say the 5kg plates from jordans have warped a few times when drop from height but only with a 20kg bar. They go back ok when flattened with the rest of the weights.

[Beev]

Hi Ben,

The sandbag and vest in question weren't the ones you brought from me were they? My vest has held up no probs. Plus I had the bag for best part of 12 months and it held up well with about 70lbs in it.

Bad experiences

I bought some hand weights for shadow boxing from Powerseekers and they took close to a month to arrive after I chased them up continuously over the phone.

Good experiences

Newitts, bought some kettlebells off them which were delivered promptly each time.
London Kettlebells, bought a Loading pin and a 16kg kettlebell off them, both were pretty much next day delivery as I ordered early in the morning (was working nights at the time).
Pullum Sports, bought some grippers off them, again speedy delivery.

I had a carabiner missing when I bought the loading pin from london KB, simple phone call was all it took and it was in the post 2 days later. Would definitely deal with again.

Yours,
Beev

[GuyA]

Interesting - same issue as me on Powerseekers...

Beev, on Jun 3 2009, 08:07 PM, said:

Bad experiences

I bought some hand weights for shadow boxing from Powerseekers and they took close to a month to arrive after I chased them up continuously over the phone.

[marcus clarke]

Bought a 16 KG KB from Argos,

Bloody rubbish, handle too small for both hands and too thick a handle.

[Chet]

Ha - Cheers fellas - glad to be of service

[Tick88]

The following are based on my own experiences.
Customer service should mean that and recommendations from me will drop if I find customer services non-responsive to queries or are rude or unhelpful…no matter how ‘minor’ or trivial the matter

Elite rings
Rings
Very good service, Tyler Haas was responsive to all e-mail queries each time I ordered. I would order from Tyler again if it came to it. Delivery was to Address in US to be collected whilst on holiday.

York Barbell and bumpers from Watson Fitness
20kg Oly bar
10kg and 20kg bumpers

Used Watson at the time as they were slightly cheaper then York themselves even though the delivery came via York?!? Watson were helpful with my queries and I have no issues with them.
I like the York bumpers but they’re expensive so buying more will be cash dependent - will probably shop around for others brands when the time comes.


Jordan

Jordan’s service is good, however their products have either not all been up to standard or had some issues, possibly reflecting in their lowers costs at the time when I brought the below:

Jordan Bumpers - 5kgs and 10kgs

10kg Bumpers have been fine, though the first one I got had a ‘hole’ that had cardboard coming out of it? WTF?!?.

Jordan’re replaced it once I had provided photographic evidence.. The 10kg bumpers, however, are 5mm, or there about, larger in diameter then the York10kg bumpers I have. Also they don’t have the same level of bounce…different rubber component I assume. They did mention they were changing this ‘rubbber’ but I have not purchased any more since to know othewise. Are size difference and bounce a big deal? I don’t know, but if you drop big loads (relative) with larger and harder plates, then the level of resonance and impact will not be uniform and may effect bar and plate longevity (I don't delierately drop my bumpers anyway, but have dropped them in some instances of bailing out)

The 5kgs plate seem to warp quite easily…and won’t support the load of smaller weights if they are the only plates supporting the load on the bar…(can’t give a load on this, but it’s not much). I keep them between the 10s and 20s I have to maintain shape.

Jordan Kettlebells
Ladies set and 24kg
Get what you pay for with KBs. Got these early last year I think.
Had an issue with the 14kg toppling over when left to ‘stand’.

24kg handle is too thick for my liking and is ‘short’ so not something you can snatch with due to short turning arc and impacting the wrist. I only do swings with this.
I would not buy any of these kettlebells again.

As mentioned, service is good, products are so so.


Catalyst Atheletics
Got Olympic weight lifting book by Greg Everett
Very good service here. Dealt with Aimee, who was responsive to all e-mail queries I sent (several). I would order from them again…and I’ve found the book very useful.


London kettlebell
16kg KB -Okay service, but didn’t call back to let me know when stock was back in like they said they would. I like the Kettlebell though (relative to the others I have),but would probably not get these again as I prefer the Wolverson ones we use at CF Reading


BuddyLeejumprope.com
Jump rope
Good service, responded to all e-mail queries. Arranged for delivery to hotel in US where mate was staying to bring back. However, they didn’t deliver during the requested time of his stay but before…though hotel held onto it until mate arrived - after he called the hotel to let them know. Good tracking system with UPS.
Would most likely use again


York hex dumbbells and rack - Argos
Crap service.
Were supposed to call when these were being delivered so I’d be home. They didn’t. Fortunately when they arrived, the neighbour was kind enough to take them into his garage (about 500kgs!!), otherwise they’d have been left out on the drive. This delivery issue may be because they came from York directly…so collapse in communications. somewhere

Good product, don’t use them enough and perhaps money could have been better spent, but was thinking ‘ahead’ when I got these.

Powerhouse fitness - online
No issues with delivery, but it was quite expensive if I remember rightly.

Power cage…couldn’t live without my cage…and wish I’d got a bigger/higher capacity one.

15kg yellow ‘bumpers’ – total crap, metal with a ring of ‘rubber’ no steal inserts in the hole so plates don’t even sit flush on the bar…get what you pay for…but they are crap.

[Chet]

Comprehensive supplier review - nice one fella.

[Johny Cash]

FKUK- bought a gymboss from Chet very quick delivery, loved the signed business card too

[Chet]

Glad it got to you safely bud

[again]

I would be very careful with Elite Rings. I ordered from them and it is not until they say the item is going to be shipped that they tell you you can't return items to the UK office they have to be returned to the US.
To make matters worse the item never arrived. After 4 weeks, no item and no refund even though one was promised. I finally had to go to my credit card company to file a dispute to get my money back.

Eventually bought rings from Wolverson fitness, great rings and delivered within 24 hours. Would highly recommend them.