Upon opening my pool for the 2026 season I found that the five year old Hayward pool heater wouldn't start up as expected. A Google search for a repairman led me to The Fitness Mechanic and their response was nothing short of magnificent. My initial call and questions were handled professionally (as opposed to an automated q & a) and the work of the technician (John) that serviced the heater was exemplary. The world needs more customer service outfits such as TFM Service Solutions. read more

The Fitness Mechanic came out to fix my elliptical and said it sounded like something he'd never heard before. He started banging away with a mallet. Something was rubbing. He took a lot of parts off and made a lot of noise but now I'm not so sure of what he fixed. I had to have it taken apart to be moved down to the basement and while they were taking it apart, bolts were missing that were part of the factory pieces. There was a broken piece and the bolt was missing that kept that together too. One of the bolts was inside the machine, several bolts were missing.Two of which held the middle piece together. The only person who could have removed them was the tech from The Fitness Mechanic. I would avoid this company. Maybe I wouldn't have known for another month or two, but once I started using the machine again, it would have been clear as day that there were more loose parts than when he first came to work on it. read more

The Fitness Mechanic - Broken piece and missing bolt as well - Appliances & Repair Near Me - Bridgeview, Illinois

My wife and I had a wonderful experience having our pool heater checked out and serviced. John (the owner) was nothing but kind and helpful and showing me things. I didn't know about the pool heater and how to service it myself in the future. It was a great experience all around from the moment we made the call and john's wife, Sirissa was kind and helpful. .Very thorough very polite appointment was given on a short notice. Everything was done on time prompt manor. I would definitely recommend their company for any of your pool Heater needs. read more

I have nothing but great things to say about John from The Fitness Mechanic. We had purchased and installed a new Hayward pool heater. We could not get it to run. It was under warranty and we were advised to call the Fitness Mechanic for some help. John traveled almost 2 hours at no charge to us, to assist us. Within a short period of time we were up and running and we are enjoying our pool. John was extremely courteous and very professional. He and went above and beyond what we could have expected to get us up and running. I felt like he was as concerned about our issues as he would have been for his own. It was refreshing to see someone who enjoys helping others the way John does. As he left, he assured us that he would be close by if we were to ever have any other problems and to not hesitate to call him. We appreciated him so much and would recommend him for any work that you might need done quickly and professionally. John and The Fitness Mechanic get big "Thumbs Up". read more

I had a great experience with The Fitness Mechanic. Last night I discovered our pool heater had stopped working. This morning I called the pool store and they recommended The Fitness Mechanic as an authorized Hayward repair contractor. I called them up and they said they were able to fit me in same day. Within two hours of my first call this morning the tech named John gave me a call and said he would be arriving shortly. About 20 minutes later he arrived at my house to diagnose the issue. My wife was at home and I was at work but I requested John call me with the diagnosis because my wife doesn't really get involved with he pool maintenance. About 25 minutes after he arrived he called me up to let me know they diagnosed and fixed the problem(a bad ignitor) and my heater was up and running again. They do charge a $180 fee in advance just to come out for the diagnosis which at first I was a little reluctant with but obviously I ended up paying the $180. The price they charged for the parts and additional labor were reasonable. I'm a pretty handy guy and can diagnose and fix most things but being that this is a natural gas heater I didn't want to mess around with it too much and end up blowing something up or further messing up a $2,000 heater or worse yet somehow hurting myself I left it to the professionals. John said the parts they installed today come with a 1 year warranty. I would recommend doing business with this company. read more

I was recommended to use The Fitness Mechanic to look at a Hayward pool heater issue. The scheduling was very easy and i was lucky enough to get same day service. The technicians showed up as scheduled and were very helpful. The issue was pinpointed and resolved very quickly. Its hard to find good valuable service like that. I highly recommend TFM if you have Hayward pool heater issues. The are in my phone for future needs read more

Over the summer of 2022 our Life Fitness T3 treadmill motor failed. The technician, Rob, was able to get all the parts necessary for replacement under warranty. Just had to pay for labor. Had to come back due to a cracked board as well that was creaking later in the summer, also under warranty. Rob was very easy to work with and did a great job explaining what was wrong and what we could do (lubricate with stick & sponge device) to help prevent in the future. The call center reps were also great understanding our situation and scheduling appointments. We will be using them for annual maintenance/internal cleaning. read more

I was very impressed with the operation from my initial phone call up to and including the service. I spoke with Kelly and she was able to get me an appointment to repair my Hayward pool heater. I was a little frightened off the arrival window; 7am-8pm, but understood that it is pool season and sometimes you just have to wait. John called me at ten minutes til 7 explaining that he would be in my yard within 10 minutes. Score. John was polite, professional and didn't fill around. He was able to diagnose and repair my heater within 30 minutes of arrival. If it's something simple, the cost can be a little high, but you get what you pay for an I am completely happy with the fee, the only extra charge was for two parts. I have already referred two people to TFM, and will continue to do so. Great service! read more

I requested a repair on my treadmill. Very disappointed in the overall service. It cost me $175 for the tech to tell me I needed a new belt. I could've got that off of YouTube. The office said he would perform an inspection, overall maintenance, and tuneup. He wasn't interested in doing anything and couldn't leave fast enough. Will not use them again! read more

John really went out of his way to get our treadmill running. He was able to find discontinued parts and got our treadmill up and running when we thought it was a goner. He was very responsive and professional. We highly recommend him. read more

First I need to start of apologizing to John for taking so long to leave a review as I thought I had left one back in May. Anyway let me get things started by saying anyone needing help with your pool heater come spring this is the guy for the job. I was referred to him from calling the Great Escape in Southbend with my problem. They gave me his number and I gave it a call. I got a message and within 10 minutes I had a call on a Saturday night. My problem was a leaking pool heater. We chatted a bit and he offered to come take a look on Sunday. To save him a trip or trouble I am pretty handy and he told me what to look for how to take it apart. He told me the exact part to order for my heater with the exact part #. Man how easy could this get. I ordered the part, it came about a week later. I installed it the same way I took it apart. I took pictures, sent them to John. He was very professional and saved me a lot of money. My wife and I offered to pay him for his time and knowledge over the phone to which he said was not necessary and to have a good weekend. Once again thanks to John The Fitness Mechanic. I have never been on Yelp and vey seldom leave reviews, however I do read a lot of reviews. Sorry this is so long but without the story it might have been a boring review. If only everyone were this kind. Thanks again John! Tim & Susan Morton Warsaw, Indiana read more

I can't tell you how happy I was with our experience with The Fitness Mechanic for our treadmill. Not only did the owner, John, come out to service the treadmill the next morning, but the repair was speedy and he had the replacement part in his truck that was needed to repair it! I can't tell you how impressed I was and appreciative that they came so fast! Thank you so much John, I'll be sure to recommend you to others! :) read more

Do not use. Have spent over $1,000 dollars getting my octane elliptical fixed. First fixed my main drive motor. Next one of the stride motors went out. Since one side went out, had then replace both left and right stride motor. Little over 3 months later left stride motor started to code out again. Called and was told that parts warranty was only good for 3 months. Motor finally gave out so I had them back out and motor was bad. I ordered the part my self and talked to Octane only to find out the motor's was warranty was for 6 months not 3. Have talked to to people at fitness mechanic and they have not offered to help me out in any way except for paying them more money. Do yourself a favor and find another company that backs up their work. read more

I have an older treadmill and was having trouble with the belt. I contacted the company and was able to schedule a tune-up within a few days for $125. The technician was on time, friendly and knowledgeable. He was able to complete the tune up and fix the belt in one visit for the stated price. Also offered some valuable maintenance advice to extend the life of the treadmill. Overall, was a good experience. read more

Just when I thought we were looking at an expensive repair to our treadmill John came to the rescue. Super professional and friendly- I highly recommend Fitness Mechanic for all your treadmill repair needs! John should be your first call if you need service to your exercise equipment. read more

Strike one: the two young kids entered my house saying not one word. Not, we are here from Fitness Mechanic, not my name is xxx, zero. They stood at the front door Strike two: as I waited hopefully for them to put on plastic shoe protectors. Nope. They clomped through my clean floors with their dirty shoes on. Ok. I brought them to the elliptical they were to tune up because of a squeak. Explained the problem. Strike three: I was leaving them in the care of my husband as I needed to run some errands. Found their van parked in my driveway blocking my way instead of the street. Had to go ask one of them to move to the street so I could get out. That was enough for me. They did find the problem quickly, a crack in the main "leg" of the elliptical. A 285.00 part needed to be ordered (nope) and with an additional 200.00 labor charge plus tax this repair would cost me over 500.00. No. I know someone who welds and he welded the seam for me and my husband put the part back on in less than 10 minutes (no 200.00 for my dear husband) and I am back in business. The kids who showed up were young and possibly new at customer service but please guys, introduce yourselves, wear shoe protectors, and don't park in the customer's driveway! Someone might need to leave for work while you are there. For some reason, my state is listed as CA. I live in Illinois, in a suburb of Chicago. read more

These folks are quite honorable. They came out to service my Precor Treadmill and got it working again with a new belt and tune-up. When they realized they needed an additional part, they informed me they'd have to come back. So they didn't charge me until after the second visit, even though the treadmill was functional after the first. They're a bit pricey though, I think. read more

Do not go here. They promised a "tune-up" for $140. Knowing that the likely problem with the treadmill was either the belts needed to be tightened or it needed to be lubricated (both of which should have fallen under the umbrella of a tune up) we had them out. They never gave us a time they were coming out, so we wasted most of a day (no biggie I get that). But when they did arrive they tech took like 5 minutes looking at it, then pronounced all of about 5 or 6 things that could possibly be wrong all of which were the most expensive repairs possible. It was likely he was just going to charge the "$100 diagnosis fee", you know the diagnosis fee where he doesn't diagnose jack, knowing we'd never spend thousands of dollars to possibly fix a treadmill worth nowhere near that much - and he said he didn't guarantee that any or all of that would even fix it. I have no background in treadmills, and I did a better job on the diagnosis than he did. They never did the tune up. When we called to complain, they offered to send someone out for another $40, but all the tune up includes is brushing off the outside of the machine, and squirting a little lubricant, that's not a tune up, that's a cleaning. All in all, I spent more time writing this review, than he spent trying to fix the treadmill. I did exactly add much to fix the machine. And I'm not even charging you all $100 to do it. read more

I had a similar situation to KC A as I have an older treadmill that works but has begun to slow down over time (now runs at a maximum of 4.1 mph). After trying to diagnose it myself and going online to find possible fixes, one of which was performing a tune-up, I decided to contact a professional to do so. I was explained over the phone that preventative maintenance would be performed and the service would cost $140. When the tech came out he said he ran on the machine for about 5 minutes and said he had no problems. I then had my brother, who is the one that usually uses it, run on it for maybe 30 seconds and the problem happened. Then he stated that the problem must be the 2 most expensive parts of the machine, the belt and the deck, and gave me a quote of $1000 to fix it but still couldn't guarantee that would fix the problem. He then lubricated the machine (sprayed some lube on the belt) charged me $100 and left. I contacted them through email to state that I was very displeased with the service and the fact that I felt the tech was not only not knowledgeable but also did not even try and diagnose the problem and asked if he could send someone out to finish the tune-up. The owner did call me back but stated that there was no reason to do any more as the machine was not worth repairing and went so far as to guarantee me that the rest of the tune-up would not fix anything. He stated that other than lubrication the only thing else that the tune-up consisted of was spraying down the outside of the machine and vacuuming the inside which he offered to do for the extra $40. Had I been explained this from the get go I would not have had him come out as I can easily wipe down, lubricate, and vacuum on my own. I believed that I was calling professionals out to come service and diagnose a machine when apparently I might had just done all of the service myself. I will absolutely NEVER call these guys again as they have no idea what they are doing and have no interest in providing any kind of professional service at all!! read more

I needed to move my Precor elliptical and they were fantastic. Now they do not move them but they will disassemble the machine and then reassemble it in a different place. The tech was very nice, clean, efficient and professional. He even pointed out a warranty repair that needed to be done as he was putting it back together. They are very straightforward on their pricing and honor their quote. I would not hesitate to use them again and again. read more

This company needs to work on their customer interaction. The girl on the phone speaks fast and terse and the mechanic barely speaks at all. They charged $140 to come and evaluate my elliptical and now they are ordering a part (I'm already in 140 so I'll just go the whole but the final cost to replace a motor will be $469. They don't take credit card. read more

John was friendly and knowledgeable, gave us a lot of good information. Service was quick and efficient. We would welcome him back again. Down to earth kind of guy For all the was wrong with our treadmill, we think the price was reasonable. Very pleased, Thank You read more

The following review WAS true, and I had rated Fitness Mechanics with 1 star. However, immediately after the following experience I spoke to John at Fitness Mechanic and expressed how slighted I felt by their services. He heard me out, and though he stood by their way of operating, he did see where I was coming from and allowed me to pay only half the $140 service fee. I'm not someone who typically wants to get results by pointlessly yelling at someone, so i hugely appreciated that he heard what I had to say and was wiling to work with me. In the future, if I need treadmill services I WILL go back to Fitness Mechanics, not because I got some of my money back, but because they demonstrated that they care about customer retention and detailed service. I'm leaving the following review up not to be a jerk but to make sure other people understand that the flat rate of $140 for your assessment and full tune-up applies even if they walk in the door and eyeball enough problems to say "This isn't worth fixing". The $140 as a flat rate is likely a GREAT value if your equipment can be tuned-up fixed, but it can go the other way as well. My treadmill sat in a basement for a couple years and when I tried to plug it back in, I got an Error 22 code. I looked up the brand, was referred to call a local dealer and upon searching found that 2nd Wind Chicago was a PaceMaster dealer. I called them and told the guy it sat in a WET DUSTY basement for years and about the error 22 code. He said that is a nice machine and told me it's totally worth it to have The Fitness Mechanic come out and for $140 they'd do a tune up, any minor adjustments needed and get it working again. Sounded great, he seemed supremely confident. The tech from Fitness Mechanic (who was a very nice guy) came out, was at my home for 10 minutes, looked at the machine and said there was such severe water damage it would cost more than a new treadmill to fix. I appreciated his honesty. BUT THE FULL $140 STILL APPLIED TO HIS 10 MINUTE ASSESSMENT. Though the guy at 2nd Wind couldn't have known it would be irreparable, I felt incredibly slighted that he'd talked up the benefits of this visit and how that $140 would get me up and working again...I just have an awful taste in my mouth. I literally just paid $140 for a 10 minute chat with a guy who then ended up trying to tell me how I could just go ahead and buy another treadmill. Thanks for the heads up on the other treadmill...but after dropping $140 on the last 10 minutes, I'm not in a place to go buy anything. I just hate feeling like people don't value your time or money, they seriously acted like the $140 was just a side note, completely negligible. read more

I would suggest staying away from this company. It took them two tries to get my elliptical working (both visits were covered under warranty). On the second visit they identified an additional problem and arranged for a return visit. The day prior to the third visit they called to inform me that it was no longer under warranty and I would be responsible for the cost of the repair. Neither the receptionist nor the owner were wiling to discussing the issue and simply referred me to the manufacturer. At the end of our conversation it became clear that they were not even aware of the problem surrounding the need for the third visit. If I ever need another repair I will look for another company. read more

Worhtless. I had a problem with my precor treadmill where the up down arrow would not work. They replaced the board 3 times In a year and a half and never resolved the problem. Following the last replacement on 9/28/17 the machine was used a handful of times and the problem resurfaced on 12/26/17. I called them and of course they said it was it was the board again and that they would require a service charge to come out and replace the board again. They do not stand behind their work as it was within 3 months and it was a repeat problem that they never resolved and they still insisted on charging a service fee. Customer service is terrible. read more