Peloton Is Stopping Users From Using Their Treadmills Unless They Pay Up Monthly
Image via Peloton
Following Peloton’s nationwide recall on all treadmills in May due to fatal safety risks, the company is back in the spotlight – for more bad news.
Users of its Tread+ treadmill, which retails at a whopping US$4,295, have taken to social media over an email from the company, allegedly informing customers that they would have to subscribe to a US$39.99 monthly plan if they wish to keep using the equipment they already own.
Peloton sent a mass email to its customers, with Twitter user Brianna Wu uploading a copy of hers to the social media platform.
As a response to its earlier recall, the company announced a new safety feature, ‘Tread Lock’, to secure treadmills against unauthorized access. However, ‘Just Run’ – or the setting on the treadmills which allowed customers to use the product without a subscription – will be disabled going forward without a membership.
This would mean Tread+ owners will now have no choice but to sign up for the monthly subscription should they want to continue using a treadmill they already paid for.
In response to Mashable’s inquiry, a Peloton spokesperson said that the company is “working on updates to ‘Tread Lock’ that will allow us to make ‘Tread Lock’ and ‘Just Run’ available without a Peloton Membership.”
However, as Mashable notes, it is unclear when these features will become usable to customers without a membership, or if the subscription-free update will even be rolled out.
For now, it seems the only thing Tread+ owners can do is exercise their patience as they await more news from Peloton.
Wow. The Peloton Tread will no longer allow you to use your $3000 treadmill without a $39.99 a month subscription.
— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) June 21, 2021
The pretext is their design issues that led to a child’s death.
Hope reporters will cover this. pic.twitter.com/XHKS6DaOeD
[via Mashable, cover image via Peloton]
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