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Peloton Is Stopping Users From Using Their Treadmills Unless They Pay Up Monthly
By Alexa Heah, 23 Jun 2021
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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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