Fake TRX Suspension Trainer: An Update
I must say, I didn’t expect to have so many people viewing my blog on
exposing a fake TRX suspension trainer. I definitely didn’t expect to have people emailing me and telling me their stories of also purchasing a fake TRX.
Here are two emails I received recently.
Dr Notley,I have both a real and a fake TRX (P1). I had one, went to purchase another hoping someone was selling a used one on the cheap I hit the online auction sites. Found them new for cheap at what appeared to be a reputable dealer Just figured they were clearing out the P1s because of the P2s. Thankfully I used PayPal so they don’t have my charge info. I have recourse to recover losses. When the new one slipped at the buckle I got curious and things progressed from there. Anyway the point of this email is below.I have attached some pics comparing them you may want to add to your website. Hopefully you can prevent others from getting ripped off or worse injured.Cheers,Jay
Here are some pictures that Jay sent me showing the real P1 and the fake P1 versions of the TRX
And here is another email.
Dr. Notley,I wanted to relate to you a similar experience I had with purchasing a counterfeit TRX. I live in Cleveland, Ohio and wanted to purchase a TRX after a friend demonstrated it for me. I thought the $200 cost from Fitness Anywhere was high and found a company in British Columbia that advertised what appeared to be an older model for $129.99.I purchased it and while waiting for delivery read online about other’s stories of discovering their recently purchased trainers were actually fakes. I also viewed your blog entries and videos as well.When mine arrived I was immediately suspicious. Mine resembled the fake in your videos. I emailed the seller with my concerns and asked if the item was authentic. I was told that it was an older model and that this company purchases close-out items from all over the country.After a week one of the cam buckles slipped. I emailed Fitness Anywhere for help in determining the item’s authenticity. Staff there asked me to email pictures of the handles, cam buckles, and main suspension point. The next day I was informed that it was fake.I emailed the seller and informed them the item was fake and not sold as advertised. I also included the string of emails from Fitness Anywhere as proof. I was able to get a full refund. The fact that my claim that the item was fake was never disputed is evidence to me that the sellers knowingly sold a counterfeit item.In a couple days I’m purchasing the actual item from Fitness Anywhere. I just wanted to let you know how prevalent the sale of fakes is and to thank you for your blog posting which helped inform me as to the authenticity of my purchase.Evan
Here are Evan’s photos of his fake TRX.
Looking at Jay’s images you can easily see that there is a quality difference in the stitching. Evan’s images are a little blurry and hard to tell the quality but it definitely looks a lot like the one I had.
I have had people ask me, “Could it be that Fitness Anywhere is just saying that they are fakes so people buy the new product?”. Yes, anything is possible, but this would be a horrible business practise on their part. If that practise was ever exposed their business would sink faster than a boat with a hole in the bottom.
I have also had people ask me, “If I bought a fake TRX and it doesn’t break and the cams don’t fail wouldn’t it be better to just buy the fake and save money?” I will admit that yes if it never failed it would make for a sound investment. This is obviously not what Fitness Anywhere would like to hear, considering that they own the patent and had to do all the leg work to make the product, test it, and to have it patented. But the problem with buying a fake product is that if it does fail, and hopefully you don’t get hurt in the process, you can’t go to Fitness Anywhere to get a replacement. They will be willing to guide you in the proper direction to get your money back thought, which is more than they need to but they do it anyways. So after it fails, and you don’t get your money back from the seller. You have two choices, buy another fake and hope it doesn’t fail as well, or buy an original and at least have some customer support if it fails.
Again, if you want to be assured that you are getting a quality product, with customer support, purchase your TRX directly through them (click here).
Thanks Jay and Evan for your emails
Related articles
- Exposing a “TRX Suspension Trainer” Fake (drnotley.blogspot.com)
You are absolute right J there are other products out there that may be function very similar to the TRX. If I could afford to go and buy there other products and compare them to the TRX I would. My choice was to purchase the TRX. I am sure had I purchase another and it was a fake I would be writing a blog on that. This is for those who are deciding to purchase the TRX so that they are aware that there are fakes.
Thanks J for your comments
I have another question. I ordered a “fake” TRX P1 from a chinese importing site. I have a friend who purchased a real TRX P1 a long time ago at a trade show from fitness anywhere (the real company). Ours are identical, down to the stitching and materials that came with it. We checked EVERYTHING (even the patent number matches). His was around 200 bucks, while mine was 45. I even jumped off a counter with the trx attached to a ceiling mount and put an enormous amount of force on the handles, swung from it without touching the floor, and the cam buckles did not slip a bit. I am completely convinced that TRX obviously stopped producing them when the P2 came out, leaving a warehouse in China (where they were made) full of the old models. Now they are being sold on the cheap. How do you explain this?
To be honest, I can’t explain it. What I do know is that the fakes that were sold at the store I purchased mine from (the company that sold them the fakes were shut down due to Fitness Anywhere) worked well for others without any failures. Those people were happy with their product (The owner of the store I bought my TRX from contacted all of the people who purchased one from him).
The pictures from this page definitely show that there are fakes out there. Maybe there are warehouses out their selling old models I really don’t know.