Are you joking? This thing has price tag 3’000 CHF. I seriously expected Garmin to replace it if the brand new unit does not last even 15 minutes. I do not have problem to bring it to the shop as such. The reason I have contacted Garmin directly is that the bikes are not available anywhere and for example the shop I bought it from is expecting some new units to arrive on 27.01.2020.
I do not know where you live and how huge your budget is, but I just consider 3000 “money” to be enough to be treated differently. That is my point with this whole story. Brand new product brakes down after 15minutes of use and I believe the evidence provided is clear. Or you think I made the fake smoke to have reason to spend the time on email and chat with support staff?
And you must be very strong when you do not see problem “taking the 60kg trainer to the shop that may be 100s km away - for sure you also buy things on internet and you understand that the shop is simply not next doors”. And that is exactly my other point.
Summary: take the 60kg garbage to the shop “wherever it is” or pay DHL to deliver it for you and then wait few weeks if not months for replacement. Seriously? You have understanding for this?
Cheers
Unfortunately that is how things work. I’d be irritated as well. It’s a pain in the ar$3 in so many ways. But my point was to be reasonable. Being w/out your new Neo bike for a week or two is reasonable. I seriously doubt this will take a month or longer. Then again, the stock/supply of these bikes might be another issue. If you expected to walk into a shop and get a replacement or Tacx to immediately ship you a new one w/out having the old one sent back, good luck w/that!
Thanks (even tho your wishes were meant ironic).
I am upset by the fact that this thing you typically by including the transport. Unless you are Arnold Schwarzenegger - then you of course carry it together with other things on your shoulder.
Now when the 60kg bike is broken, you are supposed to organize the transport. For example Swiss Post will not even accept it for transport. And many other other companies wont either. so that is the first thing that - as you said - irritates me. How on Earth they can just leave this up to customer like this, they must know it is not as easy to handle.
Next thing for me is the attitude. Nothing “sorry that our product failed”. Actually it did not fail. It never worked. I was seriously expecting (and naivly hoping) that customer service will try to help. And I contacted Garmin directly, knowing that the shop would hardly have any units on stock; and so in the end there is no point to try to ship it back to shop which must then ship it back to Garmin. I think it was fair to assume that if anybody in the whole chain can organize replacement unit, it would be Garmin.
You are also twisting the story. I have never said I have expected Garmin to ship new unit to me without returning the faulty one. If my English is bad I apologize, but I have never meant to say this, nor have I ever requested this. I asked them to send DHL to bring me new unit and take the old one back. In which ever order.
What upsets me is the fact that they have closed the ticket as “Resolved” while the “solution” was “take it back to shop, and then one day we ship the new unit to the shop and you can then pick it up there”. So I hope you can now see the three key isues there. 1. How do you bring 60kg to the shop. 2. Why the hell should you wait weeks or even months without seeing them to at least try to make it quick. 3. How will you just pick up the 60kg unit when it eventually arrives.
It is attitude that matters. People can learn languages, technical skill etc. Attitude typically stays the same. And you can see this mainly in customer services areas. Ask anybody who ever managed any organization like this. Attitude first.
For me it is clear, if there is no clear agreement (I mean plan with dates) on Monday how my unit will be swapped, I return the bike and get money back.
And maybe to make my motivation very clear (to you): my biggest issue is not that I could be without the hometrainer. I have also Kickr 2018 and Climb at home. I just want to get what I paid for and want to feel treated like (valued) customer.
Cheers
Tacx did it for me with a 1st gen Flux trainer - and this is a pricey piece.
Any company for any product seeing a video with smoke should agree to swap it, surely. It isn’t just the weight. How many people have cars they can put this on.
This is a whole new ball game for these companies and it must be there worst nightmare as they are short of stock to swap it with. I wonder how much of this is a delaying tactic? They don’t want to tell you they haven’t got one to send you.
No intent to be ironic, condescending, or anything along those lines. And, your English is great!
My basic message which has not changed is to be reasonable and patient. Using my summer Neo failure as an example, I too was pissed. I opened a ticket via their site. I sent multiple pictures via email correspondence. I explained the problem several times. I even submitted a link to a Youtube video of someone else w/the same problem. To me the problem was very clear. However, it was taking multiple email exchanges to get them to understand/agree on the problem and the solution. With each email exchange, I was getting more 
Suddenly, someone different replied who must have understood because parts were being shipped and I was instantly 
.
Someone companies will cross-ship (ship new/replacement if they have proof you have sent the defective product back), some will not. Some will cross-ship on a per case basis. Some will not which means you have to wait even longer (defective goes back, gets processed, then new one goes out). I’m not sure what Garmin/Tacx does 
Hopefully, you can get them to cross-ship you a new unit ASAP.
Hi, Sorry for my pushy style; I am upset.
Status is that:
- The shop I bought from admits since the very beginning that the trainer is faulty and they are willing to take it back. They do not have any new unit to replace mine and Garmin told them that they may get new units on 27.01.2020. They are willing to give me money back.
- Garmin admits pretty much since the beginning that the trainer is faulty (videos, screenshots and pictures provided). They just do not deal with it and direct me to place I purchase the trainer from. So back to #1. Garmin closed the ticket as “Resolved”, even sent me satisfaction survey link.
My frustrustration is simply about the attitude at #2. Again, heavy product that shop is not able to replace because Garmin does not deliver new units. Garmin is the only actor here who could have decided that one new unit is shipped either to me or to the shop. And while the trainer in fact never worked, I was seriously hoping that Garmin will face it and will also take care of the 60kg brick that I have currently in my room.
Kind of “acknowledgment” that they did not deliver what I paid for and that they would try to make it as simple and easy as possible for me, if it makes sense. False.
We cannot solve it here, I shared the story as I wanted others to see Garmins/Tacx attitude, Not that it may change anything. Even I may end up buying the thing again while there is no other product available offering the same - I asked Wahoo if there willing to step, but they do not seem to be able to deliver either. It is sad to be customer these days.
I have transport organized for today, bringing the thing back to shop and will take my money unless they have any news with some reasonable delivery date confirmed.
Cheers & Merry Chrismtas!
For those wondering about or interested in the option of placing a Tacx Neo Smart Bike on a rocker plate, a US builder is about ready to release a mount kit for that bike and their rocker.
I pulled this screen capture from their video post in the FB Rocker Plate group.
We’ve already seen people build a few rockers for the Wattbike Atom and at least one for the Wahoo Kickr Bike. So you can still add rocking (and fore-aft motion) to your smart bike, if you want.
Hi,
Had the same isspeedwayen when I got my Neo bike last Oct. Got the grinder out and did some mechanical “trimming”. There is enough material to do so. Now it works fine.
Just had the same issue - 4 months into using the smart bike, climbing a hill in zwift and snapped the drive belt. Garmin passed me off to the retailer (Tredz) who in turn trying to pass me to the supplier (Zyro), who pass me back to Tredz… Left with a 4 month old useless 70kg bike in the spare room - hoping for a solution soon!
I’m currently renting a Wattbike Atom while being on a waitlist for the Neo Bike. The NB is finally ready for pick up, so I need to decide whether to keep the Atom or get the NB.
Anyone here have experience with both the Neo Bike and the Atom and how they compare in day to day usage?
Which one would you choose?
Tacx pushed an update on April 6 to the Neo Bike:
All the erg mode issues are pretty much resolves - so much so, I think I need to retest because workouts feel a ton easier without the constant “over and under” my Neo bike was giving me for free.
They also added the ability to change gears in Erg mode, which is interesting. Honestly, I thought it the biggest addition from this was that the display is now ‘always on’ so I can see my watts and cadence up in front, but other people are saying the gear changing is nice for microinterval sprints. I don’t have any scheduled, but we’ll see.
Thought I would share the improvements in case anyone is on the border of buying one or is comparing between a few models. I got my NEO early on and am so far extremely happy with its performance, despite even the early adopter erg mode issues.
Yes, thank you for mentioning this, for all who might have missed this. The update is a big improvement, ERG mode works and feels a lot better.
Not so sure about the gear changes, I don’t really feel a difference in inertia from shifting up and down. At least the ridiculous reported speed&distance are a thing of the past now (was 46 km/h before, now a more reasonable 20-30 depending on the gearing).
Well, part of this impression might be a lower target power in ERG mode since the update, not just the fluctuations. At least it has been that way for me since updating the firmware 2 weeks ago: power on intervals is at least a couple of watts below what it should be. I’ve now defaulted to doing workouts at 103% intensity. That way, they are closely matching what was initially prescribed. Maybe you are experiencing something similar? Might be worth checking out (although an FTP increase might be the case as well 
)
Yes, I’ve noticed that ERG runs about 3w below target in the newest firmware, but is very smooth! I’ve done the same thing, just bump the intensity up to 102-103% and it’s all good.
I like the gear changes to be able to get more resistance for a moment to get out of the saddle, or when I sit back down. I don’t really notice an inertia change.
Very happy with the current firmware and so is my SO as well, since her recovery power is finally at the right level again.
Steve, Is the power floor better? My wife will also be happy to learn about that
I’ve only done one steady state workout on it since the update (Wright Peak -1), so I can’t speak really to the gear changes, inertia, etc. I was basing it on other people’s comments. But I just rechecked my ride data, and yeh, looks like I was about 3-5 watts under where I should have been (so like 1-2%). And I thought I was a beast 
Yes, power floor is way better. The downside is that the fans turn off below 120w if you are in ERG to help with accuracy.
Before:
After:
Definitely still some room for improvement for hitting the targets, but it’s way smoother, especially at 60w
Do any of you guys have a copy of the instructions for removing the belt? Mine just snapped and I wanted to get some pictures and an email out to Tacx today so they can mail out my replacement ASAP.
Thanks!
sure, I’ll DM you
Thanks!
After a week being bounced between Garmin, Zyro and Tredz - I finally got put in touch directly with TACX in Holland. Interestingly they were not interested in replacing the belt but asked me to send the main unit back. A palaver waiting for a new box to be couriered out then disassembling and couriering back to Holland. But two weeks later a new unit has arrived and all working again. Given cost of couriers and new unit you would have thought easier to provide a belt but pleased with the service and result in the end