“Put down the papers,” At Home Fitness co-owners Bryan Dorksen has to respectfully tell more and more customers of his high-end fitness stores located in Arizona.
Consumers often come into At Home Fitness stores - located in Scottsdale, Gilbert, Chandler and Ahwatukee - armed with stacks of papers printed from online research they've compiled on equipment such as treadmills, elliptical machines or home gyms.
While Dorksen encourages people to shop around, he's also quick to warn his customers: “Let the researcher beware,” when it comes to reading online reviews.
“Back in the day, customers came into stores to hear what the sales people had to say about their products,” Dorksen said. “It's come a long way in terms of technology nowadays and people get a lot of their information online now. The Internet has become a vehicle for advertisement, but unfortunately a lot of times people don't know that what they think is a review is really an advertisement.”
Occasionally, people will find legitimate, unbiased online product reviews, but most of the time they're not much better than spam set up to boost up a particular product. Companies either have their own employers write reviews for their goods and services, or pay others to do so.
“Think about it, people aren't writing pages and pages of reviews out of the goodness of their hearts,” Dorksen said. “They're doing it because they work for the company, or they're being paid to do it.”
In the case of fitness equipment, Dorksen said the best lines of major brands usually aren't even sold online.
“In each state, the major brands offer exclusive rights,” he said. “The largest retailers have the top picks from the top brands to sell in their stores.
“When people come into our stores armed with stacks of papers, the first thing I ask them to do is set them down,” Dorksen added. “I let them know the best brands do not let their products be sold online. That means many of the treadmills and ellipticals that are being called the best available on the Internet actually aren't even good enough to be carried in stores. But the fake reviews point people in the wrong direction.”
Dorksen is proud that At Home Fitness is a company in Arizona that does get the top draft picks for its stores and online catalogs, with top fitness lines available at all their superstores in Arizona:
* Scottsdale (6969 E Shea Blvd, Scottsdale, zip 85254
(480) 951-6951);
*Ahwatukee (14647 So. 50th Street, Phoenix, 85044; (480) 940-1022;
* Gilbert (2810 S. Market St. Gilbert, 85295); (480) 855-6044); and
* Chandler (4320 W Chandler Blvd, Chandler, AZ 85226; (480) 268-0637).
“We have 36 brand of fitness equipment, the best brands and the best sales people in Arizona,” Dorksen said. “We're the largest fitness retailer in Arizona.
“Whether you're looking at home gyms, treadmills, ellipticals, exercise bikes, or lots of other types of equipment, I invite you to come into one of our stores and talk with one of our highly trained sales associates. We do an excellent business and have the luxury of being very honest with customers. We are not always the right destination for everyone and we are a high-end fitness store, but because of the way we do business we have a lot of satisfied customers.”
At Home Fitness consultant Aaron Dorksen's blog deals with a variety of fitness topics, ranging from workout tips, motivational ideas and feature stories on how exercise impacts people's lives. E-mail him with comments, questions or ideas for future blogs at aaron@athomefitness.com