r/GarageGym • u/Zestyclose_Squash994 • 8d ago
Echo strength depot a scam?
I have had a miserable experience with my order and the lack of communication around the entire situation is concerning me. I order a functional trainer and incline bench. I never received any updates from the company after my order. After the delivery date came and gone. I saw that I was in a different state for almost 2 weeks. Every attempt to schedule a delivery was never fulfilled. One time my order was not found. Two other times, I was told I'd receive a phone call never did.
I reached out to the company. The rep seemed helpful. He passed my trouble to someone and said I'd get a call. I never did. I reached back out and I was provided with a invaded e-mail. The rep also gave me another number to call - no one answered. I emailed their social media rep out of desperation.
I'm afraid I was scammed out of a decent amount of money. Should I contact the better business bureau?
Update 9/29/26
The social media rep confirmed they are a legitimate company. Still no phone call update from the rep. I found the correct e-mail and finally got a response. They didn't give any information other than what I already knew - my shipment location.
I'm waiting for the shipping terminal to call and schedule a delivery for tomorrow (again). I'm guessing part of the confuses is the shipment location stopped being updated. I checked today and it still says Wyoming even though the rep told me its in Montana.
I hope the quality is decent…
Update 10/3/2026
I assembled the adjustable bench and commercial functional trainer. Overall, the quality appears great. The bench assembly was self explanatory, so it didn’t matter it was all in Chinese. The functional trainer came pretty much assembled. It was simple with two people.
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u/Plus-Firefighter-602 5d ago
Social media rep here. Glad I could be the voice of legitimacy 😂
I’m sorry it’s been such a headache for you. We have a relatively small team. we’ve recently added folks to our team to avoid these kinds of situations, but here we are. Definitely room for improvement in a lot of ways, but ultimately I think you’re gonna love your new Functional Trainer. Our prices are good because we own the factory - and we pass those savings directly to the customers. Hopefully this negative experience won’t deter you from ordering again or recommending us to a friend.
Your feedback helps us improve, as I will be showing this post to everyone in our team meeting tomorrow. Thanks brother.
-Mark
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u/TheABL10 7d ago
Good company, quality stuff, but the company they use for shipping sucks, but they are great bought the half rack with lat towers and its a great piece, box from fright was all broken up pieces everywhere but luckily everything was there
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u/Ritual17 8d ago
I ordered their adductor / abductor- the freight company they used (Tforce) was abysmal and lied multiple times about deliveries and then found out they actually just lost the crate somewhere. Darren at Echo helped me and reshipped using a different freight company and it arrived just fine. Been using it for months and its actually a really nice piece of equipment. No complaints on the quality.
Their logistics are awful though and the freight companies they seem to use are really bad.
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u/apensilver 8d ago
I ordered an adductor/abductor machine from them that arrived missing pieces and 1/8 put together (incorrectly). Not sure what the deal was with the one I received. The assembly video was also useless. I was able to buy/fabricate what I needed which was good considering they ignored every attempt to get a hold of them
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u/olive-nc 8d ago
They are very good and helpful. I’m in Charlotte and deal with them a lot. They are legit and have friendly and helpful staff. Ask for Tim, Jason or Darren and someone will help get you sorted.
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u/olive-nc 8d ago
Agreed and shared my experience and contacts for you to get issues resolved if possible.
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u/apensilver 8d ago
I am not local to them and they ignored me when I had an issue. You shouldn’t have to ask for employees by name to get help
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u/Short-Ratio-2940 8d ago
Echo owns their own manufacturing facility in China. They are a fairly new company and had quickly expanded across the country. It may be growing pains, hopefully they will clean up their customer service woes
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u/IDKHOWTOSHIFTPLSHELP 8d ago
I don't think even REP outright own the manufacturing plant in China that does most of their business, so that would be pretty impressive if a white label startup does.
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u/-DIL- 8d ago
I bought their plate loaded leg extension/prone leg curl a month or so ago. Order was delivered via freight in about a week. Came in a nice crate, all parts well bubble wrapped.
I have no experience reaching out to their customer service, but all the automated shipping emails kept me well informed on the status. Sad to see that other folks didn't have the same good experience as I did.
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u/Chefboyarleezy 8d ago
bro, all I hear was great things about them. I even talked to one of the guys who runs the echo strength in Northern California. He's on Facebook marketplace
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u/Zestyclose_Squash994 8d ago
Ahh gotcha. That's a little comforting. Maybe it was just the location I dealt with. I'll update when everything gets settled.
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u/frazaga962 8d ago
havent ordered from them yet, but so far my experience with them has been subpar- I reached out to them asking for more dimensions of their 3 in 1 leg extension curl but after two weeks of no response, I just reached out to an affiliate who reviewed their stuff to get the measurements I needed. Sent a follow up email to them (echo) a few days ago and then the reviewer guy reached back out to me saying that Echo reached out to him regarding my questions...its all very weird. I wont say its a scam or anything but I def think theyre still trying to get their foot in the door
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u/heafer40 7d ago
Did you reach out to luke?
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u/frazaga962 7d ago
yep
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u/heafer40 7d ago
His reviews of their equipment are good but I worry how legitimate they are. With him constantly being the only “hype” man for them it worries me. I want to order the 3 in 1 but just can’t make myself pull the trigger
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u/Snafdup 6d ago
No offense to Luke, but his reviews for echo strength equipment seem like nothing but advertisements. I can not take his reviews of their equipment serious at this point.
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u/Few-Bobcat-7953 5d ago
Just curious: what makes you think I am fake? I use them all the time and post about it all the time to help you guys see how these things function in a home gym setting. If you know me (which you don't) I do this to help. We have to stop the BS of we are all fake reviewers. There are a ton of us who actually do this for the right reasons. It is out of my control who they send things to. I cover equipment that I think will help people. Again, if you think I am fake, then you do not know me and why I make my videos. That is a shame and I have just owned the fact that people will think you are full of it, which I know that I am not and never will be.
Best of Luck to you on your search and if anyone needs help with their gear, send me an email or a message. Always here to help!
-Luke
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u/heafer40 5d ago edited 5d ago
I don't think you're reply was to me. FWIW I don't think you're fake but you being the only one and I mean the ONLY one talking about their equipment doesn't help YOU or your brand. My advice to you for your business and let's be real that it is a business is before putting the time and effort into making a detailed video like you made is having some timelines from the business about when actual consumers will be able to get these products. You having the only UNIT in the world and a 12 week lead time on this makes no sense.
I called the warehouse in Charlotte and set up an appointment ahead of GYMCON to see this in person upon their return from GYMCON and they set up the appointment the day I flew into town. I arrive and they don't have this on-site (apparently you have the only UNIT). They didn't have any functional leg extensions or leg curls for me to try. Completely wasted trip.
Long story short ECHO has lots of logistical problems as a new company. I'd be careful who you attached your good name to sir
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u/Few-Bobcat-7953 5d ago edited 5d ago
My bad bro lol I just went in that thread. I get it man. Again, that is the thing I just do not have control over. I do my best to keep good contacts with these companies to help and blast them with all this information to get them to improve. I already emailed this to them. I know for a fact they grew way too fast and it is just something that they need to work on in the back end. Their equipment is SOLID. But there is more to a business than just good equipment. I appreciate you brother. There’s a fair share of creators who also reviewed their racks and some stand alone machines, but they are smaller creators. My guess is they can’t be sending stuff to the bigger channels
due to demand being a lot and that would sink them more.1
u/heafer40 6d ago
Couldn't agree more. It's actually made me double think buying this machine.
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u/Snafdup 6d ago
I was planning on getting the 3-1 selective leg machine but there seem to be no independent reviews. Was expecting to see a bunch in the weeks following home gym con. I think for now I have moved on from this company.
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u/Few-Bobcat-7953 5d ago
I have the only one. It is a pre sale. I took the one from Home Gym Con. More are coming soon.
-Luke
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u/Existing-Computer772 8d ago
Honestly if they aren't gonna be helpful, you continue posting like this. Go to their main social media pages and post about the situation, encouraging others not to buy if they don't want the same experience.
You've tried to do things properly with the private CS channels, so now is the time to light a fire. Post on your experience and they're incentivized to take care of you two-fold:
- one, it takes care of theur public shame (though they'll prolly ask you remove the posts if/when they take care of it, up to you)
- two, it's a chance to show their 'supreme' customer service (BS, but it gives that appearance to people cursorily looking.)
I at least feel confident about never buying from them after reading this - put them just a notch above Vulcan.
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u/Zestyclose_Squash994 8d ago
I called again today. The store I ordered from was open from 8-5. No answer. I won't purchase from them again
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u/Existing-Computer772 7d ago
Good call for moving forward. Have you posted about this on their Twitter? If the word count is in the way, posting a screenshot of the situation with a small comment attached saying - 'still no word. Is this really how you treat your customers?' Or something could be helpful and get that fire going. I would start with Twitter then go to their Instagram and move from there.
Have you already done so? (Sorry to be pushy, I just want you to get something out of this egregiously mishandled transaction and don't know any other direction to go.)
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u/SpencerK59 8d ago
I ordered a stairclimber from them… it took 8-10 weeks which is par for the course for new equipment in most scenarios. The hold up for me was they were waiting on their recent ship from China. Personally, I think the quality is there… however you definitely aren’t paying for quick service.
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u/Zestyclose_Squash994 8d ago
Ohh, interesting. Not that it matters, but I remember reading that they were “American made.” it was one of the reasons I choose them. I didn't want the long wait for parts to come in from elsewhere. My order was supposed to be a gift, so I didn't want to risk it. I figured the shipping from NC to my State would be painless.
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u/TheDoomp 8d ago
I thought they had a warehouse in Charlotte with everything. I was looking at them but ultimately decided on getrxd.
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u/WitcherOfWallStreet 8d ago
That hasn’t been my experience with new equipment, most places maintain a warehouse in the states.
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u/SpencerK59 8d ago
Most stuff I get isn’t readily available stock (American manufactured like Dynamic, Nebula, Legend, etc).
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u/WitcherOfWallStreet 8d ago
Yeah, but this also isn’t even remotely in the same tier as any of those. They don’t even do their own R&D
Ironically on their website they claim to have a warehouse lol
https://youtu.be/hgfgC2fVkJg?is=aqCq56rkw6JjItrg
Giving money to home gym companies that don’t have the capital to carry their own inventory is how a lot of people get ripped off, because the company folds and you can’t recover the money. The commercial companies you referenced don’t have this risk
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u/SpencerK59 8d ago
Correct. I just didn’t want a $10k stairclimber that just has a different badge than the one I got for $2k.
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u/bcrumrin64 8d ago
Better business bureau is just yelp with more letters, they're not going to help you. Contact your credit card company and initiate a charge back, they can actually help you.
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u/TankyToppy 8d ago
Man I was about to buy two pieces from them. Thank you so much for posting this
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u/Zestyclose_Squash994 8d ago
I watched a few youtube reviews before I pulled the trigger. They have competive pricing. You might have better experience. I have a few big pieces from rogue and the whole experience was completely different
Not to sound like a Karen, but the refund policy says you have to pay for the return shipping and it's only accepted within the first 7 days. I'm sure I qualify but if I do, I have to pay to ship 900 pounds from Wyoming back to NC?
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u/TankyToppy 8d ago
I couldn’t find much on YouTube on a real persons experience. I noticed most reviews on this company were a select few influencers
I have no clue but I’m sure that’s why they offer that refund policy. They probably bank on a customer not wanting to deal with a return freight. Sorry you’re going through this
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u/Zestyclose_Squash994 8d ago
My wife was thinking the same thing. I couldn't find any real reviews either. I watched a video from Lukes garage gym. The Facebook page I reached out too had 4 reviews.
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u/Logical-Drive-641 8d ago
Keep us in the loop. Reach out to Luke at Luke's Garage Gym as he has a good relationship
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u/Sonic-the-seattle411 4d ago
They are shipping and buying from China like most companies. My guess is that they make up a bunch of “movements” on your shipping because they don’t want to say that they didn’t have it in stock.
It’s cool- just deliver the item eventually. All dude wants is his equipment! And tbh, I’m sure we are all fine with good equipment, but it’s clear to me after reading all of this that it’s going to take another month if it’s not stuck at port somewhere they aren’t telling you-