How Beachbody On Demand Continues To Disappoint

I’m a technology person as well as a fitness person.  Obviously combining the two brings me great joy…most of the time.  When Beachbody On Demand first came out I was pretty underwhelmed by the technology and the offering itself.  Since then I have still continued to use it while also re-ripping all my DVD’s to host locally on my own PLEX media server for a number of reasons.  The most recent of which is the company’s seemingly inept ability to manage their technology.

Recent FireTV Update Breaks Beachbody On Demand App

The other day I went into the home gym to do a workout, fired up my FireTV and noticed it had done an update.  Cool, I decided to check it out later when I was done.  I went to launch the Beachbody on Demand App….waited…..waited….waited….nothing and eventually a screen saver.  As if nothing even loaded.  So I proceed into troubleshooting mode….mind you all I want to do is WORK OUT!  I uninstall the app, re-install, reboot the FireTV, check the connections, etc and after 30-45 minutes I give up and revert to the PLEX Media Server version of the workout.

Fast forward a day and I try again thinking maybe the service was down.  To my surprise it still does not work.  I go to another FireTV that also has been updated and I try again….same thing!  Now I am convinced it’s a Beachbody On Demand App issue with the new FireTV update, so I post this on the CEO’s FB Page.

To which he replied:

While I greatly appreciate the reply, it actually pissed me off even more and here is why.

Beachbody On Demand Team Completely Dropped The Ball

First off, there was NO outbound communication that there was an issue.  I searched the FAQ, asked Google, literally nothing to be found.  So the fact they were “aware that customers were having an issue” was even worse.  People are PAYING for this subscription service.

Secondly, the FireTV did not, and as best I can tell, DOES NOT give the option to “refrain from the update until we notify you”.  So since these devices just update, and they already have shown their inability to “Notify me”, yeah I have faith in that.

Lastly, here is the big rub putting my IT cap on.  There is NO REASON this ever should happen.  Amazon, Apple, Google, and pretty much every platform out there provide tools to people that write apps to test them with new OS releases.  In just about every case those new OS updates are made available to developers so that these things don’t happen.  So I am really not sure what Carl means by saying “we are working diligently with Amazon and our other partners to remedy the situation”.  You should have been WELL ahead of the new OS drop.  The best part is EVERY OTHER app continued to work fine including Les Mills On Demand which I also use that is a competing company.

So why is it this is the only app that died?  I believe it is the constant history of the company that spends more money and time on infomercials instead of supporting the things people are really using these days like on demand streaming, or I have said in the past, just having digital downloads so I can get the media files with my purchase and just host them myself on my laptop.  Will I stop being a fan of this company?  No, I like what they produce, but for Pete’s sake wake up, get your head out of the sand and stay ahead of things like this.  Heads should roll in your IT department for bricking an application on an entire platform rendering paying customer unable to use it.  Seriously.  I’ve yet to see any public update or notification and maybe I will try again today to see if it works.

Beachbody On Demand All Access

It was also just announced that on December 27th, you can purchase Beachbody On Demand All Access.  Great deal cost wise if you ask me, but if the service cannot be accessed what’s the point?  The company is a Marketing Machine, all I am saying is that if you want to play in the online, cloud world, you better get your service availability dialed in along with your application availability.  Two different things, and to date both are sub-par with this service.  Hey if you still want to give it a try, let me know I can get you setup with it and you can tell me how it works on your devices.  At least I call things like I seem them!

About Chris Colotti

Chris is active on the VMUG and event speaking circuit and is available for many events if you want to reach out and ask. Previously to this he spent close to a decade working for VMware as a Principal Architect. Previous to his nine plus years at VMware, Chris was a System Administrator that evolved his career into a data center architect. Chris spends a lot of time mentoring co-workers and friends on the benefits of personal growth and professional development. Chris is also amongst the first VMware Certified Design Experts (VCDX#37), and author of multiple white papers. In his spare time he helps his wife Julie run her promotional products as the accountant, book keeper, and IT Support. Chris also believes in both a healthy body and healthy mind, and has become heavily involved with fitness as a Diamond Team Beachbody Coach using P90X and other Beachbody Programs. Although Technology is his day job, Chris is passionate about fitness after losing 60 pounds himself in the last few years.

2 comments

  1. I have to agree. I finally cancelled my BOD club membership because it didn’t work more than it worked and tech support had no clue. I would go weeks without being able to access my account on the Fire Stick and they couldn’t understand why, or why I was angry. If I wanted to work out using my laptop, I wouldn’t have the large TV in my fitness room. ?

    • Sadly, they did get it fixed after about 3 weeks and yes tech Support was clueless. I tweeted and FaceBooked Carl himself until he finally replied acknowledging the issue, but it still took weeks to fix. For the money they make they are completely inept at Technology.

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