In a previous post, I stated that I received an electric wheelchair that does not work for me that cost over $19,000.
The supplier blatantly stated (among other things) that they would not provide an adequate chair that would suit me because then they would not make enough money on it after delivering it. Many lies and fraud have been committed by this supplier, who does business out of the Sacramento, California area. I have subsequently filed a fraud claim with Medicare in hopes to get a chair from a different company that will work for me and get Medicare’s contract pulled out from underneath this supplier leaving them out in the cold without the bread and butter of Medicare to rip off.
I was going to let things ride and let Medicare do their job and correct the situation until...Yesterday, I received a nasty letter in the snail mail from the supplier stating even more untruths. This letter arrived at my house on 11/18/2009. It got refused by the post office because the supplier couldn’t figure out the city or zip code to where I live (even though they delivered the chair to my house--idiots). The supplier has this information, but in my opinion, put the wrong zip code on it so it wouldn’t get delivered speedily thus buying them more time. It’s a good thing there is lots of competition out there. I’ll be going somewhere else for my next chair. I only went to this company because my PT at the time ordered it from them. I didn’t know any better. It’s my first chair. It’s a good thing I still have an 8-year-old powerchair that is borrowed and works 100% better than this crappy new one.
Here is the letter in quotes and my statements are outside if quotes.
“October 27, 2009
My name
Address
Wrong city and zip
RE: Power wheelchair
This is to inform you that we will not take your chair back as a return. You received the chair on 8/26/09, at this time, it was taken in your home and you were instructed on how to use it.”
I was home alone, the guy didn’t even ask me to sit in it, and had me sign a piece of paper that he said “stated I was here”. He did not leave any paperwork that stated their policies or anything regarding anything. Hello, sign, and goodbye. He took advantage of a disabled woman for sure.
Medicare Ordered them to pick it up and keep it. They picked it up, but brought it back.
“Approximately 3 weeks later you called complaining that your chair would not go on the gravel and that it would not go up your ramp”.
Completely false statement. I called them a week after receiving it when my husband could help me get into the chair for the first time. I called the supplier and complained about the chair driving with a delayed stop so it was hitting the walls in my house. I also complained about the leg lifts not going high enough. There was no mention of gravel at any time either.
“When we came to your home to look at the chair to make sure that it was working properly we noticed that you had used a saw to cut off the leg rests.”
Wrong again. We were told by them to cut off the end of the leg posts where the foot rests go because they were too long and damaged the house and I couldn’t use the foot rests because my legs are longer than the footplates allow unless I was supposed to sit with my knees around my neck.
“We tested the programming and it worked just fine”.
The programming was never a problem except for the stop delay, Which that is the one thing they did correct.
“We explained to you at that time that the chair was working properly and that you needed to modify your ramp as it is too steep for a large powerchair to be able to go up, and the chair is not made to go in gravel”.
Chair working properly ? For whom? Them? It doesn’t and never did work properly for me. How can they justify that?
Liar! They never said that about the ramp. The ramp is up to code. Both of them are. We have one in the front and one in the back. The old borrowed wheelchair goes up and down both just fine. I guess a wheelchair that squirrels all over inside the house and pokes holes in walls works fine in their book. A powerchair should go up and down a ramp without hesitation. I never said anything about “gravel”. I don’t know where they get that idea from. The chair does not go up a small incline or over a small bump without pitching to one side or the other even to get in and out of the front door. That’s the problem. It has no power. They reemed Medicare. It is not the right chair.
”This chair was provided to you to meet your height and weight measurements and to allow you to get around inside your home”.
But not disability needs and it does not enable me to even get out the front door in case of a fire. They just asoon I burn to death.
They didn’t measure my height and weight either. I couldn’t stand up for height and they didn’t bring a scale for weight. I had three other witnesses see that. So that’s a lie.
“You asked us to narrow the seat (which we didn’t recommend) but you insisted and so when we picked it up for the modifications and noticed that there were different wheels on the chair.”
They did not tell us that they did not recommend narrowing the seat. The seat was way too wide and crashed into the hall walls and doorways. The chair was for a 600+ lb person width wise and was just too wide. This goes back to the better wheelchair and the profit that they wouldn’t make, so I get to suffer. They told us to put bigger tires on it and to modify it for them, which proved to be dangerous going up and down the ramp. The chair almost ended up going over backwards numerous times and had to be physically pushed up the ramp by two men. There is another witness to attest to how dangerous it became.
“You said they were from your old chair and because they were larger it would go outside easier”
The other one kicks this new one’s ass outside. It has no leg lifts though. The leg lifts on the new one are worse than no leg lifts at all.
“It is not recommended that you keep those wheels on the chair, as it has modified the way the chair drives”.
Now the disclaimer, so I won’t sue the pants off of them.
They told us to put them on. Now we’re supposed to take them off? Don’t worry that’s done already because they made this stupid chair totally unsafe anyway. Oh and it is a Pride Quantum Rehab chair—useless to me.
We put those different wheels and tires on it in hopes the chair would work...at all. They didn't solve the problem.
“We have made every accommodation that we are able to do. The chair was custom ordered to your specific needs to enable you to get around inside your home.”
Notice how there is no mention of the leg rests and my complaints about them not being high enough. The chair is unusable to me mainly because of that.
Nice kiss if ending huh.
Sincerely,
Loser President of the Company
who doesn’t give a rats ass about the customer especially a disabled one.
I have complained about everything I mentioned above and more to the supplier. Did they fix it? No. Instead I get this kiss off letter.I would name the company, but I need to brush up on the CA state libel law.
I do hope that others will come forward and group together against this Sacramento, California Medical Supply company. Medicare has informed me that if there are enough complaints against this company then they will indeed pull their Medicare contract. I believe this company has no business being in the medical supply business under Medicare contract. We the disabled cannot sit back and let these companies take advantage of us, Medicare, or the taxpayer. We might be disabled, but we still have a voice and a strong one at that.
I did find another person on the net that has problems with this same company.
This post will be added to when my husband sees it. I’m sure I forgot something.
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