Wheelchair Repair

Posted by Megan Drummond Feb 27, 2007

As is the case for many people with disabilities, my wheelchair is my lifeline. Without it, I can't get around my house, cook a meal or do hardly anything. So when something goes wrong with it, it needs to be taken care of in a timely manner.

I live in a small town, an average of two hours away from any big city, and have all my life. So I'm quite used to having to wait for a wheelchair repairman to be able to make it down here. In the past, this has usually only taken a few days - a week at the most.

The company that gave me this kind of service was absorbed by a competitor and lost all the good people they had working for them. Since the new repairmen were rude, condescending and downright mean at times, people in my area started switching to different rehab providers. Not as many clients in the same area meant not enough reason to come all this way as often. When they finally did come, they intentionally broke a piece of my control box, causing my entire armrest to fall almost completely off, and then refused to come fix it unless I paid an exorbitant emergency call fee.

So, I switched again. The new company happened to be in the area the next day and came to do the repair. That was last winter. I haven't needed any other repairs to my chair until now. I realize that they can't make a two hour drive for just one person, but it's been over a month since I first contacted them. They did finally call me back two weeks ago to let me know that they finally ordered the parts and will try to make it down sometime in March.

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