WHEN OUR SON MOVED to a push wheelchair and then to a power chair, we quickly discovered that getting repairs wouldn’t be easy, and not just because of the complicated design of the chairs.
Top wheelchair suppliers
From KFF Health News:
“The multibillion-dollar power-wheelchair market is dominated by two national suppliers, Numotion and National Seating and Mobility (NSM). Both are owned by private equity firms that seek to increase profits and cut spending. One way they do that is by limiting what they spend on technicians and repairs, which, when combined with insurance and regulatory obstacles, frustrates wheelchair users seeking timely fixes.”
We have experience with both suppliers. National Seating and Mobility was a decent company to deal with, always available to service our son’s power chair problems and adjustments. They had a clinic at the Kessler Institute in West Orange, New Jersey, where we went for help. We also went to NSM’s facility a number of times in Whippany, New Jersey, for servicing.
Numotion was a different story. Our son got an Evolv Stander from the Kessler Institute in West Orange through Numotion. But Numotion cut off all communication with us as soon as they were paid for their services. They wouldn’t return my calls or my emails when I tried contacting them for extra help on some issues with the Evolv Stander. Zero response. Customer service is not in their business model.
Right to repair
The National Conference of State Legislatures has posted information about the consumer’s right to repair. Not all states have dealt with this issue yet:
“Right to repair legislation is directed at the ability of consumers to repair their own products instead of going back to the original manufacturer for service. Right to repair legislation includes bills addressing specific products, like wheelchairs, and those targeting broader categories, such as medical, digital or agricultural equipment. The measures often include language on what tools, parts, software or instructions manufacturers should provide to independent repairers or product owners so they may repair the products they own.”
Wikipedia offers more information about the right to repair.
We ran into this right-to-repair issue a number of times with our son’s power chair.
The chair had a joystick on the front for him to use and a joystick on the back for us to use after he lost all ability to drive it. When we returned from Costa Rica in 2019 after visiting one of those useless stem cell clinics, we discovered that the knob for the rear joystick controller was missing.
We had to notify the airline, fill out paperwork, and have an authorized repair guy come to the house just to put a knob on the joystick instead of just sending us the knob. That wasn’t a big deal.
On another occasion, when our son went to the ER, we had to go down a very long hallway while he was in his power chair. But he could no longer drive it by himself, so I had to use the rear controller. The fastest I could drive him was extremely slow. The maximum speed was in the settings in the controller, which I couldn’t access.
To increase the maximum speed, a service technician from National Seating and Mobility had to come to the house. He connected a handheld device to the power chair controller so he could get into the settings and change the speed. Why couldn’t the consumer have something like that? It was just a change in the settings.
When Jeremy went with some friends to the Caribbean, his power chair had been mishandled by the airline. An extremely heavy weight (or an overweight airline employee) pushed down or sat on one of the armrests so heavily that it was angled toward the floor. A hotel employee found a piece of wood to prop it up until our son returned home.
We needed a service call to level the armrest. I soon learned that I could do many of the mechanical (not electrical) repairs and adjustments myself with just a set of Allen wrenches, so I didn’t have to deal with service technicians.
When the power chair needed other repairs, I had to bring it to NSM while leaving Jeremy at home either propped up on the couch or sitting in a push wheelchair. These were simple repairs I could have done myself if I’d had access.
In all fairness, NSM helped us quite a bit and came to our house many times. Our son’s power chair had a shock-absorbing piston at the back that leaked oil. NSM replaced that piston five or six times but couldn’t figure out why every piston leaked. They eventually replaced the whole chair at no cost.
