Motus Medical
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Wheelchair not fit for purpose
I’m writing to complain about my power wheelchair, I have not had the chair for more than 3 months and I have had nothing but problems with it. When Callum came out to assess me in October, he measured me up, we also asked for a larger footplate for my feet and a longer arm for a body button for my leg to operate the Omni screen. He let me try the demo chair with the head array and it was brilliant. When Callum came out to deliver the chair after months of delays, he adjusted the head array for my head position. I had to call the office 2 weeks later to complain that the chair was too wide and I was sliding all over the place, when Callum came back out he adjusted the chair so it was narrower, we also asked about a wider footplate, longer arm and a wire extension but nothing has come off it. The head array has been faulty, I rang the company up again about 2 weeks later as i was having problems with the head array as it kept going around in circles on its own and also the chair kept on stopping because the head array is classed as the joystick and wasn’t centering properly and kept on coming up with an error code and it wouldn’t move. I was stuck in Newcastle with my Personal Assistant which is 45 miles plus return and my partner Sophie had to come and pick me up and also the next day I couldn’t get to my dentist appointment. We rang again a week later and then Greg for the same problems as before, to be fair with Greg he didn’t know what was wrong with it and at the same time we mentioned about the wider footplate and leg arm which had still not been supplied or fitted and had to ring the office up but managed to get it working for about a week until the same problem happened and I was stuck in a coffee shop, this has happened 2 times and then Tom came out as the chair wasn’t responding to the controls, we turned around and said that this chair is not fit for purpose and he sternly said we are not going down that route and just shut us down. He had to turn off the proximity sensors on the head array so now I have to use force control to turn left and right. It seems to have been working for 2 weeks so then had to ring back up again as I was stranded in town in the pouring rain as the chair decided to go forwards on its own and would not stop. I had to ring the company up twice as the first woman called Karen said she would speak to Tom and hung up on me so I had to ring up again and spoke to Kat who managed to get an engineer out that same day. I have Cerebral Palsy in 4 limbs and I need to operate the chair with my head only, I enjoy going to football matches, car boots sales and going to town as this gives me my independence, since I have had all these problems I have lost confidence in going out as I’m fed up of being rescued every time I go out in it. I have been given 2 free football match tickets for next week and I’m worried that the chair won’t get me there and back as the chair hasn’t been fixed. This chair cost me £16k, when Callum came out to assess we told him what we needed and that was an outdoor chair which would carry out my needs and he suggested the head array which comes from America as it’s state of the art and for my needs. On the assessment, Callum never told me that the head array was for ideally indoor use only and not to get wet in the rain as I found out that it is not waterproof so yes the chair is not fit for purpose. In my opinion this head array is not fit for purpose for my needs which is an expensive bit of kit and I wish I kept my NHS wheelchair and my money as once again I have no confidence in the chair or the company.