Betterlife Healthcare - Terrible after sales service

tenmah

Hello

I recently bought an Aries Electric wheelchair from Betterlife Healthcare for my daughter.

Sadly, we have had nothing but problems with it since we have got it.

We purchased an in car charger with it, but it wasn't until we got the chair we found out that it has to be fully assembled and the car running in order to charge it and therefore was not suitable as my car is not big enough to have the wheelchair in fully assembled. One of the main reasons we bought this particular one was because it folded to go in the boot of the car. We thought the charger would charge through the battery in the way scooters do, but this one is under the joystick. The specification did not say this, so I had to return the charger.

The footplate on the left hand side did not fit from the beginning and my daughter had to hold it in place with her foot, which was very uncomfortable and every time she went up a kerb, it flew outwards and caught on the kerb. Eventually it got jammed and when she reversed to free it, it flew towards the right hand side plate, hitting her on the leg and causing damage to the right hand plate.

After a number of days I phoned the company to ensure they had received the charger I had returned, which was confirmed. The lady said it was with the finance department waiting for a refund.

Two weeks later, still no refund so I phoned again and was told it could take up to 30 days to refund the money. I am not sure why it takes so long, as they seem able to take the money from you on the same day! If I had been told that the first time I had called, I wouldn't have needed to call them again.

I asked for a replacement left hand foot plate but was told they didn't have any in stock. I phoned to ask for a right hand one and was told it would be sent when the left hand ones were in stock.

Whilst going to a hospital appointment on Friday, the joystick came off in her hand and then as the last straw, the front right hand wheel was completely flat. We have already had to pump the tyre up twice since we have had the chair (only a matter of weeks) and the valve cap has never fitted - something I did advise the company of in the hopes they would send another one. This issue caused her to be late for her appointment.

I phoned at 3.30pm and asked to speak to a manager but was told none were available. I explained what had happened and how upset I was with their service and was told the lady would speak to someone and she would call me back in an hour. Two hours later I called her as I hadn't heard. She advised she had spoken to her manager who had advised that someone would have to come out from the company to look at the chair. They are in Lancs, we are in Essex. I asked to speak to the manager again and was told she had gone home at 3pm! So she had gone home half an hour BEFORE I had phoned, yet the lady had managed to speak to her about my call.

I am going to cut a very long story short, as I would bore you with each phone call I have had to make, but each time I have had to explain the situation again, only to find that nothing has been done.

I bought the chair to make my daughter more independent but it has had the opposite effect. The worrying thing is that any of these things could have happened whilst she was out alone in the chair and she would have been completely stuck.

So it seems that the company are happy to take your money, but after that they are not bothered at all - very disappointing.

Sorry for the long post, but just wanted other people to be aware before they purchased anything from them.

We have now put in a second complaint to them and have asked them to call tomorrow to resolve the situation, but I am not holding my breath!

[Deleted User]

contact trading standards for the area the company are based

tenmah

So as expected I did not get a phone call from Betterlife this morning, as promised. I called them and was again told that no manager was available to talk to (do the managers never work at this company!) but that we were due a home visit on Thursday at 8.30am. Would have been nice to have been told this.

They will then decide whether it just needs repairing or a complete replacement. Either way my daughter is without her wheelchair all this time.......

Anubis_2

I am sorry you have had such a bad experience, but would like to thank you for making other peopke aware. Good luck!

tenmah

Anubis wrote: »

I am sorry you have had such a bad experience, but would like to thank you for making other peopke aware. Good luck!

Thank you Anubis!

Andrea_T_2

Our 19 year old daughter has a Sovereign 4 mobility scooter from them. She has only had it a few weeks and it wont charge properly. The charge full light goes off after about 2 hours and you have to unplug it and plug it back in, really good over night! As she is 120 + miles away at Uni if it brakes down she is stuck. Betterlife just keep fobbing us off saying that it is just because the battery is new and it will settle down. They now say it will take 7 days for them to decide when they can come out to see it. When it arrived, a day late, they dumped it upside down and refused to demonstrate or even assemble it, very helpful for disabled people.


Good luck with your problems!

[Deleted User]

was it fully charged the first time?

tenmah

Andrea_T wrote: »

Our 19 year old daughter has a Sovereign 4 mobility scooter from them. She has only had it a few weeks and it wont charge properly. The charge full light goes off after about 2 hours and you have to unplug it and plug it back in, really good over night! As she is 120 + miles away at Uni if it brakes down she is stuck. Betterlife just keep fobbing us off saying that it is just because the battery is new and it will settle down. They now say it will take 7 days for them to decide when they can come out to see it. When it arrived, a day late, they dumped it upside down and refused to demonstrate or even assemble it, very helpful for disabled people.


Good luck with your problems!

Sorry to hear of your problems. I have never dealt with a company that has such bad customer service and who don't understand the issues their target market has when their products constantly break down.

We are still having issues with them, the footplates on the electric wheelchair are so thin they snap nearly everytime she uses her chair. Consequently we have had to ask them to send replacements constantly and I have said on nearly every phone call that they need looking at because it can't be right this is happening.

So finally one of their customer service ladies agrees and says that she will send a technician out to look at the chair - great I thought, but then she refused to send out another pair of footplates until they had been.

I tried to explain to her that this would leave my daughter in a very difficult position as she had a hospital appointment yesterday in London (this conversation took place on Monday) and that it was very difficult to sit and use a wheelchair without footplates, but she outright refused to send anymore.

Her reasons - my daughter might get stuck and get thrown out of her chair!!! My daughter is an adult by the way! The lady said she couldn't possibly have it on her concience. Totally ridiculous and it is now Friday and we still haven't heard from them as to when the technician is coming down.

They are the worst company ever and please, please do not buy from them......

jazabelle

(I am Tenmah's daughter)

We have contacted Trading Standards, who couldn't have been less interested if they tried. I also contacted The One Show who have a consumer panel - who then phoned to say they were interested and to keep them updated - then never heard anything.

Here are just some of the issues that have been happening:

· On the 9th September I wrote to complain about the on-going issues with the wheelchair, and this complaint was totally ignored.

· On the 15th November I was promised a manager would call me back, instead a repairs technician called me and said they were a manager, before admitting later in the call they were not.

· On the 15th November a manager informed my carer that they would be replacing my chair. On the 17th November she then denied ever saying this. Twice the same manager promised a replacement chair, and then recanted her statement.

· On the 17th November a manager said I could have a loan wheelchair while mine was being repaired. When the technician arrived he did not have one, leaving me extremely restricted on where I could go during this time.

· On the 19th November I phoned and asked to speak to a manager about all the on-going issues, and that while each problem was repairable, it kept happening which was not appropriate. She shouted at me in response, talked over me, and kept referring to a 'scooter' instead of a wheelchair which was very frustrating.

· In December 2011 my wheelchair jammed on a flat piece of concrete. My carer tried to release it, and the footplate flung off, causing her to fall and injure herself.

· On April 5th 2012 a repair advisor informed my carer that if the technician says the wheelchair needs replacing, they will do so, and that is the only way it can be replaced. When the technician arrived, he said he did not have that authority.

Please note they still have not been in touch to arrange a technician to come out and look at my wheelchair they know I can barely use, and that was some time ago.

These are just a few of the issues. Sadly I haven't kept a diary, so it's just ones I've written about in emails that I remember. Every phone call is a joke.

The problem I've had is that if I write to them and demand a refund - then I have no wheelchair. I can't afford to put any more into a wheelchair, as we got this one in a sale. If they replaced it - then I thought the same issues would keep happening, and I'd be out of the warranty. So I have been stuck knowing exactly what to do.

I have been trying to apply to charities for funding, but they seem to expect you to be on benefits on no income. I work part time, so do have a small income - but not the thousands needed for a new wheelchair.

Anyway, I had a wheelchair assessment the other day who said that a wheelchair meeting my needs would cost about £7000. They also said that as I need one work Access to Work might help. So I'm currently waiting on contact from them - and have my wheelchair assessment all ready to give them.

I have also written to Betterlife today rejecting the wheelchair under the Sale of Goods act by following one of MSE's templates.

If they don't respond like usual - we did buy the chair on a credit card, thank god, so hopefully will be able to do a chargeback.

Fingers crossed this all works out, but it's trying to time getting rid of the old chair, and getting the new chair. If there is a gap inbetween I will struggle to go anywhere that needs me to walk more than a few steps, which is worrying.

HB58

I am sorry to hear that you are being treated so badly and really hope that things are sorted out soon.

anguk

So sorry to hear of all the trouble you're having, it makes my blood boil when companies who are set up specifically for disabled people have bad customer service or rip their customers off.

Who did you have your wheelchair assessment with? My husband has just had an assessment with wheelchair services at a local hospital, they're giving him an electric wheelchair and it's not costing us anything. It's going to take 16 weeks to get it because of all the paperwork etc so I'll have to push him in his manual until then but at least we don't have the worry about the cost.