Betterlife Healthcare - Terrible after sales service

schrodie

Trading Standards many be a useful port of call or the CAB or Consumer Direct.

Hope you get it sorted out soon.

jazabelle

I've tried Trading Standards/Consumer Direct but they weren't interested - well, they just told me to write to them and reject it under the Sale of Goods Act - which I did last month. But that didn't work.

I haven't gone to CAB - because they are also in the town centre, and I can't reach them without my chair.

Thank you though.

jazabelle

Updates: The Express called and said they were interested in my story, and have written to Lloyds - who own Betterlifer Healthcare.

A couple of weeks later they called to say they hadn't had a response, but were sending a photographer out. He came on the 21st Aug and took loads of embarrassing photos looking both happy and sad, in case of different outcomes!! Haven't heard anything from them since.

In the meantime - Betterlife requested another inspection, and I agreed. That's all gone horribly wrong, so I lost my temper tonight and after hundreds of very polite phone calls, emails and letters - I gave up and wrote the following letter to them:

jazabelle

Dear Sir/Madam


I am writing in regards to the on-going saga which can be summed up by the fact in July 2011 you sold me what you define as an ‘Aries wheelchair’ and I define as a ‘useless piece of rubbish that regularly breaks down, or regularly has pieces falling of it – interspersed with the most appalling customer service I have ever received from a company'.


First of all, I’m not sure if you’re aware, but people who generally use wheelchairs either can’t walk, or find it difficult to. We generally rely on them, and find them quite important in our lives. I get the impression from your company you don’t understand this vital function by you way you have treated me over the past year, so I just thought I’d clear that up for you.


On to the point of this letter – one of the many letters, emails and phone calls I’ve had to make over the past year. I agreed to you taking the chair away for an inspection, despite having taken a day off work a few weeks ago when you sent a technician to carry one out – who then took photos for 30 seconds and then left – with no report forthcoming. So I agreed to another inspection only on the proviso I was given an alternative suitable chair.


First I was called by someone who said they were bringing a scooter – I’m unsure if it really was a scooter, as so many members of your staff have an incredibly annoying habit of calling wheelchairs scooters, which is a shame because I would have thought as a mobility company you might be aware of the differences between the two just by looking at them. Silly me.


I explained I did not want a replacement scooter, but a wheelchair, but the lady then came back to say I could have a loan chair, but it could only be used indoors. That obviously did not meet the definition of an ‘alternative’, just as if I was offered a loan car but was told I couldn’t leave my drive way, then eyebrows would clearly be raised. The weird thing about wheelchairs is that you generally use them to leave the house, so I declined this ludicrous offer.


My next offer was a specific wheelchair that I was given the name of. As my trust with your company is on a par with the countries feelings towards the banking sector, I decided to google this before accepting. I immediately noticed the weight limit of the wheelchair did not meet the accepted level I had just informed you of 30 seconds ago. I was then told there was no other alternative, so we were left at stalemate.


My mum then decided to help me by contacting a manager at your company, Heather, to try and address this, and Heather promised a suitable alternative would be given that could in fact leave the house, met the weight limit, and go into a car. Great! Except this was the same Heather who twice promised me a replacement chair, then denied all knowledge and said I was lying when it came to actually obtaining said replacement. So again, my trust? Bob Diamond level.


The technician came today to pick up my sorry state of a wheelchair, which currently looks like something that’s had a very hard life – with all four tyres going flat despite regularly pumping them, the replacement footplate not clicking into place, the glue or bolts holding the side of the wheelchair in place having fallen off – leaving both sides flapping, and just to top it off – as the technician lifted the chair, something else fell from it, like something out of a comedy sketch. Except I don’t find it funny.



He then handed over a wheelchair – a rickety looking thing with a big split across the headrest and left. Firstly, it wasn’t charged – which means I won’t be able to use it until tomorrow, which seems really rude of you – but I suppose a blip on the radar at this point. Worst of all – it’s that specific chair I declined. You know, that chair that doesn’t meet the weight requirements?


I used the last drops of the battery life to take it to the back of the house, as it wobbled away, and then tipped as I went round the corner but was luckily saved from falling by my mum. So that ‘replacement’ chair can’t actually be used as it’s yet another completely pile of rubbish, which I suppose I was expecting from your company.


I’m tired of emailing or phoning you begging you for a refund, saying I’m ‘shocked and appalled’ with your service and unhappy that I’m housebound as I wait yet another repair on the chair. I oddly enough have better things to do. So here’s a suggestion: just give me my money back so I can get a replacement chair from elsewhere, and you can carry on treating your other customers with contempt.



Yours sincerely

jazabelle

I've just found the CEO of Betterlife is called Grant Abrahams. I wonder if I put his name on the letter whether it will make any difference?

EycplUK

You would think , and expect , that a major company like Lloyds Pharmacy who own the betterlife brand would be a bit more proffesional in thier dealings with customers !
Lloyds ! this aint doing your company profile any good at all so why not get a grip and sort this out ?

Savvy_Sue

jazabelle wrote: »

I've just found the CEO of Betterlife is called Grant Abrahams. I wonder if I put his name on the letter whether it will make any difference?

I would certainly send him a copy! Marked for his personal attention ...

jazabelle

So last night I sent the email with FAO Grant Abrahams in the title. I was also going to send a hard copy today.

It is interesting - normally emails get ignored, and you have to phone them up a few times to prompt them to answer.

Today, I got a response:

Dear jazabelle,

Thank you for your email. Unfortunately this is the first time I have been notified of the problems you have had with the Aries Wheelchair and the poor service which you refer to below.

As I am away from the office I have asked for several Betterlife employees to provide me with a summary on this and will come back directly with what I hope will be a satisfactory resolution to this.

Best Regards

Grant Abrahams
Head of Betterlife@LloydsPharmacy

jazabelle

Dear jazabelle,

After speaking with some of my colleagues I think the best course of action would be to collect the loan wheelchair from you as soon as possible and issue you with a full refund on receipt of that chair. I am hoping that this will be done within the next few days or early next week.

I do apologise for the lack of communication and numerous emails, phone calls you have had to make. I hope this brings the issues you have to a satisfactory conclusion.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you so wish. In the meantime Kayleigh will be in touch to arrange a collection and subsequent urgent refund.

Best Regards

Grant Abrahams

This is great news. I kind of feel they are still 'getting away' with their behaviour. I'm debating whether to go back and say thanks, but some costs to cover the hundreds of phone calls I've had to make would help?

jazabelle

They have decided an appropriate offer of settlement for my 14 months of tears, stress, being left unable to leave the house for weeks at a time while waiting for repairs, the hours worth of phone calls - with long periods of time on hold, the many letters I sent that never got responded to, the pain caused when they refused to replace the footplates and I had to go to hospital in London without them.

Their offer was 20% off my next purchase.

Oh.