Jazzy or what?

Kitt · 11-02-2010, 09:01 PM

I picked up the pneumatic tires for my scooter a few weeks ago. They do work better out here but not on our lawn that well as it isn't smooth. But, I am glad that I changed from solid tires to pneumatic. If I ever live in town then I would go back to solid as it wouldn't matter then. (Concrete, pavement, sidewalk, etc.) So I'll just ride on the gravel out here.

Also, I picked up my rollator on Monday. Boy, I think I'm going to like it. I can actually walk almost "normal" with it and without hanging on for dear life. It just goes so smoothly and I walk at a pretty good clip standing tall. I won't be using it to sit, at least not for now. My main purpose was so that I could at least do some shopping in stores that do not have a shopping cart. This way I won't have to use a cane and my husband's arm.

I had forgot how "normal" I used to walk. This rollator has brought it back to me

It is great

It has the 2" wide 6" wheels vs. the 1" wide that you see on so many of them. These work best for me as my balance is affected by some muscles in my legs and feet that aren't working and never will. (Atrophied due to CMT).

So again, I am very pleased with it.

Such a great feeling to walk upright and pretty close to "normal" again before I had to start using the cane. (Well, I walk straight and tall with the cane too but I'm plopping along.) Thanks for reading.

SallyC · 11-02-2010, 09:38 PM

I'm so happy for you with your new rollator. I know just how you feel. I loved mine too and the only time I used the seat is when I was waiting in a long line.

PegMeerkatz · 11-02-2010, 10:16 PM

I have trouble posting photos in the threads but I will put photos in a new photo album on my page so you can see my Quantum 600 Wheelchair. Right now the pictures are all I have to remember what it looks like.

I have Medicare & Medicaid; Medicare paid for the chair which had a lot of the bells & whistles. I received it in mid-December. Now some people might get annoyed when I relay my story thinking there is something wrong with ME that I ALWAYS have problems but fact of the matter is my life has ALWAYS operated according to MURPHY'S LAW.

I got the chair at the end of January 2010. Went thru the Scooter Store. I was supposed to have the chair in time to go out for my birthday @ the end of November didn't happen. Before I got the chair I asked if the chair would work with my wheelchair lift. I had the lift installed when I bought my van almost 6 years ago & it had been plagued with problems over the years. I was assured the chair WOULD work with my lift & then waited & waited for delivery.

The chair came & I was THRILLED. It did many things though not everything I had been told that it would do. I THOUGHT I finally found my freedom; I planned mall trips & started planning all the things I was going to do in the summer; things that the last couple years I COULD NOT do because it required too much walking.

First I faced problems with accessibility @ my condo wound up having to use a door far from my condo then within a week the lift was acting up again. Then I got stuck @ my neurologists office I COULD NOT get the chair back into my van after using it. My friends husband got the lift in the van manually & I went home. NO ONE WANTED TO TELL ME WHO TO GO TO FOR ASSISTANCE. The original installer of the lift did a really bad job then wanted to charge me more than the cost of the lift to repair it though it never worked properly. Finally I spoke to Pride since it was a Pride lift. But when they asked me for the serial number of the lift I could not find it where they said it should be. I did finally find a serial number & I Pride said it WAS NOT one of their serial numbers. Long story short I was told it was a Pride lift but it also has after market unauthorized parts. For about a week I took buses & trains (using the wheelchair) around Long Island but that was a hassle. Then I decided to try the lift again. I went to a local strip mall of stores. I DID NOT have a problem getting the chair in at home or out at the stores but when I was ready to go home THE LIFT WOULD NOT WORK. People tried to help me I called various places NO ONE WOULD HELP ME & NOTHING WOULD MAKE THE LIFT WORK. I finally locked up the van & took my purchases & my Service Dog & drove the wheelchair MORE THAN 5 MILES TO MY CONDO (someone picked up my van later).

For the next month I was back to public transportation. This DID allow me more freedom in terms of where I went but it was harder to get there. I was finally directed to another mobility dealer. While every mobility dealer I spoke to REFUSED to get involved this one agreed to try to help.

I brought the van & wheelchair to him. He went crazy when he saw the lift in operation. He told me to take the chair home take it off the lift & DO NOT USE THE LIFT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. There was something called an "actuary" that was BENT. He said it was only a matter of time; days, weeks he could not say that the "actuary" was going to SNAP & whoever was putting the chair in or out of the van at the time would get seriously hurt.

At the time the only solution I was offered was REPLACE THE VAN & GET ONE WITH THE RIGHT LIFT. They DID NOT recommend the type of lift I had with the type of chair that I had. I was FURIOUS because a Scooter Store tech who allegedly installed lifts looked at my lift & ASSURED ME IT WOULD WORK. The mobility dealer said that my wheelchair exceeded the weight limits for the lift & because it was improperly installed & not in good shape to begin with it bent the actuary. Of course no one wanted to take responsibility for the calamity of errors.

I ONLY used public transporation as a last resort & limited my life to going to stores that loan scooters to customers or just making quick trips to stores for 1 or 2 things & NO MALLS because I CANNOT WALK AROUND; ALL of my summer plans were CANCELLED & I worked on becoming the best couch potato I could. The ONLY TIME I really used the chair was to take the dog for long "walks" in the neighborhood; without a way to transport it where could I go?

This is how things remained I COULD NOT afford a new van & the mobility dealer did not feel it was worth fixing the lift. My condo has been here since BEFORE WORLD WAR II & is very old in many ways. One thing we had a problem with was that the sockets were loose so if you plugged things in very often they fell out (I have since had all the sockets repaired). One morning about 2 am my mom was awakened by a loud shrill beeping. She determined it was coming from the wheelchair. The plug for the charger came out of the wall & the batteries were dangerously low. In order to stop the beeping I disconnected the batteries from the chair. After that the chair never took a full charge then it would not takee a charge at all - THE 6 MONTH OLD WHEELCHAIR WAS DEAD.

Now I could not use the chair at all UNLESS I bought new batteries. Since I could not use the lift I WAS NOT in a hurry to buy batteries. However, my room has yet to be fully renovated even though I moved here 10 months ago as a result the wheelchair would not fit in my room & was in mom's very small dining room. After yet another argument with her over "What are you going to do with the chair?" I called the mobility dealer that looked at the lift & I told him to come get the chair I did not care what he did with it just get it out here.

Since June the chair has been at the mobility dealer while he continued to search for a repair for the lift. Last week he said he had figured out what to do though he could not guarantee it was a PERMANENT SOLUTION. He sent me an estimate for OVER $1,200. There was NO WAY I could pay this & was it really worth it for what might be a temporary fix? After contacting the dealer & telling him to just remove the broken lift & help me sell the chair I would just be a couch potato he found someone to pay for the repair of the lift. That is where we are now, he is trying to get the repair parts & will repair the lift then I just need to buy new batteries for the wheelchair.

Back to the original posters questions I DID have a scooter but if I used it all day like for a mall trip or a day out with friends I would get fatigued & start tipping to one side & sliding down & almost out of the chair. When my scooter died of old age I was reevaluated & told a scooter WAS NOT a good option for me.

Right now I use a rollator walker; the only problem with that is I am better @ falling than walking. I look like an abused child from all the bruises. When I do go into a store to get something & they don't have scooter I walk the parimeter of the aisle so I can grab the shelves for support if need be. My Service Dog will "remind me" to get closer to the shelves if I inadvertantly venture out to the middle of an aisle. She crosses in front of me so I have no choice but to go where she says.

I think overall the Quantum 600 is a great chair just be careful who you buy it from. Not every seller is out for your best interest & some (like the rep I had @ the Scooter Store) will sell you on all kinds of features of the chair to get you to agree & then when it is delivered it does not do everything promised & the features I was mislead on can only be installed before the chair is assembled.

Take a look at the pictures in my album & you will see it is a pretty cool looking chair.

Kitt · 11-03-2010, 09:47 AM

Yes, you really have to be careful as to who you deal with. I had to pay out of pocket for my scooter and my rollator. (I knew this ahead of time.) That is because Medicare will not pay for them if you do not have to use them in the house. I believe a cane even falls into that category if you do not use it in the house. That's something I do not have to do at this point but I am sure the time will be coming when I will "need" to use some assistive device in the house and then I will also need a prescription from a doctor/neurologist for it.

Personally, I would never buy another scooter that comes from Pride. It is a wonderful scooter and it should last the rest of my life but they are not very good to deal with although the medical store that uses them is very nice and helps in every way they can. But, I found that I could not even ask a simple question when I called Pride myself. That didn't set well with me as it was just a simple question.

I asked if my tires on my scooter had split rims. I wanted to know as I was changing the solid tires to pneumatic tires. Nope - they would not even answer that question. How lame is that

My local medical store did answer the question for me. In order to talk with Pride, I had to be a dealer. As I said, my local medical store is very helpful.

And when repairs become necessary, you do need to go back to the place where you bought the item and go thru them. Otherwise, who knows what kind of parts you get.

And my rollator is wonderful

Until the time that I will need something else when shopping in stores that do not have shopping carts. Oh, and I don't shop all day (never wanted to) like my Mom and Grandmother could and did. But I certainly would like to look around a little and check out a few things that I want.

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