WHEELCHAIR UPDATE

The wheelchair is finally fixed! Well all that they can do considering it actually has a design fault! These engineers design and make the products without ever running focus groups with the people that use it, crazy! In a very small nutshell this was the issue. The chair is made in the USA and imported by a company called Sunrise in Sydney, then the distributor (Linds) is here in Melbourne. The chair tilts backwards and the add on bit is the bit that makes the seat go up and down by 30cms. That part is very heavy so it was putting weight on the shock absorbers and struts and they were failing every 2 months. At $600 a pop plus labour to fix, it was to expensive to fix. So the engineer wollies here that fix it said it was my weight!! Dickheads, they also know very little and were talking rubbish. Finally after 5 weeks of not being able to go outside and rocking around the unit, the manager called the Sunrise company and asked what to do. A senior person just happened to be in Melbourne and came out to the house. I showed both of them what was happening and immediately she said why and what needed to be fixed. Finally!!!

It was fixed within 3 days and the seat has now been moved back about 7 cms so that the centre of gravity is right. However it's caused other issues in that the foot plates and rests don't go out by 7 cms so they now hit the wheels (photos attached). As well as I have trouble using my bike and standing frame, brushing my teeth as I'm that further back, can't drive in normal position around unit as wheels hit foot plates and so much more. Hilarious, and there is nothing they can do. I've gone from loving this chair to just tolerating it, although am grateful to be able to get around instead of having nothing.  

A few bonuses though, I now have the phone number of a senior person at Sunrise, advise from one of my fabulous engineers NOT too use their equipment again and the names of 3 better wheelchairs too look at next time. As well as am now in contact with the 2nd and 3rd in charge of the State Wide Equipment Program (SWEP) who assisted with paying for 2/3 rds of the chair and maintain it. When you need help, go too the top.