Irene S.

My mother purchased a Hoveround chair. It was the biggest mistake we ever made. She had a Jazzy chair for 7 years and had one of their repairman come to fix the joystick because of a recall on it. While he was there he replaced her batteries. That was the only service she needed in 7 years. Once the Jazzy chair was worn out my mother wanted to try a Hoveround chair after being contacted by them saying she was due for a new chair. We had our hoveround chair for 3 years. After the first year we had to have repair work done on it. We called the end of July 2015 and the repairman came September 1,2015. He fixed the chair and left. The chair broke down 2 hours after he left, leaving her stranded in the yard by herself. The repairman did not come back until September 1,2015. He stated that the replacement motors were defective. Two years later the chair broke down again. I called June 19 2017 to order the repair. After several weeks the repairman showed up July 26,2017, to fix the chair. He soon realized there were far more problems with the chair then what the work order stated. The work order was made based on a phone call asking us what was wrong with the chair. I told the woman on the phone that the chair's joystick cap kept popping off. The chair was making grinding noises, shaking and not turning properly. Even though he had all the parts with him he could not fix the chair without preapproval from the insurance. August 2,2017 the company called for our 20% at $565.00 worth repairs! I was told we would get a phone call within 48 hours to set up a service call. On August 10,2017 I called the company to see what was going on with the repair. The company said they were waiting for a warehouse delivery of batteries and then they would ship the batteries to the repairman and then the service department would call to set up a service date. At this point my mother has had no mobility for 7 weeks and that we had one to two more weeks before the chair could be fixed! I called the corporate office to be connected to the company's complaint department and also wanted the legal department. The gentleman on the phone tried to help me instead of connecting me to the complaint department. That is when I realized this company does not have a complaint department! At that point I cancelled the repair order and my brother, who was so upset, went out and bought her a new chair out of pocket. After looking at the paperwork I realized that if we went ahead and had hoveround fix the chair for the 2nd time that the insurance company would have paid more for the repairs of the chair then what they originally paid to purchase the chair. Between the purchase and 2 repairs the insurance would had invested over $7,000.00 into a chair that was only 3 years old. This is how Hoveround makes their money, by charging high prices for cheap parts that are guaranteed to break down frequently. I wrote a letter to place a complaint to the Attorney General and also sent a copy of my letter to 20/20 and NBC. Please take a moment and do the same. This company needs to be held accountable. My question to all who read this, how would you feel if you had a car and the mechanic took at least 6 weeks before he could fix your car leaving you with no mobility for that amount of time. Why is it OK for those with disabilities and our elderly be treated like this! Who is protecting their rights! Shame on Hoveround!