Wheelchair repair costs get pushed around

One day after Grace Ligon received her brand new, $24,000 custom-made wheelchair in March, it began breaking down.

The 10-year-old was in school when one of the armrests fell off. A janitor reattached it with duct tape.

When she got home, the foot plates came loose. And the headrest.

For weeks, the manufacturer, Permobil, and the business that sold the wheelchair, Apria Healthcare, made small fixes, but the chair continued to break down.

By early July the wheelchair was in such bad shape, Grace, who has cerebral palsy, could no longer use it.

Her mother, Kathy Becker, called Apria and was told the company could no longer help. On July 1, Apria had sold its Burr Ridge wheelchair store to a company called Rehab Tech. The Apria representative said the broken chair was now Rehab Tech's responsibility.

Becker called Rehab Tech and was told no, no, no—Apria had sold her the wheelchair, so Apria should fix it.

After Becker pressed the issue, Rehab Tech picked up the wheelchair and agreed to make the repairs. But neither Rehab Tech nor Apria would pay for the needed parts, so Grace's chair sat untouched in Rehab Tech's store for almost two months.

When Rehab Tech returned the chair in early September, after some repairs were made, the foot plates were not screwed on and the seating system was the incorrect size for Grace.

Becker didn't let Grace use the chair because she thought it was unsafe. The seating system did not properly fit, the foot plate fell off again and the headrest was not properly adjusted. So the glitzy new wheelchair, paid for by insurance, sat dormant in the family's foyer, while Grace relied on a clunky backup chair.

Incensed, Becker e-mailed What's Your Problem?

"My point to all of these guys is we shouldn't be suffering while they sort out their red tape," Becker said. "People with disabilities shouldn't have to go through this much stress."

The Problem Solver called Apria and Rehab Tech two weeks ago. Within hours, a repairman from Rehab Tech showed up at Grace's house in Western Springs and made a round of repairs to get the wheelchair up and running.

Mike Maggiore, branch manager for Rehab Tech's Burr Ridge location, said his company purchased Apria's assets, but not its liabilities. Still, Rehab Tech would do everything it could for Grace and other former Apria clients with similar troubles, he said.

"Everything that we've replaced and everything we're doing for her we're doing free of charge," Maggiore said.

Lisa Getson, spokeswoman for Lake Forest, Calif.-based Apria, said that after the Problem Solver called her, she called Rehab Tech about Grace and asked them to help.

"From the details that we received, it does appear the chair had been problematic since the delivery," Getson said. She apologized for any "confusion" the sale of Apria's Burr Ridge office had caused.

Maggiore said there are others in Grace's situation.

In fact, the Problem Solver received an unrelated e-mail requesting help from Beth Follenweider, whose father purchased two wheelchairs from Apria's Burr Ridge store, both of which needed repairs.

Like Grace, Jack Follenweider, 66, was having trouble getting either Apria or Rehab Tech to fix the chairs.

The Problem Solver told Maggiore about Follenweider's situation and he agreed to repair those chairs too.

As for Grace, she's zipping around in her newly fixed chair. After two sessions with the repairman, the chair is about 90 percent done, her mother said. "I think over the next week or so they will have her chair completely resolved," Becker said.

Grace said she was at her wit's end without the chair.

"I was so mad at these people I wanted to yell," she said.

Not anymore.

"I was excited to get it [back] because my old chair was too little for me and I wasn't comfortable in it anymore."