Greed, Engineering Stupidity? - Your Call...

Greed, Engineering Stupidity? - Your Call...

A day after having my Quantum 6000's joystick controller replaced, I'm still fuming that the diagnosis of my chair's power issue was incorrect and that I was stuck with a $921.00 bill for a component that was well used but entirely functional.

The new $921.00 joystick control unit,

My previous tech informed me that the Permobil control unit was built in China.  I imagine the Quantum is also a Chinese product.  Why China?  Well, for one reason alone - to save money for the manufacturer; not the client!

I suspect that the unit costs in the neighbourhood of $10.00 to mass produce and I'm probably overestimating.  Three film pressure switches; a row of LED lights; the gimbal joystick and a few chips and microprocessors within housing of recycled plastic.  Tack on the cost of shipping in overseas containers (literally a slow boat from China) and mark the product up 100%.  Stockholders and investors will be pleased.  The CEO can buy another Mercedes.

I can purchase an audiophile quality stereo component for about the same price as my joystick controller --- and it has a significantly greater number of electronic chips, components and circuitry than does the joystick.  Market size for these exotic components are probably smaller as well --- a poor excuse.

How can the cost be justified when many of the disabled relying on these products are destitute, unemployed, have no private insurance coverage and no huge wrongful injury settlement.  Well, the government will pay --- so jack up the price.  Remember it is not the government, but the taxpayer that pays and that means most of us.

So after they misdiagnosed my power issue, I was told I needed a new motor to replace the damaged one (the one which measured "bang-on" company specs a month ago)

The problem is that the small round housing holding one of the motor's brushes is cracked.  But you cannot replace the brush --- individual motor brushes are not marketed so you have to replace the whole motor.

'Can you imagine having to replace your car engine because you need new spark plugs?'

As I lamented in my previous post --- can you imagine needing a new spark-plug for your car and you're told the only way to get a new spark-plug is to install a new engine!

Technicians tell me that the motors are not repaired but are scrapped.  Crushed, ground up and melted to recover the metals.

A throw-away society that congratulates itself on being environmentally green!  Yeah, I'll light a candle for that during Earth Hour!

The engineering geniuses also designed motors that are not reversible; left can not be swapped for right or vice-versa.  Why?  As I understand it, they are attached to a frame or housing which only fits one side. Twice the needed inventory space makes no sense. (more on that further below). 

The Dual Quantum motors are indicated by the red arrows.  The also point to the lever which engages or disengages the motor from the wheelchair (so it can be manually pushed).  Simply flipping the motor over to the opposite side would put the leaver facing inward.  Can the black cap on the rear of the motor be unscrewed and flipped around to make the motor interchangeable?  Can a left motor be mounted in the right motor's housing?  I never received a clear answer from my tech.  I suspect it is not that easy,

When the motor(s) failed on my Permobil, they specifically ordered a left (or right) motor.  Is it different for the Quantum?

My issues are not with the Quantum chair, nor Pride which is the parent company.  This Quantum was given to me free of charge by a sympathetic friend and the chair was old with worn parts that would last an unknown duration.  It is well past its life expectancy but I wish to keep it going for heavy use outside around the garden and garage.

My final gripe is that nobody stocks parts any longer because of the cost of storage of a variety of parts that may or may not at some time be needed.  Very little is kept at the shop.  Everything seems to be ordered by carrier pigeon and shipped by that 'slow boat from China'.  No faxing orders --- no overnight courier shipping.  The client can wait --- they're disabled and have no life anyway.

You can't sell what you don't stock!  Unfortunately, with Shopper's Home Healthcare out of the wheelchair business (though they were incompetent), there is no alternative to turn to and therefore no competition,  Companies competing for clients would keep each other on their toes and serve their clients better.

Am I bitter?  Hell yes!  The franchise in this city is not run as efficiently as the previous one of the same name in my previous town.  Now that Shopper's Home Healthcare has divested itself of wheelchairs they are the only game in town.  There is no competition.  Service lags, long wait times for service and technicians are stressed.  It's a formula for disaster.

This chair will no longer climb my ramp and I was advised not to "push it" as it may fail altogether before replacement motors are available.

2018 may be the summer I spend indoors.

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Summer is Slipping Away

Summer is Slipping away While I Remain a Prisoner of the System

Power Wheelchair's sudden loss of power has left me housebound a it now lacks the power to climb my ramp.  Beautiful summer weather outside, yet I remain a prisoner indoors.

 If your only pair of shoes fell off your feet, how long would you be willing to wait to get another pair??

It has been three weeks now since my wheelchair repair service inspected my Quantum powerchair and determined my power issues were due to a malfunctioning joy-stick control unit.

It took the first week to place the order for a replacement for they don't stock this most standard part for the most common of power wheelchairs.

Again I ask --- in a business world where orders can be faxed at near the speed of light --- and overnight courier services exist, why was I told that it would take an additional two weeks for the parts to arrive.  I just don't get it!

Summer is slipping away and I'm still waiting...

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How Long are you Willing to Wait to Replace your Only Pair of Broken Shoes?

We disabled are truly second-class citizens, at least if you live in my part of the country; a large metropolitan city.

Once more I needed service for my dying powerchair --- this time the Quantum 6000.  This was a repair I could not undertake on my own.

First, a reminder about my Quantum 6000.  It was a powerchair which the previous owner had replaced with a new powerchair, meaning this Quantum had met the end of its life expectancy and the owner was eligible for funding assistance for a new chair.  With the Quantum now discarded, a tech friend of mine refurbished some worn parts and offered it to me for free --- sympathetic at my having to deal with my disastrous Permobil M300.

This is an old, yet a fairly reliable Quantum Powerchair.

Since acquiring the Quantum, I've had to replace dying batteries, and the front casters.  Most recently I had to jury-rig a spring assembly which I've now learned assists the casters in recovering from bumps a climbs.

Home repairs in my replacing the front casters and the broken spring assembly became a necessity when I was told there was a two-week backlog for service by my local Wheelchair Repair Franchise. An unacceptable  waiting period, in my opinion, for an absolute necessity for the most vulnerable members of society!

If your only pair of shoes disintegrated and fell off your feet --- just how long would you be willing to wait for replacement foot-ware??  Two weeks??  Even so, you could still get around your home with ease --- barefoot.

I've been using the Quantum 6000 hard --- no question about it.  Other than being able to walk away from the wheelchair, I am still very able-bodied.  I used the Quantum when I removed and repaired the blade housing from a riding lawnmower.  I've shoveled probably a ton of grass and sod into wheelbarrows.  Last fall I ran the Quantum up and down my ramp, hauling two-by-fours to construct a railing for my front deck.  I have driven it hard!

Two weeks ago, the Quantum suddenly lost power when driving up my front ramp.  It struggled to make it to the top when previously it did not hesitate.  I see no obvious problem and no home fix so I call up my wheelchair repair facility.

I was delighted to be offered a technician for the following day.  The technician promptly arrived and began testing the chair.  Both motors were within factory specification.  No obvious problems were observed though the chair did struggle to climb the ramp and appeared to pull slightly harder to one side.

Because of the age of the Quantum, the plug-in hand-held diagnostic instrument the technician had would not work on this 'obsolete' joystick (which retains error codes in memory).  The assessment could not be completed that Friday.

Another tech was dispatched on the following Monday with an older model diagnostic device who determined it was the Joystick which was causing the power issue.  It was pulling to one side, he said, because the joystick gimbal was worn.  (Then why does it seem centered when I'm driving a straight line - and why is the power issue only evident when on an incline?)

I'm told I need a new Joystick (~$1000 Cnd.) as well as a new connecting cable.  (I also asked for solid tires, but that is another matter)

He goes off that Monday and my impression was that the order would be placed that day or at latest, the very next day.  So I wait for the parts to arrive.

One week later, I get a call offering me the "official" cost of parts and labour --- asking if I still want to have the parts ordered!  (No, I want to pull myself around on the floor using the door-jambs for leverage.) I was polite.


I ask how long before parts are expected to arrive?  "Oh, about two weeks on average" I'm told.  "TWO WEEKS without my chair - without any shoes!!!

I just don't get it!  Orders can be faxed to the manufacturer almost instantaneously.  Courier companies work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week --- all year long!  Why did it take a week for them to place my order;  why does it take two weeks to have it delivered???  Have Amazon stock wheelchair parts!  They can get me products often overnight!

Many of these parts can be used 'cross-platform' that is, different models may use the same parts.  If each repair shop cannot keep an inventory of the most common parts known to fail, do they not have some common warehouse which could supply the franchise?  Can one shop not borrow from another?  Do the parts come from overseas, or as in the case of my Permobil, from the U.S. where once insufficient paperwork had the part rejected at the border?  Are there insufficient numbers of disabled in Canada to keep supplies on this side of the border?  Does anybody care?

What every happened to customer service?


I am currently eligible for financial assistance through ADP (Assisted Devices Program) for a new powerchair as the Permobil acquired through ADP is over five years old.  I have requested assessment in order to get a new chair (never again a Permobil), but again, the waiting list is one month for assessment --- then the waiting starts again for assembly and delivery.

It is a beautiful sunny summer outside but I'm pretty much housebound for the foreseeable future --- if not even further delayed.  What a way to spend the summer!

Note:  I intend to keep my Quantum 6000 as long as possible.  As a rugged second powerchair, I hope to use it exclusively outdoors and in my shop.  It will also serve as a backup to my primary indoor chair.

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