Wheelchair Worries - My quest to get a motorised wheelchair part III

I still wanted to try more wheelchairs, I was going to be paying a significant amount of money for something that I would have for a long time...hopefully. I thought I'd found a similar deal with Mobility Hire that I had with Easy Living Mobility I.E I could loan a chair, but that price went up considerably from the £93.00 visible on the website to £373.20...up again to £487.20 when delivery is added.

EeZeeGo LW1
Lightweight Folding

Back to Google I go, but this time to look for a company who will allow me to hire the chair for a reasonable price. Step up EzeeGo. They have a great website with a good selection of new, used and 'for hire' wheelchairs. I liked the look of LW1 Lightweight Folding Electric Wheelchair it was 24kg - 2kg lighter than the Etech and Easy Living Mobility. It only had 10 inch wheels - 2.5 less than the other 2 - and plain plastic castor wheels on the front. Only the Etech had tread on the front wheels, I'm not sure if that makes any difference or is important, but this is my blog my rules and I say it is important.

EeZeeGo buying
options

'Worth a shot' I thought. I chose the option to hire it for 2 weeks. That was going to be £100...EH? hang on, it clearly says "available to hire from only £30.77", but the option to rent it for that price doesn't come up. The cheapest option is £100 for 2 weeks. Now I'm no math genius but I'm pretty sure that's £50 a week, not the £30.77 advertised. The most expensive option is £400 for 3 months, which works out at £33.33. So it seems to be impossible to rent it for as cheap as they claim. I chose the cheapest options:

Hire term: 2 weeks £100
Delivery option: Standard delivery £59
Security deposit: Refundable security deposit £250
Total: £409

£409! for 2 weeks! I could buy a chair from Etech for £845.50.

It doesn't seem like renting is a very cost effective option. I returned to Google and found a mobility showroom in Stoke - CareCo. They sell everything - mobility scooters, wheelchairs, motorised wheelchairs, walking aids, recliners and walking aids. I booked an Uber and made the 30 minute trip to hopefully take a few wheelchairs for a spin.

I had no idea this place was so close by. The showroom was deceptively big and all one level. The walkways' were very wide and everything was nicely spaced out so you could see each product up close. They welcomed me in and once they found out what I was after, took me to their selection of motorised wheelchairs. 

The first chair I tried was the Zora. It was made from carbon fibre and weighed 13kg or 2 stone. My cumbersome, hard to move, lard-arse manual wheelchair is only 12kg. Does that mean mine is carrying a lot of weight or the Zora is freakishly light? The latter. The website boasts that it is "The lightest powerchair in the world". It's carbon fibre price tag illustrated this, £2,500...add another £500 VAT on top of that. 

It was quite a small chair and the arm felt quite flimsy when I was transferring from my chair into it. The rear wheel size is only 11 inches and the front wheel is only 6 inches, and all four were similar in how painfully thin they were. It's like the wheels were tip-toeing, barely connecting with the floor. I gave it a whirl, but there was nowhere other than the flat smooth shop floor and the incredibly smooth car park to put it through its paces. I'm fairly sure if I faced a piece of gravel I would have to go round it. If I tried to run over it I might be in danger of having to buy the Zora because of irreversible damage.

I tried the Stratus powerchair while I was there. It reminded me of the Freedom A06 I borrowed first. It was fairly substantial looking, it only weighed 17kg (2.7 stones) someway below the 'sweet spot'. The back wheels were 11inch and the font 7, they were asking £1,699 and another £340 VAT. It wasn't looking hopeful so I took it for a spin around the store to give it a 'thorough' testing. This place sold everything! 

It wasn't going to be selling this wheelchair though. The wheelchairs were too light and too expensive.

Look out for the final part 'My quest to get a motorised wheelchair part IV'

@fatpigeonsbook

@fatpigeonsbook

Wheelchair Worries - My quest to get a motorised wheelchair part II

iM.4 Elite

Now that I'd had the chair for a week I reported my findings to Aby at Easy Living Mobility. Thanks to this loan I knew more about what I wanted now and I was fairly sure the Freedom A06 wasn't it. I told her how I didn't seem to have much control over its direction at times. I was feeling fairly downbeat, I was bothered that foldable wheelchairs just weren't going to be heavy enough to give me decent traction, and that was a major problem. Aby told me that the lighter a wheelchair, the less it sticks to the road, but - as she mentioned over the phone a few days ago - she wanted to show me the iM.4 Elite. Aby was sure it was ideal for my needs. It's their own brand and not available in any other stores. It was still light enough to pick up at 24.6kg or 3.87stone (at its lightest), but it had bigger wheels and much better suspension.

Freedom A06
vs
iM.4 Elite

It was on display currently so I couldn't give it a go, but its bigger brother (Voyager) was available to try around the store and car park. It was identical in every way but had got Increased Tensile Aluminium Frame whereas the Elite has Lightweight Aircraft Quality Aluminium Frame. 

I zoomed around outside (actually I crept around on the lowest speed setting). Aby was walking beside me, there were many unscratched cars parked around, I thought having it on the lowest speed setting would limit the potential of me inflicting damage.

It felt brilliant. It felt grippy and sturdy. The outside of the shop might not have been Millbrook test track but it was handy for testing the chair. There were drop curbs and the path had crumbled getting down to it. The Freedom A06 would have slid towards and the tyres would have struggled to get traction on the gravel. Not the iM.4 Voyager/Elite. To get from the path to the road I had to cross some cobbled tiles/paving slabs, which it handled without any problem. There were a few cracks and divots in the road, which the chair had no problem going over. I drove it outside for a couple of minutes and returned to the shop. Granted, it wasn't much of a test, but I knew what I was looking for now. Either the iM4.Elite was what all chairs I tested from now on were going to be like or this was going to be a class leader. I was thoroughly impressed.

I wanted to test some more chairs before making my decision.

My current wheelchair

A lot of the results were from companies selling online only, or if they had a store it was a long way away. For example mobility extra were advertising the Ultra Light Folding Electric Wheelchair. It's only 18.5kg or two stone one pound. My current wheelchair is 12kg or one stone nine pounds. Mobility Extra had got a store, but it is in Essex. Their website has got a chat function, so I asked some questions. The response is pretty quick and it's a human not a bot, so they do actually answer what you ask, rather than saying "I don't understand, did you mean..."

Me:if I wanted to try before I buy, but can't get to Essex, am I be able to arrange a short term loan?
Them:You can take advantage of our 14 day return policy. We can ship the chair to you so you can check it meets your needs in the comfort of your own home. As long as the chair has not been damaged or used extensively outdoor we will accept a return and full refund. We can arrange the return process and collection for you so it’s hassle free.
Them:We can’t offer a loan ourselves but you can use Klarna or PayPal credit at our checkout.
Me:so I would have to pay full price and risk not being able to return it if I use it outdoors?
Them:Yes, you will have to pay. You can test it outdoors as long as it doesn’t get any damage. Some wear in the tyres is fine.

MX-Air
from Mobility Extra

They do have a fourteen day returns policy, but it makes me nervous paying full price and relying on them to deem it acceptable for refund. That wasn't quite what I had in mind. I like the idea of having a store nearby and I'm not great at geography, but I'm fairly sure Essex isn't nearby.

Back to Google I went! Etech Mobility seemed like a very good option. Their prices were ludicrously low, which made me think they were on-line prices only. They had an online chat that connected me to a human straight away who told me that they have a showroom in Birmingham where I could make an appointment to try some wheelchairs. I can certainly get to Birmingham, but it's not exactly local.

Me:Are the prices on your website (for example:Lightweight Electric Wheelchair | Folding Powerchair | Freedom Pro ST) cheaper than if you buy instore?
Them:It will be still the same.

They have got 4.8 out of 5 based on 495 reviews. A little concerning...why haven't they got five? (Imagine a sarcastic tone when you read that). At these prices, the distance didn't seem to be much of an issue. I made an appointment to try out a few chairs. I really liked the look of Limited Edition Purple Lightweight Electric Wheelchair | Freedom Pro ST at £997.50. Unfortunately they hadn't got the limited edition purple in stock, but they had got it in blue. The only difference being the blue one was £152 cheaper! Suddenly I didn't particularly like the purple colour as much.

Etech is on a business park so it's very similar terrain to what I'd be using it on. I was really impressed with it. It felt brilliant, the steering wasn't too sensitive and the joystick control was switched for a golf ball shaped control, which I found much easier to hold, my hand would rest in that position. It became awkward and tiring to hold the stick. There were a few divets in the tarmac which the chair went over with barely any bump. This had large (12inch) puncture proof tyres on the back and smaller (8inch) tyres on the front, but these front tyres had tread on them. The Freedom A06 had 10 inch puncture proof tyres on the back and 8inch plastic castors on the front. It was substantial in size, it engulfed me, I looked like the Freedom A06 was too small for me. I looked out of place sitting in it, like I had squeezed into it. It weighs 26kg which is 3kg heavier than the Freedom A06 but my brother was with me who managed to pick it up without any issue.

He had brought out the Automatic Folding Lighweight Electric Wheelchair Freedom Elite AF which at the touch of a button would fold itself up. Ideal for storage I thought, It wouldn't have to take up so much space in my house when I'm not using it. Plus it looked cool! And that's the important thing, it was like a transformer. Unfortunately it was a transformer who needed to go to weight watchers. It was 28kg and my brother - upon lifting it - felt it was probably too heavy. Around 26kg seemed to be the sweet spot. I didn't try that one, but I did try its little brother. It wasn't a transformer, but it was sporting Etech's Luxury Leather Seat Cover, an optional extra at £84.99.

I wasn't a fan of this at all. The control was far too sensitive. It was heavier than the Freedom A06 but it triggered my PTSD again from not confidently being able to control it. I was having the old zig zag problem and the slightest touch of the stick seemed to overcorrect too much, when I was intending to adjust the direction a little bit. The tyres didn't have tread on them either, they were like plastic shopping trolley castors. I don't know if this made much difference, but I felt I was now an expert in motorised wheelchairs and saw this is a major flaw.

I said my thankyou's and told him I'd let him know as I wanted to try some more wheelchairs before I decide.

There is Mobility Hire in Tewkesbury. They offer a huge range of products like bathroom aids and walking aids as well as motorised wheelchairs. They do have a showroom but it is over an hour away. There is the advantage that you can hire all products on a temporary basis however.

Dashi Eco Foldable
Powerchair

I emailed them a short description of what I'm looking for (lightweight and foldable) to see what they suggest and they came back with a number of options. She recommended the Dashi Eco Foldable Powerchair, Pride iGo (120kg) Folding Powerchair, Dashi (125kg) Folding Powerchair and Invacare Alber Erivo Folding Powerchair.

I liked the look of the Erivo, it looked quite substantial and looked like it could handle the local mean streets easily. It is 28kg though (4.4stones) and slightly above my sweet spot, whereas the Dashi Eco Foldable Powerchair is only 23kg (3.6stones). The Dashi was available for £93.00pw. They were a bit far away to purchase from but I could at least rent a chair to try for a week. I started orrdering it and the cost quickly increased, within a few clicks it was asking me for £373.20!

Me: I've gone through the buyimg process for the Dashi Eco Foldable but stopped before purchasing as it was going to cost £373.20 not the £93.00pw advertised? It's ordering for 2 weeks, I only want it for 1. I realise a £150 returnable deposit and VAT is included in this, but an extra £280 isn't right surely?
Them: Our minimum rental charge is for two weeks, so the online ordering will default at the minimum two. You are welcome to have the Powerchair for a shorter amount of time, but the minimum rental charge will remain.
Me: Can I pickup and return the chair myself? That would take £95 off the cost and with the return of the security deposit, that would be a total of £245 off.
Them: Please find below the revised quotation to include customer delivery/collection:
Minimum two weeks hire of Dashi Eco Foldable Powerchair: £186.00
Security Deposit: £150.00
Customer Collection: £0.00
Customer Return: £0.00
Total Costings: £336.00(ex VAT)

Look out for part III 'My quest to get a motorised wheelchair' 

@fatpigeonsbook

@fatpigeonsbook

Wheelchair Worries - My quest to get a motorised wheelchair

Me being an idiot

My current wheelchair has its limits, granted, the main limit is the idiot that's sitting in it, but if I don't have much input on propelling the chair, then it doesn't matter. Unless I drive into someone. Or something. Either are likely but we'll cross that bridge if/when we come to it.

I searched Google for 'mobility Stafford' on the off chance there was a local store. There was! About fifteen minutes away. Easy Living Mobility. They deal mainly with motorised wheelchairs and mobility scooters as well as walking aids like rollators and furniture like Rise & Recline Chairs. Most importantly they had people I could talk to, to help me with where to start in knowing which motorised wheelchair is right for me. I had spoken to Nathan on the phone and made an appointment to come and see him. I then phoned Community Link and ordered a wheelchair taxi.

Freedom A06

We sat down (well he did, I already was) and I took out my mobile phone so I could record our conversation. I felt like some important journalist who was interviewing people about the pros and cons of motorised wheelchairs. He probably thought I was some spotty school leaver who was playing 'big boy journalist'. I'm probably older than him though, so not so much spotty school leaver but bearded grizzled middle aged forty-two year old man playing 'big boy journalist'.

He asked me about budget, what I was looking for, speed, range etc and I answered quite vaguely. I wasn't being difficult, actually I probably was, but not on purpose. I didn't really know where to start as I wasn't sure what I wanted or needed. The only help I offered was it needed to be lightweight and foldable so it can be transported in the boot of a car. Oh and it only needed to handle suburban terrain like footpaths and roads. 

I had noticed that many of the wheelchairs said 'try before you buy' on the website. He said that means you can try the chair in the shop and outside the shop before you buy it. I explained I was keen to take it home and try it for about a week, I wanted to use it multiple times and over several days to see what it's comfort was like. I didn't want to buy something that will give me aches and pains after a few days use. He had a Freedom A06, which was an ex display model that I could take home and try for ten pounds a day, and a security deposit in case I drive it into things. 

As if I would do that!

With the same knowledge and expertise I offered earlier, I gave it a thorough testing (I took it for a very brief spin in the shop), deemed it acceptable handed over my security deposit and phoned my Dad to pick up me and my growing family of two foldable wheelchairs.

How to fold

The Freedom A06 was indeed lightweight - 22.8kg at its lightest, or three stone six pounds - I have learnt that at its lightest means excluding batteries and cushion - a range of nine miles per battery with the capacity for two lithium batteries and a top speed of 4mph or 6.5kph. The range is a best case scenario and many things like uneven terrain, inclines, and rough surfaces can reduce the distance a wheelchair can travel on a single charge. It folds up incredibly easily, there is a clip on the back of the chair that you open and then you can easily fold it with very little effort.

I wasn't what you would call a natural when it came to driving it. My spacial awareness is terrible. I thought I could judge where the sides of the wheelchair were. I couldn't. I'm sure the chair widened by about an inch when it was near something I could bump into.

I hadn't driven since 2009, which is suspicious because I had my operation in 2007. I may have tried driving in a car park to see if the bit of brain they removed was important. Seemingly it was.

I dumped my manual chair in the house for the newer sexier model, to use around the house to try and get used to the control.  I was constantly bumping into walls and the door frames were barely wide enough to get through. This chair wasn't any wider than my manual, but I was nervous of scuffing this one and losing my security deposit. As you can tell from the door frames around my house, I'm not so careful normally. After about an hour I was back begging my manual for forgiveness and telling it I'd made a terrible mistake. I decided to only use the new sexier one outdoors.

It was incredibly tricky to get around where the space is limited. E.g. Most of the footpath is taken up by an overgrown bush. It would be too close to the bush so I would tap the control 'right', but it would be heading for the road now. My attempts to correct it would cause it to go towards the bush again. 

It was quite quick. There are about six speed settings to choose from, the sixth setting unleashes the full might of the 200W brushless motor. However, after almost crashing into a wall previously, I left it on setting two, which offers around one third of the available power. 

Over the next few days I drove it a few times to and from my parents house with my Dad walking beside me. I didn't feel safe in it. The controls were far too sensitive, it was impossible to go in a straight line. I would zig zag to get to a destination straight in front of me. It's direction seemed to be dictated by the terrain. I would be driving along the path just minding my own business, when the direction of the front wheels would suddenly turn towards the drop curb, even though I immediately pointed the joystick away from the drop curb, it would seem to have no effect until I was dangerously close to the road.

Assuming my years of not being in control of anything that moves was the issue, I practiced driving around my estate. No matter how slow I drove, I still struggled to precisely control it, the sensitivity meant it would turn if you simply thought about tapping the stick. There was a small path that took me out by the main road. Feeling brave, I drove out to the main road. For comical effect I pretended the cars scared me. Honest, it was pretend.

My week loan was at an end and I took it back to Easy Living Mobility. 

I'd already spoken to Aby a few days earlier over the phone and told her that I was struggling with the sensitivity and it's lack of stability and control. I'd only had it for a few days at this point though, so I was willing to accept my lack of experience/ability was to blame and would improve with practice. It didn't really improve though and I was pretty sure the wheelchair was the problem, not me. Aby had suggested the iM.4 Elite over the phone, it was much more suited to my requirements. It was on display at the moment but there was an identical model called iM.4 Voyager, the only difference being it can hold a passenger upto a weight of 28.5 stone or 181kg rather than the 21 stone or 133kg of the Elite...

Look out for part II 'My quest to get a motorised wheelchair'

@fatpigeonsbook

@fatpigeonsbook

Wheelchair Worries - Can I Have My Money Back? Part 2

This isn't strictly wheelchair worries. This is MZ worries. Who or what is MZ? I have my suspicions, but it is a tough code to crack, I don't want to say in case I'm wrong. This is a follow up to a previous post I wrote about having money stolen from me on Facebook's platform. My several months of trying to get a resolution through their customer 'support' and failing, to issuing legal action against Facebook through the small claims court and receiving a letter from their lawyers telling me this is nothing to do with Facebook but with Meta. I had to stop pursuing or they would counter sue me. I won't continue to re-tell this story. If you want to know more then read the post Can I Have My Money Back?

I don't expect to ever see my stolen money again.

I stopped pursuing my money there and then. It was for a relatively low amount and as far as I was concerned it was slam dunk case. In fact it was barely even a case I assumed the money would have been returned there and then. Sorry, I appear to be retelling it. I was listening to the episode Did Mark Zuckerberg steal Richard's books from The Rest is Entertainment podcast...Argh! Sorry. I've just given away who MZ is haven't I? Sorry, I hate it when people reveal spoilers. Oh well, I doubt you were going to crack that code on your own.

On this episode I heard that a russian database called LibGen holds texts of tens of thousands copies of published books without permission. Facebook's parent company Meta has decided to train its advanced Artificial Intelligence engine, Llama 3, using the text of these books, rather than suffer the inconvenience of paying for the copyrighted material. 

Well, they are only worth an estimated $1.46trillion-dollars. The poor sods have barely got two cents to rub together. 

It has been revealed that Meta looked into licensing these books from publishers and found it wasn't particularly cheap.. Nor was it going to be quick. In a leaked email chain somebody says "it's really really important to get these books ASAP". A reply says "I've spoken to publishers and this seems unreasonably expensive and incredibly slow." A reply then comes from the mysterious MZ figure. He gives the OK to scrape the very illegal database Libgen. Another message says "doing this on my company laptop feels a bit wrong", in response they are re-assured "it's alright MZ says it's ok."

How much of this multi-billion dollar wealth isn't theirs? They say you have to make money to earn money, it obviously doesn't matter how you make that money..

I ended my previous post with this. It's probably not a question that needs asking as the CEO... Sorry this mysterious MZ figure would rather knowingly mine the data from an illegal website, for his own commercial gain, which is going to significantly add to his trillion dollar wealth.

This has all been uncovered by an article in The Atlantic. Meta's response to this, it's fair use. Whatever Llama 3 does with this it will create something new and original. Isn't this one of the major worries with AI? If it's used improperly by the worst people - I.E Meta - it will cause major problems. 

Meta are proving that if you're big enough and rich enough, laws mean nothing. They can break them, but to stop them they then hide behind the law and tie you up in court. They are untouchable and they know it. Or are they?

Has anybody thought of boycotting Facebook? All we need is the few billion users around the world to get on board... yea, they're untouchable actually.

Maybe if users around the world agree to not advertise on Facebook until I get my one-hundred-and-sixty odd quid back. There can only be a few hundred million of them!

So I've just wasted two minutes of your time by waffling on about an issue that is nothing to do with me or wheelchair worries.

You're welcome.

@fatpigeonsbook

@fatpigeonsbook