9 replies to this topic

[greca]

Hey guys...I was wondering where is the best place to get a wheelchair? online or in-store? and if online where is some of the places you guys have looked into?

Also, my fiance is a T-7 complete so ill have to start looking for wheelchairs soon and he mentioned to me that he looved those sport wheelchairs, with the wheels slanted. Would I have to buy one of those, and in addition another one for his everday use? or will those sports wheelchairs be enough for sports and for daily use???

Thanks for your help in advance!

[advanced-mobiity]

greca, on Dec 10 2007, 02:03 AM, said:

Hey guys...I was wondering where is the best place to get a wheelchair? online or in-store? and if online where is some of the places you guys have looked into?

Also, my fiance is a T-7 complete so ill have to start looking for wheelchairs soon and he mentioned to me that he looved those sport wheelchairs, with the wheels slanted. Would I have to buy one of those, and in addition another one for his everday use? or will those sports wheelchairs be enough for sports and for daily use???

Thanks for your help in advance!

The best place is not online, unless your totaly aware of what your buying ( make, model, options, size, etc) and that your capable of doing repairs to it yourself. You should always contact an expierienced DME dealer in your area to best fit your fiance to his chair. They can also recomend specific chairs to best deal with his daily activities. They will also back up any manufactorers warranty and service the chair for you.

If his insurance is purchasing the chair, then the insurance will cover repairs after the manufactorers warranty runs out.
Hope this helps and good luck.

[Tim13]

If you know what you need as far as size, online will give you a better selection and usually better prices, even if you choose to buy locally, online stores are great to window-shop. I've had great luck purchasing online.

Speaking only from my experiences with local stores, the salesmen have tried to tell me what i needed (which oddly coincided with what they had in stock) and loaded the chairs with all manner of extra crap in an effort to hit my insurance cap.

I've bought from these and gotten exactly what i ordered.

spinlife

sportaid

[KarenFerguson]

Both hubby & I have bought wheelchairs, tires, wheels, bikes and basically anything for the disabled person off www.sportaid.com. It's a great site - pretty cut and dry. The only thing is know your measurements and what you want and don't want on your chair down to the tiniest detail. If you get a measurement wrong, you're pretty much screwed. Oh, and the prices are a lot cheaper!

Edited by KarenFerguson, 11 December 2007 - 12:20 AM.

[advanced-mobiity]

Tim13, on Dec 10 2007, 04:49 PM, said:

If you know what you need as far as size, online will give you a better selection and usually better prices, even if you choose to buy locally, online stores are great to window-shop. I've had great luck purchasing online.

Speaking only from my experiences with local stores, the salesmen have tried to tell me what i needed (which oddly coincided with what they had in stock) and loaded the chairs with all manner of extra crap in an effort to hit my insurance cap.

I've bought from these and gotten exactly what i ordered.

spinlife

sportaid

Tim, Unfortunatly your quite right. There are Local stores with inexpierenced people and many that are looking for that "upgrade" customer in which they can bill insurance and make more off of them. It makes it that much more difficult for us Honest dealers that are truely here to give just what is needed and not look at the $.
I was at a local retirement facility the other day and passed a lady in a powerchiar driving on a flat wheel. I stopped her all to find out she had no clue that not only would her insurance pay for repairs, but because her chair was 6 yrs old and in such poor condition, she is now gettinga new one. I am still waiting for her physician to fill out the proper paperwork for insurance, but in the meantime, I have given her a new powerchair with stump supports (she is a double amputee) and have told her that even if her insurance does not pay, I am giving her that chair. To see this person cry with joy makes what i'm doing completely worth it. If her insurance decides not to pay, I'm out the cost of a powerchair, but in a case like this, I couldn't feel better about loosing money.
Shaun

[Tim13]

advanced-mobiity, on Dec 11 2007, 12:56 PM, said:

Tim, Unfortunatly your quite right. There are Local stores with inexpierenced people and many that are looking for that "upgrade" customer in which they can bill insurance and make more off of them. It makes it that much more difficult for us Honest dealers that are truely here to give just what is needed and not look at the $.

I agree, where i live now, there are two excellent stores that really go the extra mile to make sure the client is taken care of, they are a far cry from the people who sold me my first couple chairs.

[greca]

Thanks for the advice guys! I'm hoping to get him fitted for a wheelchair soon, but since rehab just begun I want to wait a little to actually decide on wheelchair depending on how much trunk control he's able to achieve
but sportsaid had some really cool designs he loved!!

im glad he's positive about this issue of picking out a wheelchair

Thanks

[sjean423]

greca, on Dec 11 2007, 05:52 PM, said:

Thanks for the advice guys! I'm hoping to get him fitted for a wheelchair soon, but since rehab just begun I want to wait a little to actually decide on wheelchair depending on how much trunk control he's able to achieve
but sportsaid had some really cool designs he loved!!

im glad he's positive about this issue of picking out a wheelchair

Thanks

Greca,
In rehab, he should be able to find out more about what chair he will need. I was able to try out o lot of different ones, which gave me an idea about what I liked and what I needed. (For instance, there was one chair with a VERY low back that was great for a day, then I had a lot of back pain for several days, I just didn;t have the trunk control for that back.) Towards the end someone came out, and talked with me about what I liked, what I didn't, took some measurements, and had the chair ordered. It wasn;t a case of her selling me "what she had" .... I lived in another state, and she didn;t even end up being my DME. I went home in a "loaner" and it took about 2 months for "my" chair to arrive, but that was do to insurance issues. My insurance paid 100% for my chair, but it varies. If for some reason you have to pay out of pocket, still get the assistance measuring, etc. Then the companies mentioned are good places to shop. If at all possible, don;t buy a chair you haven;t demo'd for at least several days. (Back to the one that gave me back pain .... the first day it seemed great!)

Down the road, especially in a year or 2 when he knows more about it, he may want to go the do it yourself route, even off ebay, but for the first one, let rehab help you with it.

You'll want to do some research on sports chairs, I believe different sports require different features.


ps I'm not stalking you, LOL, I was looking for other posts to see what level your guy was.

Edited by sjean423, 14 December 2007 - 01:12 AM.

[mobility pro]

greca, on Dec 10 2007, 07:03 AM, said:

Hey guys...I was wondering where is the best place to get a wheelchair? online or in-store? and if online where is some of the places you guys have looked into?

Also, my fiance is a T-7 complete so ill have to start looking for wheelchairs soon and he mentioned to me that he looved those sport wheelchairs, with the wheels slanted. Would I have to buy one of those, and in addition another one for his everday use? or will those sports wheelchairs be enough for sports and for daily use???

Thanks for your help in advance!

go to www.nrrts.org this is where you can find a supplier in your area that is experienced in mobility also you can go to a rehab hospital there are many all over the country that have a seating center that therapists and suppliers work together with you to help you make the right decisions about the types of wheelchairs that would best suit you

[sfultong]

I'm annoyed that my rehab hospital didn't let me try out a bunch of chairs before I chose my model. Now that I've had it for a while, I realize it has a fair number of deficiencies. It's not a terrible chair, but the back is higher than I need, I don't particularly care for armrests, and I think the balance could be improved to make it easier to push...

Now that I've seen alternative designs, I wonder why designs like mine even exist... I suppose they'd be helpful for a higher level quad without any torso control at all, but I have a nagging suspicion that even for them there could be something better...