A Rant About Failures

Sunday morning while getting ready for church, I noticed that one of the arm pads on my wheelchair had a large piece cracking off. This really upset me because the arm pads had been replaced on August 26, 2008. Monday morning I called the Wheelchair Repair Facility only to be told that their computer system was down. However, the person told me that when the computers came back up they would contact me. Monday afternoon while waiting for my return phone call I set up my second ventilator, which I had just received from the company that provides my medical supplies. I switch them out every 2 weeks and it was time to make the switch. When daughter K came home she switched out the ventilators.

Tuesday morning I just didn't feel well, I couldn't put my finger on why I didn't feel well but I didn't. I spent the morning waiting for my return phone call from the Wheelchair Repair Facility. When they didn't call me back, by mid morning I called them. This time I talked to a different person who, after I explained my problem, told me they didn't warranty the arm pads. So I asked to speak to a manager. The manager said he would order the arm pads and get them to me. I hope that he does because I have his name and this particular Wheelchair Repair Facility is a member of JCAHO and a number of other industry organizations. If I don't receive the arm pads in a couple weeks they all will be receiving letters of complaint.

Early Tuesday afternoon I figured out why I wasn't feeling good. It was because the replacement ventilator would periodically malfunctioning on the exhalation cycle. So when K came home we switched ventilators again. Yesterday I wrote a letter of complaint to the ventilator manufacture reporting the fact that the company that provides my medical supplies has brought me 5 ventilators in the past 9 months and only one has lasted the entire 9 months. Four of the ventilators have failed right out of the box. I stated that I believe the company that provides my medical supplies also does their own ventilator repairs. In my letter I asked if the technicians, who repair these ventilators, have to be certified by ventilator manufacture. I also asked if the ventilator manufacture is able to access the repair records of these ventilators. And I asked about possibility of the failures being covered by repair service bulletins. I sent a carbon copy of that letter to the company that provides my medical supplies.

I have now started keeping a list of ventilator serial numbers, date of delivery, date of failure and what the failure is.