Update, September 26:-
I have, subsequent to my email to R2M, in part 3, received a letter from them saying exactly the same thing (so what’s the point?). It did, though, give me the opportunity to write to them at length, expanding on my email and on the subject of the increasing number of defects (used only indoors, now, things are still going wrong), and criticising their taking sides with the dealer, which is wholly improper (they should be entirely impartial), on September 21.
I have also sent a report to Trading Standards, who are coming to talk to me, and check out my chair on October 6. The full report runs to 15 pages, so I picked the 6 most serious points to email them – they can have a printed copy if they wish. I won’t bore you by posting my R2M letter it its entirety here, you’re probably getting as sick of this as I am, but I do think it’s worthwhile posting the section concerning Scoota Mart’s refusal to sell me the chair I actually wanted, the Handicare Puma 6, as somebody is lying. I don’t know whether it’s R2M or Scoota Mart – but some bugger certainly is.
Excerpt from my letter to R2M, September 21 2009, very slightly edited for clarity.
Regarding Scoota Mart’s refusal to sell me a Handicare Puma 6 on the scheme, let me say that Scoota Mart were then, and are now, perfectly happy to sell the Puma, in any variant at all, along with several other Handicare powerchairs and scooters, to anyone with the ready cash.
Since they would still, in the event of a cash sale, be legally liable for any defects, just as they would be with a Motability sale (it matters not whether my powerchair was paid for in cash or obtained via Motability, the law – and my statutory rights – remain the same), I think that their real reason for refusing me is not what they claim.
So, Ms. McRae, do you understand that bold paragraph in its entirety? There was no legitimate reason for Scoota Mart to deny me the powerchair I wanted, and saddle me with this abomination, and for you to support them in this is wrong.
Before I leave this subject, you say that “I do note that Scootamart were not willing to supply you with a Puma 6 as they are not confident of the products suitability or reliability.”
Not a word of that is true. The suitability was never in question, and to claim it was is simply a lie. Nor was its reliability called into question, either. The only problem was Scoota Mart’s with Handicare. And before you get the urge to challenge me on this, remember that I have Scoota Mart’s email on the subject as, indeed, do you – I sent you a copy. Like much else, though, you clearly have not read it, or your would not have written such an outrageously untrue statement.
(End)
So far, I have not had a reply. There’s also a problem in that it is impossible to get past Sue McRae to a director who, one might reasonably hope, can deal with the problem both efficiently and impartially, which seems to be beyond McRae (hell, she can’t even spell or punctuate, which one might reasonably hope would be prerequisites for management status).
However, it has proved impossible to find out who, if anybody, is a director at R2M, other than that their non-executive director, Dr. Stephen Duckworth, resigned in July. That makes him the eighth director to quit in 7 years – doesn’t that just fill you with a warm glow of confidence in the company? I can’t take my complaint to Motability, either, as R2M are totally autonomous – a serious mistake on Motability’s part.
And R2M appears to have only 8 staff, according to McRae’s Blue Book, which rather limits the number of management or directorial personnel actually available to run the company (or, conversely, limits the number of clerical staff to do the grunt work). Sue McRae styles herself Deputy Operations Manager, which presupposes an Operations Manager and an MD at the very least. Whether they actually exist is anyone’s guess, as I can’t bloody well get past McRae, who is clearly operating way beyond her level of competence but won’t pass the problem up the chain of command. Assuming there actually is a chain of command, of course!
And you’ll never know how hard I’ve worked not to use the word “fuckwit” in this!
