CRAIG'S QUCKIE XTENDER WHEELS UPDATE: Good News Today!

Could it Be True?!

It's April 28, 2016 and just as we mentioned a few days ago, Sunrise Medical returned Craig's 2nd set of Xtender wheels yesterday morning - motors replaced and checked over, we were told, they are now reinstalled. Upon arrival of the wheels, we inspected them, the dealer and technician who installed them, looked too and the spokes do look pretty good. Not at all like the last 3rd set did. More than just us said the spokes were clearly improperly installed, which was a relief to know. Just hope the manufacturer sees the problem. Then no one in the future will have the same issue Craig did.


Here is the video Below for that previous article on what happened

As of now, Craig has officially been using them again, for about 30 hours, except for sleeping, and so far, so good!! No clicking. And we were concerned because the Sunrise contact who reached us a few weeks ago, said the motors were replaced  on Craig's 2nd set and everything else was checked over. and fine, no mention of the spokes. So yay,
No clicking SO Far!. Could it be true? Is it gone for ever, or until actual time wears out his wheels? We've been here before, and then....well, let's pray this is it. After all the replacements and such, we'll do what is right... trust God!
Just A Few Thoughts...
Sorry, I just need to keep it real and share a few thoughts and questions.
I'm wondering why they would change the motors when there was nothing wrong with them that we could tell. Based on what Craig had experienced, it made no sense.
Because the Sunrise contact never mentioned the spokes or clicking issue, the very reason for the clicking, changing just the motors doesn't compute. But that's just my brain. In our opinion, in all 3 sets, the 3rd set for sure, broken. faulty installation of them was the issue for sure. (See the last few "Spoke Too Soon" articles). We are a tad nervous about trusting that that sound won't come back. When the troubles started, we recorded everything, to document it, but also so those technicians and even our dealer near by, could hopefully see and hear the problem and then it might help them all to problem solve.
It's why everything from day one,was documented, especially that super happy first day of using his awesome new PA Wheels!! A great day! All documented, for those reasons and as a scrap book sort of for us, friends, family and anyone else interested in these wheels. Sharing with others we know and even those we don't know. Thinking they may inspire others to get them or recommend them to people they care about.
Glad we have it all documented.

Craig BEFORE Xtender Wheels. Now, he can do hills and ramps like a breeze!

Warranties??
Even though the warranty runs out from the first day, Craig got the very first pair installed - meaning, May 20, 2016! That's only in three weeks!
We've asked these kinds of questions to those places involved, but so far no answers. So I have to put this out "there..." Would someone, please explain to us, why his warranty would be all over based on wheel set number one, even though up until April 2016, he has been having the same problem after problem. It makes no sense... Right?
And then a few weeks ago, after waiting and waiting to find out what Sunrise was going to do with Craig's breaking spokes/faulty spoke installation. We were told the spokes were considered a wear and tear item (by our Twitter Quickie Sunrise person, who always tried to get the answers for us), we suddenly found out that  because of that, they aren't covered under warranty. But that Sunrise was  making an exception for Craig by sending 36 replacement spokes, for him to keep once the others were replaced, for future use.
 I asked them to find out  how the company, can say that to Craig, when he discovered broken spokes on day one of using them, and then what about the 3 more that broke within days and weeks? No, he didn't get to wear and tear down the spokes. How can ones that are faulty from the beginning, be considered a wear and tear problem?? Discouraging. No answers have come so far about these questions.
Sorry, I know all is fine at this moment, it's just going to take some time to trust that he will be keeping wheels that he paid for, assuming they will finally work well for more than a week or a whole year at least.
Yes, I can be an over thinker. It's just after all I have witnessed and written about, it is a challenge to just trust that all of a sudden it will stay silent, spokes staying true and strong.
I am sure all will be swell. :o) Good thing, I held back far more thoughts and questions, than I actually have, assuming it wasn't wise to just pour it all out there if it won't help Craig.
Quickie 2 Quality History
Like we said before, he has a Quickie 2 wheelchair that is seven years old and no spoke has ever broken or bent, none! Including his previous 3 other Quickie 2's! Except when once, there was a hub recall, a recall! Something that maybe, should have been done with this particular series of Xtender wheels. Just a thought, Maybe there has been, we'll find out in time I suppose. Sunrise sounded like they wanted to take care of things.  We'll trust that. So far so good.
It is why, like we mentioned before, he is getting the paper work ready (the salesperson is) to purchase his 5th QUICKIE 2 wheelchair that he can install these Xtender wheels onto. Quickie 2 chairs are sturdy and this one lasted him 8 years!Xt

Communication And Word Of Mouth
Communication, is so valuable to customer service with a company, they know that.  When a customer makes a purchase, especially something that impacts your daily life, trust in that product and the company that makes it and sells it,  is critical. If any questions or concerns arise about it and no one at the company seems to be listening to the customer, or communicates with you about it, that can cause some stress and fear. And if nothing changes, the anxiety snow balls along with fear of being stuck with a product that is faulty. Thankfully we believe this experience will end well.

But we have to be open and forthright with people who ask us about how things have gone. We don't know about you, but when someone wants your opinion on a device or product that they are interested in, that you own, you take your words seriously.
We are both VERY influenced by the advice and feedback of others. We have bought many products over life, because of what we discovered through research and the words of those we trust. Especially others like us. If a fellow wheelchair user has good things to say about say, their wheels, then we would be sold on their brand. Just like Craig's positive, raving words about his Xtender wheels actually have had people buying the same ones. Recently another friend mentioned that they suggested to a friend, they need Power Assist wheels. We had to tell them about our experience, but we both definitely say P.A. wheels are a valuable device to help anyone who is wanting to avoid long term pushing injuries. Or like Craig, get relief from injuries already sustained from half of a life, of using a manual chair.

If something happens to you regarding a product you have bought from any where, disability related or not, we do contact the social media site for the company. We assumed when we did it, it was the right thing to do because that's when we heard something back quickly. They were wonderful and made out experience the best it could have been. The source company in the beginning, didn't responded to our first emails and calls, but since Social media for us got answers and consistent communication, we figured that must be the way to reach the source company. It helped a lot.
 to get  help and reassurance.
Thanks again to the work done through whoever is on the receiving end  Quickie Twitter feed. Otherwise, the attempts at communication...well, let's not keep looking back. What matters is how this all ends!
Of course our experience is just one out of many. Always research well. Don't go by one experience, that's up to you of course. We only can say the good with the not so good. Because I am truly exhausted trying to cover so many details,writing and making video, not wanting to miss anything incase it will help Craig and the companies problem solve or take action, and I am going to stop now, assuming all will be okay. And because the Bible talks about pushing ahead and not looking back, since Craig seems "taken care of" at this moment,  my intent is to abide by that. To be quiet on the Xtender wheel warranty/clicking topic. Of course that is assuming all stays quiet and working well.

Sharing the great times and other thoughts, will still happen at any time, because that is always more fun to do!! Besides, that's my husband, happy and positive.

All I know is as of this moment, if we don't look back....Craig is out there in the world right now shopping. Using these super useful assist wheels that make his life  much easier!


I saw a Quickie/Sunrise Video on YouTube and the representative said that Sunrise is totally into using customer input and such. Take a look below:

Questions? Experiences? We'd love to hear from you. Comment below. 

CRAIG'S QUICKIE XTENDER WHEELS - What's New As Of Right Now With Craig's Xtender Wheels....

Watch The Video right below- What's New As Of Right Now With Craig's Xtender Wheels....

So far, Sunrise Medical/Quickie, has been doing pretty well in addressing the ongoing troubles Craig has had with all three sets of Xtender wheels. The best communication has been my exchanges with Quickie's Twitter site. It has helped a lot to know that I have someone I can communicate with when I have questions or concerns. We did receive our first personal communication from someone at Sunrise Medical a couple of weeks ago, outside of Twitter. And we want to say that our intent in documenting everything about Craig's Xtender experience publicly, was never intended to say anything negative about any of the companies involved with these wheels. If we presented anything that way, please know we didn't mean to.

What's New?
To know the history, you would need to check out the Xtender Wheel articles on this blog. So I don't sound repetitive, I will say what's new. Watch the video above, that pretty much covers the last two weeks. ....like I said just look back at the articles. Sunrise Quickie sent a set of replacement spokes. On April 15th, 2016 the dealer tried to replace the broken ones but they just kept breaking. (The night before, a 3rd spoke just snapped in the exact same way.) So, Craig was given the demo pair of wheels by the dealer.  As you will see in the above video, the demo wheels looked like improvements had been made to the spoke installation and quality. All a good thing.

I was hoping that he might then get this new and improved set of wheels or his would be made to be like these ones, minus then rubber coated hand rims. .n fact the whole two weeks that he had the demo pair, there was no clicking. When he first tried a demo pair almost 2 years ago, for two whole weeks, there was no clicking either. All has been perfect with demo wheels. Makes sense, because it's clear how the spokes are crossed over in a better way and are more flush in the hub, looking much better. We let the companies involved, including the dealer know about the improvements and how we assumed Craig would be getting the improvements.
Well, no so far...
We were told a couple of days ago that Sunrise replaced the motors in set number two and there was no clicking when they checked them over, that all looks and sounds good.  We pray that they are right and all will be well. We are concerned that nothing was mentioned about spokes. But, we will trust that Sunrise has it taken care of.

Stay Tuned.
Hopefully, our next article will be another "Woo Hoo!" all is working and quiet!increased his pain. So even though we are not sure how all this will end up, he loves using P.A. wheels.

Craig's Xtender Wheels- Update #2

Patience....
Thought we'd be patient and wait for a resolution to the issues Craig has been having with his Xtender wheels by Quickie and Yamaha, from Sunrise medical, purchased at Shoppers Home Health Care. If you know me, patience is a foreign word. If you are not sure what I am yapping about, just check out the related blogs by clicking here when all was great, debuting his brand new power assist wheels and

click here for the update, when his new wheels had to be replaced and then the new ones ended up doing the same thing :o(

Picking up where the last update left off, the vendor did call that same day saying they would be contacting Quickie/Sunrise and we would wait to see what they will do. And Quickie, that same day, also said, they'd contact our vendor/dealer. So we have been waiting.
I decided to contact Quickie through social media and Sunrise through email, hoping to get some help on what they would do. Thankfully, Shoppers responded promptly telling us they would contact Sunrise/Quickie and Quickie told me they would be contact Shoppers.
Yay, No More Waiting!
The waiting began. Like I said, not an easy thing for me. But Craig, no problemo. Now a month clicked by and we hadn't heard anything so, I decided to stop bugging my husband to call them.  I was desperately hoping the local dealer would phone Craig, assuming that it was up to them since he had left the call in their hands.  I get kind of untrusting thoughts sometimes wondering if people will follow through with what they say they will do and when they don't...Yah, it bothers me a lot to be that way and I can get kind of annoyingly paranoid and skeptical. I love it when I am proven wrong and yet, I don't even want to be that way in the first place. But, that's me and God is always helping me change.  It's a learned way of reacting and a choice I make as an adult, to choose to be so darn pessimistic and untrusting. I want to be more like my dear husband who helps anchor my wonky thoughts, helping me to not worry so much about trust.

It took everything in me, so I definitely had to ask for God's help to back off and let him deal with it and that whoever is meant to, would take care of Craig's chair and get it all resolved.

Needless to say as I wrote this blog,  I assumed based on past months prior, we wouldn't be able to reach our local vendor, they are really busy and therefore, had been hard to reach. That'a why I contacted Quickie a month ago, hoping to get them to do something about their product and tell the dealer what to do about it. Craig loves and recommends these wheels so much, it broke my heart for him to have this ongoing issue, even with new wheels. I know how great the wheels are, helping his rotator cuff problems. It is awesome to see him joyfully cruise uphill and be able to push a heavy grocery cart. After all, the dealer doesn't manufacture the items.

A BIG humbling moment and lesson learned, on my part, happened this afternoon. The Good Lord, (Thank You Lord!) prompted my heart as I wrote this blog, to stop and try to phone the dealer, thinking maybe I'd be able to reach someone Then I wouldn't have to worry about the whole thing. Craig was out, even though he mentioned going to the dealer personally, I thought he didn't have time to stop there or else I wouldn't have called.  Glad I did...

I dialled, and when I heard a familiar person answer, I felt relieved, I explained to her why I was calling and about waiting.  She was helpful and made sure I could get through to the appropriate person. Yay, my speculations were wrong. Shame on me. Not only did I get the person I wanted to talk to, it turned out my husband showed up at the building not long before I called and talked to the same person I was. The manager like before, was nice and cheerful and said the two of  them had arranged an appointment to put on Craig's old wheels to see if the clicking happens without the power assist wheels. So I was grateful that we didn't have a problem reaching someone and we were going ahead to do something about it. Of course, we never expect a busy company to be able to jump and respond right away, but we do expect communication. Just knowing someone has your issue under control, puts your mind at ease.
What Could Be Wrong?

When we contacted Quickie a month ago, they told us  that the first returned  pair of Xtender wheels had been sent to Yamaha, to try to figure out what was happening.

Because the wheels keep clicking, yet keep working, we thought maybe that's why we haven't heard what Quickie/Sunrise or Yamaha was going to do about it. Only God knows why they haven't told our dealer anything.

Thankfully the dealer is picking up the chair to switch out Craig's wheels to his old ones to see if it still clicks. Out guess is, they won't still click because it sounds like it is something happening in the gears or whatever mechanism is inside the wheel hub. Because the new replacement pair click 95% of the time, like the last pair, whether off or on, we do believe they need to inspect the modifications done to Craig's chair when the wheels were installed.
Modifications Mean Trouble, Maybe?
Craig's Quickie wheelchair is five years old and he was told that the wheels would be compatible with his Quickie chair. He was not told anything would have to be adjusted to make them work. He was not told that he would actually require a new model of wheelchair, nothing like that. If perhaps, Sunrise tells us that the model of Xtender wheels Craig bought requires a new Quickie wheelchair, we assume someone at some level will accept responsibility and make sure he gets what was paid for, We assume information like that would have been the responsibility of the dealer. But only if the dealer knew about it,

When Craig's wheels were being installed, the brackets, he received a call from one of our favourite technicians. He was concerned because the Xtender wheels had been updated to a new model. It was different from the ones he originally tried out a year earlier. They went on perfectly then. The technician mentioned he just discovered as he was trying to install the brackets, that their newest model update changed and now meant the wheels could not be put on like the demonstration ones had been. He suggested that he might have to alter his chair but that would mean Craig's chair would be one inch closer to the ground, (the seat pan portion.)  Craig was not told anything about that when he was in his seating assessment getting the correct paper work to obtain partial funding for the much needed wheels.

Unsure of what to say to the technician, we had mixed communication and thought the changes wouldn't happen until confirmed by Craig, that it would be okay. Understandably, the technician hung up and figured out how to install these new model brackets. Like I said, they told us that they were not the same as the model  he tested. He was under the impression that he was buying the same wheel model, that he tried out. The salesperson never said anything contrary to that, the day he was assessed with the Occupational therapist.

The day they were installed, the model change, was just as much of a surprise to the technician, as it was for Craig.  The technician did his thing, trying to problem solve and made a way for them to be installed. When his chair came back, he did lose at least one inch of height, like the techician had called about and he had to install six inch hard rubber caster wheels on the front. Craig didn't have any choice or options, he just went with the fact that he had his wheels on. The technician told us the new casters were quite expensive. His previous wheels were 8 inch pneumatic tires that provided more cushioning for him. We know it wasn't the technicians fault, he didn't know the model update meant it couldn't just be attached to Craig's 5 year old chair. Why would Quickie update a model of a product and change it so much it means a Quickie wheelchair would need to be altered so much? It doesn't make sense. But it happened.

Knowing that Craig wouldn't say much about the changes to his chair, I want to say it. It concerned me from the moment it happened. I  wish he would have been told about the model change by someone and then given the option to not get them. Because the wheels had been bought and his portion paid for about six weeks earlier, he just wanted to get it done however. He didn't have time to think about what was being done. Again, not the technician's fault, he was just doing what he was asked to do. Whether it is the dealer's responsibility or Quickie/Sunrise, we don't know yet. But, I hope we get some answers. Most of all we hope and pray that they can find what is wrong and fix it.

It is possible that something that happened in the modifications affects how the wheels go on. No, it probably won't click when his regular wheels are on. We'll find out Friday.  Just hope he gets his powered ones back the same day. He is so used to the ease of wheeling these days.
Changes Made, No Choice?!
I know I am not good at being concise with how I feel about this situation, but when it happened,  it really bothered me that he was not informed about the model change and what it would mean to his chair, and according to the dealer, they were unaware as well. Unaware until the install date, when they had to problem solve. Sunrise/Quickie Xtender, should be responsible for making sure a product fits the same, no matter what the model upgrades are and they weren't. He did not get the same wheels, that he tried out, see below the difference made to his front wheels and height.

The trial pair of Xtender Wheels. See, no adjustments to his chair had to be made - same front wheels

His actual first pair, lowered 1 inch, so they had to shrink his front to smaller casters.

Thinking Out Loud...Added Ramblings About What It Could Be...

I wrote all day on this blog and edited out a lot. I do have ADHD and it shows when I write. As I edited, I left out this part which is a repeat of what I said already, kind of....So I am including it to make sure I have all the details for the record.

Was A New Wheelchair Required?

My husband won't say anything much about it, but I feel I need to for him. Since his wheelchair had 

to be altered so much in order to fit the wheels. Could that not be the problem? Is it not possible that he could only use the newest Xtender model, with a new Quickie chair? Is it not possible that the dealer should have known and then let him know that the new model would mean serious alterations to his chair, or that he couldn't use them properly without a new wheelchair model?Shouldn't the company let the dealer know so the dealer salesperson can inform the client? 

If this is the case and reason for the clicking in another pair of brand new Xtender wheels. Who is responsible to do the right thing,? Either refund the wheels, replace the wheels with the model he actually tested and worked well and put his chair back together the way it was, or replace his Quickie chair with a new one. I say this to whoever is responsible, to date, we are to believe the dealer didn't know about the changes, so that would make it Quickie's responsibility. He was never told he needed a new model, his decision would have been different if he knew all that would happen. I don't know, I am just thinking out loud. But it really bothers me, that no one from anywhere, has made any contact with him in a month and that alterations were made to his chair without his permission. Yes, he was told, but he wasn't asked before hand.  He did receive a call, but he was  basically told they had to do it. It was the only way they could be installed. No other way to put on the $6000 plus CDN wheels he just purchased. He didn't know about the model change, neither did Shoppers apparently. Someone needs to take responsibility take care of my husband's situation. 

No Offence Intended
I don't intend to offend any companies or anything like that, but one must understand when money is paid for a product and the dealer that sold you the product is lax in caring for the customer's problems with the product. It is difficult for me to not have expectations. As for Shoppers we have been pretty much loyal customers for decades, with the exception of the times we needed to go some where else. As for Quickie, both of our manual chair needs have been supplied by Quickie.
It is my hope that they will continue with their quality and good service and help my husband. kind and as helpful as they can possibly be.