Permobil

Permobil is a well known manufacturer of wheelchairs and other mobility devices. You may have seen many Permobil commercials in the past. Unfortunately, in the recent past, the company was given its fair share of negative media when there was a problem with Medicaid/Permobil. Problem solving steps were taken as quickly as possible, but bad press still led to some fallout.

A Permobil chair was ordered through a “middleman” distributor service that was to go to a young man who had been measured for the custom electric wheelchair. However, after waiting almost a year for delivery with numerous calls to the operator of the distribution agent, the mother of the young man had still not received the chair as promised. She was given the runaround, with the operator telling her first that the order process had been delayed, then that the chair was awaiting a part to be installed. Eventually, he stopped taking her calls altogether.

The mother finally called Permobil to get the real story and was told that the chair was never waiting for a part and had, in fact, never been ordered for shipment to her son. In the meantime, Medicaid had been informed by the distributor that the chair was already delivered, so that the government agency would go ahead and pay for the chair. Unfortunately, this caused a Medicaid-Permobil problem. Reimbursement to some agency was required with the check already being cut but the chair not delivered.

All the mother wanted was to get the Permobil ergo seat for her son, and everything was being held up, it seemed, by the distributor. Because the Swedish based company (with offices in Tennessee) did not want the negative press, and because they were never at fault to begin with, a Permobil chairman promised that the young man would be refitted for a chair. Per the Permobil chairman, power wheelchair deliveries rarely take longer than 4-6 weeks and should never have taken so long for the order to be placed and filled. This time, the young man was to receive his chair in just two weeks.

Despite negative press, the Permobil company has proven their morality and their determination to meet their goal of assisting all in need to the best of their ability. Due to their diligence and willingness to correct a situation that was not their responsibility, the backlash has been short-lived for the company, allowing them to continue down a successful road.