Walker Mobility customer service

[Poohlet]

Is in my opinion terrible! We returned from our annual Disney trip a little over a week ago. We had a breakdown of both of our ECVs, and were instructed that we absolutely could not leave the scooters in a park or would be charged a minimum $75 per scooter fee. I sent an email upon our return home to address the concerns I had with the way our call was handled to insure that no other clients would run into this same problem, and have yet to receive a response to my email.

The following is copy of the email sent:

Good afternoon,
I wanted to contact you regarding our recent reservation with your company. As noted in this email we arrived on 11/27 and my husband met with the gentleman who dropped our ECV's off. When picking up the ECV's we noted that one of the 'charge' lights were red, but the needle was in the green area so figured that was just how this particular scooter was. We had a rather short day on Sunday and spent the evening with family so had minimal usage of the scooter.
Returned to our resort Sunday evening, plugged both scooters in to charge and retired for the evening. On Monday morning we noted that the one scooter still was showing a 'red' light versus the 'green' light, so again, thought this must be the norm. Left our resort for an 8 am breakfast reservation. After breakfast, we headed to Epcot for the afternoon. Around Noon, I noticed the charge reading was closer to the red portion of the charge section, so stopped and found a place to charge the scooter and walked around giving it a chance to recharge. We left it charging for well over an hour and a half hoping it would charge more. Proceeded a bit, noted the needle still had not moved further over to the charged area, stopped and charged it again, repeated this a couple of times through the day.
Around 5pm we started out of the park for an evening reservation at Be Our Guest. Now, I must say, this was the one MUST DO I had on my list for this vacation. We did not get out of the back section of Epcot when the one scooter completely died. Very frustrated, we decided to once again plug the scooter in for over an hour to let it charge. We also plugged the other scooter in at this time just to make sure it was charged as well. Again we walked around as we could to try to let the scooter recharge. Now, my mobility is very limited, which is why we rented ECVs and my husband has had Seven back surgeries, so his mobility is limited as well. So we were already very tired, sore, and frustrated with the day. Upon returning to the scooters we found that one had charged slightly and the other appeared to be ok. We decided to try then to make it out of the park and return to our hotel as we had no chance of making our dinner reservation.
A few minutes later the scooter that appeared to be fully charged completely died and would not move or charge at all. So now my husband is pushing one scooter. A few moments later, the other stops as well. (This is the one that we believe was not charged and was not holding a charge from the time it was dropped off). So now, we have two scooters that are completely dead! I called into your office and was told that as it was after 8pm the person who normally would handle this was on their way back to the office and that there was nothing anyone could do to get help to us. I was then told that we would need to push the scooters out of the park or we would be charged an additional $75 per scooter if we were to leave them in the park. I told the woman I was speaking with that it was not a possibility for me to physically walk the distance required to get out of the park, let alone push the chair that far and she said there was nothing she could do. I asked to speak with a supervisor or someone who could get this resolved and was told no one was available until the morning. I find this a completely unacceptable answer and told her that. She pretty much ended the call and said to call the office in the morning.
So, as it was just my husband, myself and my grandson, my NINE year old grandson had to assist me with pushing my chair out of the park. This may be a 20 minute walk for most people, but this took my husband and I THREE HOURS to do, due to the physical limitations we both have. We did not reach our hotel room that evening until 11:30pm. We also missed the dinner reservation that I had worked diligently to obtain as this was the one thing I truly was hoping to experience during this trip. I am certain if you have any knowledge of Disney World dining, you know how elusive that Be Our Guest Dinner reservation can be.
The next morning we had a character meal reservation scheduled for our Grandson, so in order not to ruin yet another event, we called an Uber service to get us to and from that reservation as our scooters still were not working and your office was not yet open.
We called when we returned to our resort and got new scooters delivered to us in a little over an hour. This is an acceptable time frame in my mind and I understand things sometimes happen that are out of our control. We were also told at that time that the information told to us the night prior on the $75 fee per scooter left in park was incorrect! I wish I had known that twelve hours earlier, and hope this has been addressed with the 'help' person manning your phones in the evening!!
However, all of our scheduled fast passes for that day were lost due to us being unable to get to the parks. So, here again, we have two cranky, sore grandparents who are completely frustrated with this whole situation.
I honestly don't know the resolution to this issue. I do know that I had two park days disrupted, a coveted reservation missed, a no-show fee for this reservation as it was not cancelled 24 hours prior to arrival, added expense of transportation and days of pain resulting from trying to push these chairs out of the park. The chairs are in no way heavy, but very difficult to steer and push when you are disabled.


I was sincerely hoping that Walker would reach out to me to let me know this issue had been addressed and this would not happen again. But, I have had no reply from them. This saddens me as there are more and more of us that are in need of reliable ways of travelling through the parks to enjoy our time there. In my case, walking through the parks is no longer an option for me. I wish that it was, but it is not.

When we returned home, my husband was ill. While I would say this evening did not completely cause this issue, I'm sure the experience of him trying to take care of me that evening as well as get himself, our grandson and our chairs out of the park did not help things. He spent 5 days in the hospital when we returned with double pneumonia. I'm certain his recovery will take months.

I don't normally make any type of posting like this, but if by reading this ONE person is spared that kind of experience we had I will feel it was worth posting.

Thank you for listening!

 

[mamabunny]

As you now know, it's important to have the office hours & availability of your mobility vendor at hand. (Prior to owning my own ECV, I would make an address book entry in my phone for any mobility vendor I would rent from, so that I could access the number easily. In the "Notes" area, I would include information like office hours)

I'm so very sorry that you and your husband both experienced these issues with your rental units from this vendor. I personally have rented from Walker in the past, and my experiences were all quite positive.

Obviously, if you had a "do-over", you would have called Walker as soon as you realized that one unit wasn't holding a charge, and certainly no later than noon when you were at Epcot. That might not have prevented the issue with the second unit, but worst case at that point, you would have only had 1 scooter to push out of the park, instead of 2.

I see that when you reached out to Walker that you were given incorrect information, and again, that's regrettable, but because you waited until after 8:00 pm to call - apparently past the time when the office closes, and no technicians are on call - realistically speaking, there might not have been much to do on Walker's part until the next day, other than to advise you to find another way back to your Resort.

I may be the exception to the rule here, but whenever I am outside of my home, I always "mark my exits". What this means is that I always have a plan in case of emergency. Just like when you fly, you should always count the number of seat rows between your seat and the exit row (in the event of a smoke-filled cabin) I always try to have a strategy for "what if..." I think that comes from being mobility-impaired, and my fear that someday I will not be able to do what I need to do to avoid danger/evacuate safely.

I don't know where you were (which Park, what area) when the unit(s) failed, but had I been in your shoes, these are some of the things I might have tried:
- Tried to call Walker (you did, although the office had closed)
Failing a timely response from Walker, I would have:
- Reached out to a CM, to ask how to get assistance to get to Guest Relations at the front of the park.
- Once at GR, I would have asked for any assistance that they could have offered, and/or any ideas for what to do with the units. I know that CMs aren't supposed to push ECVs around the Parks (unless they are moving them from walkways during "stroller patrol") but I might have been able to rent a single Park ECV that could have been used to either tow or push the failed Walker units (one at a time) to the front.
- If GR CMs had informed me that I could just leave those units as is/where is, I probably would have done so, and gone on to call Walker in the morning. (I don't trust info given over the phone by CMs because you never know who is at a call center somewhere, but if I am face-to-face with a CM in the Parks or at the Resorts, then that's different.) At that point, I could have left the units parked overnight exactly where they died, and then gone back to them the next day to wait for Walker to arrive.
Additionally, i might have tried:
- Calling Walker a second time, to see if I got a different person/response.
- Calling a competitor, and see if they can rescue us, and help us get the failed units to the front.

I'm sure that in the moment, it seemed as though you had no other alternatives. I know these ideas won't fix things for you now.

Obviously you were disappointed to miss your ADR at BOG, and it was probably very stressful for your and your hubby both to be in a position where you were concerned about your grandchild as well. No one wants to have a crisis of any sort at WDW, and certainly not one that leaves you physically exhausted and financially impacted.

If you seriously want a response from Walker, I would try (during regular business hours, M-F) to reach out to them, and ask to speak to either a manager or the head of the service department. The goal is to speak to someone who can not only listen to your story, but who also has the authority - and the attendant responsibility - to help insure that no other guest has a similar experience.

I truly hope that you have an opportunity to return to WDW, and to experience dinner at BOG.

 

[Kaytie]

Failing a timely response from Walker, I would have:
- Reached out to a CM, to ask how to get assistance to get to Guest Relations at the front of the park.
- Once at GR, I would have asked for any assistance that they could have offered, and/or any ideas for what to do with the units. I know that CMs aren't supposed to push ECVs around the Parks (unless they are moving them from walkways during "stroller patrol") but I might have been able to rent a single Park ECV that could have been used to either tow or push the failed Walker units (one at a time) to the front.
- If GR CMs had informed me that I could just leave those units as is/where is, I probably would have done so, and gone on to call Walker in the morning.

Great advice. I've done all this. I had a fully charged Walker ECV just stop dead leaving Buzz one night. I tried calling but they were closed. CMs tried to get it started but no go. Another CM came with a park ECV and escorted me to Guest Relations. He took it from there, and another CM drove me to the Polynesian for my Kona ADR. This was back when the resorts still loaned wheelchairs to guests, so the Poly let me take one back to Pop. I called Walker in the morning and they were there within the hour with a new one (and I would guess picked up the broken one from MK.)

That one got a flat three nights later in Epcot after the park closed. Drove it carefully out of the park, called Walker in the morning, and voila! A trouble-free replacement the rest of my trip!

 

[stitchlovestink]

Unfortunately, they don't offer AAA for ECVs. It sorta seems like that was what the OP was expecting when calling after hours.

 

[Simba's Mom]

If I understand this correctly, you said that it was after 8:00pm. That's not late for many people, but it's late enough for me. I appreciate your post-I think from now on, if I get an ECV, I'll make sure I'm back at my resort before 8:00.

 

[SMD]

If I understand this correctly, you said that it was after 8:00pm. That's not late for many people, but it's late enough for me. I appreciate your post-I think from now on, if I get an ECV, I'll make sure I'm back at my resort before 8:00.

Or look for a company with later hours or that offers after hours service. It may not exist, but it's worth looking into before giving up the option of a late night.

If the service hours and the $75 fee were disclosed in the rental paperwork and could have been known before renting, then this clearly isn't the company for the OP. But I don't see those as customer service issues, if they were known, or should have been known ahead of time.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Or look for a company with later hours

Whichever the Featured company at/on The Boardwalk is, they'd open until 11 daily, I think.

 

[SueM in MN]

Whichever the Featured company at/on The Boardwalk is, they'd open until 11 daily, I think.

it's Buena Vista.

It really was a bad situation for the original poster. I would agree with calling and asking to speak to the manager. That way you know the message was heard.
I will add that the OP's situation is unusual; Walker has been one of the companies with very, very few complaints on the disABILITIES Board. Because of that, I'm hopeful that the poster will get everything sorted out yo their satisfaction.

This won't help her, but I guess 2 it made me think of 3 things:
1) if you are meeting with the delivery people, ask to go over things quickly, even if you have rented /used ECVs multiple times.

2) if you notice something that looks 'weird' - like a red light - call right away and ask if it's normal or an issue

3) if you have a problem, try Guest Relations, even if you don't think they can help. They may not be able to totally remedy the situation, but may have some tools they can use to help you.

 

[The Hunchback]

I read the first post in utter amazement. I have rented from Walker Mobility at least once a year for the last 15 years. When my hip reached the point I needed to own my own ECV, I bought a re-purposes ECV from Walker.

In all the time I rented, I never received poor customer service. I did have a few ECV issues including ones with batteries over the years.

I certainly hope this was a case of employee with a bad attitude at the end of a really bad day.

I am sorry the first poster had such trouble and hope her husband is feeling better.

 

[Kaytie]

Prophet, a question and a suggestion:
When you were pushing the ECVs out of Epcot, did you have them in manual mode?
The suggestion: rewrite your letter as more of an outline or list. Pare it back. It's a lot to read, and possibly nobody will try. Also, let them know you want a response.

 

[Poohlet]

OP here. In Hindsight there were many things that I wish I had done differently. I should have called when we first noticed the red light on our scooter. And I definitely should have sought help from a cast member but being that it wasn't a Disney ECV it never even occurred to me that was an option. I have rented from several companies over the years and really have never had this type of an issue We did have issues with a battery at one point but the company came and switched out right away so it was a non-issue. I believe that was Buena vista. We went with Walker this time due to the positive reviews that we had read.

My main hope here is that the person that gave us the mis-information has been spoken with so this does not happen again. And I'm hoping that any one that finds themselves in this same situation calls as soon as a problem arises. I know I will know better on our next visit.

Thank you all for your kind words and responses.

 

[Poohlet]

Unfortunately, they don't offer AAA for ECVs. It sorta seems like that was what the OP was expecting when calling after hours.

No, I really wasn't expecting AAA Service, simply was hoping for an answer as to where our ECVs could be left in the park until their company could get someone there in the morning. I certainly wasn't expecting a snippy young lady to tell me it was my problem and basically I needed to get the ECV back to our hotel however necessary. And then to abruptly end the conversation when I asked to speak with a supervisor or someone that could address my concern.

Sorry if my expectations are unrealistic, but I do expect a company that rents their equipment daily has to deal with these issues on at least a weekly basis, to have employees trained correctly to reply to a situation like this and to not add insult to injury!

I do apologize if my original post came off as one that should not have been posted here. I have been reading this forum for several years and have obtained much extremely helpful information from postings here...I was hoping to inform everyone of my experience. That's all.

 

[SMD]

The suggestion: rewrite your letter as more of an outline or list. Pare it back. It's a lot to read, and possibly nobody will try. Also, let them know you want a response.

I agree with this. The wall of text and laundry list of complaint emails often have too much information and no room for resolution. I'd start by leaving out the part about missing your BOG reservation. At most I'd say we missed out on our evening plans because it took 3 hours to get the ECVs out of the park. But even then, changing your plans isn't something the scooter company compensates people for, so you're taking away from your main complaint the more additional issues you add to your email.

 

[stitchlovestink]

No, I really wasn't expecting AAA Service, simply was hoping for an answer as to where our ECVs could be left in the park until their company could get someone there in the morning. I certainly wasn't expecting a snippy young lady to tell me it was my problem and basically I needed to get the ECV back to our hotel however necessary. And then to abruptly end the conversation when I asked to speak with a supervisor or someone that could address my concern.

Sorry if my expectations are unrealistic, but I do expect a company that rents their equipment daily has to deal with these issues on at least a weekly basis, to have employees trained correctly to reply to a situation like this and to not add insult to injury!

I do apologize if my original post came off as one that should not have been posted here. I have been reading this forum for several years and have obtained much extremely helpful information from postings here...I was hoping to inform everyone of my experience. That's all.

I don't condone the employee's "snipiness" and /or her being rude. But honestly, you can't just leave disabled equipment the way you wanted to. You took possession of the equipment and it is your responsibility to keep it until you return it to the company you rented it from. By attempting to leave it either unattended or with a 3rd party, you have attempted to put someone else in charge of your rental equipment. If something were to happen to the equipment (even though you left it somewhere), it would still be your responsibility. And financially, you would be on the hook for the equipment if it disappeared.
It sounds like the company's rep didn't do a very good job explaining why you could not just leave the equipment elsewhere and explaining why.

 

[Debbie Jean]

I'm so sorry for your experience and even sorrier that they have not reached out so you can at least have a conversation.


Every company has its cheerleaders... and detractors. While many will say they have only positive experiences with Walker, I stopped using them years ago because of just such an incident: the scooter was a stinker... which can happen... but the customer service was beyond atrocious. Fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice, shame on me.


Hugs to you and hoping your DH makes a speedy recovery.

 

[Poohlet]

I'm so sorry for your experience and even sorrier that they have not reached out so you can at least have a conversation.


Every company has its cheerleaders... and detractors. While many will say they have only positive experiences with Walker, I stopped using them years ago because of just such an incident: the scooter was a stinker... which can happen... but the customer service was beyond atrocious. Fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice, shame on me.


Hugs to you and hoping your DH makes a speedy recovery.

I agree. Issues with scooters can happen and are forgivable. Treating a customer with disrespect is not! Thank you...my Husband is making progress, home from the hospital and driving me crazy, so I guess that's good

 

[WalkerMobility]

Good Afternoon, this is Crystal Valvano, Executive Admin at Walker Mobility. I would like to respond to Lorrie's original thread:

Our office staff spoke with Lorrie the evening she had the issues approximately 9pm. At that time our drivers had left Disney property for the night, and our new employee, Cherilyn did say to remove the scooters from the park or there would be billing applied. The staff that night was new, and I did speak with Cherilyn the following morning as I promised Lorrie I would. It has never been our policy to bill for scooters left in the park, we will collect the scooter from the park if an issue arises after hours. We did replace both scooters per guest request the following morning. We have responded to all emails, issued credits, and spoke with her husband on the phone Tuesday.

We value our guests, and their experience at Walt Disney World. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any concerns or questions.

 

[Poohlet]

Good Afternoon, this is Crystal Valvano, Executive Admin at Walker Mobility. I would like to respond to Lorrie's original thread:

Our office staff spoke with Lorrie the evening she had the issues approximately 9pm. At that time our drivers had left Disney property for the night, and our new employee, Cherilyn did say to remove the scooters from the park or there would be billing applied. The staff that night was new, and I did speak with Cherilyn the following morning as I promised Lorrie I would. It has never been our policy to bill for scooters left in the park, we will collect the scooter from the park if an issue arises after hours. We did replace both scooters per guest request the following morning. We have responded to all emails, issued credits, and spoke with her husband on the phone Tuesday.

We value our guests, and their experience at Walt Disney World. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any concerns or questions.

Thank you for replying here Crystal. I only wish that you had responded to my initial email to your organization to avoid any of this. A simple, timely response that this issue had been addressed internally would have certainly avoided my posting here.

My husband did say that he had received a call from someone on Tuesday, that you would be crediting our account for one day usage of the scooters, and that someone would be calling that evening when I returned from work. I did not receive that call, nor any response to my email. Nor, have I seen a credit on my bank account as yet. I do realize I work long hours thus the reason I attempted contacting you via email upon our return home in early December.

This is all fine and good. My original concern was that no other customer receives this mis-information that I received and hopefully save another disabled person from the experience we encountered. I trust that you have addressed this with your employee as you stated above and that this will not happen again.

Lesson learned here.

Thank you

 

[Poohlet]

Thank you for replying here Crystal. I only wish that you had responded to my initial email to your organization to avoid any of this. A simple, timely response that this issue had been addressed internally would have certainly avoided my posting here.

My husband did say that he had received a call from someone on Tuesday, that you would be crediting our account for one day usage of the scooters, and that someone would be calling that evening when I returned from work. I did not receive that call, nor any response to my email. Nor, have I seen a credit on my bank account as yet. I do realize I work long hours thus the reason I attempted contacting you via email upon our return home in early December.

This is all fine and good. My original concern was that no other customer receives this mis-information that I received and hopefully save another disabled person from the experience we encountered. I trust that you have addressed this with your employee as you stated above and that this will not happen again.

Lesson learned here.

Thank you

OP again...I just wanted to update to say that we did receive a credit today in the amount of $52.

Thanks again everyone for listening and hopefully this helps someone that finds themselves in this type of situation.

Happy Holidays to you all!