National Seating & Mobility
reviews and complaints

Hi my name is Daniel O’NEILL, I apologize if I hurt anyone’s feelings that is not my intent. I have a disease that has progressed to the point where I cannot walk, it’s been that way for year's, but I could use regular manual Wheelchair, but that’s becoming increasingly difficult my disease is getting to the point that I am getting so weak I can barely work a manual chair anymore. I’m requesting that

You do something to elevate this very unfortunate problem.

THANK YOU SO MUCH Daniel

P.S. the name of the disease is: Spinal CeraBellar Atrophy, aka, S.C.A.

P.S.S I’m confident you will fix this ASAP one way or another!

My son, Shon Brand, had a wheelchair assessment at Kaiser San Rafael (CA) with National Seating and Mobility (Santa Rosa) on May 25, 2023. The decision was made on which chair and features to order. Kaiser approved this request, and I was told it would take 6-8 weeks for delivery. Eight weeks later, the chair has not been ordered, but no one at NSM can tell me what the holdup is. I have called repeatedly, emailed, and tried to work through customer service. However they are stymied as well. I need someone to figure out why the chair is not being ordered, and help us resolve whatever issue may be out there. It is my understanding that the funding has been approved by Kaiser. I would appreciate a call from someone who can help me get my son the wheelchair he needs. It has been a frustrating experience with no end in sight!

Seems this is a common complaint but here we go.Initial order Jan 17th...6 weeks of calls to final find that repair order never put in.March 17th started again.Aprox 3 weeks n 4 calls to find out forms they were supposed to send to Dr's to authorize an order ,never sent...Finally on the 4th week after March 17th,apparently all is approved n order is initiated...Now is May 3rd n just called to get an update.Oh boy,just informed again that it just got approved 5 days ago...Woman could not help me any further n transfered me to funding person who I was transfered to once before with no return call.What kind of company are you guys running?Hopefully I get an answer.

I have been trying to get a power chair since last May, I went through all the Medicare steps and got evaluated at your ft Wayne store by the BCBS rep. may 28 last year, did the face to face with my doctor, was told the chair would be in in August, I call in August and was told it was on back order and would be here October 10. I called October 11 and was told the new date would be the end of December. Chris booth who I feel is very incompetent called me finally in dec and said I would have to do my doctors face to face over again because my time with Medicare had expired. Every time I call the ft Wayne office no one EVER answers the phone and never returns your calls, I finally got ahold of Chris 2 weeks ago and she apologized for not getting things done and said she would call me the next Wednesday, Wednesday came and no call so I called her Thursday with no answer and told her to please call me as of today I have heard nothing. This company has to have the most incompetent people I have ever seen.

Larry Taylor [protected]

3 almost 4 months ago my e chairs motor stopped working. The chair was fairly new. The repairman came and said he would order a motor. After 2 weeks another repairman came by to take a second look. That told me the motor had not been ordered. This guy said i needed two motors and he would order them. That was 3 months ago. Afrerb2 months i called the local office and the woman said she would find out the hold up and get right back with me. She did not. Another month passed and then i contacted the main office. A couple days later the woman called me and said she still didnt know anything. And here i sit. I am a navy veteran and that e chair is so needed by me. The bus stop is a mile from my home. I cannot walk well at all. And i have no other means to get around except by bus. I cannot believe that handicapped people and disabled veterans are treated and put off this way. This should be treated as a crime by the govt. These people have no concept of the pain and frustration we go through. And i start thinking these are the people i fought for in the service. You have caused me so much heartache.

I was scheduled to get my chair repaired this morning he came around 10 when I got into the chair after he left the forks came out and tires fell off chair while I was in it I think it’s unacceptable because I almost got hurt that’s a safety hazzard it took someone over 3-4 hrs to come and I had to wait outside in the heat for someone to come because I couldn’t move it’s not fair of how long of a wait I had to sit especially when I can’t move/walk. my chair is my only legs

Where are thay it's been five months and still no batteries I going to every complaint service with your b.s you told my insurance thay would come in next week that was three weeks ago you lie to my ombudsman and say oh we been calling him to schedule that was the biggest lie of all now I just talked to my insurance and that want to know the same thing he's name is Pedro Cortez and you already know my ombudsman Linda you should pay bad for this national you don't care about any sick people

The wheelchair was ordered for Carisima Martinez in October 2017 - work order # [protected]. It is quite unfortunate but there has been so many complaints about this chair that it is too numerous to mention. It came to the point that Carisima's parents who are her court appointed conservators have strongly felt the chair was completely unsafe for their daughter. At one point, she almost fell back on from the wheelchair. Even with repeated attempts to fix the wheelchair there was never confidence in the workmanship that was done. This wheelchair cost the my client's Trust $7, 909.25 and to date has hardly had the use of it. I am looking to obtain credit for a purchase of another chair(s). My client's father, Lamont has tried to reach Brian Reeder from your San Diego office to arrange this transaction but has had no luck in resolving this issue. Lamont is quite frustrated with your company and the service. He mentioned Brian was out for family issues, but I imagine your business does not shut down because one employee is dealing with a personal matter. I am hereby requesting you do the right think for my client. You have had possession of her defective wheelchair since March 2018 and this is now September 2018. I would imagine, if it was your mother, daughter or sister without a wheelchair that she paid for, you would all be quite upset. Please call me to take care of this issue. No one should have to wait this long to resolve the issue of a defective wheelchair that was paid for. I can be reached at [protected]. My name is Stella Shvil, I am the court appointed trustee for Carisima. Regards,

I called National Seating for a repair of my wheelchair, it been a month now I still haven't heard anything from them, I had to get in touch with my doctor myself, get the fax number, call back to make sure they got the fax, your customer service people are very rude, your processing department wanted me to pay so much money, for my copay, it was $308.33, they said I had to pay $183.00 that day before I get the process started, I had to talk with a regional manger, he help me out, but it has been a week now and still has not heard from them. Your Company has bad customer service.

In December of 2013 I was evaluated and measured for a new manual wheelchair to replacement my current chair that is more than 16 years old. The evaluation was done at my local rehabilitation hospital by a licensed physical therapist and a representative from the Albany NY shop of NSM. I paid for the evaluation out-of-pocket since I knew neither Medicare or my secondary insurance would cover it.

A detailed specification of the new wheelchair, seating and seat back equipment and other items was forwarded to NSM Albany with a letter from my doctor that identified my need for a new wheelchair. This letter was sent to NSM in May 2014. A review by me and the physical therapist revealed some errors in the seating and corrections were made to the specification list and reissued in the fall of 2014. I checked that status of the order after the holiday season in early 2015 and was told that the NSM representative who did my evaluation was no longer with NSM and there was no progress the order.

Another representative for NSM was assigned to my order in the spring of 2015. Periodic messages by me for order status were made with no response. In mid-2015 I learned that the new NSM person was no longer with NSM the no progress was made on the order through the remainder of that year. In the beginning 2016 a third NSM person was assigned to my order. This person is at least somewhat responsive and has actually been to my home with my physical therapist and the incomplete wheel chair. Recent calls to the Albany NSM office have not been returned and the current status is unknown

This order is almost 2 1/2 years old and although the basic wheelchair frame is complete and at the Albany shop the final assembly of the chair is still incomplete.

Can some one please help me get this order completed for delivery of the new wheelchair. My current chair is ready to fall apart and I have no other chair.

Mark Carnevale
43 Saratoga Drive
Scotia, NY 12302

Beware of this company! They will rip you off. I purchased a chair from them and have a bill of sale. So everything is fine until several months later. They claim they miscalculated and my co-pay is $300+ what they had told me at the time of purchase. "Not my problem, " I told them. So then they came up with some BS story about how I actually rented the chair. Bullcrap. My wife was with me for every meeting I had with them and nobody ever said anything about renting or leasing. I double checked my paperwork and receipt, and there is no mention. I OWN the chair, completed my obligation and the deal is done. So now this ### has allegedly turned this over to collections. I say allegedly because the "collection agency" never sent anything in writing, as required by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Whenever they call. they always call right back. Today this woman named Tenecia calls back and starts screaming on a voice mail, telling me I live in a nice house, I have a 19.95/year phone line, she'll turn it over to her legal department, blah blah blah. Well here's a message for Tenecia: I am not paying for something I PURCHASED AND OWN. You and National Seating & Mobility can bite me. I also saw on another site that National Seating and Mobility's own employees rank it 1.9 stars as a company to work for. Should have figured that out when the technician tat came out to my house to tighten all the screws with Loctite. The chair was only a few months old and it was falling apart! The tech said he was new and obviously didn't know what he was doing. It was as though he had never seen a power chair before. I asked where the tech was who delivered the chair - he was very good. I was told he left. Hard to say what's worse, being their customer or being their employee.Beware of this company! They will rip you off. I purchased a chair from them and have a bill of sale. So everything is fine until several months later. They claim they miscalculated and my co-pay is $300+ what they had told me at the time of purchase. "Not my problem, " I told them. So then they came up with some BS story about how I actually rented the chair. Bullcrap. My wife was with me for every meeting I had with them and nobody ever said anything about renting or leasing. I double checked my paperwork and receipt, and there is no mention. I OWN the chair, completed my obligation and the deal is done. Hard to say what's worse, being their customer or being their employee.

12-10-2011
Recently I had to take my Invacare power wheelchair into National Seating and Mobility for repairs. I can not express strongly enough my displeasure with Invacare power wheelchairs. This is my third Invacare power wheelchair and each one of the first two had multiple problems which needed service. How Invacare can charge $27, 000 dollars for these inferior products is far beyond my comprehension. It is my belief that the MedicareMedicade Administration should investigate the possibility of not purchasing this brand wheelchair in the future. It seems to be a complete waste of taxpayer money for these chairs then the follow up repairs. It’s not like chairs get hundreds of miles on them.
Then to add insult to injury, It took National Seating and Mobility 10 days before they could even look at my chair for repairs. Finally after repairing my chair, they said the chair needed more powerful batteries and that it would take approximately 30 days before this would be approved by Medicare. It’s my personal belief that companies like National Seating and Mobility, whose business is mainly dealing with the disabled, have a responsibility (morally or just as a good business practice) to assist their customers as much as is possible. I believe that something as simple as loaning two batteries in the interim would have been a temporary solution to the problem. But not to be until I suggested it. And guess what? I was told they couldn’t put the batteries in for another 4 days. Less than a minute job ( at this point I had been with out a chair for 17 days) wait another 4 days. Unbelievable. If I treated my customers like this in my business, I would soon be out of business, but I don’t have a captive customers base. As a quadriplegic, I need to lean back in my chair every 2 hours or so to relieve pressure on my butt to help prevent pressure sores. Without a functioning chair that’s not possible. The alternative is staying in bed 24/7. Obviously, that defeats the purpose of having a power chair. When they did install the batteries in less than 30 minutes, they billed MedicareMedicade $300.00 for the installation. That comes out to $600 dollars an hour, $10 per minute. And we wonder why Medicare has financial problems.
And lastly, when calling National Seating and Mobility, and explaining my thoughts to the receptionist on what I believe could be done, I was accused of yelling at her and treating her badly. First, I told her I was talking about the company she works for, not her personally. Second, she accused me of yelling at her. I don’t know what she considers yelling, but my MS has not allowed me to yell in over 10 years. This young lady needs to develop her people skills for the job she has. When I contacted her boss, Rose ( a nice lady) who talked to the receptionist, the receptionist lied to her, turning it all around saying I was swearing at her. So here I am, I put in a complaint and now I’m made out to be at fault. That a way to handle a complaint. I guess, the best defense is a good ofense. I look at all this as more of National Seating and Mobility” indifference, uncaring attitude towards their disabled customers while protecting their own people, right or wrong.
While in the process of writing this, my friend, was Googling the address for National Seating and Mobility and found this area with multiple complaints about National Seating and Mobility. And to no surprise, someone else wrote about a very similar chair situation with the receptionist saying the exact same thing she told me about yelling. He also was left waiting over 2 weeks, this was in 2009. Wow! Again showing NS&M indifference, uncaring attitude.
Can’t someone or agency do something to protect wheelchair confined individuals from these uncaring companies that not only mistreat the disabled with long waits, but waste Medicare/Medicare to the tune of multi millions of dollars with inferior sub quality products and outrageous services charges.

Ken Steward

These Scammers "take the cake!" I'm so sick and tired of their unethical buisness practices I wish I could "go postal" on them. They never provided me with a price list, bilked me for a thousand dollars and now don't even answer my calls! I've written letters to their coporate office and even thier customer service supervisor. Nothing now. All they did was overcharge me, take my money and now ignore me! Everybody beware of Carlos Rogriguiez, Delana Larson and Anthony Nunez! These three sales people at National Seating and Mobility are WRONG! Money hungry, blood sucking, liars that feed on the weak for thir own personal gain. They can care less for the patient! Absolutely Terrible help!

I was rerfered to these scammers by Kaiser. First they had overcharged my credit card (unauthorized). Second, I'm still waiting for my wheelchair 2 months now! This is crazy! I'm hearing all the excuses ..everything from it's totally custom to backorder parts! Oh well all I can do is wait. People beware of these guys!