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Hints and Suggestions
ask yourself some questions If you are on a fixed income, you need to ask yourself some questions before making certain purchases. Will the product benifit you? Don't buy on impulse! Can you afford the product? If you purchase the product, will you still be able to meet all of your other monthly obligations? Can you afford to make monthly payments on it? What about purchasing a used product? This could be a risky endevor! Do you know the person who is selling the item? Why are they selling the item? How do you know they are telling you the truth about why they are selling the item? How old is the item? Is it still under warentee? |
avoid pushy salespersons One of our WAPD members was shopping around for a new wheelchair. He contacted a company and an in-home demonstration was arrainged. The sales person brought over a chair that someone had prieovusly ordered but then returned. Even though the chair was never used, our member clearly expressed that he did not like it. The sales person talked him into keeping the chair and using it for a few days. The sales person told our member that because the chair was returned, it could be purchased at a huge discount. This salesperson was clearly not meeting a customers needs, but only concerned about his own commission. If for any reason you feel uncomfortable in a purchasing situation, simply don't do it. |
restocking fee If you purchase something locally, ask about their return policy. If you are placing an Internet order, carefully read the return policy before you purchase. Some companies are now charging a 20% restocking fee. That means that if the product you purchased from them cost $200.00 and has to be returned for a refund, exchange or credit, the company is charging you $40.00. You would only get $160.00 of your money back. You would also have to pay the shipping cost to return the product. |
all sales final Some companies have an "all sales final" policy. The product cannot be returned, or, they will let you sometimes return it for credit towards the purchase of another item. Also, beware of restocking fees. You would also have to pay the shipping cost to return the product. |
try before you buy Before purchasing, find out from others (friends, newsgroups, mailing lists, bulletin boards, etc.,) who already own the product. Not only can you get a first hand account on how it has worked for them, you may even get a chance to try it out. Hands-on expirence is a great way to help you deceide if a product will work for you. Try to arrainge for an in-home demonstration. Or, if you are fortunate enough to live close to where one is held, abilities expo are a valueable learning expierence. You will not only get a demonstration on the product you are considering, you can also view and try items from the hundreds of other vendors there. These expos also have work-shops and speakers. |
prices varied greatly At UPWD, we recently conducted an expirment. After deciding on a product to purchase, we looked up different companies on the Internet that sold it. Our results were intersting. Even though each company sold the exact same product, the prices varied greatly. The most expensive price we found was $129.00 and that was after it was marked down from $149.00. Other prices for this product were $119.00, $79.00, $69.00 and $59.00. We finally bought the product for $49.00, which was marked down from $69.00. |
what about the company Investigate before you purchase. Not only should you be concerned about the quality of the product itself, but what about the company? How long has it been around? Do you know of anyone who has done business with them? Can you talk to a live person when you call, or do you constantly get a voice message? |
save When you do get that product, carefully open the box or container and save it for a few weeks until you are sure you won't be returning it. Save the owner's manuel and any other papers that came with it. |
all sales final (part II) Here is a recent story concerning an "all sales final" policy. One of our members saw a product on the Internet, and after reading the description of this product, knew it would work for them. They were aware of the store's policy, so, before purchasing this product, called the owner on two seperate occassions, not only asking specific questions about the product, but explaining what the product was going to be used for. The UPWD member specifally mentioned to the owner that they were aware of his "no return policy" and wanted to be certain before proceeding. The owner assured them, both times, that the product would work and do exactly what the description said it would do. The product did not work and the purchaser called the owner and explained that the item performed no where near how it was supposed to. The owner remembered the caller and things were satisfactorally worked out. Our point here is... don't just order the product because the description meets your satisfaction. Even if you know someone who already owns the product and are certain it will work for you, call the company and take notes on who you talked to and what they said. Carefully explain to them what you expect from the product, and make certain they are they sure it will meet your expatitions. |
products/services we have personally tested
| The people directly involved with UPWD
either have a disability or are caregivers. We have well
over 150 years of combined experience in using products
and services for people with disabilities, thus, feeling
that this gives us an advantage over some engineer on
testing. Below are products and services that we have personally tested. If you would like to suggest a product/service to us, please contact us. If you are a company and would like to see your producr or service listed here, please contact us. |
BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY
Nothing available here.
voice activated phone This phone claims it can be answered from up to 40 feet away. It can. It can be answered by remote or voice activation. You can not activate the phone to call someone unless you physically use the buttons on the keypad or use the portable remote. The remote comes with a cord that can be worn around one's neck. The remote is activated by clicking it or hooking up a sip-and-puff. Phone numbers of people you want to call are entered into the phone's memory. Then, when you want to call someone using the remote, you first activat the phone by clicking the remote once. Once the phone is activated, on the phone's pad, a series of red lights, in order, will begin turning on and then off. These red lights are informing you of where you are at and who's number you are ready to dial. You can pre-select how many seconds the light will remain on each phone number before proceeding to the next. When the phone number you want to dial is represented by the red light being on, you click the remote again. You click the remote when you are done your call to turn off the phone. These same features also work by hitting a button on the phone's key pad. You can also dial a number by using the key pad. If you activate the phone but do not click the remote again to dial a number, there is a special feature on this unit that when the selection begins again, it will automatically dial the first number on your list. The phone is answered by you saying "hello" or using any word or loud sound inbetween rings. Which means, if you don't want to answer the call and you have a TV or raido on, the phone will pick up that background noise inbetween the rings and will activate the phone. When usin this unit, your voice will sound clear to the person on the other end and there will be no distortion like the cutting in and out as on cheaper speaker phones. Although this is a good quality sounding speaker phone, the person you are talking with will be aware that you are using a speaker phone. The reason we mention this is because some people don't like how you sound (change the idea). We were told on a few occosaion we sound as if we were in a cave. One thing we found slightly annoying about this phone is that when we did not want to answer it, if the TV or ect. was on, it would be answered. That leaves you in an aqward feeling position when you know the person calling can hear the background noise and knows someone is there. Another slight annoynence was if the phone was answered by either background noise or because we chose to answer it, if we did not have the remote within easy reach, it became bothersome hanging it up, especally if one is home alone. |
protective containers for wheelchairs and scooters Anyone who has ever been stranded in an airport because their wheelchair or scooter was damanged will really appricate this device. This item is basically a giant polyurathene protection suitcase for your wheelchair or scooter. One of our members owns a large container for their power chair. This container receives a lot of scratches, which only proves, that without the container, the equipment would be receiving damage. Although large, this container, when empty, only weighs 50 pounds. This container is two seperate pieces. The wheelchair sits on the base of the container. The footrests are removed and fastened to the base with nylon straps. The wheelchair is also securly fastend to the base with nylon straps. There will be enough extra room once the chair is secured to pack other things inside the case. Once the chair is in place, the top of the container is lowered over the chair and securly latched to the base with six, easy to use, metal fasteners. The whole proceedure of loading the chair and securing the container can be accomplished in under two minures. Your equipment will be well protected. Your chair does not have to be loaded in the case at home and then transported to the airport. This procedure can be done at the airport, preferably at plain-side so you can make certain it is loaded in the case correctly. The only possible draw-back to this product that we could find is it's size. It could be some what of a problem for some to get it to and from the airport. But then again, the majority of people using powerchairs do have vans. We found that this container does do what it is supposed to do. When not in use, we found the container good for storing a back-up chair, scooter or other large item. The container can be stored outside. This company also supplies smaller containers for folding manuel chairs and shower chairs. We have not tested the smaller container. This company has been in business sinse 1996. Haseltine Systems Corporation |
phone voice changer This device was purchased by one of our members for security reasons. The unit is supposed to discuise your voice so the person calling you, or the person you are calling, will not recognise it. It easily attaches to your phone, and for a woman living alone, especially having a disability, this would be very usefull. This paticular model had eight different voice selections to choose from. This unit did change our voice, but not the way we were led on to beleive how it would. Through this product's advertisement, we were led to believe that while using this device our voice would sound naturall. There was only one setting on this unit where our voice did sound naturall, but this setting sounded so much like one's own voice, that why even use the unit. The other settings either made our voice sound like a high pitched cartoon charcter, or it was so low and distorted, it could not be understood. The person on the other end could easily tell our voice was being altered. This product did not work for us. We have seen more expensive modles, starting at $300.00, but have not tried any out. |
dragon dictate
joke books One of our members owns a set of the three Dis"ability" Joke Books. We at UPWD found the majority of these cartoons to be very funny. The cartoons deal with disability subjects and situations. Each book contains 72 cartoons that were computor generated. The author, who has a disability, told us that the cartoons, although dealing with disability subjects are not degrading or disrespectful. Upon visiting their web site, we found the books to be very moderatly priced and that price includes shipping charges. If you purchase two or more books, you get a discount and there is still no shipping charges. This company has been in business since 1995. Sample cartoons can be seen at: Dis"ability" Joke Books. The site is sometimes slow in loading. |
Dis"ability" Equipment Dis"ability" Equipment is a classified Internet service. Someone wanting to buy or sell a wheelchair, scooter, lift, etc. will find many used and some new products here. A lot of the listings on this web site do include pictures, making it a bit slow in loading. This web site has two features that caught our attention. First, if you place an ad with them, you only pay a one time fee. Your item will remain posted until it sells. The second feature is that the highest price they will charge you is well under $10.00. Their fee is based on the item you are selling. This company began in 10/00. Dis"ability" Equipment |
Dis"ability" Vehicles This web site is a mirror image of their sister site, Dis"ability" Equipment. The only difference is that only accessible vehicles are listed here and their fee is slightly higher. Dis"ability" Vehicles is a classified Internet service. Someone wanting to buy or sell an accessible vehicle will find many used and some new items here. A lot of the listings on this web site do include pictures, making it a bit slow in loading. This web site has two features that caught our attention. First, if you place an ad with them, you only pay a one time fee. Your vehicle will remain posted until it sells. The second feature is that the highest price they will charge you is under $15.00. This company began in 10/99. Dis"ability" Vehicles |
