Ken's electric wheelchair is on it's last legs. The battery doesn't stay charged. I thought I could just replace the battery but when I went back to the Amazon order where I got it, the item is no longer available, there's no customer service, and no way of contacting them. I didn't know what I didn't know. I won't buy one on Amazon again.

I took the specs off the existing battery and went to a big battery store in Portland. They had never seen this kind of battery, and said they couldn't get it. The guy looked through his web resources and couldn't locate anything that matched this one. I contacted four different medical equipment places and was told the same thing. It's a factory in China I guess, with no service or customer support and our best recourse at this point is to get him another one with one of the local medical equipment stores that sell and actually service the ones they sell. They won't even look at this one, because it's not a brand they recognize, and to be honest, it doesn't even have a brand name on the chair. Some company on Amazon, which can't be contacted now. Foolish purchase on my part, I know. I should have gone through the medical supply stores to begin with, but I didn't know what I didn't know. We're planning to go on Monday to some local reputable medical equipment stores which will service their chairs and supply replacement batteries. Medicare won't cover the expense because there's a 5 year wait from the first wheelchair purchase (which was a manual wheelchair the hospital sent him home with.) And even with the 5 year wait, he has to be approved for an electric over a manual which could take quite a while. We can't wait another four years with this one. He was pushing himself along in the manual one, and I was pushing him too, but his good leg has an arthritic knee, which started getting worse with him having to use it to push the wheelchair. After a year and a half, while he is able to stand and take a few halting steps with his hemi walker, he's basically swinging his left hip forward because his leg doesn't operate independently. He still has no use of his left side, and no prognosis that he will. So having an electric wheelchair gives him a freedom of mobility that he can't otherwise have without me pushing him. I know everyone is falling into hard times these days, and I have no expectations. Anything you can do to help will be so greatly appreciated, and if you can't, we do understand. A new chair will cost somewhere around $3500. All the medical supply stores have quoted this price. I thought we could get what he needs for 2500 but I was wrong. Whatever you're able to help with will be huge. We don't have $3500 to spend on our own. Thank you in advance.