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We bought a Drive 780 knee walker in January. Within 3 weeks, the brake cable broke at the handle. We returned the equipment for repair only to learn the health equipment provider had nothing to repair the knee walker with - Drive had not provided them with parts. So we got a loaner/replacement.

Within 3 weeks, the loaner had also a broken brake cable (in the same place). Upon returning the 2nd knee walker, we were told there were no more knee walkers with working brakes to be had. After a week of using the knee walker with no brakes, I was concerned about my husband's safety, so we called the provider back and were told to please bring the 2nd knee walker back for a replacement. In the meantime, we began calling other health equipment providers in town to see if they maybe had parts for this brand. We were given a number for Drive directly. We also went online and found Drive Mobility Equipment's website but no source for parts.

We then called Drive and were advised that they could not by law sell to the public - only providers. At this point we called Consumer Affairs at the Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs for the state of Florida. The counselor was very helpful and suggested we call the provider and tell them of our frustrations.

We called the provider back and were reassured that they would make it right for us and for us to bring the 2nd knee walker back. We did this and sat down and talked with the manager, Jan and a LPN Trish - both of them were more then willilng to work with us agreeing to "buy back" the knee walker we bought and apply our purchase cost toward rent until we no longer needed it.

This worked out for us but we are righteously concerned about other patients who were also issued knee walkers, experienced the same failure of brakes we did and there were several of them - we ran into them in doctor's office and at dinner in restaurants. All of them had experienced brake cable failure.

When we took the 2nd knee walker back, Jan told us they now had 11 knee walkers down for the same problem and they were sorry they had ever purchased the equipment in the first place.

We are now on our 3rd knee walker - the brakes never worked very well to start with and now that cable has also broken. We are close to be finished with our need for a knee walker. But what can be done about this company and their faulty equipment? We believe the idea of a knee walker is good but the actual equipment is basically flawed and the company needs to recall them and/or redesign the knee walker for the safety of those who use it.

Our 3rd knee walker experienced the second design failure - the height adjustment buttons on one of the rear legs came off - we had to work it back into position and then use adhesive tape to hold it in place. We taped the other back leg to forestall a similar failure. Both back legs are wobbly.

Thank you for anything you can do to help get this situation corrected for the safety of patients who must have a means of navigating without putting any weight on their foot.

Location: Tallahassee, Florida

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Guest

Those are wheel locks, not brakes. And remember it may be called a knee scooter by some but it's a knee walker, it is meant to replace your injured foot or ankle leg for walking purposes.

go down a slope, you drag the so-called brakes a little bit and they'll do just fine. But yes on average the wheel locks on so many knee scooters really do suck. The dr790 is the is the best one of theirs and there is one by Roscoe that has a hub style brake that is far superior. Made in China by the lowest bidder, drive would rather sell you mediocre junk and give you free parts or take the risk then to risk what they might consider over engineering and wasting money on their end.

They think they are the Sony of DME equipment and they are really just the audiovox or Jensen. A great variety with a great presence and plenty of good products but they have their head so far up their own backsides that they don't even care about their brick-and-mortar stores enough to give them competitive pricing as compared to what Dr corporate sells to Amazon for. The medical supply house that I work for, we are washing our hands of drive as much as possible. No Grace no charity no consideration no respect to the brick-and-mortar guy in your hometown and mine where real people like to shop to see what they are buying and meet the person that might have to work on it and knows a little something about it.

And oh by the way, you bought possibly the worst most dangerous knee scooter in existence. A single-handed wheel lock,no handlebar style grips outside of the centerline of the knee walker to help you balance or steady, you can't even steer this thing so it's for going forward and backward. And you have to lean forward to use it! Tell me you went into the showroom and tested this and liked it?

Shame on whoever rented or sold this to you if you did it in person. Due diligence, my friend. Bad choice by you. That thing is a turd.

And that's being generous. I've managed to DME stores now and I never even blinked at that silly thing. In the age of the internet which is what? The last 15 or 20 years?

If you like to shop in-store, don't assume just because it's in store it's all that's available or that it's the best. it may just be what they get the best price on that they can make look attractive to you to Garner more sales at a proper margin.

Guest

Your satisfaction with our products is of utmost importance. Please allow us the opportunity to resolve this issue by contacting our company @ 877 224 ****. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Drive Devilbiss Healthcare

Guest

had a drive knee walker . the first day the steering wheel kept turning opposite or the wheels caused me to fall more than one time!!!!

I learned to deal with that.in the third week the scooter broke in half. it made a clean break in the weld under the seat,and the bar...they are not built well .and are dangerous ...please use with caution.i not went to another company got a roscoe knee walker ,much better

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-827288

Who ever assembled bat out of the box did a poor job or simply did not know what in the world they were doing. When you tip the handlebars down, the tiller, you can see a hex head whole right down the middle between the two front wheels and that is where it should be tightened once the handlebars are aligned with the front wheels.

This is how people get sued. Hey new guy go open that box and put that thing together. break your handlebars down like you were going to put it into a small space or in the trunk and when you do right near that hinge you're going to see a hex headed bolt that needs to be tightened. Make sure you line up your handlebars with the front wheels so that where you steer is where the wheels actually go as well, LOL.

Titan the heck out of it! And you're good to go.

pattym

well after rea :x ding all 16 reply all I have to say is OMG :roll are prides products made in china/korea/japan because it looks like there are more bad ones out there than good/working units.

I am glad some of you got pride to at least call or email you back and very happy to the person who got pride to replace the broken part you are lucky[maybe]

why does pride treat people like this?

large company? already has our money? just does not care?

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of pattym

Are you sure you don't mean Drive medical? Pride Mobility makes power wheelchairs and electrical scooters and similar.

Guest

Walker arrived today from amazon. Haven't got it together yet.

Cannot get the handle bar column to connect with the wheels to turn.

turn handle bars and the wheels do not turn. Any suggestions.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-608561

First things first. There should be an information card or pamphlet or other type of instructions in there.

If not Google for the instruction manual or assembly instructions for your brand and model. Acme knee scooter 1 2 3 4 owner's manual.

It's really very simple. If it's one of the drive medical units you put the tiller handlebar assembly into the hole center it up and use a hex wrench to tighten the bolt that holds the tiller assembly firm and allows it to steer the wheels without slipping

Guest

I have a rear wheel that has 2 flat spots very bummpy ride having a problem finding replacement wheels :cry

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-570569

You have bumpy wheels because you squeeze your brakes and press the little button that engages the lock. This is the wheel lock or parking brake that you would use on a slope to keep it from rolling away as you were loading your items into your car or similar.

Or if it were just sitting on a slope why you were getting out of the car after somebody else placed it there. If you start to try to roll away without squeezing your brake lever once real good and then releasing it then if you start going somewhere you are driving with your parking brake on. When you drive with the brake engaged the wheel cannot turn and it creates a flat spot. It's like taking a pencil eraser and dragging it across your front porch.

rubber or similar starts tearing off in small bits and makes it flatter and flatter and shorter and shorter where it's touching the concrete or pavement or whatever. You need to pay attention!

User error. Non warranty.

Guest

I had a problem with the handlebars and wheels going different directions. Also had braking problems. Took the Drive 790 to a bicycle shop! That was the way to go. They adjusted the brakes and the height and handlebars to fit me better.

Problems? NEEDS better steering. It has a horrible turning radius.

It needs a parking brake! I am allowed now to put my foot down to load the 790 in my car. It rolls backward or away from me at any given time.

It needs a cup holder for my coffee cup. It is very hard to do anything other than just use the knee walker. Especially since there is no way to hang on and use the brakes and hold things.

DO practice for a few weeks before any surgery. It is so cumbersome at first.

Be VERY careful going down a wheelchair ramp. Small steps with the good leg and keep your hands on the brakes!

To be completely non-weight-bearing was HORRIBLE. It is almost impossible to fold this down and get it in the car and get me in the car and off to work alone. :upset

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-569528

Cup holders are never standard as they get in the way and why would I give you what I can charge you extra for? Drive self a cup holder that I believe will mount on this unit.

Don't be a prima donna and fuss about a cup holder. The reason the handlebars get all squirrelly is because whoever assemble this or rented it to you or bought this and put it together didn't bother to either read the instructions or did not know what they are doing. User error. now if you bought it from a dealership they should know what the heck they're doing and shame on them.

If you bought it and you didn't read the instructions or contact the company for assistance when you had this issue then shame on you. Do you know how you tip the handlebar assembly down so you can get it into the trunk? Next time you have it tipped down compacted look right between the two front wheels at the center of where the handlebars go and you're going to see a hex head bolt. Find a wrench to fit it.

Then you're going to want to raise the handlebars, Center the handlebars to the wheels so that where you intend to go is actually where you go when you steer, and they're very carefully lower The handlebar again and tighten the heck out of that bolt. Use a bit of a cheater bar if you have to. When they are new especially, you cannot get them too tight. They're worse when new, better when older.

My company rents about 40 of these currently. And I know these things inside and out. And it already has a parking brake! either you don't read the instruction manual nobody told you or instructed you or one of you or both of you does not care.

You see that little silver button on the top of the brake lever assembly? Squeeze the brake very firmly and hold. Press the button down and hold. Now released the brake handle first.

Let your finger off the button. Bada boom bada Bean, parking brake. If it doesn't hold then your brake cables have stretched and need adjustment. By the way, since you're an upper crust socialite that wants to *** and moan about being me being able to take their coffee with them, what about a laptop holder or a holder that holds some crutches, or cane, or maybe one that will hold a ham sandwich or even your cell phone along the way?

Sounds like you should have bought a chauffeur and a limo and not a knee scooter. You think what you paid for this machine was possibly a little bit high, get one of the company's design to design what you want and then try to get them to try to sell it to other people who aren't as demanding about their stupid coffee. Either that or built by yourself a mug that seals up, go to a bike store and buy a water bottle cage and ask them to install it on the tiller.

Bada boom Bada Bing. Solving problems over here!

Guest

SO i recently had foot surgery which required me to be 8 weeks non weight bearing. For 6 weeks I hadn't had a single problem with my knee scooter then once I had moved up to my dorm my 790 Drive medical scooter broke.

The handle bars would turn and leave the wheels going straight and when I picked it up to bring up stairs the front wheels fell off. In dire need of wheels I went to my university's disability center where they loaned me another Drive 790.

a week later the handle bars started to turn again and wouldn't you know it if the wheels didn't fall off. Is this a model defect or do I just have bad luck?

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-535590

I can tell you I've handled hundreds of these units from used to new to maintenance and repairs of our rental fleet and ones brought in by customers. And I've never heard of somebody telling me that the front wheels fell off.

I've never seen the front wheels fall off. I work for two companies that handle these scooters and I do maintenance on all of them over the last five years. I've never seen the wheels fall off. Now let me back pedal a little bit and say maybe you did really get some ridiculous defective unit or there was a bad production run., so I want to apologize on that one because there may have been a problem with the factory but I've never heard of it, just saying.Read up above in this thread and find out why your handlebars turn one way while you're knee scooter is actually sending you another way.

Whoever put it together, if it was new, was either too smart for their own good and didn't read the instructions, didn't look online for the instructional video that's out there. Or if it was a rental it was very poorly maintained. If you bought it new front wheel and cross frame assembly are permanently attached. I have no idea how this would happen.

If this happened to me and I had bought it new, I go back to where I bought it from and drop the mess in front of them and tell them to replace it or fix it. If I bought it online I would either return it or try to solve the problem.

If I may be picked it up use and didn't know what the *** I was doing I might actually contact the company and say hey I've got one of your products I got on the cheap and I was wondering if you could help me? Some people never ask for help and then they just want to ditch and berate a product because their thought process is if I buy it it should never fail, and if it does fail then the answer should fall in my lap.

Guest

I had foot surgery and was on a knee walker for quite some time. Once my foot healed, I then had to have knee surgery on my good leg because of the damage done by using my good leg to get around.

No one ever told me this would be a problem. It caused hairline fractures below the knee, all the cartilage is gone.

Now, because of using the knee walker, I can no longer go for long walks, no longer garden and no longer ride a bicycle. Wish someone had warned me.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-521629

Okay, you are fussing about a product I caused a problem for you because of either your age, weight, physical fitness, or other unique genetic or biological condition that has absolutely nothing to do with a knee walker. The knee walker does not cause this for 51 of the people that use them oh, by the way.

if you use the knee walker and after using it and getting off of it you feel that your knee joint is 100% normal operational without any tension pain by binding burning or flexion problems, I'm not sure how the knee scooter was causing damage. damaged usually causes inflammation which causes some sort of tension binding swelling or other sensation as well. so if you use the knee scooter repeatedly and started getting off of it and feeling it like your knee was a little harder to move or had pain instantly that did not dissipate or the next time you get your knee to get back onto it you had returning pain. Red flag!

Just because it's the best alternative at the time doesn't mean it's necessarily the right alternative.. you do not have to use a knee walker. You choose to use a knee walker. you need to be aware of your own condition.

I doubt you can tell anybody that you use the snoo Walker for 1 2 or 3 months 4X number of hours a day and every time you used it you got off of there and your knee never felt any different never felt stiff never had any pain this that or the other thing. Maybe you have some onset of arthritis or other joint issues. Maybe you have other medical conditions. I seriously doubt whoever sold you this has your medical chart so they could not diagnose you for potential problems.

But this is not a plague in the knee scooter world.

If you did in fact have any sort of twinge of pain or concern or stiffness Etc, anyting at all why didn't you check in with your doctor to see if your medical chart would suggest to the doctor that keeping your knee bent at 90 degrees with weight on it for extended periods of time could possibly cause you some issues? or maybe you would have had to have a knee replacement or surgery anyway and this just accelerated it?

Guest

1st off Great productรขโ‚ฌยฆBEWARE you will have NO Customer Service. I contacted the Drive Medical, they said send picรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs & order # and they would take care of it.

I contacted Amazon c-service at the same time and they said we canรขโ‚ฌโ„ขt do anything, received email from Drive Medical they do no warranty or parts and said I need to contact the seller. Contacted Ace Photo and they said itรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs on Amazon.

If you buy on-line sometimes you just get screwed.

PS I have a scooter for sale that is in 2 pieces

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-457035

When was your last bone density scan? How much do you weigh?

Do you have arthritis?

do you have other genetic or biological or metabolic conditions? Did you start feeling any sensation other than normal early on that might have thrown a caution flag to cause you to call your doctor?

Guest

I have just received a Drive 790, new, dropped shipped from Cigna health insurance. I am 60, recovering from Achilles tendon surgery and this one is not for the home. I would not recommend it as a stable unit. The wheels are too big, the front steering system makes it very unstable and it requires constant attention during operation.

Get the 780 or Gold model, it has a loop handle, much more stable, has the little basket and it is much cheaper. I had this unit for three weeks due to CIGNA not being able to get their act together. I tried and tried to convince CIGNA to purchase the cheaper 780 unit, but to no avail.

Ramjetus51@***i

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-446154

this is a terrible unit that you have recommended. So oh you only go forwards or backwards and do not steer if I understand you correctly?

And how dare you say that it requires too much attention by the user when they use it! Ever driven a car? Ridiculous statement, sir. you know I had this gun once, but it required too much attention when I was carrying it or had it on me or whatever.

I don't like being responsible for what I'm actually controlling or driving.

You need a chauffeur or a power wheelchair. You sound whiny and lazy and spoiled.

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