Equipmed PowerCruise Premium XL Electric Wheelchair

Purchased through Bunnings marketplace, sold by Mills Brands, but arrived in a Mytopia branded box. Packaged well but difficult to pull the chair out as it's 50kg! Had a “repackaged” feel of a return, which was foreshadowing... It's dangerous. Manual is online only. Several pages of the manual were generic warnings for other non-powerchair products. Manual has bigger than normal warnings about keeping the battery away from floors, walls, small rooms, and really anything at all. Battery has weird requirements for charging (more than 6 hours, less than 12 hours, not overnight). It gives off cheap battery vibes. The box has a warning about operating for long periods could cause injury or death.

Assembly was easy with only the legs and top back to be added on as the rear safety wheels were already in place. Disassembly was a nightmare as everything uses tiny spring knobs that need to be pushed down (two at a time) while pulling the bar to release it. Considering it needs to be disassembled to put into a vehicle, it not good if you have hand issues. Really even a person who doesn't have hand issues will still have issues with it.

Weight was not listed so I assumed it was in the same range as similar chairs. It's actually almost 50kg. The battery weights nothing so you will be lifting almost 50kg of chair into a boot of a car. Not possible for my disabled self.

Size is much larger than equivalent chairs and would require a hatchback or bigger type car with a big boot to fit. It does fold flat fairly well though.

Foot rests are plastic and were bending with normal placement of the foot. I doubt they will last long. Foot rests need to be moved out a fair distance as the close options are in range of the big chunky front wheels. Attachment/removal of the foot bars involves a plastic clip that is stressed when attaching/removing. You need to remove them each time when putting them into a vehicle. If this breaks then the footrests will not stay in place.

The seat/back/neck pads are held by velcro only to the chair seat/back.

The joystick/control pad is only available on the right hand side. It is also attached permanently to the chair by it's cable so you need to be careful when folding and putting into a car boot so you don't damage it.

This model allows for power chair mode and self propelled/free mode which could be a good backup due to the wheels having hand rails. Sadly the wheels are placed slightly behind the rider and the wheels are small so you are reaching backwards to grab them. Using them to push yourself forward is difficult because of this. You also don't get much momentum either when using them so you need to use a lot of strength to move yourself. It also weighing 50kg makes it harder. Essentially the rails are there to only give the image of a self propelled chair.

Power mode has several speed settings but even on the lowest it is very fast but lacks power the higher modes have. This means the chair can struggle at first then suddenly lurch forward. On higher levels it starts off so fast you end up wobbly at first but if you stop pushing the direction knob because it has sent you off in an odd direction, it will come to a sudden stop. Very jerky and I don't feel safe using this around people.

The design of the knob to switch between power mode and self propelled/free mode is dodgy. They are on the center of the outside of the wheels. It requires a fair bit of finger strength and it's not very doable from a sitting position. You have to get out to change them. You pull it out and turn it but you are pulling it out of a slot (power mode) and turning it so it stays out (self propelled/free mode). This means any knocks to the knob or the chair can cause the knob to move and drop back into it's power mode slot. This is bad when using the chair in self propelled/free mode to either move yourself or move the chair as it applies the power mode brakes automatically when knocked into power mode.

My experiences;

While using power mode I had the above issues with starting/stopping but also with direction. One of my wheels didn't seem to be responding the same way as the other so I would go off to the left constantly. I had to hold it in the forward/right direction to go forward. Reversing was as bad with it only reversing left when pressing back. It refused to reverse to the right.

While using power mode, the left wheel clicked like it was dropping into power mode from self propelled/free mode, and applied the power brakes causing the chair to suddenly turn and skid to a stop. Thankfully I wasn't going fast but the chair did tilt slightly off it's left wheels. It was clearly in power mode when starting as the slots to drop the knob in are very distinct. It was still in power mode as I was moving using the joystick when it had stopped me suddenly.

I put the chair into self propelled/free mode to move it and while moving it from behind, I hit a small bump and the knob that switches modes dropped back into power mode on one side. This was a huge issue as it auto applies the power brakes, so I had one wheel still moving while the other one stopped dead causing the chair to turn and me to lose balance and fall twisting my knee. This could be a serious issue if rolling down a hill when using self propelled/free mode and the knob drops back into power mode and sends the chair sideways and falling over with you in it.

I stopped using it due to this danger and checked everything multiple times before contacting customer support.

Contacting customer support for return and full refund;

Bunnings only lets you contact the seller using a form linked to your purchase email. The email is no reply so you need to keep submitting new forms each reply.

First reply was telling me to look for the red switches on the wheels motors. My model doesn't have these. They had the model listed in the form and still got the model wrong in their reply. I corrected them and gave more details on the problems while informing them of my disability that makes me especially vulnerable to breaks from falls (Lucky I didn't break anything when I fell).

Their reply was to use the power chair and take a video of the problems!!!!

They wanted me, a disabled person with a vulnerability to breaks, to use a power chair that had already caused injury and was faulty and badly designed in a way that could easily cause more injury or even death. Even the manual is very clear about risk of injury or death when using a faulty chair. I said this in a reply very clearly and again requested a full refund.

I then received a reply about how to warranty return/replace/repair and they would assess it first. The reason I purchased from them was their change of mind returns with no fees/costs/money withheld. I told them this along with my request for a return only for a full refund.

I packaged it back up for return. It took 4 days to be picked up by the courier. Apparently it was booked for the Mon but I had to contact them again on Wed as it was still here. Courier picked it up on Thurs morning.

Now I wait to see if they will honor their returns policy and give me a full refund...

EDIT 1: A week and a half after they received the chair back, I have received an email that they will be returning it to me despite my claim for a return and full refund (as per policy) in every single email I have sent. I have sent a return email through the Bunnings market place link but it seems like my requests for a return and refund only are being ignored. I will take it further to get my refund if I am forced to.

Edit 2: They are attempting to withhold the postage costs despite their return policy saying no such thing. It's the reason I bought through them and not other companies (even though they all seem to be the same company).

Edit 3: A full refund has been issued finally. They seemed to miss a lot of my communication about wanting a refund only in this process but at least they stayed polite the whole time so Ill up the review to 2 stars.