Mobility aids Our investigation
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This article, Mobility aids, was last updated on 22 July 2008 and is now out of date and held in our online archive for reference. Explore our latest Home & garden articles.
Our investigation revealed disturbing findings
During a two-week period in spring 2008, we carried out an undercover investigation into the techniques used to sell mobility equipment to people in their own homes.
We rented a property and secretly filmed sales reps trying to sell a variety of products to our 72-year-old undercover investigator, Yvonne Day (not her real name).
Yvonne was given a realistic scenario. She claimed to need equipment for herself and her husband, who had a long-term illness and was soon to be discharged from hospital.
We investigated 11 companies (see table below), six of which we chose because of negative feedback from you (the rest were selected from sources where consumers could see them marketed). Yvonne asked each company to send a sales rep to show her certain mobility aids – adjustable beds, mobility scooters and bath lifts.
| Mobility aids on test | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Item being sold | Area covered | BHTA Member | Overall rating |
| Instant Mobility | Scooter | Eng/Scot/Wales | No | Good |
| Rapley & Co | Scooter | Surrey/W Sussex | Yes | OK |
| Totally Active | Bath lift | Eng/Scot/Walesa | Yes | OK |
| Sun Mobility | Adjustable bed | Reading/local | Yes | OK |
| GBL Wheelchair services Ltd | Scooter | London/south-east | Yes | OK |
| All Handling Movability Ltd | Scooter/Bath lift | London | Yes | OK |
| Nationwide Mobility | Bath lift | UK | No | Poor |
| Adjustamatic Beds Ltd | Adjustable bed | UK | No | Poor |
| Bath-Knight | Bath lift | UK | No | Poor |
| Oakdale Adjustable Beds | Adjustable bed | UK | No | Poor |
| Craftmatic UK Ltd | Adjustable bed | UK | No | Poor |
Table notes
- Do not cover Scottish Islands
Item being sold This is the mobility aid we invited the company to sell us. The company may sell others. Overall rating Each company’s performance was marked by an independent panel using our checklist of criteria, which was weighted for importance, and then rated as a percentage. Poor: 0-54%; OK: 55-69%; Good: 70%+
Expert knowledge
In 2006, the British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA), the UK’s largest healthcare association, published a code of practice which was meant to regulate how its member companies behave.
Our experts - independent occupational therapist Maggie Winchcombe, Surrey County Council senior trading standards officer Neil McLoughlin and Gretel Jones from Age Concern - used the code as a basis for our investigation as we believe that it sets out important criteria for protecting people.
The experts assessed the companies on conduct, information, advice, assessment and sales tactics, using a checklist based on the BHTA’s code of practice (situation research was done without prior BHTA knowledge).
We found more than half the companies didn’t get the basics right, such as clearly identifying themselves – as the code stipulates. We also uncovered more sinister findings.
