Tuesday, January 10, 2012

A promptly dealt with problem.

All went well until they brought my manual wheelchair to the door of the plane. Terry tried to open it and it was obvious that it was quite badly damaged. The seat would not lie flat, the metal had been twisted, and something was wrong with one of the wheels. The Virgin Atlantic Service Delivery Manager was called and arrived within a few minutes. She took one look at the chair and said it would have to be  replaced. She took us to her office where she arranged for a local shop to open for us ( at 5pm on a Sunday) and show us a wheelchair that sounded to be a  good match for my chair. She also said it would be too late for us to travel to San Bernadino, as in our original plan, after we had sorted the wheelchair and arranged a night with dinner and breakfast in the newly refurbished Tropicana Hotel on the Strip in Las Vegas.
So, after collecting our hire care, we went to the shop and tried out the wheelchair. It had all the same features as on my old one, quick release wheels, drop down handles etc and was quite comfortable. The man adjusted the foot plates and even gave me a cushion as the seat was not padded as my previous one had been. We signed the papers, which said the bill was to be sent to Virgin Atlantic, then went to the Tropicana.
We have stayed twice before at the Tropicana, but the last time it was quite run down. Now it has had a full refurbishment or remodeling , as they say in the USA, and is plush. They have kept the beautiful old stained glass roof over the casino but everything else is brand new. Our room was very comfortable and the food was delicious. In fact Terry was feeling quite guilty as we ate our dinner - only one course followed by coffee- which came to about $100 dollars!!! But, as I said, we didn't ask to stay in Vegas, Sharon, the service manager for Virgin Atlantic suggested and arranged it for us. Breakfast was a very good buffet and then we had a wander round the pool area and the rest of the hotel, all beautifully redecorated. So we set off to San Bernadino on Monday morning with a brand new wheelchair and my old wheelchair in the boot after having a wonderful night and a refreshing sleep.
I cannot fault the promptness with which our problem was dealt with and the bonus of a night in a good hotel on the strip - all courtesy of Virgin Atlantic. Wonderful.











1 comment:

  1. You jammy folks! They say every cloud has a silver lining. Glad you have arrived safely.

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