Now that ace TV pitchman Billy Mays is gone, all eyes should turn to The SCOOTER Store guy
Now that TV huckster Billy Mays is gone, who can replace him as top pitchman on middle-of-the-night TV?
Watchdog Nation nominates Doug Harrison.
He’s the guy on The SCOOTER Store’s incessant TV commercials who makes that big promise about the free chair or scooter if you don’t qualify under Medicare.
Billy Mays
Doug Harrison is founder and president of The SCOOTER Store and star of his own commercials. He promises that if you don’t qualify for a scooter or power chair with government assistance – his exact words – “we’ll give you a new power scooter free.”
The SCOOTER Store’s marketing campaign is an example of advertising that takes you to the edge of the line but doesn’t cross over. Or does it?
Doug Harrison
That same Doug Harrison a couple of years ago agreed to make a $500,000 personal “contribution” to the federal government to settle a huge civil lawsuit against The SCOOTER Store for violating the False Claims Act. The company paid another $4 million in fines and gave up Medicare claims worth about $13 million.
Harrison, the U.S. Justice Department stated in 2007, “also agreed to forego dividends from his shares in the company for the next year in exchange for a release of his personal liability.”
As a recent Watchdog column by Dave Lieber in the July 18, 2009 Fort Worth Star-Telegram reminded here, federal prosecutors accused The SCOOTER Store of engaging “in a multi-media advertising campaign to entice beneficiaries to obtain power scooters paid for by Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurers. Instead of the ‘zippy’ power scooters that were advertised, The SCOOTER Store sold the beneficiaries expensive power wheelchairs that they did not want, need and/or could not use.”
The government also accused The SCOOTER Store of selling used equipment as new and charging Medicare millions for unnecessary accessories.
As part of this, the company agreed to a 5-year corporate integrity program, monitored by the federal government.
When you examine the 2009 TV ad starring Harrison and the company’s latest marketing materials, the delicate use of language stands out.
The promise of a free chair is still there, but it’s loaded with conditions:
“You may even get your power chair or scooter ABSOLUTELY FREE.”
“Your new power chair or scooter could cost you little to nothing.”
“If we pre-qualify you… we guarantee you will receive it FREE.”
And the ultimate qualifier: “This guarantee has some restrictions, is not available in all locations, and is subject to change.”
You may…
You could…
If…
Notice how these words, added as qualifiers after the Justice Department’s action, are not capitalized.
What is capitalized?
FREE… and… ABSOLUTELY FREE.
Over the line?
Published in Column, July 18th, 2009 by Dave Lieber
Tags: Durable medical equipment, Medicaid, Medicare, The SCOOTER Store
July 31st, 2009 at 10:22 am
I am a power wheelchair user of more than seven years. I am grateful that, with the very close guidance of medical professionals, I have received proper equipment.
I want to raise a related issue that is even more obscene than the fact that the Scooter Store (and other companies) is pedaling this medical equipment with this kind of “line.”
Does anyone think about what a wheelchair is really for? Regardless of who “qualifies,” or how a sale can be made, we seem to have forgotten that a wheelchair is not a “thing” to buy just as we would purchase jewelry from another home shopping corporation!
I have cerebral palsy, and I was forced to make the agonizing decision to transition to a power wheelchair after years and years of battling against slow deterioration, pain, and loss of function. In the three years prior to having to relinquish the ability to walk functionally, I worked in physical therapy, used different types of crutches, wheeled walkers, unwheeled walkers, and manual wheelchairs. My lifetime of unrelenting work to remain ambulatory still resulted in the need for one of those power wheelchairs they are now marketing like candy to the afternoon viewing audience.
I cannot tell you how sickened I am by the number of ambulatory people I meet who stop to tell me how they wish they had a power wheelchair so that they didn’t have to walk. It’s so hot. They just get tired of being sweaty. It takes them longer to walk. They hate standing in line. Sure beats walking. And they can get one for free from the Scooter Store…
And just so you don’t think I’m rushing to judgment, these are people whom I know have gym memberships. They walk all over town on a regular basis. They see a wheelchair as a convenience. I think we have the Scooter Store to thank for that shift in attitude. People who don’t need wheelchairs want them now, because, and I quote, “it beats walking.”
Do you see these actors on the commercials riding in circles, showing off their new toys, waving to the camera? It’s a wheelchair, people! And if folks do go the scooter route, it still has the same very bad effect on the body over time. But why worry? You can go to the Grand Canyon! How convenient! What a great time a new power wheelchair would be! Sign everyone up!!
Again, only speaking from experience. But the first huge problem with the stranger who approaches me and wants a wheelchair just like the one I have is this. A wheelchair is an absolute last resort. And if any person goes from pretty much functioning on their own without any kind of assistive device–if they are doing ok, but not as well as they or their doctor would like them to be, then a wheelchair should not be the first choice.
I do talk to people when I’m not enraged by their chair envy. I ask them if they have talked to a doctor about wanting a wheelchair. I tell them a doctor needs to write a prescription for a wheelchair. I stress that a wheelchair is medical equipment, and that it is a medical intervention. I tell them the health risks of a sedintary lifestyle are much greater than almost any symptom (like pain) from walking that can be treated in another way. I also tell them that if they get a wheelchair it will be an uphill battle to do everything they can to maintain physical function, and that odds are they will not enjoy the freedom to walk around town like they do now. Or ride their bikes. (Yes, some people who tell me they want a wheelchair are whizzing by me on ten speeds).
Most people who want a wheelchair think it’s a toy. Oh, it’s so neat! They want it because they think it will make their lives easier. And the Scooter Store is right there, talking people into giving up their mobility as soon as possible.
As someone who didn’t go to the doctor and finally say the word–that I thought I needed a wheelchair, until I could not get out of bed to get myself a glass of water, until I was the cliche – “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up” or until I was crawling on my floor to get to the bathroom–I resent this absurd complaint about not being able to get around your house because your home was not wheelchair accessible in the first place.
If you didn’t need your home accessible for a manual chair, use of walkers or canes, crutches, etc – or otherwise you did not need to make your home friendly so that you could function there with a disability significant enough to warrant the use of some type of assistive device, then anyone who wrote you a prescription for a power chair is guilty of malpractice, and anyone who sold you a chair you didn’t absolutely need is greedy and unethical to say the least.
If you truly need a wheelchair, you need your house to be accessible first. If it’s not, then it’s beyond me how anyone–customer, doctor, salesperson can justify getting you one.
And I don’t have any sympathy for anyone involved in a deal like that. If you want a chair because it looks like fun, it looks easy, and you think you’ll get it for free, ask yourself if it’s really worth giving up the mobility you have. Because you will lose what you have if you use adaptive equipment unless you 110% NEED it.
Not a toy! Be smart with your health. I wouldn’t do anything different. There was no chair until I could not function safely. Don’t let ANYONE talk you into getting a wheelchair for any other reason.
The only thing dumber and creepier than pedalling wheelchairs to any customers who think they know on their own what the consequenses are would be to sell oxygen tanks to just anyone who thought using those would save them the energy of having to breathe on their own. If the Scooter Store sold oxygen as if it were a convenience, would we buy that too, as long as it was free?
July 31st, 2009 at 10:25 am
Great stuff, Jane!
August 7th, 2009 at 8:49 am
I ask for a Jazzi and was told I had to take what my insurance paid for $8000 chair that does not hold charge, shuts off abuptly tossing you out and had a bad design in the control that gets turned on after it has been turned off slamming you into things. I have bee pinned against cabinets and funiture when my sleeve would catch the joy stick and pinned in such a way that I could not turn it off. I am 5′1" tall, and I have had that 300 pound chair pushing me. I call it my "cama-cazy" chair. I will not purchase another chair for the scooter store again.
August 7th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Thank you, Betty!
August 24th, 2009 at 2:08 am
I think they both can do a ton in sales no matter what product you put in front of them. R.I.P. Billy!
February 5th, 2010 at 11:40 am
I’m just sick and tired of the constant TV adverts by The Scooter Store, on seemingly all channels and at all times of the day, including Prime Time. I remember my dad once told me, “if you see someone advertising a lot on TV, it means they are really doing well and able to afford the cost, so it’s better to buy from the little guy and give them a chance”. To me, The Scooter Store is just another example of big business greed – no matter how well they do, it’s never enough, never.
April 11th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Thank you! That was really helpful, I just saved your url.