I went to Six Flags as part of a company group (OptumInsight). I was told there would be a motorized scooter reserved for me since I must be on crutches until my knee heals. When I got to the park, I was told there were no reservations accepted for scooters and I would have to pay $80.00 with $40.00 to be returned upon my returning the scooter where I got it. Fine. I paid.
I planned on staying at the park until closing, but around 2:30 pm I noticed that the power indicator needle was going into the red. Nothing was said about this sort of thing when I picked up the scooter. If I had not brought the scooter back, I could have been stranded somewhere in the middle of this huge park - I was alone at the time. There were no more scooters available.
I asked if I could get a refund because it was clear to me that my day at this park was over! They told me "No Refund" and said I could go to the "Customer Satisfaction" window.
I went and again I was told that I could not get a refund as there were no rain-checks or refunds. I said, "How is it MY fault that YOU do not maintain your power scooters???" They acted as if I were buying a car and kept going to confer with a regional manager on some telephone I could not see then coming back to say things like "If you pay an additional $25.00 you can get a season pass and come back another day!"
I said, "Are you kidding? Why would I want to pay MORE money? I am here with my company! Also, I am on crutches and live in Rhode Island! I drove two hours to get here and now you're telling me that YOU can't give me a refund, but I have to spend MORE MONEY and COME BACK?"
The customer "satisfaction" person went away again and came back after another long period of time. "We can offer to give you a manual wheelchair for the rest of the day." I said, "Some of the hills are HUGE! I have no one to push me! I am not used to a manual wheelchair - I didn't come here for a workout!"
He went away and after another long period of time came back, "We can offer to let you sit for an hour while the scooter recharges." I finally said, "I will tell everyone not to come here." But what I should have said, but was too exhausted to at that point was "This scooter has proven to be defective. You haven't replaced the battery as you should have and now it does not hold a charge. I have no guarantee that I will have anywhere close to a full day here as I planned much less a guarantee that I won't get stranded somewhere in the park, requiring an enormous effort on my, the disabled person, part."
I am protesting because of what happened to me, but I am also protesting what must be a common occurrence at this venue because disabled people cannot fight this greedy money-first system.
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