What are your good and bad buying experiences?

JenniferU

In the run up to the Extra Costs Commission launch, we want to talk about buying experiences for disabled people and families with disabled children.

So - have you had some excellent service from a restaurant, who understood your child's needs and ensured you could have a great dining experience? Is there a local business in your area who gives disabled customers amazing service?

Have you tried to buy something online, but found a website so inaccessible that you had to give up? Have you been told you had to pay extra for an accessible hotel room, which meant you couldn't afford it?

Tell us about them, and share your knowledge! As disabled consumers, you are stronger with a combined voice.

Hotwheelz

Buying and maintaining a wheelchair is a nightmare. I've been through three or four now, and there's no reliable review website or place one can go to to try a range out. The NHS gave me one that was measured to my size, but it was so heavy (despite me being short and slim) that it hurt my husband's back putting it in the car. I asked for repair help for it many times but they never fixed the problems it developed. I went to buy a new one from the red cross, but when the arm rest snapped off and I went to get a new one the repairs man was very strange with me. He wouldn't talk to me or even look at me, and I had to communicate with him through my mother in the end. Was it because I'm a young normal looking woman? Or because I'm disabled? I don't know, but he'll have a hard time working in the service industry for the Red Cross either way!