Broken wheelchair put brakes on man’s Cuba holiday
Darrel Scott had a serious stroke 12 years ago — collapsed outside on a frigid winter night — and had to relearn the basics, like how to write and hold things with his wrong hand, at age 53.
To this day, his right side is compromised, making his electric wheelchair a lifeline.
In this week of March break, when half the world is on the go, he is retelling his travel misadventure from last fall, a saga not yet over.
After research about the resort, he booked a one-week trip to Varadero, Cuba, the 10th time he had been to the island, but the first since his stroke.
It does take some forethought: the chair weighs 450 pounds and, brand new, costs about $20,000.
So he prudently made sure the airline and hotel could accommodate him.
When he arrived in Cuba on Oct. 16, he says, there was an extraordinary wait — more than three hours by his estimate — for his chair to appear in the baggage area. Curiously, it came along on the luggage carousel where a handful of men were mustered to lift it off.
He immediately saw what the delay might have been: the control arm was broken off. Already drenched in sweat from waiting in 90-degree heat, he was shocked.
“I was devastated because now I’m wondering what is my whole vacation going to be like?”
He was loaded on to the bus — with the broken chair — and taken to the resort, the 284-room Hotel Roc Barloventa, where he was outfitted with an “uncomfortable” manual wheelchair.
But it created a pressing problem, one of many: he needed someone to push him everywhere as he has no use of his right hand.
“That cart,” he says of his joystick-controlled chair, “is my freedom.”
Scott, 65, a former service adviser at Campbell Ford, says it took four days for a repair technician to arrive from Havana to re-attach the control arm.
In the meantime, he had to make arrangements every time he wanted to move around the resort. Say this about Scott, he feels strongly about his independence (he lives alone) and resented being asked — for instance — if he needed help getting in and out of bed. “It was belittling, like being treated like a baby.”
He said he was assigned “a nurse,” though he has no daily medical needs and has limited walking ability.
Furthermore, he said, resort staff refused to take him outside the compound. (Once he got his electric chair back, he said, he soon beetled about 12 kilometres along an ocean-swept peninsula, exploring along the way.)
Once he arrived home, Scott began to fight for compensation. He had paid Sunwing Vacations $1,238 for the weeklong, allinclusive holiday. Was he now not entitled to some form of redress?
Scott says he’s spent weeks and weeks trying to get answers, even going directly to Sunwing chief executive Colin Hunter. The stroke may have slightly affected his speech but his determination is strong.
“Sometimes,” he said, leaning forward and slipping off his glasses, “people don’t realize who they’re dealing with.”
He has kept careful notes of the 30 or so calls he has made to Sunwing offices in Toronto. He has sent a neatly written report, detailing his complaint. And he is tired of being ignored.
Scott doesn’t want a pile of money. He’d like Sunwing to
Sometimes, people don’t realize who they’re dealing with . ... I want to go back. I’ve always loved Cuba.
provide him with another week in Cuba, this time with his wheelchair intact.
“I want to go back. I’ve always loved Cuba.”
Sunwing replied to this newspaper that it is “alleged” his wheelchair sustained damage while being off-loaded in Cuba. A written reply said a manual safety lock was in the incorrect position and that a technician “de-activated” the lock and the chair was operational. Sunwing made no mention of a broken control arm.
Sunwing also says Scott was offered and accepted compensation in Cuba, a claim he denies.
“Customer safety and comfort on vacation is important to us and we sincerely regret any discomfort and inconvenience this incident caused our customer at the start of their vacation. However we do feel that we dealt with the matter promptly and offered every assistance,” the statement read.
Well, how can you not pull for the man? We live in an age when air travel can be trying: passengers forcibly dragged off overbooked aircraft, dogs dying in overhead bins, security screening, body scanning, Air Canada’s computer system melting down on the first day of March break, and complaints that appear to land in a black hole.
Be nice to see a little guy — especially a feisty stroke survivor — win one.