Stairlift charity rip off

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Although this was a dormant thread I need to vent about my experience with Handicare because I have still not moved on from the fact that my dad died within 3 weeks of the stairlift's installation. He suffered for many week prior to that because they promised us installation in 10 days..but this apparently was only to secure our contract. It was many weeks later than the date they promised it would be installed and he had to crawl up the stairs to go to the bathroom. Their excuse between an "unexpected manufacturing problem" and our stairs being unusual...this in a normal row house of 50 in a street. The salesman knew we needed the stairs urgently and were shopping around to find one who could install it quickly..so he over promised, knowing we could do nothing about it once the deposit was paid. Suddenly I could not contact him, suddenly dates given for installation were missed and excuses given that they could not contact us even though we were sitting daily watching life go by in our sitting room since my Dad was barely mobile. They did offer us 600 pounds to take back the chairlift when he died 3 weeks after installation and 5,000 pounds plus later. Horrible experience...It really doesn't pay to be old and ailing.

Had a survey done by companion Stairlifts recently for my mother who is now living with us but struggles with the stairs.the surveyor was very good and said the stairlift would be fitted in 7-10days and in the brochure it said they would liase with the client for a mutually acceptable date.I hadn't heard anything after a while so I gave them a ring to be told they had fixed a date of 19 February so much for liaising as I explained this date was unacceptable as my mother has a hospital appointment.The operative then said he would try for the mon or Tuesday and would ring me back to confirm.I was away for 2 days with my mother for more appointments and to my SUPRISE someone had rung me back and left a message that they had now fixed a date of the 19 February the same inconvenient date.I then rang them back and all they could offer me was a date in another 2 weeks meaning my mother had to struggle for a further two weeks I was not amused.So be careful if you want a stairlift and are promised it quickly get it in writing!

We were looking to fit a stairlift in my mums house , we got age uk to come round and quote , the salesman was not pushy at all and explained everything in full , also pricematched . Today we have had it fitted 3 days after seeing salesman . The fitter Rob was an absolute diamond , very caring and nothing was to much for him. He had a lovely manner with my mum , she said she felt very comfortable with him . So if your thinking of having a stairlift fitted try Age uk , (handicare) i fully recommend them .

Hello I work in the stair lift industry for over 10 years and would like to clear up some issues. All stairways are different and the stairlift needs to be custom made for the stairs. Usually a user will need a stairlift quickly after recovering from hospital or the need to avoid a fall on the stairs after a reduction in mobility.

The company I work for takes complaints very seriously and escalates them if they are not solved after a period of time.

We also pride our selves in being able to help people on a daily basis. Not all stairlift companies are cruel hard selling rogues.

I would advise when buying a stairlift ask the following questions:-

- Is the lift new? (some suppliers supply a second hand rail and new carriage or vice a versa ex rental or buyback versions) to give a lower cost. Depending on the manufacturer you can check a lifts history with them from its serial number by calling them. These stairlifts are fitted and then expensive call outs attached to them so in reality the low initial cost over time becomes more expensive if the lift breaksdown.

- Ask the company how it deals with complaints and its procedures for them

- I would not fully trust internet reviews I would seek recommendations from peers/neighbours relatives and friends who have stair lifts or know some one. The internet is full of competing customers with biased reviews.

- Renting a stairlift is entirely up to you but take into account and do your research from my first point above.

- When you don't need the stairlift ask if the companies helps with relocating the stairlift.

- If you find a sales man pushy you should direct a complaint to there department.

- Request all the costs in writing before having it installed.

I hope this helps anyone considering a stairlift purchase

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I have done a lot of research into various stairlift companies, the big names all have pushy salesmen who try to sell more expensive models and extra features. Acorn have a history of selling double glazing! Surprisingly, Handicare (supposedly "recommended" by Age UK) were the worst! Lots of waffle about safety/security etc etc which was utterly irrelevant! I purchased a stairlift from Leodis at half the price quoted by Handicare - and interestingly Leodis are also recommended by Age UK!!

I would ignore the Age UK reference - its just an excuse to hike up the price. On further investigation, Age UK are doing very nicely from these associations but I feel they should be ensuring that vulnerable people are not being ripped off by salesmen who imply that this "recommendation" by a charity implies they are whiter than white! Age UK cover themselves by suggesting one gets lots of quotes but is that really good enough???

Ooops, didn't notice that bit Nonu

Just wondering why "DAVE" has resurrected this post 6 months on ???

I think that Dave has made a very good and informative post. Yes, he does work in the sector, but the advice he had given is helpful and (unlike some other posts that we have had on a variety of subjects) although he operates in the industry he doesn't seem to be pushing his own company!

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Like everything you have, have, have to shop around. Sometimes its better to buy local than got to a National company.

Watch out for the 'service contract' as this can sometimes be the sting in the tale.

If you have any stairlift related questions try www.stairlift-forum.co.uk

We are hiring a stairlift at a very reasonable price. But I find this all very interesting and will keep it in mind if ever we need to have one installed permanently. I'm not impressed with the 'aegument' put forward but the Age UK either,

in april of this year my wife had to retire on ill health grounds at the young age of 51 , she has breathing problems so a stair lift was needed urgently, we did shop around but in the end we decided to go with acorn stairlifts, now this firm uses doctor hilary of t.v fame as a " front man " in the company's dvd presentation, presents a very sleek view of the stairlifts, but & this is a very big but, as other have said already once the sales man arrives- in our case within 24 hours it was a typical double glazing salesman routine, on opening the front door we were told straight off that as we had a narrow staircase - ours is a maisonette - that they would have to import one from the holland at the cost of £7,000 told the rep that if thats what we are facing he can go away,then he starting taking measurements of the stairs etc, then states that they can do one for £5,400,only reached this amount after he did the " calls to head office to get us a deal routine " now as my wife is registered disabled she is entitled to not have to pay v.a.t on such items, we pointed this out to the salesman,and in doing so saved £800 approx, we had to sign on a printed form that he had in his brief case a declaration to this, but he never mentioned this as a possible option- one wonders why !! but it gets worse, we asked about warranty's etc, theirs only came with a one year which we thought was low ,we asked him about extended warranty's etc but all he would say was that the installer would discuss that with us afterwards we payed a 50 percent deposit & the installation would take place within a week, the install went ok & showed my wife how to use it etc, all good so far, then the bomb shell, they have three levels of service contacts,bronze,silver & gold the gold one is for a four year "deal " of no call out / parts charges etc BUT they want £1,600 for this service and in the five months we have had the stairlift hardly a week goes by without a call from them chasing us to sign up, we have not done so yet, but we get the impression that they want to get as much money out of us as soon as possible, so please be very aware with this company's dare we say it " sharp practice"

This seems to be a common and worrying problem with the larger stairlift companies / manufactures. They see customer enquiries as a chance to use double glazing sales tactics on people in vulnerable circumstances.

My personnel experience was when I made enquiries last year for a stairlift for an L shaped staircase. I picked out 3 companies: Stannah, Acorn & Handicare. I assumed going directly to the manufactures I would get a stairlift cheaper by cutting out the middle man – how wrong was I. The prices quoted seemed extremely high especially when I got quoted £5,800 from Acorn without them even seeing my stairs. So on that note I decided to do a little more shopping around.

In the end we found a company called Unicorn Stairlifts in yorkshire: www.unicornstairlifts.co.uk – they offered the same level of service as the bigger companies but at a more realistic price, plus what I liked about them is that all stairlifts where priced online. I got the same stairlift Acon quoted £5800, for only £2500.

My advice to anyone looking for a stairlift is shop around.

Galen that description of your stairlift has me wondering! If the lift doesn't go all the way to your landing how do you use it at all? I have visions of you just sleeping on the stair lift 3steps down from your landing. Please enlighten me.

I can't access the top three steps of mine as it takes a rt angled d
Bend from a mini landing. Even a curved lift won't do it as the main soil drain is in the corner.

I think its always worth getting different quotes but I can see how the particular mobility needs of the passenger and the layout of the staircase could make a big difference to the costs.

Just looking at my staircase it could be very difficult to get an arrangement that doesn't get in the way at the top and bottom of my staircase. I hope I never need one.

Thanks, they are probably miles away from London but I will Google them.

A very small local one Avon mobility I think

Galen, I like the sound of reasonable maintenance costs. Mine is a Companion but although it is still working, it needs something major doing to it. There is somebody coming next week to look at it. Which company looks after yours?

Mine is a second hand one which cost under a thousand pounds fitted. The maintenance costs are very reasonable as well. Cheaper than my burglar and panic alarm.

We had a Stannah stairlift fitted for my mother and they were great. We thought they were fair cost wise and two years on they are still very helpful if we ever need them.