Stairlifts

hi we have a stanna it seems ok..but can be bit tempremental at times..as it keep beeping...!! apparently its the sensore that get dust etc on...also it doesnt help when hubby doesnt!! turn the chair aound to get off like he is supposed to!!!! so it puts pressure on the footplate wheich can disturb the sensors (according to the man that comes to service it)>>>it is quite neat and folds back to the wall..

My parents had a stannah and it did them good service for many years. An engineer checked it annually and I can only remember one occasion when it got stuck - with mum on it! The engineer came out quickly to mend it and off it went again. Fortunately mum had managed to get off it, so she wasn't waiting there for hours! She was a determined cookie

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Message deleted by Gransnet.

My mum had a fall recently, and after returning home from hospital the OT and myself realised my mum needed a stairlift. I decided to do some research and found there seamed to be 3 main companies, Stannah,Acorn and Age uk stairlifts, we decided to have Age uk as we liked the thought of dealing with a charity rather than a large business, and we had heard stories of pressure sales from the other companies.
We made an appointment, thier surveyor came round, who did not pressure us and informed us that the lift would be a straight stairlift called a minivator 950. This would cost £1900 and he told us this was the same price to any Age uk customer, which we liked so we purchased. The lift was fit a week later and everything was fine.
Some weeks later a neighbour of ours had a stairlift installed, I called in to have a look and found it to be the same stairlift as ours. She had purchased it from a company called Companion for £1400 brand new.
I decided to research this company and found that Companion and Age uk are run from the same building in Leeds, they are owned by a larger company called Handicare who supply them with minivator stairlifts.
So if we had called Companion we could have had the same stairlift with the same warranty fit by the same engineers for £500 less, what a con, Age uk are supposed to be helping the elderly! how does this help my mum by taking £500 more for the same product, totally disgusting, wish I had gone to Stannah.

My sister has Parkinson's and her balance is not good. She recently spent time in hospital after a fall going down the stairs. I wonder if a stair lift would help her. My immediate thought is yes it would but she has poor coordination and I do not know if she could get on and off it safely. Is there a safety belt and if so is it easy to use? Some days she has problems with things such as TV remotes so would operating the chair be a problem?
Have any GNetters any advice please? it would be greatly appreciated.

concernedrelative; Have you contacted AgeUK and told them this? Or [something we do when we have a problem] contact that problem page in the Independant [Saturday] or The Observer [I'll check out today's]. They may chase it up and get a refund for you. Worth a try!

* jeni* is an expert on stairlifts.

Confront AgeUK with the evidence and ask for their explanation. They could should be very embarrassed.

The Independent email address is [email protected] They don't reply to you individually but follow it up [it may be printed but won't give your name. You'd be amazed what bad publicity does sometimes.

We had Acorn. The lift itself was fine and we never had trouble with it but the advice we were given about the design of the lift turned out to be quite wrong. As is usually the case, the 'advisor' who came was actually a salesman. And, like most of these firms, one of the things they are selling is finance. We paid cash and received frequent phone calls trying to persuade us to take out very expensive insurance and maintenance contracts. They would not be put off!

My parents had a Stannah and were very pleased with it.

They all have safety belts and the seats swivel so you can get on and off on solid ground, not the stairs.

We had a tricky stair and a rather large 'passenger' but Stannah rose to the challenge very well. I think they come into their own when its not a standard model thats required.

I wish it was possible to borrow one temporarily - I am wearing my bottom out getting upstairs!

I think you can hire one.

I have a MEDITEK lift supplied and installed by TLC lifts of Dartford in Kent in 2011 I had a few problems within the first month through poor installation.In December 2012 I stared getiing seriuos problems and had to call the out 5 times in 4 weeks They were never able to fix the problems there was always an excuse that spare parts were needed ie circuit boards that were hard to get as the company that made them had gone bust. I contacted the lift makers Meditek and got the same brush off of promises to sort things out and they finally completed it last week . Both these companys have NO concern for the customer only selling lifts .

I went for a company that sells all makes of lifts as we didn't know which one to get for Mum. Leodis Stairlifts were great, we had a free survey and the lifted was fitted within a day. We had to ring them one night as Mum had turned the stairlift off and the managing director answered our call straight away. Id recommend them to anyone. Theyve got a website www.leodisstairlifts.co.uk

There is a firm here that hires them locally. Not much help to you though. I bought a 2nd hand one.

I know I keep banging on about Leodis Stairlifts but they sell straight, curved, reconditioned and they do rentals too. I know nothing about stairlifts and needed someone who was impartial to come ie Acorn only sell Acorn and Stannah likewise, they took the hassle out of choosing the right lift, it was fitted quickly too and within Mums budget. Mum wishes she'd have had one a couple of years ago, mmm isn't that when I suggested it Mum?

I had a Stannah stairlift fitted for my mum a couple of years ago and we've never had any problem. Would recommend them to anyone!

My parents purchased from Unicorn Stairlifts and the stairlift they supplied was a Bison 80 Curved Stairlift which is is also known as the Acorn 80 stairlift / Brooks 80 Stairlift apperently. They are very happy with it and it was purchased reconditioned at a low price.

We had a stairlift fitted by Acorn nearly 2 years ago, and it`s been a godsend. We had 3 reps come to the house, but Acorn were the only ones who would fit one for us, the other two took one look at our, admittedly, narrow staircase, and said that no way would they be able to fit a stairlift there, Acorn said no problem, it was delivered 3 days later, and fitting took 45 minutes. Someone came after about 9 months to service it, and we`ve had no problems.

My mother has a stairlift from Brooks/Acorn. This has been in place for a few years and the 5 year maintenance contract ends in August 2014. Since January 2014 Brooks have been phoning and writing, offering a small percentage discount if my mother signs up to another 5 years. She is 91 years old. I imagine that Brooks pestering results in many people paying for a further 5 years well in advance of the contract running out, 8 or 9 months in advance if my mother had paid several hundred pounds in January. We very much hope that she is still living independently in August, but I wonder how many people paying the contract fee 8 or 9 months in advance have, before the contract is activated, moved into other care or died. No refunds are offered for such circumstances.