Stairlifts

* jeni* is an expert on stairlifts.

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!

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.

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.

Message deleted by Gransnet.

Message deleted by Gransnet.

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

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..