Acorn Stairlifts

shadesman

My father purchased a stairlift from Acorn in August 2008 at a cost of over £2500. I can't deny that it's a marvellous piece of gear that helped him a lot.

BUT he passed away early July 2009 having had less than a year's use from it and I now find that Acorn also convinced him he needed an insurance/maintenance plan to cover for breakdowns etc. In January this year (when the stairlift was about 5 months old) they sold him a 'cover plan' that gave him an annual service visit (basically lubrication it seems) and breakdown cover until 2013. The cost? A mere £570 - or £142.50 a year for a drop of oil! (assuming the stairlift was as reliable as they claim and it didn't develop a fault).

This is, I feel, another case of manipulating the elderly. And to make matters worse I now find that there is no opportunity for a refund into his estate now that Dad has passed on. And the cover can only be transferred between husband and wife so if/when I sell Dad's lift I can't even pass on the cover to it's new owner.

I'm not sure if this is legal, but even if it is, please make sure your older relatives don't get suckered like my Dad did - he wasn't a wealthy man and lived on a state pension yet effectively paid £570 for nothing.

Sailor_Sam

My Mum bought a stairlift from Acorn and paid for the annual service.
They had said theywould buy it back but when she died and we enquired into it, all they do is advise you how to sell it, offering us cards to put into shop windows.
If we got a buyer, they would remove it and refit it, charging us both hundreds, We would have got peanuts so decided to leave it in the house.

Mojisola

We had three salesmen come when my parents were thinking about getting a stairlift. The first was from Acorn and he gave them the real hard-sell treatment. He had no plans to leave until they had signed up to a sale despite not being able to offer several things that the OT said was essential for their needs. If we had not held firm against him (which lead to a temper tantrum and him slamming the door on the way out!) my parents would have had a stairlift that didn't fit their needs and that cost £1000 more than the one they eventually bought. It looks as if they would have had more pressure put on them to buy extra insurance as well. Stay well away from this company!