Trying to sell back a stairlift, only one month old

tapyeno

Hi
Has anyone any advice please.
I purchased a new Brooks Stailift, with two curves, for my wife a month before she sadly died, for £3 500.
I have no regrets purchasing it or spending this amount of money as it enabled her to go up and down the stairs in the last days of her life.
After she died I contacted the firm from whom I bought it who informed me that they would not be buying it back as it has two curves and has no value. This I find incredulous - it is still very new and surely the chair alone would have some value.


I would appreciate any advice please.


Thank you

dori2o

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

I'm not sure how helpful I can be, but when an elderly relative died we contacted a local disability aids shop and asked them if they would like any of the aids that had been left.

They came round and looked at everything and whilst we were happy to give them things like walking sticks and a walking frame we didn't want to just give away a few of the items i.s. a power wheelchair, a rise/recline armchair, power hoist over the bed and a mobility scooter.

The guy from the shop was happy to give us a price for them and to his crediit is was a very fair offer which we accepted.

It may be worth just checking with any local disability aid shops if they would be interested in purchasing it.

Sorry I can't be of more help

tapyeno

Thanks for your helpful advice.
Pat

Bettie

We had a straight run for my Dad and after a few months he died and the company offered a miserable few pounds for it. Mum told them basically to get lost and kept it thinking one day she may need it. It had to be charged regularly and I think she let it run down and then had to have it serviced as it wouldn't work, it cost a couple of hundred to service it, the next year despite, or because of, not being used at all, something was wrong and they said it was obsolete, couldn't be repaired.She had it taken out and scrapped it.
At least Dad got to use it a few times.
With hindsight we should have hired one as we knew he was terminal and not long to live.
Probably it was the biggest rip off my family has had. I would have thought the battery and parts could have been reused.

Richie-from-the-Boro

99p and up, someone from your local area will buy it. Set a fair minimum price acceptable and see if it sells.

colin13

we got one for father before he passed away,,again month old straight up and down and company no intrest in buy back,,these companies are mercanries ,,only wanting money for the products

jaymidlands

to be fair to the company they are like all others out to make a profit if they bought back all items after a bit of use they would soon go bust..
try selling it on ebay..

forgotmyname

Its probably under £1000 to them in the first place. So buying a used one off you wont be worth much to them especially if its a design they dont sell much of.

As mentioned local advert or ebay for the minimum you want to accept and see where that goes.

Mate bought or sold one, But i dont know how much it was..

mum2one

The problem that you may well find is the curves as there designed for your staircase so for a company to buy back they would need a identical layout. Hope you get sorted thou.

Sorry about your loss xx

Bettie

mum2one wrote: »

The problem that you may well find is the curves as there designed for your staircase so for a company to buy back they would need a identical layout. Hope you get sorted thou.

I don't think it's the track that costs the money so much as the battery, charger, seat, infra red remote ( that remote control alone cost about £130) and they can make track to suit the stairs using some of those parts.
so when a company says they will charge to "take it all away" or offer a paltry 50 quid I think that's a bloody cheek when two months earlier you've forked out nearly £4000.
There are companies that sell reconditioned so maybe one of those would buy it for a fairer price for parts.

paul66beetle

Whereabouts in the UK are you?

There are two types of stairlift, a curved and a straight. The problem with re-sale value of curved are that they are custom made to specifically for the staircase they are fitted to. The straight ones have more chance of being able to be re-used. When you are buying a stairlift you are also buying the whole service (fitting, wages, fuel, insurance etc etc). If you sold it back to a company they would still have to send a couple of engineers to your address and removal would take some time. So again they would still have to pay wages fuel insurance etc etc and they are picking up a now second hand stairlift and couldn't then resell it as new.

You could try removing it yourself and selling on Ebay but with the motors and batteries it would be quite heavy and awkward. Probably need a couple of people. If it is curved it wont fit someone elses stairs, so would probably be bought by someone for spares and or recycling the parts.

It sounds like your company wont buy back but some companies offer a buy back scheme for ones they fit. This one does but reading the website page it is only on ones they fitted. http://www.prestigestairlifts.co.uk/stairlift-removal.html

I dont know what area you are in but ring around a few companies and maybe try Ebay as previously suggested?