Stannah call out charges

Karl99

My partner has MS and the local authority installed a stair lift for her, all good so far. the lift has been reasonably trouble free but a few weeks ago it stopped turning at the bottom and top of the stairs. That same day an electrician had earlier called in to check the electrics in the house on behalf of the local council. Two days later  my partner called stannah to say the lift wasn't turning and they said they would send an engineer but if it was a result of abuse or was our fault a charge would apply. The engineer arrived and after 10 minutes said the power is off, so I checked the RSD and yes it was in the tripped position. The engineer left. A few weeks later we have received a invoice for "LABOUR" at £256. I have questioned why we were not advised of the cost of this callout and were told that they have listened to the logged call and my partner was told that if the fault was our fault (abuse etc) then the charge would apply. I asked why she was not advised that the charge would be £256 and they replied that they do not know how long the engineer would need to be on site so could not quote. My point is surely they know a minimum charge and hourly rate there after so should we have been advised of this before my partner agreed to the engineer calling. The chair is within warranty which is why my partner called them. We have spoken to the Council who said that the electrician turned no circuits off. I have spoken again to Stannah and explained that and also added that the stair lift has in fact tripped the RSD twice before. They are checking their service records to see if this is true. I just think this is an awful way to run a company and see little professionalism in how Stannah have treated this so far.

Sicard

Yeah, Stannah are a bit on the money grabbing side for disabled people from my own experience. £256 is very steep for an engineer to come out.

MattMattMattUK

Karl99 said:

My partner has MS and the local authority installed a stair lift for her, all good so far. the lift has been reasonably trouble free but a few weeks ago it stopped turning at the bottom and top of the stairs. That same day an electrician had earlier called in to check the electrics in the house on behalf of the local council. Two days later  my partner called stannah to say the lift wasn't turning and they said they would send an engineer but if it was a result of abuse or was our fault a charge would apply. The engineer arrived and after 10 minutes said the power is off, so I checked the RSD and yes it was in the tripped position. The engineer left. A few weeks later we have received a invoice for "LABOUR" at £256. I have questioned why we were not advised of the cost of this callout and were told that they have listened to the logged call and my partner was told that if the fault was our fault (abuse etc) then the charge would apply. I asked why she was not advised that the charge would be £256 and they replied that they do not know how long the engineer would need to be on site so could not quote. My point is surely they know a minimum charge and hourly rate there after so should we have been advised of this before my partner agreed to the engineer calling. The chair is within warranty which is why my partner called them. We have spoken to the Council who said that the electrician turned no circuits off. I have spoken again to Stannah and explained that and also added that the stair lift has in fact tripped the RSD twice before. They are checking their service records to see if this is true. I just think this is an awful way to run a company and see little professionalism in how Stannah have treated this so far.

It is a difficult one, but they did state that there would be a callout charge if it was your fault and I would say not checking the power supply was properly on was perhaps your fault. It does seem a little on the expensive side for a callout, but it was also an entirely avoidable cost. 

cx6

I am a bit confused - if the RCD had tripped, then surely the lift would have stopped working altogether and not just the 'turning at the top and bottom of the stairs' part?

Unless the lift has two RCDs?

Rodders53

cx6 said:

I am a bit confused - if the RCD had tripped, then surely the lift would have stopped working altogether and not just the 'turning at the top and bottom of the stairs' part?

Stairlifts run off Lead acid batteries in the seat base/motor bits...  24V as there are two batteries.
They recharge from 'docking points' at top and bottom.
Depleted (after being used with mains off) they might not have enough power to turn the corners?

Mind, our stairlift (not Stannah) complains very vocally if the mains/charging is off.

Was this callout on a Sunday? 
Ours charges £163 week daytime hours and £257 on a Sunday if out of warranty.