So obviously buying a stair lift can happen at any age, contrary to what the brochures tell you. Everyone in the brochure tends to be over the age of 60, they tend to be walking, and they’re white.
I shall also be sharing with you my top tips and, most importantly, I’m gonna take you on a tour of my brand-new lift. So as far as I’m aware, there are three main types of lifts for people who have limited mobility or use a wheelchair.
My Thoughts On Having A Stairlift
The first is the one that I went for, which is a straight up and down stair chair lift, and that is probably more at the cheaper end of the market because it just literally goes straight up and down. Then you’ve got stair lifts which kind of go around a corner whether your stairs are awkward and kinda go up and down corners, they tend to be a lot more expensive because they are bespoke.
Then there are also lifts which go from the floor through to the ceiling, which you can roll into in your wheelchair, which is a fantastic idea but does take up quite a lot of space and cost a lot of money.
In England, our houses tend to be on the smaller side, so it might not be an option for some people. There are a few funding options for stair lifts. You may be entitled to a disabled persons facilities grant, and they may be able to pay for all or part of the stair lift.
You may also be able to contact local charities, or like me, you may have to self-fund your stair lift yourself, but keep watching because I do have a little gem of a tip for you. As I said, all of the people I have seen using stair lifts in these marketing campaigns tend to be white people over the age of 60 who don’t even use mobility aids.
And I don’t know about you. Obviously, no one wants to be spending thousands of pounds or dollars on a stair lift. I’ve got a list of things that I’d much rather spend my money on, and then when you’re seeing people in brochures who don’t particularly look like you, it doesn’t make you feel that great.
But I am here to tell you that there is no shame in having a stair lift. There is no shame in using a mobility aid or mobility equipment to help you, to enrich your life, to make your life easier, and to give you less pain.
The benefits of having a stair lift are that it’s safer, it will use fewer spoons, it will cause you less pain, and if you do have a degenerative condition, it may mean that you can stay in your house a lot longer.
Experience Of Getting A Stairlift
So, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. My experience of trying to find a stair lift and shopping around for a stair lift, ugh, was not that positive. I had two main major companies come out to me. The first one, the guy came out in his Bentley, and he proceeded to sell me the most expensive stair lift that there was on the market.
He didn’t want to listen to my needs, and he tried to sell me things that I probably didn’t need, and he especially didn’t want to speak to me about reconditioned or secondhand stair lifts. He was very pushy, patronizing, and he also played this game where they phone up the office and say, oh, oh my goodness, really, oh well, I’ve never heard of that price being given out before.
I could see straight through him, and I really, really didn’t like it. I sent him on his merry way, and I was hounded with calls every day for about a week. With the second company, when I phoned them up, I had a really negative experience, which went a little bit like this:
“Mild oak stair lifts, Linda speaking, how can I help you? I’m interested in getting a new stair lift. Now is that for you or for someone else? It’s for me. If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the condition there? It’s a spinal cord injury.”
“Oh, I am sorry to hear that. Aww, it’s very difficult, isn’t it? Still, you know, we find ways around these things, don’t we? Let’s see what I can do for you. ”
To be honest with you, I should’ve hung up there and then, and not bothered getting them out here. It just felt awful from the get-go. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me, I don’t want pity or sympathy, I want someone to be positive and make the buying experience nice rather than negative. And again, he went in with the hard sell.
He proceeded to tell me that they sell a stair lift every five minutes approximately globally and that they’re the number one, they’re the best, and this is the best brand. All the whistles and bells. And he actually quoted me 1,000 pounds more than the retail price of the stair lift after I had done a little bit of research.
They then proceeded to do the old games where they phone up the office and again ooh, well I’ve never heard of that price being given, Mrs Hubbard, if I could take a deposit today, we can lock this straight in, and this stair lift will be yours next week.
Ugh, sorry, Collin, but I know what games you’re playing. And what annoys me is I’m younger and I’m a little bit savvy to these things, but someone who may be vulnerable and older, if they’re told a stair lift is X amount, they believe that that stair lift is X amount, and that guy’s rubbing his hands together with a nice bit of commission.
And I think it’s really dirty that companies can sell these types of mobility aids to vulnerable people and get away with these selling tactics. Again, they hounded me for weeks and I just didn’t feel comfortable, and I felt really, really pressured, which when you’re handing over that amount of money, you really don’t want all of that pressure.
Getting Other Options
It was only then I put the message out on Instagram and I am so, so thankful to the person who recommended Kudos to me. Kudos was like a breath of fresh air. When I phoned them up, it wasn’t a tacky call centre.
I felt like I was speaking to a real person in a real office who wasn’t reading a script and who spoke to me like a human being. Within a few days, we’d booked in someone to come out who again was really nice, really personable, and wasn’t condescending or patronizing.
He explained to me that the price is set. They don’t go up and they don’t go down. They don’t play dirty tactics. There was no hard sell, and I felt really comfortable with him, it just felt a bit calmer, it felt natural, and it felt like what I would expect from a company.
I explained to him that I don’t want all these whistles and bells, and I was particularly interested in getting a reconditioned stair lift. Reconditioned stairlifts tend to only be in people’s houses for end-of-life care, so they may have only been in there for three months to a year.
It turned out that the stair lift I ended up buying had only been in someone’s home for about three months. They’re all meticulously checked and they’re like new when they come out to you. Just by looking at my stair lift, you would never know that it was second-hand.
Not only that, it takes a considerable amount of money off the price of the stair lift. So after the rep had visited me, he said I will leave that with you, Mrs Hubbard, and when you’re ready, you can call the offices and let us know what you like, and that’s exactly what I did, in my own time, and on my terms, I phoned them up and I booked them in.
The guy who came to fit my stair lift was really, really lovely, again, really, really personable, and really, really courteous. He fit the lift in about four hours, I think it was, and he took away the old one. Half a day I had a new stair lift, and I was really, really pleased with the overall experience. So now, I’m gonna give you a tour of my brand new stair lift. Here she is in all her glory. My lovely brand new stair lift.
My Reconditioned Stairlift
As you know, it’s not completely brand new, it is reconditioned, and it comes with one year warranty as well if you buy anything reconditioned. What I love about this stair lift is this is the control key, which you push it up one way, and then you push it the other way to come back down, and I love that you can just use your wrist and it’s really easy to use, whereas my other one, you actually had to press the button down, so it’s really user friendly, and also this works as a key, so it can come out and then no one can use your stair lift if you’ve got little kids coming round.
The armrests also completely lift up and fold away to make transferring really easy as well. Another feature of this stair lift I like is that once you reach the top, it also swivels around. You do have to be careful of your feet if you are completely paralyzed, but for me, I have sensations, so I can feel if anything is getting caught, but it just makes transferring a lot easier for me when it twists around.
Another cool feature is it comes with two remotes, one at the top and one at the bottom so that you can call the stair lift down if someone has taken it for a joy ride, or you can call the stair lift up.
I’ve actually been known to send up the washing and I’ve also sent DVDs and snacks upstairs as well, so great fun was had by all. And just two more things. As you can see, you may have noticed, it’s all folded up, which is really really great so you can fold it up out of the way and have extra room if people need to use the stairs, and also I don’t know if you noticed in that last clip I showed you, but it’s also relatively quiet.
If I’m using the stair lift, you can’t really hear it in the rest of the house, which I really like, and also this one is a little bit faster than other ones that I have tried. It’s actually the fastest that it can go legally, I know, it’s pretty wild.
Tips To Choose The Perfect Stairlift
Tip number one. highly recommend you have someone with you when a salesperson comes to visit.
When I had the two larger companies out, I was on my own, and I did actually feel quite uncomfortable. If you have someone with you, they may pick up on things that you might not pick up on, and they may ask questions that you might not have thought of, which leads me nicely to tip number two.
Make a list of questions and make sure you are really clear with what you want. I knew I wanted a reconditioned stair lift. I didn’t want to buy new, and they weren’t listening to me. Stand your brand and let them know what you want. At the end of the day, it’s you who’s gonna be using the chair.
Tip number three. Make sure you shop around and also do your research. I’m so glad I did this because I almost went with the first large company, and I’m glad I didn’t in the end. After doing a little bit more research, I found out that their aftercare is not that great.
Tip number four. Ask about reconditioned stair lifts. They can save a lot of money, and, as I said, they are in fantastic condition.