Has anyone got experience of selling an Acorn stairlift?

[John_R]

I'm helping relatives after a bereavement, and there is an Acorn stairlift in the house that must be removed.

I called Acorn, and they sent a brochure about how they can assist with the selling process. There are prices quoted for the removal and relocation into a buyer's home, along with information about how they make sure the right parts are supplied to the new owner - making it fit, the correct bends etc.

They say the current owner must do all the advertising and make the sale, and to ensure the paid price covers the Acorn charges. They also offered a price they would charge the existing owner to simply remove it and presumably recycle/reuse it themselves.

All well and good, but has anyone here actually got any experience of how such a deal actually went for them?

Thanks

John

[Minky]

No I haven't.   BUT mother in law had one for many, many years and apart from a drive train failure at about six months use, it was good.  Over the years we did many repair mods that didn't really make selling it on as an option.  When the unit failed I contacted acorn that we needed a maintenance fitter out pronto and I all I can say is the woman that I dealt with was the most rude aggressive person that I have ever dealt with.  Pig ignorant didn't begin to cover it. She said that they wouldn't  be able to get anyone out for several weeks.  I informed her in no uncertain terms that the mother in law had to have it to get up to the toilet and bed and that the unit was only 6 months old. A fitter was out the next day and unit repaired.

[Rem260]

Yes. My mother in law had one fitted for around £2300. She had it for about 6 months but spent most of the time in bed and  hospital. It was virtually brand new. Phoned up the suppling company who said they would come and get and give us £150. Brother in law on principle sold it to someone on Facebook rather than sell it to the suppliers. However on speaking with brother in law the buyer had the same north east accent as the original guy who fitted it. Look on ebay and you can get them really cheap with little use. It's a buyers market I'm afraid.

[amateur]

My late father-in-law had an Acorn stairlift.
When he died, 15 years ago, paying them to remove it was the only option that they offered.
We found a small firm, on-line, who took it away and paid us £100.

[Imperfection]

Being serious here, but why not contact 'Colin Furze' on YouTube and see if he's interested in having it. He's an eccentric inventor who's created wild things like a huge underground bunker in his back garden, 70mph mobility scooter amongst other things. He lives in Spalding Lincs.

I bet he could power a stairlift with rockets with a bit of encouragement. 

 

[John_R]

3 hours ago, Imperfection said:

Being serious here, but why not contact 'Colin Furze' on YouTube and see if he's interested in having it. He's an eccentric inventor who's created wild things like a huge underground bunker in his back garden, 70mph mobility scooter amongst other things. He lives in Spalding Lincs.

I bet he could power a stairlift with rockets with a bit of encouragement. 

 

I've already had ideas for if I was to keep it for parts, but I am quite short on storage space otherwise I would not have asked the question. 😆

[Keith 66]

Like most mobility equipment the manufacturers or dealers are not interested in your secondhand stair lift or mobility scooter. They are not interested because they wont make any money out of it. Time they have taken it out, refurbed it altered it to fit the new house it isnt worth the hassle.

They make money out of selling new ones.

Likewise with scooters, We just gave Mother in laws one away.  It cost £3500 4 years ago. We just gave it away for nowt. Fb market place is full of the poxy things. Literally worth their weight in iron & ally!

[Tancho]

We had a proper go to with Acorn, when the salesman came round he phoned (or pretended to) his office to see if they had a second hand lift available as my parents stairs were dead straight and as standard as you could get, none in stock. Not to worry, when we didnt need it anymore, Acorn would buy it back at a really good price. 6 months later when both my parents had died, we phoned Acorn to be told they dont buy back stairlifts and never had done. As you can imagine I was not best pleased, and they were not moving. A concerted social media campaign soon changed their minds and they changed our sale agreement into a rental agreement, they came and collected the lift and gave us half our money back. They pray on people at their most vulnerable but I was not going to let them get away with it.

[discobob]

57 minutes ago, Tancho said:

We had a proper go to with Acorn, when the salesman came round he phoned (or pretended to) his office to see if they had a second hand lift available as my parents stairs were dead straight and as standard as you could get, none in stock. Not to worry, when we didnt need it anymore, Acorn would buy it back at a really good price. 6 months later when both my parents had died, we phoned Acorn to be told they dont buy back stairlifts and never had done. As you can imagine I was not best pleased, and they were not moving. A concerted social media campaign soon changed their minds and they changed our sale agreement into a rental agreement, they came and collected the lift and gave us half our money back. They pray on people at their most vulnerable but I was not going to let them get away with it.

Good one - well fought - and sorry for your loss