Acorn Stairlifts

I have a close friend named Elgin who is seventy two years old & has an awful back problem because of riding motorbikes when he was young. He can no longer travel up and down his stairs without the fear of falling. Apparently, this is a common occurrence with many older people. Something that the rest of us take for granted happens to be a major effort or a nearly impossible feat for many senior citizens.

My friend saw a a commercial on TV for a company that manufactures and sells a device that transports a person up their stairs by riding on a chair that is connected to a motorized lift. The company is called Acorn from England. They have office spaces here in the States, but everything is made across the pond, so to speak. He called the toll-free number in the TV ad, and a surveyor came out to his house to measure his stairs and gave him an estimate. I was there when all of this happened, so this is not a third party account of what transpired.

The price for the lift was $3500, which was more than Elgin was prepared to pay. The surveyor, who sounded more like a salesman, tried many ways to coerce my friend to purchase his unit that day. However, Elgin was not prepared to buy that day. The Acorn representative finally left the house, after which, Elgin & I had a chat about the entire sales hype experience. Elgin concluded that he preferred to hold off & simply consider having to pay that amount of cash. Four days later, the telephone rang at Elgin's home & it was Acorn once again. They professed to have a canceled lift order at a storage warehouse in New Jersey & that they would allow him to purchase it for only three thousand dollars if he was able to place a down payment on it that day.

Elgin was certainly not able to provide a deposit, so he passed on the deal. Then, ten days after that call, a sales rep from Acorn telephoned Elgin & confided to him that they were holding a special confidential sale, & that he can purchase a brand new Acorn for only $2500, the so-called best price on an Acorn lift. Elgin asked the individual on the telephone just how the cost could go from thirty five hundred dollars all the way down to twenty five hundred dollars in only two weeks. The individual on the telephone did not offer a credible explanation, so Elgin simply hung up on the person who had called him.

My friend subsequently purchased a Bruno stairlift, because he can always get local service and get it at a better price than the Acorn, even after all of the suspect discounts that they offered. Had Elgin given in to the high pressure of the Acorn surveyor, and purchased it when he was there, Elgin would have been ripped off for $1000.

We had an Acorn Stairlifts representative come out to our home, as we were thinking about getting a stairlift for my mother who lives with us. She is 80 years old and suffers from breathing problems and can no longer walk up and down the stairs. Mom weighs slightly over 305 pounds. We decided to buy the stairlift,, but we were told that because my mom weighed more than 294 pounds, we would have to pay extra for a heavy duty model. The extra cost was $250.00. We agreed, and the representative wrote up the order.

When the installer was putting in the lift, I asked him what was the difference between a regular and heavy duty model. He laughed and said, "This sticker that I'm going to put on the unit." At my amazement, I asked the installer if he was serious. He replied, "Yes, it's a little known gimmick that Acorn uses to pad the cost of the stairlift."

This is outright fraud and done to a senior citizen. How can this company get away with this practice? They charge extra for a heavy duty model, and then install a regular unit with a sticker on it. They are selling a product that doesn't exist and charging extra for it as well. I can only hope that the Attorney-General here in New Jersey ends this type of fraud and deception.

My mother had a stroke, was in Rehab and is staying in the living room without being able to take a shower upstairs. A person gave me the name of a stair lift company called Acorn. I contacted them in the Internet.

I contacted the company again about installments, a man called Tret called and said he would give installments, first $800, then $1000 next month, then $1700 and what would I suggest. I asked how to pay, he asked for my checking account number and Bank ABA and a check number. I said I do not have a check number and he said to call later. Busy at work, I did not call.

Next day a very aggressive woman called to say they would come to install the stair lift. I still did not call to give the check number and looking at my finances of how to pay, I realized that they had taken $800 without me giving the check number. I called Tret and he became very aggressive that he would not give installments and would wait for me to save the money and pay the whole amount.

I went to borrow some money and called again a man Rob said that Tret was not there. I said that I would pay but I have to say that they should not have taken the money without my consent or without giving them a check number. He said, "but you gave him your account number and ABA". I said, "but I did not give a check number," and this was not right and they should not take any more money without asking me first. Then he said I would pay with a personal check to the installer.

A man came to install and told me something like after the warranty. I would have to pay for more services, even if I just paid a lot of money. He really recommends that I pay for more warranty. Then I realized that the chair was not turning automatically then lock. In addition the stairs are only 29" and the rail takes almost half the space and there is a little shitzu dog going up and down which makes it dangerous. People also go upstairs with care.

I wished to say that this company, if selling to elderly and handicapped, is not treating the customers properly. I realized that they did not show me any catalogs of other models. There was no showroom for demonstration, for instance, what if my mother cannot anymore get up the two first stairs before the platform? They did not show curved ones.

Worse yet, is that in this situation, there isn't any warm relation with the customer for questions and follow up and this is very bad when dealing with elderly and handicapped problems.

There is another family business which treats customers with compassion for their elderly and handicapped that offered a catalog with several models and all kind of other things for handicapped and elderly. They offer a contract, rent, used, buy back etc. One can go to the store and try. They have a curved model which will save space on the stairs because installed on the ramp and thus safer for a small dog and for those going up and down.