Hello all My Grandmother purchased and had a stairlift installed from a well known stairlift company. Said stairlift company offered a 12 month warranty, plus one free service at a 6 month interval, however..they did not service it at the 6 month point, they serviced it far earlier on into the 12 month period. My Gran being 92 didn't even think about complaining, but did mention it and they fobbed her off saying 'oh we just do it whenever' (or words to that effect.) Anyway roll on to a few weeks ago..she was using the stairlift and it stopped (sods law it was about a week or so after they rang up offering the extended service/warranty) thankfully it started working again, and the man came out promptly and fixed the issue but said she'd get a big bill. She has received the bill for £190, and I don't really feel it's acceptable that a company can charge someone when it fails just outside the warranty period..if the same happened to a car, then the garage would still pretty much put the car right. Now I don't know whether because it was reconditioned, that affects any rights I may have, but you guys seem to know your stuff from a previous issue I had with my car, so I thought i'd grab your thoughts if that's ok?

About 4 years ago I asked for a quote to install a stairlift. The cost would be £5400 as the stairs curve and we'd need an automatic rail extension at the bottom. This was totally beyond us as I had naively thought that the cost would be about £1800. I apologized to the rep as I wasn't trying to haggle but there was just no way we could afford it. In the days after he'd been, the company phoned frequently, reducing the price all the time and when they offered £3100 I said yes as it was a necessity. I thought that we'd just have to manage the costs and I felt that the company had tried to be helpful. After the installation I kept getting calls to see if I was happy, did I really need the lift and would I like to buy the maintenance contract for £1400. This was happening at least 3 times per week and when we'd had to call the engineers out at least 6 or 7 times in the normal warranty period and the end of that was getting close I got in touch with the company and told them I'd take it to the Daily Express Crusader. They responded by giving me another years cover and they stopped the calls. Last week on coming down on the stairlift it lent severly to one side to lean to the same downward angle as the stairs. It stopped midway, the extension bar was down blocking the front door and it was difficult to get off of. I telephoned the helpline and was told that they would arrange for an engineer that day. I got a call from them a few minutes later to say that they didn't realise that I didn't have the service contract so they'd put me through to that department to discuss the "options". The man on the phone said that for £145 + parts someone could come out within 14 days, for £285 + parts they could come in 7 days and the lift would get a service as well or the option he recommended was for me to pay £1495 and this call out would be covered, the lift would get an annual service and so would any more callouts including parts and labour for 4 years. Is this how all stairlift companies operate?