Stannah Stairlifts
reviews and complaints

We had this chair lift 1 year ago. At the time of install I asked the installatio crew if they could raise the chairs as I was told at the time we had the salesman come to sell us the chair that the chairs were adjustable. However the installers said there was no way to adjust the chairs. The chair was extremely uncomfortable with the chairs at the height they were at. After rereading the brochures given to us at the time of the sale it indicated the chairs could be adjusted. So we had a technician come out and adjust the chairs. Since then we have had nothing but trouble with these chairs. We have had a technician come to fix this piece of crap system fixed. At one time the technician had to retighten all of the bolts because operation of these system was sporadic at best. He indicated at the time that the system was not installed correctly. This system has left me stranded either upstairs or downstairs because this system arbitrarily stops working. My disability causes me horrible pain when I have to either climb the stairs or descend the stairs. That is why we purchased this $8, 000 system. We will need to call a technician AGAIN today because on Saturday it stranded me downstairs again. After this next service call for this worthless $8, 000 system if it cannot be fixed correctly my next call will be to have this lemon removed and a demand for my money back even if I have to take this mess to court. Oh and by the way one of the reasons we purchased this system was because it was Gephardt avpproved. My next call will be to Gephardt to let him know what a piece of crap he is endorsing. He may not be so quick to endorse a Stannah chair lift system

Bought this stair chair lift new. It has a feature that automatically lifts the end of the track up off the ground, since it otherwise interferes with our front door. The lift has never worked for more than a day, and we have had it 2 1/2 years. Service has been out many times and replaced many parts. Now they just run it up and down a few times, charge us and leave, as it is out of warranty. Stannah has ignored our complaints and does not even bother to call us back. Note that this cost us $6, 500 and had a year warranty.
ON MY OWN, I have discovered a few things that indicate bad engineering. The problem is that when the chair runs over the extension, it rubs over parts and bends the contacts. This means that the chair will no longer charge, so that it just sits and beeps constantly. When the battery runs down, it will no longer work, and damage is done to the battery, requiring replacement. The chair also will move over time, so that it is not level, making it even harder for the contacts to connect with the rail. When the service techs come, they in effect clean the contacts and move the chair back to level. That will work for a while until the chair has run over the extension a few times.
The only way I can use it for a while is to stop the chair in the middle of the stairway, so that it does not move over the bottom of the stairs, where the extension is. If I never run over the extension, it is usually reliable until the chair has become unlevel. This is because the bolts that hold the chair do not hold it firmly in place. A cripple cannot get off and on the chair when it is in the middle of the stairs, so this is not a solution. Neither the company nor the dealer is willing to help. Can anyone recommend another brand?

See the attached letter, copies of invoice and pictures documenting the complaint. Since it cannot be attached because your system does not recognize PDF attachments, you can download the attachment from https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2hEzhB2hJvBc05pREs2VUc2eEk