Beware Of Cut And Shut Curved Stairlift Rails

Buying a stairlift is a major investment and the secondhand or
reconditioned stairlift market is a perfectly legitimate one
Indeed, major manufacturers such as Stannah do offer secondhand
stairlifts but would-be purchasers should be cautious about some
unscrupulous dealers
There can be problems when buying secondhand stairlifts
Straight rails can be safely re-used to install a second-hand
straight stairlift but curved secondhand stairlifts always need
new rails This is because even if the carriage is secondhand,
the rails have to be tailor-made to fit individual staircases
because they must not obstruct doorways and must fit tightly to
the stairs Experts in the industry say it is just not possible
to use secondhand curved rails safely
Some people have purchased Stannah curved rails that have been
re-manufactured from a number of old rails which have been cut
up and welded together in an attempt to fit to a particular
staircase They are known in the industry as ‘cut and shuts’ -
named after a similar practice in the secondhand car market
Many customers have been misled into thinking they were buying
genuine Stannah rails as advertisers have made no attempt to
clarify the fact that the rails they are selling have been
re-manufactured from a selection of old Stannah rails
Due to the limitations of this re-manufacturing process, the
quality and fit of the rails to the staircase is generally
extremely poor and – most importantly – the stairlift could well
be unsafe
To be sure that you a receiving a brand new rail then you will
need to go directly to Stannah or one of their approved dealers
Approved Stannah dealers all sign up to an agreement not to use
cut and shut rails, giving the customer peace of mind that they
are getting a brand new, and most importantly, a 100% safe rail
It is also worth considering that companies that use cut and
shut rails are not authorised dealers and therefore cannot buy
spare parts from Stannah This could seriously effect their
ability to maintain and service your stair lift This also means
that their stair lift engineers have no training from Stannah
If you have received a quotation from a company for a curved
rail stair lift and they cannot prove that they are authorised
dealers, then you should contact the manufacturer to see if they
are on the approved list If you think you have bought a stair
lift that uses a cut and shut rail then you should contact the
original manufacturer who can advise you what to do next

Tags | car, doorways, manufacturing, market, peace, staircases, stairlifts, stairs, tailor