Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Help the Aged - Stairlifts

Many people have been talking about Help the Aged Stairlifts, this is the response from the owner of Dolphin Mobility.

We are very concerned about this ourselves. The Help the Aged campaign 
is in theory managed by Keep Able, who in turn sub-contract all
stairlifts to Companion Stairlifts, the Direct Sales Division of
Minivator Stairlifts. If you phone Help the Aged Stairlifts, you will
actually speak to someone at Minivator, who tend to be very cagey when
questionned about the structure of this deal and who they are..
With their massive internet advertising spend on this campaign, and
their 'We will beat any price guarantee', Minivator are in fact directly
competing with and undermining their own dealers. Word has it that the
prices they offer start off quite high, and only fall to dealer price
levels if the customer confronts them with a competitive quotation.
Bringing into question how much Help the Aged actually care about the
people they supposedly want to help.

It would be interesting to see how the Charity Commission would view
their trading status, or if they are not trading, whether Keep
Able/Companion/Minivator are actually passing themselves off as Help the
Aged. Whatever way, the customer needs to know they are not buying form
Help the Aged, and may be advised to get second or third quotes from
local companies.

Regards

Craig Dunnage