2 May 2011

Algarve Mobility’s tips on buying Stair lifts

As a fully ACCREDITED official Meditek and Platinum Stair lift distributor and installer, we at Algarve Mobility felt obliged to share some very valuable tips and advice with our existing and potential valued customers who have helped our business grow from strength to strength.

Buying a stair lift is something most people don’t do very often, so it can be hard to know whether you’re making the right choice. So, before considering buying a stair lift or even selling your house because of a fall or because you cannot climb stairs to go to your bedroom anymore, please ensure you have given the following full consideration:

1) Don’t buy a Stair lift with less than 2 years warranty.

Algarve Mobility only supply stair lifts which are very reliable and come from a manufacturer brand with a very reliable track record, hence we can confidently offer you a 2 year warranty and 2 FREE full services with each stair lift purchase.

After installation, ensure that the company you have purchased from provide you with all the FULL CERTIFICATION documentation in order to VALIDATE your 2 year warranty.

If a company cannot offer you this level of warranty, then stay away from their lifts.

2) Don’t buy one that isn’t tailor made to suit your home.

Do not be tempted to save money by buying second hand stair lifts to save money, as you may end up having to spend twice.

All Staircases come in different shapes and sizes, so it’s very difficult to find a stair lift that will fit your home perfectly unless it’s made to measure. So always buy a tailor made stair lift.

3) Make sure it comes with a 24 hour call out service.

If a company does not offer you this service, then do not trust the reliability of their lifts as all stair lift companies with reliable products, will always offer this service as they will most certainly know that their product is reliable enough for them not to worry about losing money on free of charge breakdown call outs.

4) Try the Stair lift before you buy.

In order to satisfy yourself with the Comfort, Reliability and ease of operation, you must not buy a stair lift out of a brochure, without physically sitting on that stair lift first in a showroom and using it personally.

And also, it is very important to be measured in order for the Stair lift to be made to suit your physical dimensions too!

5) Only buy a stair lift from an ACCREDITED Distributor.

For peace of mind, ask the stair lift dealer for Accreditation certificates proofing that they are an Authorized Accredited Distributor, as this WILL determine whether the warranty they give you is really a Valid one or not, because some warranties DO NOT cover the product if its outside the country of manufacture, unless the installation is done by their Authorized Accredited Distributor.

Why choose an Algarve Mobility Stair lift?

Algarve Mobility is an Authorised Accredited Distributor for Meditek and Platinum stair lifts and can provide a fully valid and supported 2 year product warranty.

At Algarve Mobility, we appreciate that staircases, like people, come in many designs, shapes and sizes. Therefore whatever your requirements, be they straight stairs, curved stairs, narrow stairs, outdoor stairs, heavy duty or power assisted needs, rest assured that Algarve Mobility has a stair lift solution just right for you.

Algarve Mobility supplies stair lifts that are manufactured to a very high standard, using only quality materials and craftsmanship to ensure years of trouble free use.

Our stair lifts even come with the option of choosing the colour of the stair lift!

And as with all our other products, we only supply stylish products that we are proud to show off and personally would use ourselves and not products that will make your lovely home look like an institute or hospital.

13 MARCH 2011

Having started off the business providing only mobility scooters and other mobility aids rentals, we realised that we were not providing our customers with a complete service, but rather fulfilling one half of it and then leaving them to chance on the half.

So we went back to the core of who we are as a business run and owned by a disabled person, we decided to focus not only on rentals, but on SALES.

We spent months carefully hand picking products which “WORK”, to assist people with disabilities or limited mobility.

STAIRLIFTS

We now supply and install high quality AFFORDABLE Stair lifts for INTERNAL & EXTERNAL use, which have a very good reliability record in the UK and also within the NHS too.The brand named stairlifts we supply are Meditek stairlifts and Platinum stairlifts, which are names known for reliability and excellent after sales customer service with support available 24 hours per day, unlike other brands such as BISON which are cheap and unreliable.

Our suppliers also supply these same type of lifts to countries such as South Africa,Italy,Turkey,America and Australia.Living proof that these lifts are suitable for HOT climates as all the components especially the rails are expertly treated to withstand intense changes in temperature and rusting.

Our Meditek stair lifts even have an onboard computer to tell you the status of how well your lift is working, fault diagnosis and when the next service is due.

SO BEFORE YOU HAVE ANOTHER FALL, SPEAK TO US ABOUT OUR STAIR LIFTS, STATISTICS SHOW THAT THEY WILL INCREASE YOUR LIFESPAN BY AT LEAST 5 – 10 YEARS MORE THAN IF YOU DID NOT HAVE ONE.

CAR HOISTS

As you get older, it may become more difficult to lift mobility scooters/wheelchairs into and out of car boots.The solution to this, is NOT ramps, NOT changing your car model, but rather to come and talk to us about our very innovative and simple to fit CAR MINI HOISTS which typically only take around 3 hours to install and much less time to uninstall if the need arises.

Orthopedic Furniture

We have now available, all kinds of furniture such as Recliner Chairs (OT approved) to improve your back comfort.Rising and Falling kitchen sink/worktop surfaces.Hospital care beds (OT approved).

All these products have been picked to fully equip you to retain your independence safely, within your own home.

MOBILITY SCOOTERS

As before,our scooters are scooters which we have tried and personally used as disabled people here in the Algarve, they are very rigid which they need to be to handle the notoriously bumpy  Calsada stone pavements across the Algarve, they are stylish, as we do not pick our products based on which supplier will give us the best price, but rather based on weather we as disabled people would use a scooter like that without compromising our personal pride.

Our Mobility scooters are 100% reliable, with front and back suspension on the bigger models, which is crucial for those with bad backs.As we are official authorised Electric Mobility and TGA dealers (UK household names) parts and accessories are always readily available and after sales warranties are guaranteed.

EXCELLENT RAMP SYSTEMS – We now supply ramp systems which are flexible, soft to push on and can be supplied colour coded to suit your floor colours,they are especially brilliant for internal use, where you would other wise not normally have a ramp due to width and length restrictions and also because concrete does not particularly look nice within a house.We can also use these ramp systems to eleiminate the huge expense of having a wet room built.

Other NEW MOBILITY PRODUCTS – We have other essential mobility aids available too which have been hand picked by us as experts within the mobility aids market, remember we are experts through living with a disability and not just through re-selling products.


Loyalty Card Discount

From 2011, we shall be offering our loyal customers the opportunity to have a loyalty card which entitles them to:

- For each week of rental, they receive the second week at 25% of the normal rental price

- No delivery or pickup charges

- Each scooter rental is also accompanied by another mobility aid free of charge, i.e. a shower chair, walker or a raised toilet seat etc..

- An automatic 15% discount is given when you are a loyalty card holder.


How accessible is the Algarve for a wheel chair user?

The Algarve is the southernmost region of Portugal and has been a favourite holiday destination for many northern Europeans, particularly the British, since the 1960s. In fact, during the summer holiday period the population of the Algarve more than doubles due to the influx of tourists! The capital of the Algarve region is the city of Faro, which is also where the regions main airport is located. The landscape of the Algarve is quite hilly, with many rich valleys. However, most of the tourism is focussed around the 155km of south-facing coastline. This coastline is well known for it`s spectacular limestone caves and grottoes, but is most famous for its many beautiful beaches in resorts such as, Albufeira, Vilamoura, Praia da Rocha, Lagos and Armação de Pêra. The Algarve is not only the most southerly western point of Europe but also one of the sunniest, with its Mediterranean climate making it an excellent destination for good weather.

A lot of work has been put into making the Algarve wheelchair accessible in recent years. Faro Airport is set up well for wheelchair passengers and they are always boarded before all other passengers. Within the terminal the toilets are wheelchair accessible and there are lifts to move between floors. For travelling on from the airport (and travelling around in general) the best bet is to hire a specially adapted car, which are available from several car hire companies if you book in advance, as much of the public transport is not set up for wheelchair access.

Generally, when sightseeing, you should find that most buildings are set up to be accessible for wheelchair users, with most having lifts and/or ramps. One of the major attractions of the Algarve are its many beautiful beaches. Although not all will be accessible in a wheelchair there are some that have been made accessible through the installation of boardwalk-style ramps that lead down to the beach. In addition, there are modern cinemas and shopping centres in the Algarve resorts that are fully geared up for disabled visitors. Of the activities that may particular appeal to people in wheelchairs, one is para-karting at the Almancil go-karting track, in which you can race in karts that have specially adapted for the disabled. Another place that is fully accessible for anybody in a wheelchair is the Zoomarine Park, not far inland from Albufeira. This is a marine zoo and aquarium, which is fully accessible for wheelchairs users. The highlight of the park is the dolphin show.

There are several options for accommodation in the Algarve. Although there are several large hotels that have disabled facilities and rooms especially for people in wheelchairs (for example the Aparthotel Vila Petra in Albufeira, the Vila Gale Nautica in Armação de Pêra, the Vila Galé Lagos Hotel and the Marina Club Suite Hotel, both in Lagos), the most comfortable option is probably to stay in a self-catering villa that is suitable for wheelchair user, of which there are many (such as, As Casinhas in Boliqueime and Casa Julia in Almancil) or visit "http://www.ilovealgarve.net">Algarve holiday as this is popular with the British, there are many cheap flights available to Faro from most UK airports.