We are going to be direct about our own industry, because the people most likely to be targeted are exactly the people reading this.
Why this trade attracts it
Three things line up. Purchases are made under time pressure after a fall or a discharge. The buyer frequently has no idea what anything should cost. And the person paying is often not the person who will use it.
That is a set of conditions that dishonest operators look for.
The specific approaches
“Medicare will cover this”
The commonest false claim in this trade. Original Medicare generally treats a stairlift, a ramp or a platform lift as a home modification rather than durable medical equipment, so it is usually not covered.
Anybody promising coverage is guessing with your money, and some are doing worse than guessing. Our coverage guide explains the rule.
“The VA grant will pay for your stairlift”
Worth knowing specifically. The VA’s published exclusion list names stair glides and porch lifts among things HISA does not cover.
Plenty of companies imply otherwise. Our HISA guide sets out what the program actually covers.
Today-only pricing
A discount that expires when the salesperson leaves the house. Equipment pricing does not work that way, and the entire purpose of the tactic is to prevent a second quote.
Quoting without seeing the stairs
Either the number is padded or it will change. A price given over the phone for a staircase nobody has measured is not a price.
Large cash deposits
A deposit on a custom curved rail is normal because it is manufactured for your house. A large deposit on stock equipment, in cash, before a written quote, is not.
Be especially wary of a discount conditional on paying cash.
Unsolicited approaches
Cold calls, door-knocking, and calls claiming to be following up on an enquiry nobody made. Also calls claiming to be from Medicare, the VA or a government program, which do not work that way.
“Free” equipment
Frequently a route to obtaining Medicare or insurance details. A genuine loan closet exists and is run by an Area Agency on Aging, a charity or a hospital, and it does not cold-call.
Marketplace listings for used lifts
Not always dishonest and frequently a poor deal. The rail was cut or built for a different staircase, and on a straight lift the rail is the most expensive component. Our guide to buying used works through it.
What a legitimate company does
- Surveys the staircase before quoting.
- Provides an itemized written quote on letterhead with registered details.
- States the model, capacity, rail type and length, lead time, warranty terms and who honors them.
- States the annual service cost at the point of sale.
- Leaves you to think about it.
- Will show a certificate of insurance and, where a state licenses this work, a license.
- Tells you when a cheaper option would serve.
That last one is the strongest signal there is. Our vetting guide covers the questions that reveal it.
Protecting a parent from a distance
The situation where this goes wrong most.
Agree that no purchase over an agreed figure happens without a second conversation. Agree that nobody signs during a visit. Put your number on the fridge as the person to call before agreeing to anything.
Those three arrangements prevent most of it, and none of them treats the person as incapable.
If something has already happened
Stop further payments where possible, contact the bank or card issuer, and keep every document and message.
Report it. The FTC is the federal route, and a state attorney general’s office and local adult protective services are the others. Reporting matters even when money cannot be recovered, because it is how patterns get identified.
Verify independently
Where a state licenses this work, licenses are usually searchable online, and it takes two minutes. Check the license exists, is current, and is in the name of the company quoting rather than a subcontractor.
Ask for two customer references from the last year and call them.
The simplest protection
Two quotes and a night’s sleep. Nothing in this trade is so urgent that it cannot wait a day, and any company suggesting otherwise has told you what they are.
Our buying checklist is the list to take to every visit, and smaller equipment ships free from our online shop.
Contractor fraud after an adaptation
A related pattern worth naming. Somebody who has recently had accessibility work done is identified as an older adult with money spent on the house, and follow-up approaches begin: roofing, driveways, gutters, tree work.
The same rules apply. Nobody legitimate door-knocks with an urgent problem they happened to notice, and nobody legitimate needs a decision today.
Grant and benefit scams
Calls offering to process a VA or Medicaid application for a fee. Both processes are free, and a Veterans Service Officer costs nothing.
Anybody charging a fee to fill in a government form is worth walking away from. Our veterans checklist covers who to call, all of it free.
Talk about it openly
People who have been targeted frequently do not tell anybody, out of embarrassment, which is exactly what the approach relies on.
Raising it as a general subject, rather than as a warning aimed at somebody, makes it far more likely they will mention a call they were unsure about. The FTC publishes current patterns worth reading together.
What we would want asked of us
Every test on this page applies to our company as much as to anybody else. Ask for the license where a state requires one, the certificate of insurance, two references from the last year, an itemized quote, and the annual service cost.
Then take it away and think about it. A company confident in its work is entirely comfortable with that, and one that is not has answered the question.
The one-line version
Two quotes, nothing signed during a visit, and nobody paid in cash for stock equipment. That prevents almost all of it.
Our vetting guide has the full list, and smaller equipment ships free from our online shop.
If you are unsure about a company
Ask us and we will tell you honestly, including when a competitor is perfectly reputable. There are good companies in this trade and the reason to name the bad approaches is that they make life harder for everybody doing it properly.
Smaller equipment ships free from our online shop, and all consultations, estimates and scopes of work are free of charge with no pressure or obligation.