Acorn Stairlifts, Inc Stairlift safety sensors fail to detect small object on stairs and starlift is broken and stuck on the stairs Orlando, Florida

I bought my stairlift directly from Acorn Stairlifts and it was installed by them about 8/16/12. One of the selling points mentioned by the sales man and in the dvd and in the owners guide is that the stairlift has 5 sensors and will detect objects on the stairs and stop.

This is not always true.  There was a very small light puzzle box on the stairs and the stairlift did not stop and ran over it and the housing for the electronics came off, detaching the wires and breaking a small tab on the plastic housing.

If my husband had been on the stairlift at the time he would have been stuck on a broken stairlift in the middle of the stairs.  Luckily he was not on the stairlift at the time.  However, it was the holiday weekend and I had to wait until Monday morning to call.  So he was not able to leave the house during that time.

After a call to Acorn Starlifts I was told it was my fault and I would have to pay for the repair.  I cited the salesperson, the dvd and the owners manual and also talked to the manager about the fact that the stairlift is supposed to stop.  They did admit that it does not always stop as it says in their literature and sales pitch.

They were adamant and I needed the stairlift fixed.  They were nice enough to send someone out the same day, but I had to pay $279.96 for the repair and part.  The repair person also mentioned that this is not uncommon for the starilift to need this kind of repair. The manager told me that he would have the repair person evaluate the problem and let him decided if I needed to pay.  The repair person laughed at that and said he was directed to just collect the money.

There is no mention of this possible problem in the sales pitch, dvd or owners guide.  I believe this is a safety issue - disabled people can be stranded on the stairs with a broken stairlift.  I also was really unhappy to have to have it repaired after only using it a few time.  The housing is extremely cheap plastic and this is a design flaw.