OT: Adjustamatic Riser Recliner Chairs

[John]

My in-law's are both in their mid-seventies and both suffer from poor circulation problems. I don't know if it was a doorstep salesman or if they saw it in a magazine but two days ago they were given a demonstration of an Adjustomatic Bed in their own home - apparently the guy took a bed and plonked it in their living room and they each had half an hour lying down on this bed which vibrates and massages.

Mother-in-law said that it helped with the pain she gets so on the strength of that she's signed up to buy a Riser Recliner Chair that also vibrates and massages - and no, I don't understand the logic there either, although she does struggle to sit in or get out of the current chair she has.

The Adjustamatic Denbigh 2000 Riser Recliner Chair is to be paid for by monthly installments of 69 quid/month for five years, making a total of about £4,100.

don't know anything about the company and I don't know if she's being ripped off or if it's a genuine deal. She has a 'cooling off' period of

14 days so I was wondering if anyone here has experience of these things? Do they work? Are they as good as the company claims? They say that they are the only company doing these things but is that true, or could she get the same sort of thing anywhere else at lower cost?

Thanks

[Nightjar]

All the makers say they do.

A quick Google brings up massaging riser recliner chairs starting at about £1,500. Plain riser recliners are mostly in the £400-£800 range. Electric massage chairs, without the riser option, start at around £140. Massage chair covers are available at around £40. Your in-laws seem to have chosen one of the most expensive options available.

Colin Bignell

[Tony Bryer]

Looked at the website and you can only get a price list by parting with your name and address. Alarm bells. On the plus side Adjustamatic Beds Limited has been registered since 1982 - though who is the contract with?

[John]

Thanks very much for that Colin, just the sort of thing I was after. Cheers.

[John]

Thanks very much Tony, much appreciated.

[Roger Mills]

I don't know anything about that particular company, but four grand seems like a ridiculously high price for one chair. How much of that is interest? What would the cash price be?

Also, if M-i-L has a disability which would be helped by this chair, she should be able to get it VAT-free. Has the firm given her a declaration to sign in order not to pay VAT? [You don't normally need a doctor to certify need - you can do it yourself].

[John]

To be honest Roger, I don't know. She's 130 miles away and was all fired up to order after the demo but my S-i-L who lives close to her put some doubt in her mind so she rang us for a 'second opinion' as it were.

Ah right, didn't know that, so thanks very much sir :-)

[Ericp]

We have had Adjustamatic beds for decades and they are so good we will not part with them.

However as has been said chairs of this nature, particularly without the wobble motor are available in the high street for £500+ and the price charged here is ridiculous.

[Geoff Pearson]

Most people who buy this sort of kit never use it after the first week. The positions offered are not comfortable long term. They have no resale value - no one wants them without the hard sell.

[John]

Thanks very much Eric, good to know.

[John]

Good point Geoff, thanks.

[The Medway Handyman]

Sorry, this is going to sound awful, but I wonder how that works for the company?

What would happen if someone in their mid 70's passed away before the 5 years payments were made?

[Nightjar]

The chair company will get their money, and probably a commission, from a finance company. The finance company will normally require compulsory insurance to cover their risk. The insurance company will use actuarial tables to set the premiums so that, on average, they make a profit.

Colin Bignell

[Phil L]

The fact that she's being charged four grand for a chair answers your own question as to wether she's being ripped off or not.

If she's intent on having one, she'll probably get a decent 2nd hand one, given that they are targetted at the elderly and or disabled...there's probably hundreds of em on fleabay

[Phil L]

like stairlifts, they come and take it away, recondition and re-sell for another 4 grand

[Harry Bloomfield]

Ebay Item number: 120762445859 £50 with 3 hours to run and no bids.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Harry Bloomfield submitted this idea :

Or brand new Item number: 110687937852 £349

[Harry Bloomfield]

Harry Bloomfield pretended :

Somebody is making rather a lot of money out of selling to the elderly.

[Owain]

The manufacturing cost of the chair is probably paid off in the first year.

Everything else is profit (or salesman's bonus).

Owain

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Harry Bloomfield saying something like:

It's an old racket - I recall glossy magazine ads from the 70s, punting similar things at least twice the price, to elderly folk or their relatives.