Chris Bacon wrote:
If he needs a stairlift, a cranking handle will probably not help him.

IIW a concerned Y I would fit new batteries, the expense is
insignificant compared to the cost of renewing the whole shebang, and
maybe contact a third-ish party maintainer to give it the once over,
unless the original vendor is prepared to look at after this extended
hiatus.

+1 I'd put batteries down as an 'oil and filter' kind of service item, that
you replace every few years whether you need to or not. The cost of doing
so is small compared to the risk of the user getting stuck / falling / etc.

Perhaps a professional repairer might recondition batteries and sell them on
to another customer, but I doubt it's going to be worth their while.

These things tend to either work or not work. The most common
"intermediate" thing will be battery renewal, or possibly "the end of
track "sensor" has slipped", or physical damage to the "stop bumpers".

They seem pretty simple. If they're mechanically good then a battery change
and a bit of lubrication seems like all that's needed to service them.

Theo