Call-out service enables LTC Mobility to serve community despite lockdown measures
Llanelli-based mobility retailer LTC Mobility has adapted its business operations in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown to ensure it continues providing support to the vulnerable in the community.
A family-run mobility firm, the company was founded by Alan Davies over 35 years and was the first fully accredited mobility dealer in the region, alongside building its reputation as a specialist in providing adaptations.
Since the lockdown measures were introduced across the UK, the company has temporarily shut down its shops and workshop, however, decided to remain available to those that need assistance in the community with a call-out service.
As reported on Wales Online, the Llanelli mobility retailer is now offering repair and maintenance services across Carmarthenshire, Swansea and Neath Port Talbot for important equipment including stairlifts and scooters.
In addition to big-ticket items, the company is also providing people with essential and difficult-to-get hygiene products as well, such as gloves, incontinence ranges and handwashes.
Launching on the 25th March following the government’s lockdown announcement, the service sees Alan and a company engineer visiting customers whilst Alan’s wife and co-owner Louise Davies coordinates the operation.
Louise told Wales Online: “People have asked for items like incontinence stuff and gloves, but it’s mainly calls from people who have got stairlifts which have broken down.
“We had a lady whose only means of shopping is using her mobility scooter. She had a puncture, so we went to Carmarthen to do that for her. We had a lady in Pontardawe whose battery had gone down on her stairlift, so an engineer went out to put new batteries in.
“It’s mainly things like that, making sure people are still safe in their own homes. The thing is that to some people a stairlift is like a car. You use it every single day and a lot of people don’t think about having it serviced. Then all of a sudden they realise it’s their lifeline.”
It comes as the government released guidelines related to carrying out work in homes, emphasising that companies were able to continue to do so, as long as they adhered to Public Health England guidelines.
According to the report, LTC’s new call-out delivery service has not only been used by existing customers but has also seen the company attract new customers as well.
“There are quite a few new customers because some companies are not going out. And we have had lots of calls just checking that if something goes wrong, is someone there and can they phone us?” continued Louise.
“As long as it is feasible and we can get to you, we will go. If we can’t get to them today, it will be tomorrow. I talked a lady through something on the phone. It is just reassurance that if something does go wrong then we have got a call-out service and we can get to you.
“It is giving our own customers peace of mind that we are at the end of a phone. Just because our doors are closed, it doesn’t mean that you can’t get hold of us. We have picked up some new customers because they haven’t been able to get hold of other companies.”
