A legally blind woman was left without food after Argos delayed the delivery of her new fridge freezer. Sheila Cook, 84, of Retford had emptied and defrosted her fridge freezer in preparation for the new one being delivered, but it never came.
The 84 year old saved up for the new appliance, which her son James Lowthorpe, 52, helped her to order from Argos. The fridge freezer was due to arrive between 2:30pm and 4:30pm on Tuesday, April 11, but this was pushed back to 6pm.
By 6:30pm the order still had not arrived, and her son called Argos to find out what was happening reports Lincolnshire Live. He said: "I explained that we had to take all the food out and it's all defrosted.
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"They just apologised and said it would be there by 9pm. But that time came, and there was still no fridge-freezer." Ms Cook added: "I thought, that's it - all my food is gone. It wouldn't refreeze or anything.
"There I was - no food, except for some bread." Mr Lowthorpe called Argos the next morning, and was reportedly told that the driver had gone beyond his hours and another spot would need to be sorted.
He said: "I asked for the same day, but they said they couldn't come out and it would be delivered on Monday, April 17. That was no good, as we'd already taken the food out and defrosted the fridge - no point doing it again.
"And even if it did come in Monday, she'd have to go out and buy more and more food. "It's just absolutely disgusting, pay for them to collect the old one, and they're just prepared to leave you without.
"She's a pensioner and she's not able to go out and get food." Mr Lowthorpe said the company had shown a 'lack of consideration' for Ms Cook and said he felt deeply dissatisfied with their apology.
However, a spokesperson for Argos said a member of the team had apologised and offered Mr Lowthorpe a gesture of goodwill. She said: "We are sorry that Mr Lowthrope's experience was not up to our usual high standards.
"A gesture of goodwill was given for the inconvenience." However, Mr Lowthorpe went on to say he didn't find this satisfactory either, remarking: "I was told there was nothing they could do, so they said they'd send me a £20 voucher.
"That won't pay for my mum's food and she can't buy food from Argos, so what's the point? If I wanted compensation for the food, I'd have had to have the fridge-freezer delivered anyway."
In the end, Mr Lowthorpe had to purchase another unit from a different supplier.
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