A legally blind mother says she was left without food when Argos delayed delivery of a fridge freezer after she had already emptied her supplies. Retford resident Sheila Cook, 84, emptied and defrosted her fridge before the new one was delivered, but by the time the delivery time rolled around nothing had turned up – she was out of food.
She was saving for a new fridge freezer and her son James, 52, was helping Ms Cook with the order, which was due to arrive between 2.30pm and 4.30pm on Tuesday April 11. The delivery time was pushed back to 6pm but it came at 6.30pm and nothing had turned up, Mr Lowthorpe said.
He called there and the delivery time was pushed back to 9pm. He said: “I explained that we have to take out all the food and it’s all thawed.
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“They just apologized and said it would be there by 9pm. But then the time had come and there was still no fridge-freezer.”
Ms Cook said: “I thought that’s it – all my food is gone. It wouldn’t freeze again or anything.
“There I was – no food except some bread.” When Mr Lowthorpe called Argos the next morning, he was reportedly told the driver had overstayed his hours and another slot needed to be sorted.
He said: “I asked for same day but they said they couldn’t come out and it would be delivered on Monday 17 April. That wasn’t good as we had already taken out the food and defrosted the fridge – no point in doing it again.
“And even if it came on Monday, she would have to go out and buy more and more food. She’s retired and can’t go out and get food.”
He said the company had shown Ms Cook “a lack of consideration” and was deeply unhappy with her apology. However, a spokesman for Argos said a member of the team had apologized and offered Mr Lowthorpe a goodwill gesture.
She said: “We are sorry that Mr Lowthrope’s experience did not live up to our usual high standards. A goodwill gesture was made for the inconvenience.”
But Mr Lowthorpe continued that he did not find that satisfactory either, noting: “I was told there was nothing they could do, so they said they would send me a £20 voucher. This won’t pay for my mother’s food and she can’t buy food from Argos, so what’s the point?
“If I had wanted compensation for the food, I would have had to have the fridge-freezer delivered anyway.” In the end, Mr. Lowthorpe fixed the problem by purchasing another unit from a different supplier.
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