Deaf Today: ' Conned out of £ 4000 '

April 21, 2003

' Conned out of £ 4000 '

From: ThisIsLeeds.co.uk, UK - Apr 21, 2003

BY PETER LAZENBY

A DISABLED Yorkshire couple say a high-pressure salesman talked them into paying £4,000 for a battery-driven scooter they don't want, don't need and can't use.

They say they handed over their savings to buy the scooter, which has been stuck unused in an outhouse ever since.
Terry and Audrey Bottomley, of Burmantofts in east Leeds, say the firm who sold them the scooter has now refused to refund their savings.
Terry, 56, is blind, partially deaf, and has mobility problems following a motorbike accident. Audrey, 68, is diabetic and undergoing tests for cancer.
The ordeal began when a salesman from Craftmatic UK called at their home with one of the scooters. Audrey said: "He told us we really needed it. It would help me with my trip to the supermarket every week.
Hospital
"I let slip we had some ISA savings about to mature. He said we didn't want the bother of monthly payments, we could give him a cheque straight away."
So they signed a cheque for £4,157.47, and the machine arrived a week later ? but was too big to get into the house.
Audrey then had to go into hospital and the couple realised they had no use for the scooter. But it was over a week before they could contact the company and by then the firm said it was too late to change their minds. They have since seen other scooters for sale locally costing less than £1,500.
"Our ISA has gone, our holiday savings have gone, and we've got a scooter we don't want," said Audrey.
A spokesman from Craftmatic UK's offices in America said: "We need to look at all the British records. We will be happy to review this file and see if anything can be done."
peter.lazenby@ypn.co.uk