Police called to home and garden chain The Range as furious customer demands refund for broken £500 hot tub

A customer has accused a popular retail chain of refusing a refund or an exchange for a broken £500 hot tub that he bought over the weekend.

South Yorkshire Police confirmed that an officer was called to The Range’s store at Meadowhall in Sheffield on Monday 26 April.

A spokesperson told The Star: "We received a report at 6.15pm, to an incident at The Range store in Sheffield. It was reported that a customer had become abusive towards staff and was refusing to leave."

Jason Fagan said he bought a Wave Atlantic 4 Spa on Saturday 24 April from The Range store at Meadowhall, and had it set up on the same day only to find that the pump stopped working.

He said: "We pumped it and set it all up. We filled it with water, and [the pump] stopped working.

"My partner then phoned the store and told them we would like a refund and they gave an excuse because there was water in it, they couldn't accept it because of Covid."

Fagan said he was then informed that he would need to contact the manufacturer to fix the broken pump instead of asking for a refund or an exchange.

"Bear in mind, it was the weekend so I emailed the manufacturer, and emailed The Range but never heard back from them. So on Monday afternoon, we decided to go down to the store and resolve the matter.”

‘We were willing to buy the display one’

"The sales manager came out and we started explaining to him but he was abrupt towards my partner,” Fagan added.

Later, he said a police officer came to diffuse the situation and that the hot tub was returned to the store until the matter can be resolved.

Fagan said if no refund was not possible, an exchange would help too.

"They got a display one at their store and we were willing to buy it from them and they said no because of Covid. The motor was on display and you can't sell it anyway, and we would be happy to have it if it works fine," he said.

According to The Range’s website, its refund policy states that customers can return the items in an unused condition within 28 days upon receiving them.

The Range has been contacted for a response.

A version of this article originally appeared on our sister title, The Star

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. NationalWorld is a new national news brand, produced by a team of journalists, editors, video producers and designers who live and work across the UK. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going.