Curried Pies

A woman was left shocked after ordering a £700 laptop from a high street retailer only to find she was the recipient of three mouldy pies instead. 

Gemma Worley, 39, from Cornwall, thought she had bagged a bargain after deciding to treat herself to a new Lenovo Yoga laptop bought online from Currys over the weekend, but her excitement soon waned after the sizeable package was delivered on Tuesday.

The charger cable, accessories, stylus and even instruction booklet were all there – but so were a trio of baked goodies from Yorkshire Handmade Pies stuffed into the space where her new computer should have been.

Despite reporting the incident to customer services straight away, Mrs Worley said she has been left waiting to hear whether she will receive a refund or a replacement laptop.

After MailOnline approached Currys, she was told this process could take up to 14 days.

The circumstances suggest that Mrs Worley could have fallen victim to a scam known as refund or return fraud.

In some cases, the fraudster will buy something, take it out of the box, and then swap it out for something of comparable weight but lower worth.

After that, they’ll try to return the item and get their money back.

The returned shipment may then inadvertently be shipped to a legitimate consumer while the lower-value products are still inside.

Speaking to MailOnline, Mrs Worley expressed her surprise at seeing the decomposing pies inside the box instead of the new laptop she had paid for.

‘When I opened it there was like a really weird sensation. I opened it and the charger cable was there and the accessories were there, including the stylus and the instructions. 

‘But in the space where the laptop should have been there was a box of pies. It was originally a selection box of six pies. They had taken out three and squished the box into the gap where the laptop was.’

Disturbed by the discovery, she said she contacted Currys customer services almost immediately after opening the box, but claims that she was not given a clear timeframe for how long it might take to resolve the situation. 

‘I’m not an unreasonable person. I know things like this happen, but they just seemed to fob me off. I was very surprised because I’ve used Currys a lot in my life buying various laptops and other electronic things and have never had a problem.

‘They said they have referred it to a back office and that I’ll receive an email, but they didn’t say when. I’ve called them every working day since, just to get an update. 

‘At the end of the day, £700 is a lot of money just to hear them say, “We’ve launched an investigation. You’ll hear at some undefined point in the future”.’

Mrs Worley said she has also not been told whether or not she should dispose of the unwanted pies which are meant to be kept frozen.

She claims the pies are ‘beginning to smell’ as well as ‘sweat and weep’ as they slowly decompose in the box.

‘I’m £700 out of pocket, no laptop and no idea of the resolution,’ she said, adding that she felt ‘sick’ at the thought of having been impacted by scammers.

‘I’ve been looking up the slang definition of “pied” and I do feel abandoned. Like, I say, £700 is a lot of money just to say, “Oh, we’ll be in touch”.

‘I do feel aggrieved by being a victim of the scam in the first place and by the service they have provided.

‘I am a reasonable person, I just want my laptop or a refund – but I’d prefer to have a laptop. I spent a long time choosing the type of laptop, and I would just like that one.’

A Currys spokesperson said: ‘We are urgently investigating this case to get it resolved for the customer. 

‘We understand the customer’s frustration and apologise for the time it’s taken to reach a conclusion. 

‘Our teams have been in touch with the customer to provide the latest update. 

‘Rest assured, we hope to resolve the case as quickly as possible.’ 

We learn three things from this story:

1. That Currys don’t check their returns. They simply shove them back into stock along with brand-new items yet to be sold.
2. They sell returned items as new. This is dishonest. If I buy something as new I expect it to be new, not something that has been returned, and if I wanted to purchase graded products I’d expect it to be at a lower price, and also that the item has been thoroughly checked.
3. Currys customer service is useless and does not communicate or act in the interest of the customer.

Companies like Currys are extremely quick to take your money, but very slow to return it.

Currys should just apologise and send out a new laptop. This is Currys fault, they should check all returning boxes.