Comfomatic Limited Mike McNicholasFiona FosterGraham Bradford A bed/chair company that target my 88yr mother, took a 2000 pound deposit and refused to cancel the order Widnes

My 88yr mother received an unsolicited phone call asking her to take part in an innocent sounding survey.  

The caller then convinced my mother to allow Comfomatic to conduct a free "in-home" demonstration of their beds/chairs, with absolutely no obligation to buy.   My mother agreed … first mistake.

The sales rep arrived a few days later armed with glossy catalogs and sample colour/fabric swashes, and convinced her to sign up for one of their Deluxe single chairs valued at 3840 pounds.  As part of the sale she was offered a choice of alternative colours/fabrics (the default colour is a drab beige).  

My mother choose the "Apple" colour/fabric (second mistake), which therefore made the order a "Personalised Product" rather than a "Standard Product".  But she was not explicitly informed that making this choice invalidated her "Right to Cancel" the order, as explained in condition 8 of their Terms and Conditions (the small print on the back of order form).

Soon after the friendly sales rep had departed with the signed order form and deposit of 2000 pound, my mother started to regret her decision and finally confessed to me (her son) what she had done.  She contracted Comfomatic by phone to cancel the order (as she thought she had the right to do), but was politely refused as the product was a "Personalised Product" and besides it was already in "Manufacturing", even though the order was still within the 14 day "cool-off" period.

At this point I contacted Comfomatic, and their polite and friendly staff confirmed that there was nothing they could do to cancel the order as it was a "Personalised Product".  I also spoke to one of the directors called Mike McNicholas who confirmed that this was company policy and that this was the "first time they had been in this situation".  He also reiterated the line about it being a "Personalised Product" and that the exclusion from the "Right to Cancel" was clearly explained in the Terms and Conditions.  

It certainly is there in the Terms and Conditions, in font size of 7 Arial, not exactly easy to read for an 88yr person with poor eye-sight in the middle of a well versed sales closing situation.

Legally I'm hoping that I have a leg to stand on, and I'm sure Mike McNicholas will write a rebuttal and explain that I haven't.  Hopefully the Trading Standards Institute sees otherwise.

In summary, take a 88yr lady with poor eye-sight, a well versed sales person and a clever "legal" loophole, I can't say if this is a rip-off or a completely unethical business model, all I know is my mother's mental & physical health have taken the toll.  Sure, she made an error in judgment, but if you can't forgive that, you shouldn't be in the business of selling very expensive products to elderly vulnerable people ... unless that's the whole point.