Soggy Sofas, Maddening Mirrors and Civic Vacuum Cleaners

Examples of the worst kind of ‘Angry People in Local Newspapers’ and the most irrelevant of stories

On Saturday, Glenn and Gwen Harper of Horden, County Durham shared their story with the world. The couple told the Chronicle Live about how they were forced into buying a mirror they didn’t want after ordering a “three-piece suite” from the Stockton branch of Harveys Furniture.

Shared on the highly amusing ‘Angry People in Local Newspapers’ Facebook page, the couple told of how, three weeks after placing the order, they were called and informed that they had been mistakenly overcharged by £250.

Offered £250 in goods, as it was supposedly not the business’ policy to give cash refunds, Mr and Mrs Harper chose a mirror and took it home with them. Their £1,080 “suite” was then delivered but “the couple refused to accept it because it was wet” and subsequently they cancelled their order.

In spite of being offered a full refund, this whinging couple were offered £325 in compensation. In spite of their profit, they were not happy and declared: “They came and took [the mirror] away leaving two holes in the wall but at least we don’t have to look at ourselves and be reminded that we didn’t want it in the first place”.

That this duo actually went to a newspaper to share this and that a newspaper was prepared to publish this tale of woe is surely a joke but elsewhere The Westmorland Gazette shared an equally ridiculous tale. In a feature written by a reporter named Rachel Kitchen, it was announced that a new vacuum cleaner had been bought by Carnforth Town Council for the Carnforth Civic Hall in Lancashire.

Hold the front page!