A seven-year-old girl was spattered with orange paint after a tin almost fell on her from a display.
Amanda West and her daughter Jessica were in The Range in Watford when a “loose” tin of paint fell and ruined Jessica’s brand new shoes and dance clothes.
The 42-year-old wants money back for the clothes and said she is amazed the paint display was not more secure.
Mrs West said: “As my daughter walked behind me, the paint tin wobbled and then fell next to her, covering her in paint.
“My daughter was really distressed by it all. As you can imagine, she was so embarrassed, she had orange paint all over her and was wearing her brand new, white, converse trainers she had got for her birthday only a week earlier.
“Her dance clothes were ruined too, and it was all over her skin.
“You just don’t expect paint to fall all over your daughter when you go shopping on a Saturday, do you?”
Mrs West said that staff were quick to help and the sales manager took a note of the clothes that were damaged.
She believed this was so that they could reimburse her.
However, after a series of phone calls and emails between her and the customer service team she was told that The Range would not be paying for the replacements.
She said: “I called the store manager and he was so rude to me, I was shocked.
“I was the one having to chase everything up because they never bothered getting back in touch with me and I was passed to so many different people.
“Then I was told they were going to have to get witness statements - It sounded like a murder they were investigating, not what caused paint to splash all over my daughter.
“Finally they said they had checked CCTV and because they couldn’t see what had happened they wouldn’t be giving us any money for the clothes, or taking any responsibility – I couldn’t believe it.”
The Range had not responded to a request for a comment at the time the Observer went to press.
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