A PENSIONER is distraught having been told she is unlikely to get her £1,500 deposit back for a new bathroom after the installation company went bust.

Family-run Kitchen World, in Henwick Road, Worcester, was placed into voluntary liquidation last week after nearly 50 years in the city.

Having been diagnosed with left ventricle dysfunction, Louise Hammond was quoted £9,000 by the firm in August to fit a new bathroom more suited to her condition, which causes her to become easily breathless.

Measurements were taken and designs drawn up, and the installation was pencilled in for October 28. The work was to include the bath being replaced with a shower, and the sink to be raised.

The 66-year-old had paid her deposit via cheque on September 3 but received a letter on Wednesday informing her the company had instructed liquidators Leonard Curtis to wind it up.

Mrs Hammond confronted the company directors at the Kitchen World premises yesterday and said she was left "feeling sick" when they told her she was unlikely to get her money back.

READ MORE:Kitchen World goes into liquidation after nearly 50 years in city

"I’m a pensioner and they robbed me. I asked for my money back and they told me they haven’t got the money."

Mrs Hammond, who lives with her husband in Kidderminster, said: "I could have smacked them across the face.

"They were trying to give me sob stories. [I told them] 'You knew I had ill health when I came here. You scammed me.'"

Hayley Sherwood, a director of Kitchen World, said: "Obviously, it’s been the hardest decision we’ve ever had to make.

"It’s not something we have taken lightly – we have been in the city a long time. It’s got to the point where it’s not possible to carry on. We understand we have upset a few customers, but we have done it the best way possible."

She said inevitably some customers would lose their deposits, but that the decision was only made two weeks ago.

"We have really tried and tried and we took deposits in the hope we could carry on.

"The minute we knew we couldn’t carry on we have been putting people off, we were minimalising everything.

"We had the full intention of doing her bathroom," she added, referring to Mrs Hammond.