Thorne lives alone without internet and said he was not told that he would need the internet to use the "speech to text function" that he purchased the phone for.
"I didn't know it was connected to the internet, I don't know anything about that. I thought that was just what the phone does."
Thorne's daughter Nealie Curd said she was passing through Masterton from Hawke's Bay and called in to see her father, who could not get the phone to work.
"As soon as I saw the box my heart sank. Nothing worked when he got home and he didn't understand why. Or what "no network connection found" meant."
She said the phone's functions had been especially appealing to her father because of difficulties he had with texting.
"He has a severe reading and writing disorder, and finds it difficult to type text messages, as it takes him a long time to spell out the words."
Thorne said when they returned to the store the salesperson admited they assumed he had internet, but the manager had stood firm that it was against Spark policy to accept the return.
A Spark spokesperson told Hawke's Bay Today on Tuesday that they had reconsidered their decision and decided to give a refund.
"After looking into this particular situation, we agree that offering this customer a refund is the right thing to do. Our team has been in touch with the customer directly to process this".
They said they will provide additional training for staff to help customers purchasing devices understand if additional services such as data or internet connectivity will be required for the device to function.
"We encourage our teams not to assume that age, ethnicity or gender indicates an inability to utilise technologies. Instead we provide training that focuses on understanding our customers' individual situations prior to making recommendations on a device or a plan."
Registered Social Worker at Age Concern Hawke's Bay Andrea Rust said stores need to ensure older people can fully understand their purchases, and any documents they were signing.
She said it was helpful for a family or advocate, who was good with technology, to be present to support them when they purchased 'tech' or signed up to internet contracts.
"Though understandably some are independent and may not want this, ensuring they need the services being offered and fully understand what they are agreeing to will mean less confusion and perhaps upset."
Consumer NZ communications advisor Raksha Nand said businesses are not obligated to return a product for a change of mind and return policies may differ from store to store.
"Some would accept a product if it were in a saleable condition, another could set a term that a return would only be acceptable if the product was returned in its original condition with packaging unopened."
She said customers do have rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act for a replacement or refund if the product is found to be faulty regardless of whether the product packaging was opened or not.
