Funeral director uses hearse to return 'dead' fridge after long dispute with Argos

A funeral director used his hearse to return a 'dead' fridge freezer to Argos (a British catalogue retailer) after a long running dispute over the phone provided few solutions.

Rafael Learmonth, along with three colleagues from his funeral directors, calmly wheeled the broken appliance, on a coffin trolley, draped in a velvet sheet into the chain's Maidstone, Kent store.

He walked ahead of the 'procession' and approached a shocked Argos worker to complain as Ashley Sutton, Stuart Lee and James Bushan from Angels Funerals looked on, the Daily Mail reported.

Mr Learmonth has been involved in a row with Argos since 2015 on behalf of his 79-year-old mother who had witnessed the Indesit fridge fail multiple times, losing three loads of frozen food in the process.

Speaking after the filmed confrontation the 53-year-old said: "The first fridge freezer was faulty when she bought it but instead of giving her a new one they sent an engineer out to fix it. Six weeks later it had the same fault."He added that his mother had received three new fridges but all turned out to be faulty.

Ashley Sutton Kelly Lee James Bushen Richard Bushen Angels Funerals

Posted by Rafael Learmonth on Friday, 27 January 2017

Mr Learmonth told Kent Online: "She was given the last one in August last year. When that one failed as well I told them to give mum her money back and come and collect the fridge freezer but I was told they didn't have the right lorry or something.

"The woman I was speaking to said something like 'you wouldn't deliver it in your hearse would you?'"

The undertaker said he did everything "we would for a funeral" for the stunt after uploading the video to his Facebook page on Saturday.

"The staff were trying to work out what was happening. The customers thought it was hilarious. We went to the pub afterwards and one guy bought me a pint.

"Mum doesn't actually know I've done it yet, she just wanted it out of her living room.

"Now it's back in the store they should give her a refund. I might even send them an invoice for the delivery charge."Mr Learmonth said his mother had received a £100 (NZ$173.00) Argos voucher and bouquet of flowers following the protest.

An Argos spokesman said: "We understand that this is a difficult time for Mrs Learmonth and have a full refund waiting at the Chatham store for her."

-SIMON HOLMES FOR MAILONLINE