AN 83-YEAR-OLD pensioner has ended with just a chair borrowed from her church to sit on - despite forking out £1,600 for a brand new sofa.

Rita Finlay, of East Shaw Street, was due to get her new furniture she ordered from SCS in Paisley, on Saturday, which was her birthday.

Her son John Peden arranged to get her old suite uplifted the day before, but she then received a call late on Friday night from the store saying the two sofas wouldn't be arriving.

John, 55, a porter at Inverclyde Royal Hospital, said: "It's scandalous,

"My mum paid £1,000 at the beginning of October and a further £600 when the order was confirmed.

"It's a disgrace the way she has been treated. It was as if the minute they got her money, they weren't interested in coming through with the order on time."

Mrs Finlay spent her birthday sitting on a footstool her neighbour gave her before friends from St Laurence's Church delivered a chair from the church house the next day.

The great-grandmother said: "I was up at the church fete on Saturday and my friends heard what had happened. My friend Joseph took a chair from the church house and brought it round in his car."

She said: "I felt like crying, if I had known the suite wasn't coming I wouldn't have got my old suite taken away and dumped.

"I just feel we keep getting palmed off."

The senior citizen was told it was the supplier's fault - and she still doesn't know when she will get her replacement.

She said: "My daughter has been dealing with it and they told her that I would get the suite, but that's still not happened. My daughter has put in a complaint and has asked for compensation."

John has tried several times calling the store but says he's had no reply.

A spokeswoman for SCS said: "Contact has now been made directly with the customer to discuss and resolve."