A YORK mother-of-three claims a city electrical retailer has left her to face Christmas without a cooker.

Janice Gregory, 43, says she feels let down by PowerHouse, which she says failed to deliver a desperately-needed cooker she had ordered.

She says her pregnant 18-year-old daughter, Gemma, has had to go and live with friends so that her health is not put in danger while a replacement is found.

Janice, of Burton Green, Clifton, says a store representative told her she "slipped through the net" and that delivery dates for the promised appliance came and went without success.

The children's worker says: "It's difficult to see how a cooker can slip through a net - it must have had very big holes."

She paid for the £264 cooker in cash last month, but the delivery date passed without any sign of a cooker.

She says a second delivery date was set up two weeks later, but PowerHouse failed to deliver again, leaving her to send away a gas man who was due to fit it. Janice says she has been made so angry by the company that she was tempted to start picketing outside the Clifton Moor store - though the firm said she had declined alternatives, including a shop floor model.

"It took me four months to save money for that cooker," said Janice. "I have got a microwave, but that's no good for Christmas dinner."

A PowerHouse spokeswoman said today that they apologise for any inconvenience that Mrs Gregory has suffered. "We kept her fully informed for issues on delivery and we were unaware that she did not have any cooker.

"It is very unfortunate that Mrs Gregory could not purchase a cooker from us and that we could not supply something that she wanted within her budget, when she wanted it.

"But she has decided that she did not want alternatives offered to her, including a shop floor model which we offered to install for free."

Mrs Gregory has been given a full refund from PowerHouse.

Updated: 12:08 Saturday, December 21, 2002