A YORK family are celebrating getting £700 back from a fireplace company which they claim failed to deliver a usable fire.

Emma and Wayne Holmes, of Acomb, said they paid the money to the Thorp Arch branch of Fireside Furnishings in June.

But when the company delivered the fire, the couple sent it back, because, they said, it "had a hole in it".

A replacement arrived, but they sent that back, claiming the plumber who delivered it told them "it was so badly damaged it wasn't worth bothering with."

This left them with no heating, as they moved into their home in the summer and are currently having central heating put in.

It also left them £700 out of pocket, as the company had held on to their money until it was contacted by the Evening Press this week.

Emma, who is 24 and lives in Ostman Road, said: "We were really worried. Our three-year-old son, Tyler, is asthmatic, the weather is getting colder and we didn't have any more money to buy a different fire."

Martin Brewster, general manager of Fireside Furnishings, said that the Holmes' had bought the first fire "as display" when it was on special offer.

The company accepted that they weren't happy with it, he said, so sent another fire out, but the family rejected that one as well.

Mr Brewster said: "The first one did have a lot of marks on it, it had been bought as seen off display, but we still agreed to change it.

"We then provided another fire. Mrs Holmes said there were some marks on it. There are no marks on it at all.

"We will still give Mrs Holmes her money back though. We will give her a full refund and put confirmation of that in the post on Friday."

Updated: 11:34 Thursday, November 01, 2001