Being stuck indoors waiting for a delivery is never fun - but for one woman that experience became a nightmare when Argos delivery men blocked her only exit with two new sofas, leaving her trapped at home for two days.
Single mum Sarah Miller from Tayport in Fife, Scotland, ordered two new Chesterfields after splitting from her husband and was home alone with her seven-year-old son Joel when the delivery arrived.
The 44-year-old claims staff refused to 'pass the threshold' due to coronavirus guidelines and so were unable to bring her two couches upstairs.
Instead, the two huge sofas were left on top of each other at the foot of her stairs, making it impossible to open the front door.
The mature student was left 'in tears' with no way of escaping and resorted to ordering takeaway pizza to be delivered through the railings of her upstairs window.
In 'emotional distress' the mum-of-two then called her ex-husband Adam to help move one of the sofas - but they were unable to shift the second.
The following day, her elder son Jack [Ryan], 23, came round to help move the second Chesterfield.
Sarah said: "I was crying so much. I was literally breaking down. It was a fire hazard and really dangerous situation to be left in by an established company like Argos.
"I was really so concerned that anybody in a more vulnerable position than I was wouldn't have got the help."
Sarah spent £1,000 on the new furniture, hoping to make a new home for herself and Joel.
Sarah said: "[The delivery men] brought them in and the first thing the guy said was 'I'm not allowed to go past the threshold of the door due to COVID-19'.
"I said 'right, okay. Fair enough', but I thought if me and my youngest son were to leave and go into a different room, surely it'd be okay.
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"You can see just one sofa in the picture but they'd actually piled the other sofa on top.
"The guy did actually come into my house, came up to the top of the stairs and said 'we're going to leave now'.
"I said 'what am I going to do with these?' They were both jamming the door and it was twice as high as in the photo.
The delivery men then exited, leaving the door 'two inches open'.
"The younger guy said 'this is like a chute' then sat on [the sofa] and made a noise saying 'wee'," said Sarah.
"I was kind of just standing there in shock at them leaving them there like that."
When Sarah realised the sofas were far too heavy for her and her younger son to lift, she called on Adam for help.
"In a state of absolute emotional distress I had to phone my ex-husband," she said. "He brought along step ladders, climbed through my kitchen window and managed with us to pull the top sofa upstairs."
Adam then had to climb back down through the kitchen window, leaving Sarah and her son trapped for a day and a half.
With no food in the house, the hungry pair had to order pizza.
Sarah said: "We were starving but we couldn't get out the door so we ordered a pizza. The delivery guy came along and had to push the pizza through the railings of the kitchen window."
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The following day, Sarah's son Jack was able to come over and managed to get the second sofa upstairs "inch by inch, taking his time".
Despite the incident happening in July, Sarah claims Argos failed to respond to her complaint 'for six weeks' and only received a reply when she threatened to contact the media.
Sarah said: "I hadn't heard anything from them for weeks and I said 'okay, I'm going to give you another week and if you don't respond, I'm going to take this to mainstream and social media'. An hour later I get a response from them - how predictable is that?"
After Argos were contacted for comment, she says the retailer then got in touch to offer her a £206 'goodwill gesture'.
Argos claim they are also arranging a full refund for the sofas, which she has yet to receive.
A spokesperson for Argos said: "We have spoken to Sarah to say how sorry we are for the inconvenience this caused."We are arranging a full refund and additional gesture of goodwill."