WICKES has shot itself so thoroughly in the foot over its treatment of customer John O’Malley that a firing squad couldn’t have done a better job.

Mr O’Malley, like any customer of a business, has a right to expect that goods he purchases are fit for purpose.

The shower he bought from the company, he says, has been troublesome ever since it was fitted.

When it broke on Monday, he called Wickes and reports being told it couldn’t be fixed until today at the earliest.

On querying this, Mr O’Malley says he was told by the manager to come and have a shower at the store, only to be told on arrival that this was a joke and then have the police called when he tried to argue his case.

Perhaps it was indeed a joke, or perhaps it was a smart-mouthed comment with a subtext of: “We have the upper hand here so what are you going to do about it?”

When Mr O’Malley turned up in his dressing gown to show them precisely what he proposed to do, the manager appears to have lost his sense of humour and called the police.

We wonder what the charge would have been. Unauthorised possession of a loofah, perhaps.

The decision to offer Mr O’Malley a refund is a wise one, although whether it will make up for the reputational damage suffered by the company is debatable