I wanted to let you know the sneaky way the Curry's superstore in Old Shoreham Road, Hove, weaseled its way out of honouring its "price match" publicity offer.

My wife and I popped in there on April 26 to look for a new cooker and, as usual, liked the most expensive one, at £745.

We didn't buy it there and then but decided to look around first.

We went into Comet just along the road and found the same cooker at £665. So, we went back to Curry's to inform it of the difference and claim a "price match plus 10 per cent of the difference" further reduction.

We had to wait about 20 minutes while staff consulted and made phone calls and were then told they could not be sure it was indeed the same cooker.

As it was just along the road, I offered to pop back to get confirmation myself. Comet obliged and even printed off the details for me.

I returned to Curry's and had to wait a further 20 minutes for more consultation behind the scenes.

At no time did the manager appear to explain what was going on. Eventually, they decided they would need to check whether Comet had this cooker boxed and available for immediate delivery. By then, we had had enough and told them we would be coming back in the morning to sign the forms and finalise everything but had to leave for another engagement.

Later that evening, someone from Curry's left a phone message saying the shop could not honour its price match offer because Comet did not have a cooker ready for dispatch.

I had been told by Curry's in the first instance we could receive the cooker it had in about four days.

Whether this decision is legal others can decide but certainly Curry's acted against the spirit of its offer and publicity by not accepting the obvious truth.

I found the same machine advertised on the internet for £595 and subsequently made the purchase.

It's well worth checking out, folks, before you hand over for expensive home appliances.

Steve Agar, Goldstone Crescent, Hove

-* A spokeswoman for the Dixons Group replies: In this instance, I am struggling to offer specific details with regard to the case because it is impossible for me to track the customer since no purchase was made and I have no details of the cooker other than the price. I suggest Curry's refused to price match because the product was not actually available and had to be ordered from Comet but could be purchased and delivered to the customer within four days from Curry's. Special orders are a specified exclusion from the price promise. If any customer finds the product cheaper in a local retailer and it is available straight away, I urge him to take up the price-match opportunity.