A MUM-OF-TWO fighting breast cancer slammed a spa after it refused a 12- month extension of a gift voucher she is unable to use while undergoing treatment.

Claire Sharples, 41, of St Andrew’s Avenue, Colchester, was given the £150 Clarice House voucher by friends for her 40th birthday last July.

In November, Mrs Sharples was diagnosed with breast cancer. She hoped to use her voucher after a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.

But in April she was told she was unable to have reconstructive surgery, due to her cancer being more advanced than first thought.

Mrs Sharples is unable to have many of the spa treatments because she is undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

She said: “The voucher was something to look forward to.

“I phoned Clarice House and explained my situation and asked if they would be kind enough to extend my voucher and make it valid for another year.”

Clarice House, based at Kingsford Park, Layer Road, Colchester, agreed to extend the voucher for two months until September, but no longer.

She said: “I didn’t feel I was being unreasonable to ask to extend it for another year. “£150 is quite a lot of money which my friends have given to me.

“Clarice House was saying it gets people phoning up with lots of excuses. But this is a genuine reason.

“When my friend contacted them, they kept saying they would call me back and that they would look into it.

“I felt like they had backed me into a corner and the only option was something like a night away at a hotel.”

Clarice House’s terms and conditions say spa packages and gift vouchers are nonrefundable and non-extendable, whatever the circumstances, and the company strongly advises that appropriate cancellation or medical insurance is purchased privately.

A spokesman for the spa said: “We would like to take this opportunity to assure all our customers that any circumstances regarding the extension of vouchers purchased with a year’s validity are all treated with equality and fairness.

“We have situations arise as a result of serious medical conditions, or customers experiencing upsetting circumstances, that affect the redemption of their vouchers and to help with this we have a discretionary extension policy we can make available to customers when this becomes known to us.

“Our teams work hard to resolve all issues to ensure customers get a chance to redeem their vouchers.

“In this instance we resolved the issues with Mrs Sharples on May 7, extending the voucher for use on other services within the Clarice House Group. This was a resolution both parties confirmed was acceptable.

“We are sorry, nearly three months later, this has become an issue again.

“However, there are many similar decisions we have to make which can be very difficult to do. “We would like to reassure all guests our decisions are fair and we always try and ensure we are doing the very best we can for the customer, within the terms and conditions the vouchers are purchased under.

“As a responsible company, which makes sure all our customers are dealt with fairly, we are not prepared to change the decision we stand by to get a favourable story printed.

“Our policy is that all guests have an equal right to the same decisions being made and we stand by this.”