Customer threatens Harvey staff with a knife.
Harvey Norman staff and customers were confronted by a female customer last week, angry because her carpet laying had been delayed. The woman from Lake Haven on the New South Wales Central Coast had armed herself with a knife and demanded a $15,000 refund for unfinished carpet laying.
According to footage of the attack, shoppers were forced to flee while store manager Matt Cooper protected himself with a chair during the confrontation.
“No I paid for this, fifteen grand I’m not going to f***ing get back. I paid for this!” the woman was heard to say during the threatening encounter.
She then was seen moving about the store, threatening staff before being arrested by police after the incident.
In an interview later with Channel 7 News, Cooper said he was shocked by what unfolded.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” he said. It’s believed that work on laying the carpet was put on hold after the workman’s tools had reportedly been stolen on the job.
Cooper said he spent about ten minutes trying to calm the woman, as he ushered customers to safety through a security door. He also tried to protect a young colleague who had barricaded himself in a staff room.
“My main concern obviously was to make sure the customers had cleared the area, there were some people in here with children, and that the staff member in the office was safe,” he told Channel 7.
When Harvey Norman chairman Gerry Harvey was shown the photos of the customer outburst, the told the media, “You can’t come to people with weapons that’s not the way to solve the problem.”
Harvey praised his staff who have since been offered counselling.
Police arrested the woman, 48, after she received treatment but later released her without charge. However NSW Police advised that they were still investigating the incident and expected to lay charges.