A WOMAN paid £800 for a state-of-the-art camcorder and returned home to find she had received a tatty 1980s Sony Walkman, she claims.

Lisa Hartley says managers at Sainsbury's are now refusing to refund her money or provide her with the piece of equipment she forked out for.

Ms Hartley, of Sandpiper Close, Walthamstow, visited the Low Hall, Chingford, branch of Sainsbury's last week to purchase the £799.99 Sony camcorder. She tried out a show camera and decided to buy one.

However, when she returned home, she says she was horrified to see the box she had been given actually contained a Sony Walkman which was scratched and, says Ms Hartley, appeared to have been used before.

She said: "The box was the right one, but I couldn't believe it when I saw the Walkman.

"It is one of the old 1980s style big Walkmans and probably worth about £25.

"When I returned to Sainsbury's they told me I could not get a refund, and they wouldn't give me the camcorder I had paid for.

"The duty manager there basically implied that I had replaced the camcorder with a Walkman and had made the whole thing up.

"He said that because the seal on the box had been broken they couldn't refund me and told me there was nothing they could, or would, do. But if you don't open the box, how are you meant to see what you've bought?"

Ms Hartley has since contacted trading standards and Sainsbury's head office about the incident.

A Sainsbury's spokeswoman said the company was investigating the incident and was currently "working with police to resolve the matter".