HOUSEHOLDERS across York and North and East Yorkshire could be counting the cost after a York furniture business went into administration.

Families have been left hundreds of pounds out of pocket and promised goods have not arrived after the problems encountered by the business based at York's designer outlet.

Rachel and Andrew Stott, of Moorgate, Acomb, bought a garden table, chairs and parasol, for £600 from the Garden Outlet at the McArthurGlen designer centre, in September.

But two months later they still had not received their garden furniture. They say they were told they never would as the business had gone into administration and they were not entitled to a refund.

The couple, who have five children including a seven-month-old baby, say they could not afford to lose the money and will now have to do without new garden furniture.

Mrs Stott, 34, said: "I think it's disgusting. We can't afford to lose that sort of money.

"I feel as though they have just stolen the money from me."

She said: "I thought I was buying good quality things. I didn't think for a moment that we wouldn't receive what we paid for."

Mrs Stott said that she had received a letter from PriceWaterhouseCoopers on Thursday informing her the company had gone into administration. When she visited the shop later that day, they were still trading.

Lorraine and John Webster, of Elvington, paid £1,150 to the Garden Outlet for a pine conservatory suite and a set of garden furniture in August.

They were told there had been a delay in delivering the furniture due to high volumes of orders, but then they received a letter telling them they would receive neither their goods nor their money back.

Mrs Webster said: "It's a lot of money to lose. I didn't expect this from a shop at the Designer Outlet.

"We were told that it was the cheapest place about for garden furniture and that it was very good quality. I just thought it was taking a long time.

"I never expected something like this to happen."

A spokeswoman for PriceWaterhouseCoopers said Billings Nurseries, who traded under the name Garden Outlet, had gone into administration on November 4.

Ian Green and David Walker, of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, have been appointed as administrators and have written to customers who have paid for goods and not received them.

The administrators' spokeswoman said she did not know if customers would receive any of their money back.

But she advised those who had paid for their goods by credit card to contact their local Citizen's Advice Bureau.

No one from Garden Outlet was available for comment.

Updated: 10:46 Monday, November 17, 2003