A shopper is urging a supermarket chain to take action after a kitchen firm took almost £1,000 from him and failed to deliver the product.

Riz Am transferred £900 to Home Improvement World, a third party company that was operating inside Tesco, in Station Road. He paid in May but has still not received the kitchen.

Tesco has admitted that the company was not authorised to be working in the store. It also confirmed that the company has been operating in four other stores in Pinner, Osterley, Barkingside and Watford without any authorisation.

Tesco refused to say how many people have complained about Home Improvement World but said the number was “less than ten”.

Mr Am said: “I have been shopping in this Tesco for years and have always trusted it. I never expected something like this to happen when I bought a kitchen from inside their store.

“I want my money back and want Tesco to take some responsibility. This has been very stressful and I have lost a lot of money.

“I couldn’t afford to go on holiday this year because of this trouble.”

Mr Am contacted Tesco after Adam Sheik, his contact at Home Improvement World, became difficult to contact.

The firm, that also uses the name of its parent company, Amazing Kitchens, failed to deliver the kitchen and Mr Sheik starting using personal problems as excuses for the delay.

When Mr Am contacted the supermarket chain he was told Tesco was not liable because Home Improvement World was a third party organisation.

He was advised to contact the Trading Standards Institute who passed him over to Action Fraud, a fraud and crime reporting centre.

Mr Am said: “All Action Fraud offered me was counselling – I don’t want counselling; I just want my money back and for this to be over.

“I don’t want this to happen to other innocent people like me.”

Joe Chapman, a spokesperson for Tesco, said: “We can confirm that Home Improvement World had been permitted to perform guided selling in some of our stores, under the name of its parent company, Amazing Kitchens.

“As well as requiring permission, third party suppliers such as these are typically subject to background checks before being allowed to operate in our stores.

“However, we are currently investigating claims that, recently, the firm has been operating inside our stores without permission and that some customers have not received the services they paid this company for.

“We’d like to apologise to any customers who have been affected by this and are speaking to anyone who may have any concerns.”