Daughter left distraught after shopping site very.co.uk sends her email saying her dead mum ‘has got it going on’

A HEARTBROKEN daughter has slammed shopping site very.co.uk after it sent her an email saying her dead mum “has got it going on”.

Hollie Carew burst into tears when she received the “insensitive” Mother’s Day message.

Dog care company worker Hollie, 33, who lost her mum to cancer just seven months ago, said: “”It was the title of the email that caught my attention.

“I was like, ‘What’?’ I was shocked, and felt a bit sick, then I was really upset and started crying.

“I was angry that they had actually said that. Because they had personalised the email for me it was even more of a shock.”

Hollie’s mum Lyn Carew, died of cancer in August last year aged 63 just weeks after she was diagnosed.

This Mother’s Day will mark the first one Hollie has spent without her.

Hollie complained about the email, which also spelt her first name incorrectly, but said she had been left less than satisfied with their response.

She added: “This kind of reminder was the last thing I needed.

“When I and others complained we only received a generic apology. There was no personal response.”

Another customer, James Mawdsley, was also left upset when he spotted the email in his inbox.

James, whose mum died of cancer two years ago, also complained.

The 40-year-old, from Chester, Cheshire, said: “I was shocked to receive a message with the title, ‘James’s mum has got it goin’ on.’

“I thought it was really quite insensitive. I lost my mum quite recently and thought it was very strange to send an email with that title.

“It was targeting me personally, which made it worse. Quite frankly I can’t imagine many marketing managers approving an email like that.

A third customer also complained on social media, adding: “As if Mother’s Day isn’t hard enough to then receive an email with that title.”

A spokesperson for Shop Direct, which operates very.co.uk, said: “We apologise sincerely for any distress we may have inadvertently caused to customers with this campaign.

“We fully intended the email to be light-hearted, but we appreciate that a small number of people found it upsetting.

“We’ll learn from it and bear those learnings in mind for future campaigns.”

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