I placed a click and collect yesterday evening at 6.30pm. My email said the order should be ready to collect after 2 hours. The store closed at 8pm and reopened at 9am the next morning. I went into the Maidstone store at 9.30am, thinking that was 2 hours of opening time overall (6.30pm to 8pm and then 9am to 9.30am). I was told that my order wasn't ready to collect yet, which under normal circumstances is fair enough. But my mum has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and only a few months to live. I was told at 5.30pm yesterday evening that she was going to be moved to end of care accommodation at midday today. The end of care accommodation has no net curtains or regular curtains and is overlooked by a road and other houses. I desperately wanted to get my mum some net curtains put up before she reached the accommodation at 12.30pm and so I apologised to the staff for coming in right on 2 hours of collection time, but explained that my mum is terminally ill and needs net curtains to protect her privacy in her end of life accommodation from early afternoon today (she will need to be strip washed in bed and have her incontinence pads changed in bed - she will be 100 percent bedbound and cared for by carers). I don't want people seeing my mum naked whilst being bed washed, which is the reason why I needed the net curtains so urgently. I did my best to explain this to two members of staff at Dunelm Maidstone and I was really friendly and polite. I even offered twice to go and get the items from the shelf myself and cancel the click and collect order, but they refused to let me do this. The first member of staff was quite stroppy with me, and moaned at me for a good two minutes that I was early and shouldn't have come in before I received a collection ready email. The second member of staff literally raised her voice very loudly to me and ranted and raged that I'd turned up early. When I explained about my mum being terminally ill and apologised for being early, they both ignored me and wouldn't even look at me. They both just walked off after I'd paid for me order and didn't say anything in response to my apology or to me saying my mum is terminally ill. I was humiliated because they ranted at me in front of several other customers. I was so embarrassed and shocked by their raising voices at me and ranting at me that I almost burst into tears when I left the store. When I got to the end of life accommodation I had a big cry in private about how they'd spoken to me. No matter how early someone turns up for a click and collect order, they don't deserve to be ranted and raged at and embarrassed in front of other customers. I have complained to the customer service department online and all they said was that customers shouldn't turn up before receiving a click and collect ready email and that my complaint will be passed to the Maidstone store, but that they never give feedback on a complaint. Again, there was no apology or kindness from the customer service team either. I doubt I will ever shop in Dunelm Maidstone ever again. Heartless and rude and shouty staff.