My mother is 91, has poor eyesight and is developing dementia. Fourteen months ago, despite her condition, she was sold a three-year hire purchase agreement on a Citroën car with automatic transmission which she found confusing, and tinted windows which she found it hard to see out of.

She is now in a care home, has no driving licence, no insurance and needs money for her care fees. When I contacted Citroën Finance it asked for a payment of £2,855 to terminate the contract. When I said I thought this unreasonable it suggested I take over the payments and the car myself. I didn’t want it but reluctantly agreed.

But when it came to it, they told me this was not possible and that their call centre staff had misadvised me. Again they have insisted on the final payment. As my mother is confused and recently bereaved, I am not passing this request on to her. I have told Citroën Finance and the selling garage – Roy Tolley of Colchester – that I think they were irresponsible in setting up this agreement. I asked them to collect the car and cancel the agreement. When they refused, I returned the car, and it is now threatening to charge for storage. Can you help? RW, Nottingham

Was this is a case of a garage sales team taking advantage of a 90-year-old woman, or simply a case of staff carrying out a customer’s wishes and not discriminating against an older buyer? We don’t know what happened, but it seems odd that a lease would be offered in such circumstances – and even more troubling that the matter wasn’t resolved reasonably once your mother’s situation was pointed out.

Fortunately, after we interceded on your behalf Citroën has taken back the car, waived the final fee and removed any marks from your mother’s credit file – not that she is likely to be applying for credit any time soon. Citroën says: “If a customer’s circumstances change within the life of the contract, our normal processes allow us to take personal circumstances into consideration and we will always try to find a resolution to meet the needs of our customers.

“On this occasion unfortunately we didn’t get it right. We have taken action to find an amicable solution and to avoid this happening in the future.”

We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number