VICTIMS of a mobility-aid company that bullied old people into buying its wares say they are disappointed that two of the firm's bosses have had their prison sentences cut.

Salesmen working for Derbyshire-based REO Marketing were given a conman's "bible" that taught them to lie and play on people's emotions to get sales.

They would also stay for long periods in elderly people's homes until a purchase was agreed and charged up to 13 times the recommended price for products.

In November last year, Geoffrey Moore, the company's former sales manager, was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to nine charges of using unfair and aggressive sales tactics.

Former director Rodney Stone received a three-year prison sentence after admitting 15 charges.

But their sentences have now been cut by a third at London's Court of Appeal.

Three senior judges granted the reduction on the basis that Moore and Stone should have been sentenced for "neglecting their duty" rather than having an involvement in what their staff were doing.

One victim of REO was Margaret Brewin, of Riddings, whose daughter Helen said her mother had been traumatised by the firm in spring last year. She was called up to twice a day for two weeks until she agreed to buy a £4,500 massage chair.

Helen Brewin said her mother, then 80, was now wary of answering phone calls. She said the REO pair's original sentences had been "appropriate".

Mrs Brewin, of Quarry Road, Somercotes, said: "The directors of the company should have been fully aware of what their staff were doing."

Ernest Watson, 82, of Ashbourne, argued with a salesman from REO for more than three hours before buying a £2,000 massage chair. He agreed that Moore and Stone deserved their original sentences.

Mr Watson said: "They caused a lot of aggravation. It was not acceptable for them to have that man in my house for as long as he was. How can they not have known what their staff were doing?"

Moore, 48, of Prospect Road, Pilsley, and Stone, 64, of Bamford Avenue, North Wingfield, were prosecuted after an investigation by Derbyshire County Council's trading standards team.

Paul Niblock, who investigated the case, previously said REO made about 1,000 sales across the country – including 90 in Derbyshire – in which customers were "misled or defrauded".

A council spokesman said: "These are still significant prison terms and remain among the longest handed down following investigations by our trading standards team."

The Court of Appeal heard that REO had a net turnover of £1.6 million in 2010, before it was investigated by trading standards officers. Lawyers for Stone and Moore said they had been sentenced as if they were involved in the aggressive selling, rather than merely failing to rein in their workers.

Mr Justice Openshaw, sitting with the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, and Mr Justice Holman, agreed to cut Moore's sentence to two-and-a-half years and Stone's to two years.

He said: "The appellants were fortunate that the prosecution chose not to prosecute on charges of conspiracy to defraud which, if convicted on, maybe would have justified the total sentences.

"But the offences which they did plead guilty to, and the case on which they fell to be sentenced, are offences of neglect of duty. Dishonesty is not part of that."