The Furniture & Home Improvement Ombudsman Opiniones 

Do not waste for time engaging with this incompetent and totally biased body. You can unwittingly put your trust in this body, hoping for truth and honesty…….this body is a total waste of time.

Are they biased towards their members who pay their salaries and the complainant loses out? I don't know?

I contacted them as I used one of their members to buy and install an EV charger. Their website did not indicate that they sub contract the work, who in turn use sub contractors. On the day of installation I showed the electrician an area of the wall to avoid as it wiring underneath it. Unfortunately when I left the room, he drilled into it. Th wiring was patch up by making a joint which I don't feel safe with so I contacted the retailer who sold me the charger and was told that they replace the wire so it was in the same state as before it was drilled into, This took some time to sort, so I contacted the this Ombudsman. After a few days, the retailer contacted me to say that they had changed their mind and would not replace the wire. ( Just think aloud, did they change their mind as the Ombudsman had said they didn't expect the wire to be changed ? Don't know, I just have a suspicious mind !). After that the Ombudsman concluded as their final recommendation that the "fix" was OK, although the staff in charge said to me he did not have any knowledge of how electrics work. He also said that another re-test should be done at the time of the wall being sanded and painted. The retailed refused to do that, but the Ombudsman are not willing to enforce that. In my opinion do not use this organisation as you will hamper your chances of a ruling on your favour if you decide to go to court. The judges may think this organisations are correct, although the customers who are losing out may disagree. save the hassle/stress and ill health. I believe you are better off going straight to small claims court, you will get someone more sensible to make decisions.

Do not buy from scs.
Bought beige sofa chair recliners. In beige.got photo to evidence this.they delivered grey .been through customer services man came out with grey swatch said thos correct colour.he then showed me a photo he took in store which makes grey swatch look beige.obviously lighting is to blame but they wont accept this. Reported this to trade Ans standards and ombudsman. They are just unprofessional.do not buy there produc ts

They will do whatever they can to side with the furniture companies. Go through the process but know you will very likely lose even if your evidence is extremely strong. I am now going to small claims court.

This company is not impartial at all, their initial response said there was no proof I rejected the goods under the consumer rights act despite the fact I had provided evidence of this. When I pointed out that there was evidence and sent this again along with video evidence that the goods were still defective, they then changed their mind and said there was no proof the company received my rejection which is not a valid defence and would not be upheld in a court of law.

If I didn’t know better I would suggest this is indicative of bias towards retailers, who pay the furniture ombudsman, and this service is not impartial at all.

I was extremely disappointed with my experience of the Furniture Ombudsman.

I submitted a complaint regarding a rise and recline chair costing over £3,300 which began deteriorating in under two years. Throughout the process, I felt that key aspects of my complaint were not properly addressed, including concerns about the chair being described in a way that led me to believe it was leather, the apparent contradiction between a 3-year guarantee and an alleged material lifespan of only 2–5 years, and the suggestion that medication may have contributed to the deterioration despite no evidence being provided in my case.

My complaint was decided without any direct discussion with me, and I felt that greater weight was given to the retailer's explanations and a brief inspection report than to the wider issues I raised. When I sought clarification on points that did not appear to have been addressed in the decision, I was informed that the case was closed and would not be reopened.

I appreciate that not every complaint can be upheld, but I expected a more thorough consideration of all the evidence and concerns raised. Unfortunately, my experience left me feeling that the process favoured the retailer rather than providing an independent and balanced review for the consumer.

Our removalist company, Fox Moving and Storage Cardiff, did a poor job of packing our household goods and multiple items were missing and damaged. We paid for special packing of fragile items which they did not provide. They also sold us insurance from RCS that was clearly not fit for purpose.
We contacted the Financial Services Ombudsman who refused to help saying they don’t deal with moving companies. They recommended the Removals Industry Ombudsman who refused to help as Fox are not members of theirs. They recommended the BAR who use the Furniture and Home Improvement Ombudsman who refused to help as our dispute falls ‘outside of their remit’. A case of being passed from one to another with flimsy excuses amid very narrow remits!
As many others have observed the Ombudsman system is clearly not on the side of the consumers despite their rhetoric.

This Ombudsman is useless, that's why companies like SCS have loads of complaints and zero care for their customers.

Even if SCS (or anyone under their guidance) are at fault these guys will just rule in their favour. Look everywhere online and you will see the same about bad companies that have these as their Ombudsman.

Learnt my lesson - it's better to go for company reputation over going with a company that has a bad reputation and useless Ombudsman.

Hopefully they'll get a full review at some point and the task given to a company that can provide a morencompetent Ombudsman service.

Took 9 months to ignore almost the entirety of my complaint and get me less than half of what the company originally offered me. Absolutely useless corrupt nonsense.

Found in favour of the retailer. Even clear video evidence and a witness to the cause of the damage this organisation ruled agaist me. Further detection and I discover they are funded by the furniture retailers. Absolute shower. Dont bother with them. I am now taking the matter through the small claims court.

Absolutely a waste of time! Barrdale independent report listed 7 pages of faults with DFS sofa! The Furniture Ombudsman with a qualification of a History Degree decided the sofa has no faults and sided with DFS.
Did not read reports or emails obviously has no idea of Comsumer Rights Act 2015!
Don't waste your time!

Based on the good reviews on this page. I wish I’d had Matthew as my ombudsman it seems as mine was useless.

I have been fighting DFS for 2 months over a faulty dining table. They sent a technician out from Emmiera group who inspected and reported it was faulty and unfixable. This report suddenly changed when it reached DFS to say that I had accidentally damaged the table and even though I had signed and has a witness for the original report claiming the table was faulty. They didn’t care apparently that’s legal to change a professional report according to them?!

I tried to raise a section 75 claim with the bank as everyone says that they will help me however they advised they couldn’t since DFS had already said it was accidentally damaged so they were useless too.

I finally tried the ombudsman, thinking surely they can help me, I have a unfixable, faulty, unsafe dining table and a range of evidence from other customers experiences to evidence from Emmiera group who admitted to changing the report from the technician and not making me aware of it.

However my ombudsman just sent an email today (the first email I have received since raising my case a month ago) saying they have closed my case as they have no evidence of its fault and the process cannot be appealed

I had a very distressing experience with a furniture company after purchasing two sofas which proved to be unfit for purpose. After a number of visits to the store and many telephone calls and emails to the Customer Care Team to complain about the furniture and find a solution to the problem, they closed the case. I applied to the Ombudsman who took on the case, I am relieved to say.
I am deeply grateful to Matthew Dowdall who dealt with my complaint efficiently and with understanding and support. I am an elderly widow and was trying to deal with a very stressful situation on my own which caused me a great deal of anxiety. Matthew took time to explain everything to me and succeeded in reaching a resolution - I cannot thank him enough for his help and guidance.

I can not thank you or praise the furniture ombudsman enough. I bought an unfit for purpose lounge suite from Scs and just could not get any help or even an answer. Citizens advice gave me the ombudsman information. They emailed and took my case saying it may take 90 days. But 3 weeks later fully resolved returned and refundedTHANK YOU ombudsman thank you thank you!!!!

Waste of time. They take forever to get back to you and immediately side with the furniture company without giving you an opportunity to respond. Emails from a no reply email and no portal to follow up on.

Spent £7000 in a sofa from SCS which showed advance signs of wear on the seats in under 2 years and apparently this is fine as its not a manufacturing fault.

Told report from a technician for visited which was arranged by SCS as bible and the only evidence. If I knew that I would have paid for my own survey to be done. Waste of time. 100% going to side with furniture company. I don't think as a consumer we really have anyone to stand up for us.

I filed a complaint about Magnet (kitchen fitting) in August 2025, which included a stack of evidence demonstrating the risk to my life and home, damage to my furniture (hall way), along with inadequate and unfinished plumbing and electrical works, as well as parts of the kitchen unit. Despite following up with various emails and telephone calls for months, FHIO has still not responded properly.

I have had trouble with my dealings with Scs furniture suppliers since my suite was delivered in July 2025. Without the help of the furniture ombudsman I do not feel that I would have had the outcome that I did without having to go through court procedures.

They have yet again not followed their own procedure as they are meant to contact the complainant to obtain their views-this did not happen they have gone straight to report without even contacting me.

They have totally disregarded that the company actually LIED when they said they had contacted me about the furniture-THIS DID NOT HAPPEN.

They are a totally useless organisation it doesn't matter what you present they always side with the company-FACT

Took 2 months to investigate the fact we were sold a inferior sofa. Never conducted a full investigation, looked a few photos, did not contact me once in 2 months and then just closed the case siding with the retailer. DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME. Completely useless and biased.

A company supplied faulty goods and refused to refund the item until I returned it (even though they agreed that it was damaged).

The FHIO basically, without reading my evidence, agreed with the supplier, as they had 'offered me a store voucher' that I will never use!

Do the FHIO know anything about the law, specifically, the Consumer Rights Act? I think not.

A complete waste of time and effort, and now I have to take the suppler to court.