The Furniture & Home Improvement Ombudsman Opiniones 

The Ombudsman is not independent and therefore like all others that point out, they are a waste of time. The retailers you complain about pay this company, so of course why would they bite the hand that feeds them. You will never win and are wasting your time with them. If you have a complaint about the retailers you will have to go and see a lawyer and take them to court. Our claim response was severely lacking. The Ombudsman did not answer many of the points we raised. They don't apply the consumer rights 2015 act. And in fact totally ignore the act. They support the retailers, and why wouldn't they, the consumer does not pay their wages the retailers do. So without them the Ombudsman would cease to exsist. Dont waste your time with them, and see a lawyer instead.

Following on from their response to my review above. Just to point out, the outcome from them was a copy of what the retailer offered and the Furniture Ombudsman did not take into account any of our points. Nor answer any of them!! We spent many hours of wasted time putting together our case, while someone working their spent 5 minutes!!! I have raised a complaint with them, more wasted time!!! But they say even though with ALL THIER MISTAKES AND OMISSIONS!!!!! They will not look at it again and give us the full response we are supposed to have. This just proves they are the biggest waste of time, and their comments that they look at all evidence is just lies. Their response is all FALSE!!

After contacting the ombudsman I felt that I was being listened too at last. I had been hitting my head against a brick wall with Wickes customer care about my poor kitchen tiles. The ombudsman service was excellent and Danielle helped negotiate a fair compensation for me. I really appreciate her help

In the middle of having appalling situation with damaged couch delivered from DFS…contacted TFO…they say they’re impartial but basically agree with DFS…no mention of Consumers Right Act…just email stating…well…they’ve offered you repair…a bit of compensation…we feel that’s fair…meanwhile I contacted Trading Standards…they outlined Act…sent templates of letters to send & also stated keep in touch, if you don’t get response via or guidance we’ll help you escalate!
23/09/23…TFO responded on here with reply stating they’re dealing with issue…still waiting on reply From them…get the impression they’re a bit like DFS and other companies…more interested in keeping up appearances rather than actually dealing with issues???

Having bought two sofas from M&S in 2020 we were surprised that within a year the frames in both had started to fail. At that point M&S replaced both items of furniture, however within eighteen months the two seat cushions on the large sofa had deteriorated significantly.We raised this with Marks and they sent a technician who although cold see the deterioration, advised that as it was not considered a manufacturing fault there was nothing they could do.We queried this as the other sofa was still fine but always were given the same response that there was nothing they could do, however they did suggest we take our complaint to the furniture ombudsman which we did. It did take some time compiling everything but we felt strongly that M&S should replace the inner cushions. Our case was assigned to Danielle Turner who investigated further and came to the conclusion that replacing the cushions was ‘fair and reasonable’. It is reassuring that there is an unbiased third party that we could take our case to and would advise anyone to do the same. Thank you again to the furniture ombudsman and in particular to Danielle.

Had problem with a La-z-boy chair from SCS I tried to sort it out myself but was getting nowhere so contacted the ombudsman. I sent photographs for evidence . They didn't do anything more than I'd already done and just upheld what SCS had told them so total waste of time.

Absolute waste of time, honestly don’t bother, you will waste 6 months and nothing will be independent.

I found The Furniture & Home Improvement Ombudsman to be of enormous help. They were very prompt in their response to my application and the situation was resolved, to my satisfaction, only a few days later. I’m very grateful to them.

I wrote a complaint against DFS which was resolved by Tia. She was great at following up and got my issue sorted quickly. I had been chasing DFS for almost a year - would not have been able to get the issue resolved without the Ombudsman.

This is not an impartial company as they make out they are, or I can only suggest they have inexperienced workers handling people cases. They are failing many of people and it’s clearly noticeable as to why. As like others they don’t read or look at the evidence provided. They base their findings on what they read from your application which like others reported in their feedback are incorrect. You provide evidence and they ignore it but put on their findings that you never provided any. I can only say I used them because I was advised to before having to go down legal route. The person who was the ombudsman looking at my case was definitely incompetent considering the evidence that was provided and she just overlooked. Actually appalling is the furniture ombudsman and its not fit for purpose

Case Reference: Q137887

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME. It is very clear the Ombudsman does not want to bite that hands of the retailers or industry bodies that are feeding it.

The FHIO is too willing to listen to the retailer. In my case, it was mutually agreed that the retailer would compile a shortlist of three expert witnesses to inspect my faulty windows, but the retailer suddenly lost its enthusiasm and claimed it could only find one candidate and at a prohibitive cost of £7k. I knew this dog-ate-my-homework excuse was a blatant lie aimed at avoiding an independent inspection because I had already got three quotes at £1k each. Despite this, the FHIO readily accepted the retailer's bogus explanation and then even accepted an alternative report put forward by the retailer that was conveniently written by a business affiliate of the retailer, with no expert witness credentials and without an inspection of the goods! A truly independent party should surely challenge when presented with a clear pack of lies.

So I engaged my own Expert Witness to put together a court-compliant CPR35 report, and he confirmed in writing that my double glazing did not conform to the contract and that the retailer had failed to remedy despite SIXTEEN attempts to repair. I presented the Expert Witness report - which identified 45 faults to my windows, just 10 months after the retailer declared they were sound - to the FHIO and retailer. Instead of applying the Consumer Rights Act 2015 - which is very clear on the remedies and statutory rights in this scenario - the FHIO decided to give the retailer a SEVENTEENTH attempt to remedy rather than the refund I was legally entitled to.

I rejected this. Having wasted a year with the FHIO's process - and nearly reaching the end of the six year statutory limitation period - I then filed a case at the small claims court, waited another year for a hearing date, and eventually won a settlement. At the outset of the proceedings, the judge immediately warned the retailer that I had strong grounds to claim based on the evidence accompanying my witness statement (which was the same evidence provided to the FHIO), and informed the retailer it would be issued with a CCJ if we had to proceed to a hearing that day. Funnily enough the retailer then suddenly chose to settle with me, at a total of £7,655 plus £1,551 in costs. Not exactly trivial amounts, and it is striking the FHIO seems very reluctant to intepret consumer law as it was intended but a truly independent judge did.

In your dealings with the FHIO you will also find that all of your communications are restricted to their web-based secure messaging system (with a character limit), and if you're lucky you may get a response at some point. In the meantime, the retailer is provided with the e-mail address of the case officer from the outset and will be having an open dialogue with the Ombudsman. I learnt all of this by making a Data Subject Access Request to obtain all documents relating to my case, and discovered that the Ombudsman even circulated a Teams invite for a video call with the retailer (all arranged at the retailer's request!). How cosy. While my calls and requests for updates went unanswered.

Supposedly independent, but it's not what their actions seem to suggest at all. And they state the most complex cases can take up to 3 months, but mine took them over a year before which I was advised of their phony decision and then I had to pursue court action to get the correct outcome.

If you have to deal with this so-called independent Ombudsman, I would recommend you submit Data Subject Access Requests to see the ongoing communications they are having with the retailer. It is your legal right to obtain this information, and you will learn just how they operate.

Don't waste your money.
The retailer kept referring me to Furniture Ombudsman. I soon found out why. I paid the money and consequently paid the price.
The response to my review will no doubt be "we recognise that you may not have got the result you wanted".
I pre-empt that....what I wanted and thought I paid £150 for was an impartial, factual and considered report.
I received no such thing.
The report bore no relation to my complaint.
Avoid these people.

Vivien and Tia fought my case on my behalf with a successful outcome. All dealt with efficiently and professionally. 100% satisfied with the service I received.

Agreed a deal with DFS through these. I upheld my end and returned all goods. DFS did not pay the agreed amount and I have asked ombudsman for help and have not had a reply.

Concur with all the reviews below. Clearly didn't read anything sent before issuing a decision. Failed to reply to tens of emails at all and dragged out a case for a year and a half by not replying. Organisation not fit for purpose.

In response to the pasted response of the FHIO below, your decision and your decision-making process is completely irrelevant to your abject failure to communicate for a year and a half, which includes clearly not reading emails, not responding to their content, responding with misinformation, or not responding at all. I asked several months ago what was the status of your decision, even following your own investigation of my complaint you still haven't answered this basic question. I asked you several months ago to whom you are accountable, even following your own investigation of my complaint you still haven't answered this basic question. You advised you would be attempting to re-open my case, following my complaint you advised you would never do this. It is my opinion that this is gross misconduct.

++++ To start I will highlight the Head of Customer Services for the Dodgy Furniture Store, I am having issues with is also on the board for FHIO. +++++

FHIO are an absolute disgrace and definitely not impartial. Clearly do not read any of the correspondence submitted to them and the decision and their response confirm this.

Even after submitting further evidence of a report of a manufacturing fault, they have failed to act and failed to review the case.

Mis sold a sofa by a Dodgy Furniture Store (lets call it DFS for short) and duped into a false contract as item sold was not as described by salesperson, completely different manufacturer and construction. There is a law covering this, which the ombudsman should be aware of, to protect consumers.

Item was faulty after 4 weeks, (the foam failed in the seating area), repaired and failed again within 4 months and then repaired again and faulty within 5 months. Sofa only 20 months old.

Despite my protests that I did not want any further repairs and even asked for a refund and replacement in writing, which the ombudsman have as evidence, this was denied by the DFS. Correct me if I’m wrong Consumer Goods Act??? and Consumer Rights??? issues.

Made their decision in favour of the furniture company who actually said they offered me a free reselection which is completely untrue and which I made very clear in my case with a witness to confirm it. If you read the case properly I asked for a replacement or refund, both were denied by the DFS.

Manager of store insisted that they were entitled to make three repairs even although I asked for refund or replacement. A Breach of consumer rights and a blatant lie by the store manage which the ombudsman accepted, despite having evidence and not just verbal, to confirm it to be false.

FHIO ignored all these facts and the reply “we are unable to consider verbal testimony. This is because it is impossible to verify what either party may, or may not, have said. Not true, they took the word of the DFS. I have no written offer of a free reselection so where are the facts that it was ever offered? It was not!

A further quote - Please also note that the intention of all remedies is to place individuals in the correct contractual position - really? The contract was false at point of sale and was breached the by the DFS.

Further evidence was then gathered and I was made aware that the DFS had advised the FHIO that there was no manufacturing fault and the sofa failed due to how it was been used.

Is it acceptable for it to fail after just 4 weeks of use?

It has now transpired that the DFS were in fact in possession of a report which showed that there was a manufacturing fault. The DFS had this report from February 2021 but failed to share this with the FHIO when I raised my case in July 2023.

The FHIO now has this independent report confirming that there was indeed a manufacturing fault but are failing to act upon it.

Clearly the FHIO do take verbal testimony but only from their partners and not the customers who they are meant to be protecting from companies like the DFS.

This document is proof that they too have also been misled by the DFS.

How much more evidence does a consumer need to prove a case in their favour. All I wanted was a full refund, which was my contractual right. Nothing more.

Total waste of time and definitely not impartial, they are paid by the companies who are trying to rip us off and who we are complaining about. These negative reviews say it all. No point in their existence.

++++ To finally top it all, the Head of Customer Services for the DFS who is also on the board for FHIO and has failed to respond to numerous emails highlighting these concerns and issues raised.+++++

Ref: G152516 Gold Inspection (20.07.22) cost £660
Visit to inspect granite fitted by Marble4Life,The bar in front of sink did not match template. Should have been 100 mm across our bar measured 104 -108. Up-stands and sills after refitting were 10 mm lower than before. Check of Blanco sink - is it a steel brushed S/S sink.
Copy of template given to inspector on arrival. Inspector stated he needed to be alone whilst carrying out the inspection. When I returned I showed him the problem with the front edge of the sink with a long piece of perspex. This showed the front edge of the granite being out of alignment by 10 mm L to R, i.e. not 90 degrees. Shortly after this he left and we received his report several weeks later. I was very unhappy and shocked at his report. As a consequence I sent him photographs of the measurements I had taken of the granite which showed the granite was not at 90 degrees on the front edge. In his reply he agreed that the template did not match the granite and Marble4Life has also previously agreed with this. His view was that it was a machine fault. He also stated that he hadn't taken any measurements around the sink area which he had called the island. I found this unbelievable as this is where the whole problems lies. Neither the inspector nor Marble4Life had spotted the granite was not at 90 degrees.It ran out by 10 mm from L-R and 15 mm from left to the end of the drain grooves.
BLANCO SINK CHECK OVER - The inspector stated he thought it was a brushed S/S sink. After reading their sales literature and using the sink I am of the opinion this is a brushed polished S/S sink with a passivated coating which they have advertised in their literature. This coating is the cause of the scratching until it wears off. This is not a brushed S/S sink.
Summary - Marble4Life knew the granite wasn't right but fitted it. They stated they had adjusted the front bar to strengthen it - it was still within their tolerances of 3 mm. They also mentioned vibration from the CNC machine (also within the 3 mm limit).The reason the granite was lower by 10mm on the sills was because they had not replaced the spacers which they had removed when removing the old granite.
Review definitely not worth £660. Very little response from Ombudsman on these matters. Credit card company awaiting further info from FHIO.

Tia has been awesome, incredibly helpful, supportive and is a real credit to the Furniture Ombudsman. After many unsuccessful months trying to make contact with Sofology (horrendous experience) Tia took control and literally owned it, she really is a class act.

Having been messed around around by ScS for 6 months regarding fixing our electric reclining sofa and the issue still not being resolved, I contacted The Furniture Ombudsman yesterday via their online process. This morning I received an email reply stating that they would be contacting ScS to find out what they are doing to find a resolution. No more than 10 minutes later I was called by ScS head office with 4 options available to us. We have made the choice of choosing a new item at the store as a replacement rather than a refund or like for like swap as we see that as the best option for us when considering parts arriving from Italy or going somewhere else resulting in waiting for the same amount of time or a like for like swap potentially leading to similar issues, I have spoken to ScS inform them of that choice.
To say that The Furniture Ombudsman have been swift is very much an understatement considering it has been less than 24 hours since I contacted them and we are extremely grateful to them for this and so pleased that we have been able to reach a meaningful decision in order to stop going round in circles. Again, Thankyou so much.

TIA After takeing some time looking into our dispute with FAB furniture.we received a fair outcome on our side.we was very pleased with the decision.

Our case was handled by Tia who dealt with it in a professional and efficient way.

We have had a great result and thanks to Tia for this.