The Furniture & Home Improvement Ombudsman Opiniones 

So grateful for the Ombudsman taking on our case when we were refused a refund for DIY items which never arrived.
They kept me up to date, and resolved the dispute as I’m sure we wouldn’t have had such a speedy resolution, or any refund without them investigating.

Once FHI got involved. SCS started talking, Honestly don't think I would have got a resolution without FHI.
Hannah ( FHI Agent) conversed with every step, using a portal certainly made this easier.First Class Service.

I’m currently having my complaint assessed by the FHIO. I raised it with them in April - 8 months later, as well as an independent inspection many weeks ago, and still no adjudication. I was advised to expect it last week, and nothing came through.

I’ve chased 4 times, asking for an update, and nothing. I’ve even copied in their main mailbox, as this has previously prompted a quicker response (I’ve had to chase multiple times before, so while this isn’t new, it’s very disappointing).

As it stands, I have no idea if this will be sorted anytime soon. Their website states: ‘we aim to complete all cases within 90 days from receiving a complete case file’. I’m currently at about 240 days, now with my emails being ignored. I have been extremely quick to respond to any information required, and am now at the end of my tether.

When you suffer the most disgraceful customer service imaginable (courtesy of Wickes), you’d at least expect a bit of professionalism when you take your case to the Ombudsman.

I have asked for my complaint to be escalated - no response.

For an organisation dedicated to dealing with such complaints, ‘expectation management’ seems like a basic skill to help people who are already at the end of their tether.

I’m now facing a second Christmas with no use of my en-suite shower.

I see this as the only other way of getting a reply from FHIO. Fingers crossed.

Reference: Q162290

UPDATE: Aparently my case handler was off sick, and no one thought to let me know, despite copying in their main mailbox to all my chase emails. I’ve been told not to expect any further updates until the new year.

Always side with the retailer!
Poor service, and side with the company that are paying the wages of these people.
Its a big corruption.
I was awarded £22.00 for wasting 4x days annual leave and waiting 6months for a carpet to be fitted. AWFUL

Absolutely flawless from start to finish. My enquiry/ issue was resolved. Perhaps different companies would be more complicated to deal with in terms of refund/complaints but my experience was only positive.

"Update: jan 2024. i raised this issue in September 2023. I was ignored for 3 months but in December 2023 you can see FHIO's tardy and vague response below. Someone would contact me. Pull the other one. We are now mid January 2024. Not a squeak."

FHIO has no appeals process and does not share its "evidence" received from the "defendant" with the customer, prior to making its decision. So what the company writes could be pure fiction (as in my case).

Unlike the energy ombudsman, this ombudsman has no appeals process. And no-one marks their homework. One person is allotted the case and makes the decision. There is therefore no oversight and no accountability. Talk about a conflict of interest - the body is funded by its members. Green Retreats unfortunately falls into the furniture category even though it makes £40,000 garden offices and my complaint related to a point of property law.

The adjudicator at FHIO was evidently way out of her depth, plain lazy and also likely in the pocket of Green Retreats, who sent her a defamatory account about me but one that crucially lacked any supporting evidence. See separate review of Green Retreats to hear more about their defamatory account which was not shared with me until i sent a subject access request. And even then they withheld names. FHIO needs to up its game.

What is the point of this organisation? They close cases before speaking to you, do not bother to come out and look at complaint, just take the manufacturers/ suppliers (Leekes in this case) word that it is not their fault What a waste of time--might as well do away with this lot-- no help at all

Bought a sofa and chair through SCS, they should have been fitted with a high density foam and the sofa was sold to us as a perfect sofa for rough and ready homes, great with kids and pets.

After some time the springs have ripped through the inferior foam on both and has cut and scarred my daughters leg.

We complained to SCS, to be told they couldn't do anything about it, sometime passed and SCS called to advise they will send an engineer to inspect the damage, the engineer confirmed the sofa and chair weren't fitted with the high dencity foam and were completely irreparable and needed to be scrapped, we kept them to the point where we could replace them and then scrapped them on the advice we were given.

2 months after the visit and a further month since they were scrapped SCS called out of the blue to advise the parts were available to fix the couch and the chair, I raised a further complaint with SCS, obtained all the evidence to support a negligence claim including call recordings and put the complaint to the Ombudsman.

Their view on my complaint was holding me responsible for not chasing SCS for an update following the engineers visit and closed my case, regardless of their claims to reviewing all the evidence nothing regarding the serious nature of Health and Safety was considered, lack of evidence support from SCS regarding the Engineers visit was collected by them (SCS to this day haven't provided me with this claiming they cant get it) and considering my daughter is scarred this means nothing to the Ombudsman, SCS failed to communicate with me following the engineers visit yet this is deemed my fault and my problem?!

Total disgrace

I hadn't even received the feedback to the complaint which was alleged to have been emailed to me in AUG 23, I had to chase them, left a message on a voicemail and took them a further 3 weeks to call me, the Agent was very unpleasant and quite condescending resulting in me getting understandably angry.

Logged the complaint In July and took till November to get a response only for them to state I was at fault following the engineers visit, this is a clear Health & Safety issue and negligence against SCS and their Customer Support Team, the Ombudsman made no effort to review all the evidence

I had an issue with a 3 seater sofa I purchased from Furniture Village - the cushions went saggy after a few weeks, my case was taken on by the furniture & home improvement ombudsman who were able to resolve the issue, at first Furniture Village were going to only replace one cushion but there was a problem with both cushions, the case was argued on my behalf and both cushions were replaced.

So helpful and took my case on, had an issue with a major sofa supplier who wouldn’t respond to any calls or emails. This issue wouldn’t of been resolved without using the ombudsman

Total Waste Of Time. They have now closed my case for the 3rd time. Firstly because they couldn't be bothered, secondly because they contacted Dreams and they had no record of my claim, even though all my information (including the Dreams claim number) was on the email I sent. Thirdly because I sent a photo that was too zoomed in, so that they couldn't tell if I was doing something outside the photo, that would make the photo fake. In other words calling me a liar. I would imagine they just sit there all day drinking coffee, pulling reasons to close claims out of a hat all day.

What an insult to the general public and a waste of our money.
Administration is poor and replies for information requests ignored!
Pass masters at passing the buck.

I submitted an application on line to the FHIO along with the supporting evidence , emails, photos etc. This was an easy process . The FHIO responded fairly quickly to say they would support my case. They asked for a few pieces of further information that I uploaded onto their portal . The communication from FHIO through the whole process was regular and clear . They resolved my complaint to my satisfaction and in a timely manner . Hannah who handled my case was superb . Would use their services again should the need arise

I bought an Ottoman bed frame from the furniture village in 2019. The bed frame needed a repair due to structural fault I have been waiting for 2 years for furniture village to repair. I have been a target for slander. I made a complaint to obudsman to a young immature and nonfunctional person. From my experience the representative was taking sides with furniture village. Furniture village still hasn't repaired my bed frame and I have repeatedly to reach obudsman. This obudsman company shown no support and negligence. Poor service. Inexperienced and lack of intelligent.

Very helpful service. The process takes time, but I am very happy with the report they provided me to support my claim.

We received contact from the FHIO on the 11th July 2023 regarding a complaint made against us about some works carried out to someones home.
The person who raised the complaint was unknown to us but we did provide information about the firm who we knew had carried out the works. The accuser was trying to involve us in an attempt to leverage compensation from the other company.
We explained all of the facts in detail to the handler without response. Since this time we haven't received any further contact. We have chased for updates on many occasions but they fail to respond. We have been left in limbo not knowing if our case is open closed or lost.

I had a dispute with Sofology due to a broken sofa dispute had been going on for a year or more I contacted the furniture ombudsman service with my problem using their online form , so easy to use and within a few days they had confirmed my issue had been resolved and I got the refund I had been waiting for .

The FHIO are a complete waste of time you might as well not bother utterly useless and NOT IMPARTIAL. The Furniture industry fund their existence. Without ruling in the favour of in my case SCS and MALMO flooring the FHIO would fail to exist. So they will NOT as such bite the hand that feeds them. I will now take my complaint to Trading Standards and the ASA for false and dishonest advertising

I have now taken my complaint to the ASA for dishonest advertising and to Trading Standards.

I provided numerous evidence against SCS and the purchase of some substandard flooring several more negative reviews and they DID NOT upheld my complaint.

My advice would be if you purchase from SCS MALMO flooring it is best to rip it up and take it to the supplier purchased from and place it on the counter because they come up with ANY excuse if they inspect it not to issue a refund or any sort of solution. They don't even replace the faulty parts of the flooring. For example

They state the flooring is durable and scratch resistant good for pets. Yet when scratched they then say pets should walk on it only at a set speed.

They say don't lay the flooring near windows yet show in the glossy brochure a picture of the flooring put down by a patio door.

They say it's easy to lay it yourself DIY but then say that the gaps are not the right size to the millimetre.

The FHIO ARE TOTALLY BIASED DONT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THEM.

They should be disbanded and funded by a consumer credit Watchdog who are impartial.

I have taken two valid complaints to the FHIO provided evidence both times on expensive items a kitchen and flooring and both times they ruled in the favour obviously of the seller.

THE FHIO ARE A USELESS WASTE OF TIME PROBABLY ON A MASSIVE SALARY FUNDED BY THE FURNITURE TRADE. WHO ARE THE GOING RULE IN FAVOUR OF NO GUESSING THERE!!!

I have now given up on the ombudsman, as they never reply to my emails. Very poor service. Complained to them regarding my Wickes kitchen, and the poor installation service I received. They keep telling me that someone will contact me, and then they never do. Complete waste of time.

We have bought Bed and Dining Table from Furniture village. Soon discovered that Dining table is faulty and making lots of noise when you put something on it. Tried to resolve with Furniture village and they came 4 times to fix but the issue was not fixed even after 10months. Same issue with Bed, whose scissor arms broken on light usage. Furniture village failed to provide broken parts even after 5 months of waiting. So I escalated the issues to the Furniture Ombudsman, they followed up with Furniture Village and Furniture Village agreed to do replacements. The dining table got replaced and waiting for the Bed Replacement. The whole process was smooth and worth the wait. Thank you Tia for resolving the issue.