FAQs

TFO Frequently Asked Questions

What is The Furniture Ombudsman?

The Furniture Ombudsman provides a low-cost (and in many cases, free) independent service for dealing with disputes between UK furniture retailers and their customers.

The Furniture Ombudsman, originally known as Qualitas, was first established in 1992 at the prompting of the Office of Fair Trading to improve the standards and service offered by furniture and floor covering companies and to help to resolve disputes through the Alternative Dispute Resolution Service.  Retailers who support The Furniture Ombudsman follow the Code of Practice, which covers all domestic furniture (including fitted kitchen bedroom and bathroom installations) and floor coverings (sales for contract or office use are excluded). The Code sets out best practice principles to ensure high standards in product and service that will enhance customer satisfaction. The Code of Practice does not in any way detract from consumer’s rights in law but enhances them.

The Furniture Ombudsman offers an independent low-cost means of resolving complaints against retailers who are supporters of The Furniture Ombudsman, as an alternative to the county court.  As part of their membership contract, members agree to accept the decisions made by the service.

If you are in dispute with a retailer who supports The Furniture Ombudsman, and you have not been able to resolve your complaint with them, you can refer your complaint to The Furniture Ombudsman. Where it is not possible to resolve a complaint informally, we can investigate and, if necessary, formally adjudicate disputes.  This involves assessing the facts and reaching a decision, including where appropriate, outlining action to resolve the matter.

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Can we actually deal with YOUR complaint?

The Furniture Ombudsman is able to deal with your complaint if:

• You purchased from a retailer who supports the Ombudsman Scheme.

AND

• You have been through the retailer’s in-house complaints handling procedure. We cannot start to investigate your complaint until you and the retailer have had a proper chance to try and resolve the problem yourselves.  This means that you must have used the retailer’s in-house complaints handling procedure, or three months have elapsed since the date you raised your complaint with them (whichever is the sooner).

AND

• Your purchase was made within the last six years.

Please note:

Where your complaint is about a retailer who does not support the Ombudsman Scheme, we cannot investigate the complaint.  In these cases we can offer you our independent testing and inspection service, which may be able to determine whether you have a valid complaint in relation to their furniture.  However this is a technical opinion on the furniture purchase only and not a decision on what you may be entitled to from a legal point of view.  Full details of this service, and the charges payable, are available on request.

• We cannot normally investigate your complaint if you are a business purchaser (for example a consumer purchasing a fitted kitchen for business premises or where it has been purchased by a business or firm).  In these cases the complaint will more usually be suited to the county court.

• The Furniture Ombudsman process can make awards of up to £5000 compensation in total in any one dispute (in addition to the purchase price of the goods/services that were bought).  Claims for amounts in excess of that sum are better suited to a claim in the County Court.

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What product ranges do we cover?

• Beds
• Cabinet Furniture
• Carpets, floorcoverings and laminate flooring
• Dining and occasional furniture
• Fitted bathrooms
• Fitted bedrooms and bedroom furniture
• Fitted kitchens
• Upholstery
• Conservatories (in some cases)

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The Furniture Ombudsman cannot deal with your complaint if:

Broadly speaking, we cannot deal with your complaint if:

• Your complaint is not against a retailer who supports The Furniture Ombudsman.
• Your complaint is against a retailer who has entered Administration, Liquidation or who has ceased trading.
• Your complaint is not made as a private individual.
• Your complaint is being, or has been, dealt with by a court or similar body.
• Your claim is for more than £5,000 (this does not include the purchase price of the goods/services that were bought). So for example a consumer might seek to claim a refund of the purchase price (which might exceed £5,000) and compensation (which must not exceed £5,000).
• You refer your complaint to the Ombudsman more than six months after you receive the retailer’s final offer of settlement or answer.

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How can I complain to The Furniture Ombudsman?

Tell the retailer concerned that you have a complaint and want them to look at it under their internal complaints procedure. The Furniture Ombudsman will not normally consider your complaint unless you have tried this first. If the retailer has not dealt with your complaint within 3 months of receiving it in writing, then you may take it direct to The Furniture Ombudsman.

If the retailer has finished considering your complaint (they will normally tell you so) and you are still dissatisfied, you can contact The Furniture Ombudsman with details of your complaint.

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What will The Furniture Ombudsman do?

We will send you an Application Form and some Guidance Notes that will help you put your complaint to us.  You will also be asked to agree to us contacting the retailer about your complaint and getting information from them. 

When we receive your Application Form and the retailer’s response, we will pass your file to one of our Adjudicators who will undertake an initial case review – largely based on the documents and information sent to us by both parties, but we may make other enquiries. Only in a few instances will it be necessary for someone from this office to speak to you directly.

Our adjudicator will look at the history of the problem, and, if necessary, examine samples.  We may give advice to you or the retailer (or to both) to enable the complaint to be resolved quickly and informally.  Where this is not possible we will decide whether we need further information from you or the retailer, or if we need to test or inspect your furniture, before we can make an adjudication decision.  If we do, we will contact you and explain this to you. 

In the majority of cases that we deal with, a test or inspection report is not necessary.  Where we do consider that testing or inspection is necessary we will ask you to contribute towards the cost of any test or inspection that is needed, this will normally cost no more than £50 and this will be refunded to you if The Furniture Ombudsman upholds your complaint.

If you do not wish to have testing or inspection carried out we can make a decision based on the evidence that has been presented so far. Please note however that we will often recommend that testing or an inspection be carried out so that we have sufficient evidence to support a claim and without this we may not be able to support a complaint.

Once the Adjudicator has made a decision, we will send a written copy of our adjudication decision to you and the retailer. This includes our decision about the validity of the complaint and any action that should be taken to resolve it.

Any award that we may make in your favour is to compensate you for any loss you may have suffered and which we feel is appropriate in your particular case.

The decisions that we make are in relation to the dispute between you and the retailer.  We do not intervene where finance or credit agreements are concerned and our awards do not include these. Neither can we intervene in cases where, for example, you have paid the retailer’s fitter to do additional work for you.

So, we will seek to resolve your dispute with the retailer; we may make an award of financial compensation where appropriate; and if you accept our award, you do so in full and final settlement of your dispute.

This decision is binding on supporters of the Ombudsman Scheme and legally enforceable against them. The consumer has the right to pursue the matter further through legal channels if the outcome is considered unacceptable.

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Offers made to resolve complaints informally

We will always consider – and actively promote and support – any opportunities for reaching a settlement with the retailer you have complained about.

However, please note that if the retailer has already made you any form of financial offer by way of settling your dispute – be it of compensation or goodwill – that offer lapses on referral of your complaints to this office. We will make our own decision based on the information and evidence submitted to us, and that decision may award more or less than any sum already offered by the retailer.

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How long will The Furniture Ombudsman process take?

It is difficult to give any firm estimates as the time taken to consider each case will depend on the complexity of that case and how much the parties disagree. If we need to test or inspect furniture to reach a decision, or where the case is particularly complex or serious our process could take in the region of six months. However, where testing or inspection is not necessary, or cases are straight forward then our process can take as little as 8 weeks to reach a conclusion, but on average we would expect it to take in the region of 12-16 weeks. 

Due to the high volume of cases we receive it is necessary for us to deal with each case in the date order in which it is received. If your situation changes, or if there is any new information that you wish to be considered please write to us with this information, ensuring that you quote your case reference number and this information will be added to your case file.

Because of the high volume of correspondence sent to us, and number of telephone calls and emails received, we do not routinely acknowledge or respond to all of these at the time that they are received. You can expect to receive a response from us at the following stages:

• When we receive your application form
• When we have conducted our initial case review, if we decide we need further information from you, or need to get the furniture tested or inspected
• When we have made our adjudication decision

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What level of proof do I have to provide?

Please note that, even though we have accepted your complaint, this does not mean that we will necessarily support you.   That depends on the strength of your side of the case and what evidence there is to support it.

We will need to be convinced that any fault – in whole or in part – is the responsibility of the retailer. It will not be sufficient for you to merely make an unsupported allegation against a retailer.  We will want to see that there is some reasonable substance behind any allegation.  Any evidence that you can provide may substantially help your case.

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How will The Furniture Ombudsman judge my complaint?

The Furniture Ombudsman is a form of alternative dispute resolution. This means that whilst we are not the county court, we will decide cases along the same sort of principles as those used by the courts, taking account of your statutory rights and relevant consumer legislation, together with the requirements of The Furniture Ombudsman Code of Practice for Retailers.  Our awards are similar to those obtained by consumers taking their case to the county court.  Like the courts we will award compensation where appropriate, but we will also take a practical view of the situation and as a result may make awards that are different to your strict legal entitlement.

It is therefore very important that you state very clearly on your application form what you want done to resolve your complaint.

However, unlike in a court of law, we have no power to cross-examine witnesses under oath.  If one party says “white” and the other says “black” – and there are no other reasonable grounds upon which we can safely come to a decision on the matter - we may well not be able to come to a formal decision.   We will always try to use common sense and arrive at a decision based on what appears to be fair and reasonable in the circumstances.

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If The Furniture Ombudsman supports my complaint, what can The Furniture Ombudsman make the retailer do?

The Furniture Ombudsman will inform the retailer if he has breached The Furniture Ombudsman Code of Practice.  The purpose of this is to enable a retailer to review their procedures so that such problems can be reduced and prevented in the future.  In some cases, a retailer who is persistently breaching the Code of Practice may be reported to The Furniture Ombudsman Council who will consider whether any further action should be taken against the retailer.

As far as your particular complaint is concerned, The Furniture Ombudsman may make an award of financial compensation or make the retailer do certain things (such as repair or replace faulty products) in order to resolve your complaint.  The purpose of this award is to compensate you or solve a problem. 

Although we can make practical and financial awards, there are limits to what The Furniture Ombudsman can do. For example, we cannot force a retailer to deliver goods that they have not delivered, but we can advise you on whether you are entitled to any compensation for any delays, and let you know if you have the right to cancel an order.  We cannot force a retailer to provide explanations as to why something may have gone wrong, or make them apologise. Our obligation is to make a decision that we feel will resolve a dispute, and this decision will be similar to that which a Court would give.   We will help both you and the retailer to avoid the time and expense of formal legal proceedings and where necessary make a formal decision as to what should be done or what award should be made.

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How can The Furniture Ombudsman be independent?

The Furniture Ombudsman is overseen by two independent bodies, which ensure that it acts in the best interests of both the consumer and the industry. 

The Furniture Ombudsman Council acts in an advisory capacity to assist The Furniture Ombudsman in its role and effectiveness.  It comprises representatives from manufacturers, retailers and consumer bodies.  The Council reviews the operation of The Furniture Ombudsman in general terms, and this includes the dispute resolution service and the conduct of retailers and manufacturers who support the Ombudsman Scheme.

The Furniture Ombudsman Advisory Panel exists in order to ensure the decisions we make in individual cases are fair and impartial.  The Panel is currently chaired by a representative from Hertfordshire Trading Standards and includes a mixture of consumer representatives, retailers and manufacturers. The Panel regularly reviews a proportion of adjudications to ensure the decisions reached are fair and impartial; this includes monitoring the quality of our independent experts’ reports.  The Panel also reviews and updates the decision-making guidelines and principles upon which we base our adjudications.

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What if I do not agree with The Furniture Ombudsman’s decision?

The decisions made by The Furniture Ombudsman are not binding on consumers; this means that if you disagree with a decision then you are free to pursue your complaint through other channels, such as the county court.

We would advise that you seek professional legal advice before taking further action, for example by contacting Consumer Direct on 08 454 04 05 06.

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Does the retailer have to do what The Furniture Ombudsman says?

Yes.  If we make an award in your favour, it is binding on the retailer.  If you accept an award that we make, please note that you do so in Full and Final settlement.  In other words, if you accept an award, you are prevented from making any further claims for compensation against the retailer in relation to your complaint.

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What if I still don’t accept The Furniture Ombudsman’s decision?

If you reject our decision, it will lapse and you are free to do as you wish. If you wish to take legal action, you can do so. Your legal rights will not have been affected by our decision but you should be aware that The Furniture Ombudsman’s decision might be considered by the Court.

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Can I see details of the awards you have made in other cases?

No – our decisions remain strictly confidential between you, the retailer and us.  We will only disclose details of our decisions to The Furniture Ombudsman Advisory Panel or Council. We will not disclose any of the details to anyone else.

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How many consumers win their case?

This varies from year to year and the decisions we make depend entirely on the merits of each case.  The most recent figures we have show that we fully or partly supported approximately 60% of consumer’s complaints.

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