Furniture Ombudsman

michael48

Has anyone used the Furniture Ombudsman and had an acceptable outcome?

Dolphin Bathrooms - yes we did ignore advice, yes we did ask them to fit a bathroom. They fitted one, had to rip it out and redo the complete fit again. Their design didn't work and had to be changed, they promised 9 days, and it took them almost 14 times as long. They promised peace of mind and a project manager - and didn't deliver either. They accused us of lying about promises and commitments they had made.

So we made a claim for compensation. To be fair they did offer some - but a very small amount that we felt was unrealistic so we went to the Furniture Ombudsman, and after 3 months of emails backwards and forwards the Furniture Ombudsman offered exactly the same amount. Interesting !!

Has anyone else used the Futniture Ombudsman and what was your result?

dmg24

I used the Furniture Ombudsman/ FIRA for a dispute with Tesco. They were very professional, and without a doubt they were independent. I received a full refund, but nothing for inconvenience etc (I did not expect anything).

michael48

to dmg24, thanks for the reply.
According to their terms we can claim for Disruption, angst etc - just waiting now for a final response from them regarding how they arrived at their decision.

dreamypuma

I think the "Furniture Ombudsman" Dolphin / Sharps / Moben refer you to is not FIRA (who are a highly respected organisation)

I seem to remember reading a while ago, the ombudsman that Dolphin refer customers to is virtually run / owned or funded by them.

It was a long time ago when I read this and it was on a website which specialised on Dolphin / Moben disasters.

fthl

they are part of fira, see their website. I can't post the link...

That said, I think they are funded by dolphin and moben etc, but then again the financial ombudsman is funded by the banks. In essence they seem to be a trade association so exist to promote the furniture industry. You'll need to decide if this is a problem, and I think that answer will depend on what they tell you. Proof is in the pudding, etc.

purplejac

Fira is an independant firm but are funded by several companys including the dreaded dfs, however they are very good, but what normally happens is you call them they send you out a form to fill in and then you pay for an independant report they will come out to your home and your dolphin guy would be there too and discuss the problems im presuming that they did come out and inspect the bathroom ?, also did you contact trading standards ? and also did you take lots of pictures ? if all else fails take them to the small claims court i think the limit for this is £3000, and costs about £45 to make a claim if its just compensation your after for disruption, although id say there was severe negligence in this case its usually worked out on a percentage of what the total cost was.

unholyangel

Small Claims court limit is £5000 AFAIK

fthl

Fira is an independant firm but are funded by several companies

I suppose this is the bit that gives me pause - these companies voluntarily fund them, unlike the financial ombudsman where companies are forced to. I then look at the companies involved, moben, dolphin, dfs and the suspicious part of my brain starts twitching....