What will the Furniture & Home Improvement Ombudsman do?

Upon completing the Application Form the consumer will be asked to agree to us contacting you as the business about the complaint.

Once we have the Consumer Application Form and your response, we will pass your file to one of our Ombudsman 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.

We use an informal process of conciliation and assess all evidence provided by both parties. We will contact both parties to enable the complaint to be resolved quickly and informally. Initially we may be able to make a decision on the validity of a claim, recommend or uphold an offer which has already been made prior to our involvement or negotiate a settlement.

Where agreement cannot be reached or, in our opinion, there is insufficient evidence to allow for an initial decision, we may then formally adjudicate. All of our decisions and adjudications are binding upon you as the business.

This includes our view on the validity of the complaint and any action that should be taken to resolve it.