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Rip Off Britain - Season 18 Episode 3 - Claim Denied Due To Home’S Past Building Work
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00:00Today, can you trust your home insurance?
00:03Well we meet the couple whose £10,000 claim to fix a bathroom leak was rejected because
00:09they were with a different insurer when the dodgy work had been carried out five years
00:14earlier.
00:15I'm quite savvy, I keep a lot of the information but I don't tend to keep a home insurance
00:19or any other insurance that we have from years ago, why would I do that?
00:23Plus claims of sinking sofas from SCS.
00:27After just four months this couple say their £2,500 suite is too uncomfortable to sit
00:33on but neither the warranty nor the protection plan will pay out.
00:38They sent an inspector out who said there was nothing wrong with it.
00:41More or less told us that we haven't walked after it which was really hurtful.
00:46Always on your side, this is Rip Off Britain.
00:57Hello and a very warm welcome to Rip Off Britain HQ here in Salford.
01:02Home to the team that goes into bat for you when it seems no one else will listen.
01:08Coming up today, the mobility furniture specialists who left vulnerable customers without the furniture
01:14they needed or indeed the thousands of pounds that actually paid for them.
01:18As of today, we still have no SETI and no compensation in the bank.
01:26I am frustrated and fed up to the back days.
01:30Well as our team started to investigate that particular case, we discovered a confusing and
01:35murky set up with dozens more unhappy customers including television presenter Pam Rhodes and I'm
01:42pleased to say she's going to be with us here in HQ later on.
01:45Now I love this programme because every single time I learn something and this is something
01:50new on me.
01:51So you've both heard of insurance companies turning down health or travel claims because
01:55of customers pre-existing conditions.
01:57Yeah.
01:58Yeah?
01:58We all know about that.
02:00Have you heard of them turning down a claim on a home insurance because of a pre-existing
02:05condition?
02:06I'd never heard of it.
02:07Never heard of that, no.
02:07Neither had this couple we're about to meet.
02:09It's landed them with a £10,000 bill to fix damage they thought would be covered.
02:16Hello.
02:18Come on in.
02:19This is David and Jan Leak's forever home.
02:22This was one of the first rooms that we did so we ended up with a new kitchen.
02:27We ended up, yeah.
02:28The retired couple bought the four bed detached property in Bishop Auckland in 2020 and began
02:34doing it up that same year.
02:36One of the biggest jobs of the whole £60,000 renovation.
02:40The new main bedroom.
02:42Was when Jan and David installed a wet room style bathroom.
02:46So this is a huge rain shower which when it rains, boy does it rain.
02:51At first, the wet room was a little slice of luxury for the couple.
02:55But by the summer of 2025, the pummeling from the power shower started to take its toll.
03:02We noticed that fairly large chunks of grout were coming out of the joints and water was
03:07escaping down them.
03:09An initial attempt at repair failed almost immediately.
03:13Worse still, the company that installed the wet room had disappeared.
03:17Not answering their phones, not answering any emails.
03:21So as far as I know, they're out of business.
03:24Stuck, David and Jan submitted a claim to their home insurer, Direct9.
03:29And during a phone call with the company, the call handler honed in on one detail in particular.
03:35He asked me, did I remember who we were insured with when the work was actually done?
03:42David didn't.
03:43It was five years ago after all.
03:45I've changed insurance probably four times since then.
03:48And so I couldn't remember who we were insured with five years earlier.
03:52And I certainly couldn't remember what the policy number was.
03:55And that was bad news because Direct9 said it was that insurer that would be responsible
04:00for covering the claim.
04:02And as he explained in great detail, they had no responsibility for that particular thing
04:08going wrong because it went wrong when it was first put in.
04:12And if he could remember who your insurance company was when that happened and particularly
04:18what the policy number was, I can go to that insurance company and legally make a claim for that work
04:24to be done.
04:25Direct line pointed to its terms and conditions.
04:27So David checked for himself.
04:30Now, there's 60 pages of bracket small print.
04:34And this is on page 49.
04:35It talks about pre-existing damage.
04:37Just read what it says.
04:38We don't cover any pre-existing loss or damage that happened before your cover started.
04:44And that's what I was told.
04:48It was a revelation that hit David with all the angry force but none of the rejuvenation of a particularly
04:56vigorous power shower.
04:58I've never ever come across that before because you wouldn't think about if something goes wrong in five years' time
05:04that you'll need to refer back to that paperwork again which you've thrown in the bin many years earlier.
05:09And because the damage hadn't been apparent until after they'd taken out the direct line policy, David believes it should
05:16cover the repair work.
05:18We took this policy out in May.
05:20That damage started to manifest itself in July.
05:22So a couple of months after we took the policy out is when we started to see the damage.
05:27So there was no pre-existing damage.
05:29Faced with stumping up the cash to sort out the wet room themselves, the couple are concerned about just how
05:35extensive the work might be.
05:37The subfloor is probably not balanced properly and that is why we're getting all this cracking of the tiles outside
05:43the shower.
05:45They've asked local builder Paul West to provide an estimate for the work.
05:50Paul?
05:51Yes, Dave.
05:55Time for Paul to reveal his findings to David and Jan.
05:59The main issue is the fall that you have that goes from one end of the shower tray to the
06:05other end should be ten to fifteen millimetres from one end into the drain.
06:08You've got about two millimetres, which is why it's not draining away.
06:13I would also say that they've used the wrong sort of grout, so realistically you're going to need to retile
06:18an entire shower area and the whole bathroom floor.
06:21You'd probably be looking at ten thousand plus.
06:25You may even get up to sort of the fifteen sixteen thousand pound mark if it's done extensive damage underneath
06:30the floor.
06:31Wow.
06:31Well, we knew it was going to be expensive, we didn't think it was going to be that expensive.
06:37Their costs the couple will have to cover themselves unless they can find out who their old insurance was with.
06:43And David feels that the very possibility of a situation like this needs to be made clearer.
06:49I'm assuming that all other home insurance providers have got very similar wording in the body of their document.
06:57It should be much clearer.
06:59Say something about, this home insurance only exists for the period that you're insured with us.
07:03Please keep this document in a safe place in case you need it in future.
07:07And I think it should say that, and that's disappointing that it doesn't.
07:12Bye-bye.
07:13Bye.
07:13Bye.
07:13Bye-bye.
07:14Bye.
07:17I'm with producer Katie Saatchi right now.
07:19I can really feel for David and Jan and see why they think this is unfair.
07:23I know you've been looking into it.
07:25What have Direct Line said about this case?
07:27Well, Direct Line told us it appreciates that this must be a distressing time for David and Jan,
07:32and it sympathises with them, but it said that, as we heard in the film,
07:36the underlying cause stems from the original installation,
07:40which took place before they took out the Direct Line policy.
07:43The insurer also said that home insurance policies are designed to cover specific events,
07:49and they do not cover the cost of putting right poor workmanship,
07:54which it said is standard practice across the industry.
07:57I know you've checked that.
07:58So tell us about the rest of the industry.
08:00Is it standard practice?
08:01Well, it is very common.
08:02We contacted some of the biggest home insurance providers about their policies,
08:07and of the five that responded to us, so Admiral, Allianz, Hastings Direct,
08:12NFU Mutual, and of course, Direct Line, nearly all of them agreed that poor workmanship is generally excluded.
08:19However, NFU Mutual said it would consider the circumstances of the claim,
08:25whether that is clearly attributed to those previous works, as well as the length of time that has passed in
08:30between.
08:31And Hastings Direct said it would need robust evidence to decline a claim due to poor workmanship,
08:37where problems arise years later, and the workmanship has demonstrated durability over time.
08:44I know you've looked at it in more detail.
08:46So talk about these pre-existing damage before you've taken out that policy.
08:50Do they treat this in the same way?
08:52Well, the overall picture was that you probably wouldn't be covered by your current insurer,
08:57and instead you would be redirected to whoever insured you at the time that this problem can be dated back
09:03to.
09:04Which is what has happened.
09:05Exactly.
09:06But Hastings Direct said if a customer has been covered for nearly a year or more,
09:10and makes a claim, it would most likely be handled by them.
09:14Mm-hmm.
09:15Admiral also stated it may help with the claim if it's unclear when the damage began.
09:21And Allianz said it would depend on the type of damage and the specific circumstances surrounding the loss.
09:27And then this is really relevant to David and Jan's case.
09:30NFU Mutual said that they consider the date of loss for a claim to be when the damage is discovered,
09:36and therefore such a claim would be considered as long as the customer wasn't previously aware of the problem.
09:43So much to think about. Katie, thank you very much indeed.
09:45Armed with all of that insight, I'm going to try and find out what it means in a practical sense.
09:50I'm joined by Adam French from comparison site Money Facts and solicitor Denise Nurse.
09:54Adam, first of all, it's easy to see why David thinks this is unfair.
09:59Tell us from your opinion. What do you think?
10:01David has absolutely every right to feel really hard done by here.
10:05So I think you've got a nasty combination of a couple of little known exemptions within home insurance.
10:10So pre-existing issues.
10:12You can think of that similar to things like travel insurance, for example,
10:15where you have to declare pre-existing medical conditions.
10:18And then similarly, you've got this issue with poor workmanship,
10:21and that's often exempted by home insurers as well.
10:24But if you don't know about it, you're going to be pretty miffed.
10:26If he'd stayed with the same insurer all this time, the claim would have been easier.
10:30But we're always sort of encouraged, aren't we, to swap, to switch.
10:34Should we be considering this before we switch?
10:37Generally speaking, if you want to save a few quid, switching home insurer is a really good idea.
10:42But you have to make sure you're really clear and upfront with all of the information about your property.
10:47You omit anything by accident, that could be held against you when you go to make a claim as well.
10:51So yes, switching can be a good idea, but really it's about getting into the detail of the policy as
10:56well.
10:57Because as we've seen, it can vary so much from insurer to insurer exactly what they'll cover you for.
11:02So don't just look at a headline price. Look at what you're being covered for.
11:05And that means digging into some slightly tedious documents, I'm afraid.
11:08There are so many kind of key phrases, Denise, here, including poor workmanship, pre-existing damage.
11:14What about people finding themselves in a similar situation? What steps should they be taking?
11:20I feel for David in this example as well, because you've gone to the original source, don't exist.
11:25You've gone to your insurance. A couple of things that came up there.
11:28The insurers, when they came back, have talked about a specific event would be covered.
11:33And I think that's interesting here because there's the poor workmanship,
11:37but then there's any damage and consequential damage, we would call that in legal terms, that's happened because of that.
11:44So I'm curious about what damage has been caused to their property.
11:48For example, have the leaks gone into the ceiling and damaged carpets or walls or something like that,
11:55which might constitute a specific event and might be worth having a further discussion with his insurers about.
12:01So that might be worth what David picking up that conversation with his insurers and say,
12:05well, actually, if he can prove there is actual damage, maybe that might be a different conversation.
12:10Yeah. And that might bring down some of that overall costs of repair that he is looking at.
12:14And I think for anyone who's going through this, it's the usual.
12:17It's like get evidence. So be taking photos, date stamp it, put that all in writing and share it with
12:23the insurers.
12:24So if there is damage, collect all of that evidence. It could be really useful for you.
12:29And I know the other issue he's got is, I mean, he's been told to go and look for his
12:33previous insurer and quite rightly said,
12:35I don't keep all of that paperwork. Even if you haven't, though, in this day and age, checking your emails,
12:41going through, like doing a search for policy might help you find it.
12:45Actually ringing your bank and seeing if they can see who you were making payments to.
12:49Good point.
12:49Yeah. So then you can try and work it out from that way and then have a conversation there.
12:54You're going to have to be a bit of an investigator, I think, to track down.
12:57And the best thing here is to keep that dialogue going, I think. Talk to the insurers.
13:01Thank you both very much. Sounds like I better go home and do my filing tonight.
13:06We'll put all that advice on our website, bbc.co.uk slash ripoffbritain. Thank you both very much indeed.
13:13When we spoke to the Association of British Insurers about all of this, it told us anyone discovering problems with
13:19their home should contact their insurer as soon as possible so that they can assess the situation and explain your
13:26cover.
13:27The ABI recommended that everyone keeps records of previous insurers as they may be responsible for a claim if your
13:35policy was with them when the damage first occurred.
13:42Time now for our advice clinic and we've been on the road to bring the best consumer advice.
13:47So you need to basically gather as much hard evidence as possible.
13:52If something does look a little bit too cheap, there's probably a good reason for it.
13:56To you.
14:00Today we're in South Shields with two of our very best experts, Sarah Pennells and Nicky Stockford.
14:06The wonder women are on it.
14:12We're setting up shop in the heart of this historic coastal town, which sits at the mouth of the River
14:18Tyne.
14:19And as we settle into a comfy spot in the bustling Ocean Road Community Centre, we're joined by Sean and
14:26Elaine Turton from Yarm.
14:28In January 2025, after their 20-year-old sofa began showing its age, they decided it was time for an
14:36upgrade, choosing a brand new three-piece suite from SCS.
14:40We thought that they were a reputable company because we've seen them all over the place, so we had no
14:47worries about buying from them.
14:49The couple chose this cream three-piece leather suite, complete with electric and manual recliners, costing just under £2,500.
14:59They paid a £250 deposit and set up a monthly finance plan to cover the rest, along with taking out
15:06an extra furniture insurance policy.
15:10The sofa arrived in May 2025, and Elaine and Sean were initially very happy with it, but then everything changed.
15:20A nice creaking suite, leather's all gone, cushions have collapsed.
15:26In just four months, the couple say the furniture had deteriorated and become extremely uncomfortable to sit on.
15:32It seemed to go off to one side, and I have a funny back and it was giving me sciatica.
15:39And the leather, it just looks like it's stretched and it's really, really baggy.
15:46The couple believed their manufacturer's warranty and the £50 they paid for the extra furniture insurance policy would protect them.
15:54So, they contacted SCS.
15:57We asked for a replacement or a refund.
16:03They sent an inspector out who said there was nothing wrong with it.
16:06More or less told us that we haven't looked after it, which was really hurtful.
16:10We hadn't followed the care plan, and as such, they didn't think that it was a manufacturing fault, and so
16:18they'd closed the case.
16:20The extra insurance cover they purchased only kicks in after the 12-month manufacturer's warranty expires, which means they're not
16:29covered.
16:30I'd like them to take the sofa away and give us our money back so that we can go and
16:36buy a sofa from somewhere else.
16:38Because it is so uncomfortable, I don't want to keep it.
16:44Meeting with Sean and Elaine to dig into the details are consumer champion Sarah Pannells and Ripoff Britain producer Liz
16:52Martin.
16:53I think what's really interesting about SCS for the Ripoff Britain team is that we hear from lots of people
16:59like you.
17:01So, we've had 80 complaints in the Ripoff Britain inbox in the past 12 months.
17:06What are they actually complaining about?
17:08It's often bad customer service, in their opinion, late deliveries, and simply what they are arguing is poor quality.
17:17As Liz dashes off to another case, Sarah wastes no time in dishing out the advice.
17:23So, just give us a little insight into how stressful this has been.
17:27It has been very stressful and being told by the company that you're not taking care of your furniture, which
17:34we always have done, it's quite insulting and upsetting and I did get very stressed.
17:41What do you make of this?
17:42The law says when you buy something it's got to be fit for purpose, it's got to be as described
17:47and it's something called the Consumer Rights Act and it gives you very good rights if you buy something.
17:52So, you said you had your sofa, was it for longer than six months or shorter than six months?
17:57It's just over.
17:58While the couple noticed the fault after four months, they thought it might improve and waited two more months before
18:04going back to SCS.
18:06If you buy something and it develops a fault within six months of you buying it or getting it delivered,
18:13you know, whichever is later, then the onus is on the company you bought it from to prove the problem
18:18wasn't there when you bought it.
18:20You know, you got in touch with them just after six months, so in that case, it is down to
18:24you to show there was an ongoing problem, not something that was wear and tear.
18:29Obviously, you want a sofa to last, you spent two and a half thousand pounds on it.
18:33Now, companies can say that we don't accept this as a complaint because we think you have treated it badly,
18:40but not something like a sofa where you're just sitting on it, you're using it normally.
18:44Where have you got to now? Where are things since you complained?
18:48They more or less washed their hands of us, didn't they?
18:50Yeah, we got a standard letter saying, very sorry, but there's nothing wrong with your suite.
18:56So, we contacted the finance company who we borrowed the money to pay for it and actioned a section 75.
19:06So, we're still waiting.
19:08Apparently, that's going to take up to eight weeks.
19:10If the in-store finance company doesn't find in your favour, then you've got a couple of options.
19:17One is you can take that complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service because companies that provide credit are covered by
19:25this free-to-use Ombudsman Service.
19:27But I would also go online, it's called the Furniture and Home Improvements Ombudsman, and they've got a section on
19:35their website for consumers, and you can make your complaint online and say exactly what you've told us about what's
19:42happened and what you want to have done.
19:44So, Sean and Elaine leave the advice clinic with two potential courses of action if their section 75 claim isn't
19:52successful.
19:54And do let us know how you get on. Thank you both for coming in, and thank you, Sarah, for
19:58all that advice.
20:00Thank you for your help. Thank you.
20:03Well, since filming, Sean and Elaine's application to the credit provider for a section 75 refund has been rejected on
20:12the basis that no manufacturing faults were found during the independent inspection.
20:17When we spoke to SCS about their case, it said the inspection of their sofa was carried out by a
20:24highly experienced technician from a third-party company who found the product was performing as expected, but that, as we
20:32heard earlier, the care guide had not been followed, and this was the cause of some of the perceived issues.
20:40SCS said that a claim under the manufacturer's warranty would not be valid because the inspection could not find a
20:46fault with the sofa, and SCS confirmed that claims can only be made on the furniture insurance policy after 12
20:54months.
20:56SCS reiterated that Sean and Elaine are free to have their complaint impartially reviewed by the Furniture and Home Improvements
21:04Ombudsman.
21:04SCS also told us all its products are highly tested to ensure they meet quality standards, adding that it takes
21:13all complaints and feedback seriously, ensures they are investigated thoroughly, and that this insight is used to make improvements.
21:24Well, if you've got a problem and you think our experts can help, it could be you in our advice
21:29clinic next time.
21:30To tell the team all about it, you can send us an email.
21:34The address is riffoffbritain at bbc.co.uk, or send us a WhatsApp, the number 0330 678 1321.
21:46But now, it's time to get answers to your questions back in HQ.
21:55So, this is Odenise Nurse's Bank. Nice to see Odenise there.
21:58And we're also joined by Consumer Rights Brain Box. It's Martin James.
22:03So, Martin, this is the first one for you.
22:05It's from Koshura Hackett from Birmingham, who sent this message.
22:09Last June, I had a medical emergency and had to pull over into a box lane.
22:14For doing this, the council sent me a parking ticket, which I appealed.
22:18They refused my appeal because it was out of time.
22:22I sent them four letters from the Royal Mail confirming that my mail had been delayed, and they still refused
22:28to consider it.
22:28I appealed again because I had had a medical emergency.
22:34Later that day, I'd also had a stroke and ended up in hospital, but they refused to consider any representations.
22:41Now, my question is, if people need to pull over for a medical emergency, and the councils have removed curbs
22:49for bus lanes, what should one do?
22:52Well, it depends, in terms of appealing these fines, where you go.
22:57You either go to your local council, or you go via the police.
23:01It will say on the ticket what the appeals process is.
23:04Now, the good news is, through the council, you can take it to the next level.
23:07There are appeals processes that you can go through.
23:10But the central issue here, medical emergencies, it's just ridiculous that we should be in this situation a little bit
23:17more common sense and some compassion.
23:18We should never be in this position.
23:20If you have the medical evidence that this actually happened to you, surely that should overwrite whichever company you're going
23:27back to.
23:27Well, these are public charges.
23:29These are charges applied by the council or by the police, and they often enforce them a lot more rigorously.
23:35But there is no reason why this can't be waived.
23:38Well, Denise, how about this one for you?
23:41Helen Keith says she's having problems with a parcel, which she thinks might have been stolen from her doorstep.
23:46She says the driver was supposed to leave it in a safe place, but when she got home, it wasn't
23:51there.
23:52And now neither the delivery firm nor the retailer she bought the product from seem to want to help her.
23:57So what can she do?
23:58So just to break this down, the relationship and the contractual agreement is with the retailer.
24:05That's who you take the dispute to.
24:07So go to their complaints process, follow that procedure.
24:10Slight complication here, I think, is that it sounds like she may have dictated where the safe place was for
24:17them to leave the parcels.
24:19And once you do that, you kind of enter a bit more of a grey territory because you've given them
24:24explicit instructions about where to leave it.
24:26And then if something happens to it, you may find yourself liable.
24:30I think leaving it behind a bin or somewhere that other people can access isn't a safe place.
24:35So if in doubt, just don't take that option.
24:37Great advice.
24:38And thank you both.
24:39Now, as you get older, you might start to need a bit of help getting around or some furniture at
24:44home that can keep you more comfortable.
24:46And when it comes to that sort of specialist kit, you'd be wise to turn to an expert.
24:51But be very careful how you choose that expert, because even though the company in this next film seemed to
24:58be the real deal, things began to fall apart.
25:01And dozens of people were left thousands of pounds worse off and without the furniture that they really wanted and
25:07needed.
25:10Mobility.
25:10It's a challenge for many of us as we get older.
25:13But there's an entire industry dedicated to making things easier.
25:18It's a business worth hundreds of millions of pounds in the UK alone, covering everything from mobility scooters to stairlips
25:25and specialist furniture, all of which is carefully designed to boost comfort and independence.
25:32A nice cup of tea.
25:33Yeah, it's a very nice cup of tea, isn't it?
25:35For Norman and Sally Craddock from Suffolk, it provided a lifeline in Norman's hour of need following an accident.
25:43I got to the top of the stairs before bags of shopping and suddenly I fell backwards very fast and
25:54tumbled down the step, bashed my head, fell onto my side and I was in so much pain.
26:03Norman cracked six ribs and when he came out of hospital, he was keen to do everything he could to
26:09speed up his recovery.
26:11The armchairs we had weren't comfortable.
26:14I couldn't push up on my arms to lift myself up, the same as my wife, she couldn't do it
26:21either.
26:22So we decided to get some mobility furniture to ease our muscles and our well-being.
26:32So when the couple received a leaflet through their door from a company called the Mobility Furniture Company, offering a
26:40range of chairs and sofas, well, it looked just the job.
26:44In October 2024, the couple arranged for a company's salesman to visit.
26:50Salesman was a little bit pushy, but I thought, well, some salesman do carry on like that.
26:56She said, we can have it all set up for you before Christmas.
27:00The couple signed on the dotted line, paying £9,540 for two dual motorchairs and a static settee, with a
27:10deposit of £4,770 paid up front.
27:14It took a lot of our savings we had, but in the long run, it looked like it's going to
27:19be well worth it.
27:20It will help us to live a little bit longer.
27:25But in November, a letter arrived saying the order had been delayed and now wouldn't be ready until January, much
27:32to Norman's dismay.
27:34I'm disappointed with them, so annoyed they're not keeping to their promises after confirming that all the material was in
27:42stock here.
27:42And he was even more cheesed off when, on New Year's Eve, the Mobility Furniture Company called to ask that
27:49the remaining balance of £4,770 be settled.
27:54So he complained.
27:55I said, well, I'm not happy with you lot.
27:59I said, I'm not paying you the balance until you give me compensation for the delay anyway.
28:07The company agreed to pay £400 in compensation, and so the couple settled the outstanding balance of just under £4
28:14,400.
28:16In January, the New Year brought the new furniture.
28:20Well, some of it.
28:21They turned up with two recliner chairs.
28:25So I said, the two and a half seat at static settee?
28:28Oh, there's nothing on here about a settee.
28:32On top of a missing sofa, one of the chairs was also the wrong model.
28:37Rather than the dual motor chair they'd ordered, it was a cheaper single motor version, which didn't offer the range
28:43of movement that Norman needed.
28:45This chair of my wife's is the dual motor, which allows you more flexibility than what my one.
28:53And this brings the footrest up.
28:57The top button allows you to go back further and props you up if you want, so you've got comfy.
29:06The fact that I have to use a single recliner isn't all that easy for me to be able to
29:14get up and down.
29:15Norman complained yet again, and in February was offered £1,000 in compensation for the delays.
29:21Alongside a promise that replacements would be sent.
29:25We thought, right, OK, good, they're really now recognising their errors, and our furniture is on the way.
29:35But by July 2025, nine months after placing the order, the mobility furniture company still hadn't sent the couple their
29:44settee,
29:45replaced the incorrect chair, or paid the £1,000 compensation.
29:49So Norman and Sally referred their case to the Furniture and Home Improvement's ombudsman, which found in their favour,
29:56and ordered the company to supply the correct furniture and pay £500 in compensation.
30:03But less than a month after that, the couple discovered that the mobility furniture company had been suspended from the
30:10ombudsman's scheme.
30:12It meant that even though the decision was still binding, the couple would need to explore routes such as trading
30:18standards or the courts to enforce it.
30:20When we spoke to the furniture and home improvement ombudsman, it told us that it suspended the mobility furniture company
30:28due to concerns about the firm's engagement with its dispute resolution process,
30:34including compliance with its decision in Norman and Sally's case, and following repeated attempts to address these issues.
30:41Unfortunately, I'm afraid that wasn't a lot of help for Norman and Sally.
30:47As of today, we still have one recliner with dual motor, one recliner with single motor, no settee, and no
31:01compensation in the bank.
31:02I am frustrated and fed up to the back teeth.
31:10Well, Norman and Sally are not the only Rip-Off Britain viewers who've been in touch about mobility furniture.
31:15We've had emails galore, and I'm very, very pleased to say that here at HQ is another normally very happy,
31:21but today unhappy, mobility furniture customer.
31:24And I know you'll recognise her from songs of praise.
31:27And it is, of course, my friend, Pam Rhodes.
31:29So good to see you again.
31:31Yes.
31:31So just tell me what happened.
31:33Well, the reason that we thought about mobility furniture at all, not so much the mobility bit, but just thinking
31:39about future-proofing ourselves.
31:41Richard and I were downsizing family house we'd had for ages, and we thought we'd treat ourselves.
31:46I looked at all sorts of companies.
31:48Mobility furniture was the biggest around, had a very good catalogue, and I asked an agent to come and see
31:55me.
31:55This was in November 24. And we chose our furniture. Very professional, very reassuring. At the end of it all,
32:03I paid £1,600.
32:05There and then.
32:06That's right. Took us six months to move. So it was May 25 before he came back again to do
32:13the final order, and I paid nearly £6,000. And then in June, suddenly a demand that came through as
32:19a text saying, please can you pay the nearly £7,000 balance, and it will be delivered very soon.
32:25So how much are we talking about in total now?
32:27About £14,000, over £14,000.
32:30A lot of money.
32:30A lot of money.
32:30A lot of money.
32:30A lot of money.
32:31And from the moment I made that last payment, I never heard another thing.
32:35No furniture either. And just no phone calls returned, no letters answered.
32:43How were you feeling inside, having paid out an enormous amount of money and nothing was arriving?
32:48Well, first of all, I was angry because it was obviously targeted at an older age group who are the
32:55most vulnerable. Not us at that point, but especially through Songs of Praise.
32:59I've grown up with that generation, and I just felt so angry for people who would have been drawn in
33:06to this.
33:06Did you take action on it at all?
33:08Well, I did report it to the bank, and obviously to action fraud, the police, also to trading standards.
33:14The bank, in the end, with quite a lot of work, I got back most of it.
33:20So how much did you get back?
33:21I got nearly £13,000 back, and the bit that I didn't get back was the bit from November because
33:27it was over six months.
33:29Pam and her husband, and Norman and Sally, all thought they'd never hear from Mobility Furniture again.
33:35But just before Christmas 2025, Norman and Sally received a leaflet in the post from another company called DR Mobility
33:43that looked surprisingly familiar.
33:46Exactly the same, apart from the name has changed from the Mobility Furniture Company to DR Mobility Limited.
33:56Different phone number, but everything's the same.
34:03Truly made to measure rise and recline chairs and adjustable beds.
34:07Five-year warranty with every merchandise item.
34:13Well, that is quite extraordinary.
34:15So do Mobility Furniture and DR Mobility share more than just a brochure?
34:20Well, thankfully, Pam is still with us, but I'm now joined by producer Katie Saatchi, along with solicitor Gary Rycroft.
34:27So Katie, what have you discovered?
34:29Well, if we begin with Mobility Furniture, it seems to have been through a lot of hands since it started
34:35in 2012.
34:36Then, between 2015 and 2018, Trading Standards began to investigate Mobility Furniture Company's sales practices, and that resulted in the
34:46director being prosecuted and jailed for fraudulent trading last year.
34:52Back in 2022, the Mobility Furniture Company became a trading name of a different registered company with different owners and
35:00directors.
35:00And then in September 2024, which was just before you placed your order, Pam, they transferred ownership of the Mobility
35:08Furniture name to yet another new company called Loki Enterprises,
35:13which promised to fulfil all existing contracts from the Mobility Furniture Company.
35:19In October 2025, the website for DR Mobility was registered, and around the same time, or not long after, Mobility
35:29Furniture Company, .co.uk, seemed to disappear.
35:33So we spoke to DR Mobility, and it told us it's a separate legal entity to Loki Enterprises Limited, and
35:41that its owners did not acquire, purchase, or assume liability for the business.
35:46But as Norman noticed, it uses the same brochure, and we also noticed that the DR Mobility website has got
35:54the same photos, the same testimonials, and the same claim of having more than 30 years' experience, just as Mobility
36:03Furniture Company did.
36:04It also says we're full members of the Furniture Ombudsman, but we contacted the Ombudsman about that, and it confirmed
36:12to us that that is not true.
36:13What this means is that two separate companies are involved, Loki Enterprises, which owned the Mobility Furniture brand, when Pam
36:23and Norm has placed their order,
36:24and DR Mobility, which says it has no legal connection to Loki Enterprises.
36:31Gary, obviously you've been listening to this melee of companies. What do you think about all of that?
36:36I do understand why Norman was suspicious about the brochure looking the same, and I hear what you say about
36:45the websites looking the same.
36:47All of that, though, is circumstantial evidence.
36:51So we do need to drill down into the hard legal facts and kind of understand the way that companies
36:57can change names, they can change what we call their trading styles.
37:02If it's a company that's changed its name, but has the same company number, then your consumer rights are solid.
37:10But if it's a new company, different number, then your consumer rights don't necessarily trace through.
37:18In this case, the Mobility Furniture Company and DR Mobility have different company numbers.
37:24Even though things might appear murky, the two seem to only share marketing materials.
37:32At what point does it become a crime, though, because they've taken the money of vulnerable elderly people and they've
37:40got nothing for it?
37:41So is that a criminal offence?
37:42I 100% understand your concern, Norman's concern, but we've no hard evidence that anything illegal has actually happened.
37:50And we have got to understand that on many occasions, companies are trading and they get into trading difficulties and
37:59things sadly go wrong and they can't carry on trading.
38:03So, Katie, we have actually discovered, of course, that some people are having their orders fulfilled by DR Mobility and
38:10not Mobility Furniture.
38:12Certainly some customers have had orders fulfilled because DR Mobility told us that it honoured some of the orders that
38:20were left outstanding when low-key enterprises stopped trading,
38:23but only those for which the new company could be held financially liable if the customer was to ask for
38:29a refund.
38:30And it's stressed that that was a goodwill measure and it was not the firm assuming any sort of contractual
38:36liabilities of low-key enterprises.
38:39For anyone finding themselves in a similar situation as Palma Norman, with unfulfilled orders from a company that's gone out
38:45of business, Gary has some words of advice.
38:48If you pay using a credit card, it means that the credit card company are, what we lawyers say, jointly
38:54and severally liable for the product.
38:57So it means if the product isn't delivered, as happened in this case, then you can ask for a refund
39:03from the credit card company.
39:06You don't have to pay the full amount on the credit card. All you have to pay is some form
39:10of deposit.
39:11And as long as it's between £100 and £30,000, then you will get the Section 75 protection.
39:17In terms of other practical things you can do to protect yourself if you're in this situation, I think you
39:23can look at the history of a company on Companies House.
39:27And you should also, of course, plan that things might go wrong and so keep a trail of potential evidence.
39:33Make sure that your communications are in writing, even if someone's called to see you at your house.
39:37And actually just jot down what has been agreed so that there's a kind of contemporaneous record of what you
39:44say the cost is and what you say the time will be that the item's going to be delivered.
39:48What have you learned by Adolpamp with this whole experience?
39:52Well, I think it's probably if I'd bought this furniture or anything online, I would have done a lot of
39:58the checks that I just submitted because it was so professional.
40:02I was just reassured, lulled into a sense of security, as I think many people who've been caught by this
40:08were.
40:09Well, I'm sorry you've had to go through this learning curve, but your experience is hopefully helping other people.
40:15Yes, well, I was just about to say, Gary, you've given great advice and Katie, you did great research into
40:20the various companies.
40:21And Pam, so good to see you.
40:23Before you go, I have to ask you, by the way, how long have you been doing Songs of Praise?
40:28It's 40 years.
40:2940 years.
40:30Isn't that astonishing?
40:31I know.
40:32Studio, I think that deserves a round of applause.
40:35Yay!
40:36Maybe we should be singing a hymn, you know.
40:38Well, you can do that if you want, Pam, before you go.
40:40No, thanks.
40:41Listen, thank you so much for coming.
40:42Lovely to see you.
40:43Lovely to see you.
40:45We spoke to a director of Loki Enterprises, which acquired the Mobility Furniture Company after the period investigated by Trading
40:53Standards.
40:54He told us that following a difficult trading period, the firm's assets were sold to Dior Mobility in September 2025
41:03to ensure all customers got their goods and all refunds were delivered.
41:07But Dior Mobility said it supported certain legacy orders on a goodwill basis where operationally possible and stressed that where
41:27payments were made directly to Loki Enterprises, contractual and financial liability remained with that company.
41:36However, while Dior Mobility.
41:42However, while Pam successfully claimed a refund through her bank.
42:04And since filming, we can confirm that the website no longer includes material associated with the Mobility Furniture Company or
42:14claims to be a member of the Furniture and Home Improvement Ombudsman.
42:20If you've got a problem and you think our team might be able to help, there are lots of ways
42:25you can get in touch.
42:26You can email us, ripoffbritain at bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp message to 033-678-1321.
42:36We're also on Facebook.
42:38Just search for BBC Ripoff Britain.
42:40Or you can always write a letter.
42:43The address is ripoffbritain, BBC Media City UK, Salford, M50 2LH.
42:53Well, I'm sad to say that's almost all we've got time for.
42:57If you've missed anything we've talked about today, from where to turn if an insurance claim has been denied,
43:02to your rights over a rejecting furniture you're unhappy with, then you can catch up on today's programme and many
43:08more on BBC iPlayer.
43:10There's also plenty of advice on all sorts of other topics on our website, bbc.co.uk slash ripoffbritain.
43:17Well, at this point, I'd like to say thank you very much indeed for being with us today.
43:21We're going to be back again very soon.
43:23But until then, from all of us on the team here in Ripoff Britain, bye-bye.
43:27Bye.
43:28Goodbye.
43:28Goodbye.
43:36Bye-bye.
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