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The Furniture Ombudsman
The Furniture & Home Improvement Ombudsman (FHIO), formerly The Furniture Ombudsman (TFO) is an independent not for profit organisation based in the United Kingdom. It specialises in alternative dispute resolution for customers of its members in the retail, furniture and home improvement industries. As a membership-based scheme, it also provides training and education services to its members which aim to raise standards, improve service and inspire consumer confidence. Kevin Grix, a non-practising barrister, was appointed the Chief Ombudsman in 2008. History Qualitas TFO was established after critical reports from the UK Office of Fair Trading regarding the furniture industry – a 1986 discussion paper, ''The Protection of Consumer Prepayments'', and, in 1990, ''Furniture and Carpets - A report by the Director General of Fair Trading''. This recommended industry reforms relating to: labelling, consumer buying advice, deposits, quality, delivery damage, and compliance with codes o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnet Kitchens
Magnet is a British kitchen retailer operating in over two hundred locations across the United Kingdom supplying products under the Magnet and Magnet Trade brands. The company has over 2,000 employees and its headquarters are in Darlington, County Durham. Magnet was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but is now part of Nobia UK, a division of the Nobia group which is listed on the Swedish Stock Exchange. The Nobia division also includes brands such as Gower and Norema. History Formation and early years Magnet was established in Bingley, West Yorkshire in 1918 by Tom Duxbury. Legend has it that Duxbury traded his horse for a firelighting company and named his new company Magnet after the horse. During the 1920s Magnet pioneered the mass production of joinery, door and window products and soon began supplying joinery components for major construction projects. New operations were opened in Keighley, Grays and Knaresborough ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Furniture
Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furniture is also used to hold objects at a convenient height for work (as horizontal surfaces above the ground, such as tables and desks), or to store things (e.g., cupboards, shelves, and drawers). Furniture can be a product of design and can be considered a form of decorative art. In addition to furniture's functional role, it can serve a symbolic or religious purpose. It can be made from a vast multitude of materials, including metal, plastic, and wood. Furniture can be made using a variety of woodworking joints which often reflects the local culture. People have been using natural objects, such as tree stumps, rocks and moss, as furniture since the beginning of human civilization and continues today in some households/campsites. Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. Since 2018, the paper's main news ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body of about 32,000 European civil servants. The Commission is divided into departments known as Directorates-General (DGs) that can be likened to departments or ministries each headed by a Director-General who is responsible to a Commissioner. There is one member per member state, but members are bound by their oath of office to represent the general interest of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. The Commission President (currently Ursula von der Leyen) is proposed by the European Council (the 27 heads of state/governments) and elected by the European Parliament. The Council of the European Union then nominates the other members of the Commission in agreement with the nominated President, and the 27 members as a team are then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Citizens Advice Bureau
Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this national Citizens Advice organization. Citizens Advice does not use an apostrophe in its title something the organisation dropped during the 1980s. However it appears in earlier usage for instance Margaret Brassnett's 1964 publication ''The Story of the Citizens' Advice Bureau''. (previously Citizens Advice BureauThe abbreviation CABx, short for Citizens Advice Bureaux, is sometimes used to refer collectively to local Citizens Advice offices. and also known as Cyngor ar BopethCyngor ar Bopeth translates as 'advice on everything' in Welsh) is an independent organisation specialising in confidential information and advice to assist people with legal, debt, consumer, housing and other problems in the United Kingdom. The twin aims of the Citizens Ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trading Standards Institute
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) is a professional association which represents and trains trading standards professionals working in local authorities, business and consumer sectors and in central government in the UK and overseas. History The CTSI was formed from a merger of the Institute of Trading Standards Administration, created in 1956, and the Incorporated Society of Inspectors of Weights and Measures, established in 1881. It was granted its Royal charter by the Privy Council of the United Kingdom on 1 April 2015. Hampton Report The Hampton Report, commissioned in 2004 and published in 2005, led to the creation of the Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO). Previously the Consumer and Trading Standards Agency (CTSA), and then the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO), it set standards on how trading standards and other business regulators carry out their work to minimise the impact on legitimate business. The Hampton Report also gave an enhanced role for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stevenage
Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage was designated the United Kingdom's first New Town under the New Towns Act. Etymology "Stevenage" may derive from Old English ''stiþen āc'' / ''stiðen āc'' / ''stithen ac'' (various Old English dialects cited here) meaning "(place at) the stiff oak". The name was recorded as ''Stithenæce'' in c.1060 and as ''Stigenace'' in the Domesday Book in 1086. History Pre-Conquest Stevenage lies near the line of the Roman road from Verulamium to Baldock. Some Romano-British remains were discovered during the building of the New Town, and a hoard of 2,000 silver Roman coins was discovered during house-building in the Chells Manor area in 1986. Other artefacts included a dodecahedron toy, fragments of amphorae for imported wine, bone hairpin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Furniture Industry Research Association
The Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA), is a United Kingdom research association which serves the furniture industry. Research and consultancy services FIRA research and development programmes feed into British, European and international standards for performance and testing; FIRA experts represent the UK on several standards committees. This enables its furniture testing laboratory to apply internationally recognised techniques when testing components, materials and finished products to ascertain performance safety and durability. International recognition also means FIRA testing certificates are accepted worldwide. FIRA's expertise is available on a consultancy basis for business process improvement, ergonomics and environmental management issues. It also provides advice to consumers through its FIRA Service Technicians division. In October 2019 it published a new standard for bariatric Bariatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MFI Group
MFI Group Limited was a British furniture retailer, operating under the MFI brand. The company was one of the largest suppliers of kitchens and bedroom furniture in the United Kingdom, and operated mainly in retail parks in out of town locations. Anecdotally, it was said at one stage that one in three Sunday lunches in the United Kingdom were cooked in a kitchen from MFI, and 60% of British children were conceived in a bedroom from MFI. After success in its early decades, it experienced recurring financial problems accompanied by several changes of ownership, and on 26 November 2008, it was announced that the business had been placed into administration. Merchant Equity Partners, headed by Henry Jackson, was the last company to own it, before it was sold to the management in September 2008 for a "small profit". The business ceased trading by 19 December 2008, after the administrators failed to find a buyer. It struggled to make profits during the 2000s, as chains such as B&Q ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands within the British Isles. Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is , with an estimated 2020 population of more than 67 million people. The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales, annexed in 1542) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 170 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kitchens Direct
A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator, and worktops and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a microwave oven, a dishwasher, and other electric appliances. The main functions of a kitchen are to store, prepare and cook food (and to complete related tasks such as dishwashing). The room or area may also be used for dining (or small meals such as breakfast), entertaining and laundry. The design and construction of kitchens is a huge market all over the world. Commercial kitchens are found in restaurants, cafeterias, hotels, hospitals, educational and workplace facilities, army barracks, and similar establishments. These kitchens are generally larger and equipped with bigger and more heavy-duty equipment than a residential kitc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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