Hope someone can help? A friend of mine bought a breeding pair of Love Birds from a pet store at a cost of £300. Unfortunately 6 weeks later one of the pair has died. My friend went back to the store to either have a replacement bird or his money back, but the shop owner stated that 6 weeks was an acceptable lifespan for the bird. As it happens, we know that the average love bird can live to around 10-20 years given the right environment. Also, the birds turned out to be 10 weeks old and were advertised as "a breeding pair". Love birds can't breed until they're around a year old. Consumer Direct were contacted and they said that this broke the 'Sale of Goods Act' and that a letter should be written to complain to the store owner. He doesn't know where to start with this. Can anyone give me an example, or has anyone heard of a similar case? Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Hi there. I've written to the chairman, but not CC'd the branch. I was actually intending to write to the branch manager this week having drafted up a copy of the letter. Thanks for your help. I think I'll do that afterall before approaching the ombudsman.

I couldn't agree with you more Phillum. That's the reason(s) I wanted to use folk I knew through word of mouth that I could trust, as I did with the plumber and eventually the fitter. The update at the moment is that B&Q refuse to budge on the £400 compensation they initially offered me and have told me to take my case to the furniture ombudsman. I'm wondering if they were obligated or if they know I'll get nothing more from them?! Thoughts anyone?

Thanks for that info. Why am I not surprised eh? Well, I came back from holiday the other day and during the time I've been away they managed to continue to make errors, this time at the branch. The complaints department that I've been dealing with were given my letter to the chairman of the company and have since sent me a cheque for a whopping £400 Needless to say I'm writing back to tell them that this is unacceptable.

I couldn't say, but what I will say is that I had similar problems with my sim/phone with 2 months remaining of my contract years ago. I contacted them and asked for a replacement handset and they refused. I wrote to them and told them that if they didn't replace my handset for free, considering I had been a customer of theirs for years I'd see the contract out, not use the phone during that period and begin a new contract with O2. They basically replied saying they'd be happy to take my standard contract monthly fee for the last 2 months of my contract and refused to give me a new phone. It wasn't until it came to contract renewal time that they offered me some brilliant deals to stay with them. However, as I told them at the time, they had their chance and I had began a contract with O2 instead. Been with them ever since. That said, I expect they're better at dealing with that sort of thing now. Hope someone here can advise you and you get what you want.

That's very useful info Robot! If my reply to my recent letter isn't sufficent I will go down this route straight away. Thank you!

Trust me, I will! I have a copy of a template and I've included my details. I'm just now trying to discover the owner/manager's name of B&Q to address it and wing it recorded delivery this morning.

Thanks folks. I spotted a couple of those Michael and all have been a help in one way or another.

Thanks for your advice Gyzmo. I'll look into that soon!

Ok, please excuse the length of this post. If you manage to read it and offer any advice I will be eternally grateful. I should point out at this stage that I really didn't want to buy a kitchen from B&Q, but my wife was determined after seeing it. So, here's a cut down version of the complaint e-mail I sent as it summarises a lot of the problems. To date, there have been more and I'm still waiting on word back from the department in question over compensation..... I've chopped some more personal parts out and changed some names to protect the innocent and the guilty! Ahem. So, there you have it. Well, "some" of it. Like I said, that's just the beginning. It's since got worse. And worse......... I hate the fact that I went with them. I have a mate who's a plumber, I have mates that are electricians and offered me discounts at proper smaller retailers and I knocked them back because my wife was set on this kitchen. I'm raging. Anyway, can anyone advice me on how to get something back in terms of compensation from this lot? Cheers, Paul.

Hi there. I think I might be one of the few that's not here because of bank charges. I've had a nightmare time with a new kitchen that I bought from B&Q. Here for some advice on how to get compensation. Hope to stick around afterwards. I'm off to trawl through the threads! Cheers.