Episode details

Radio Ulster,12 Sep 2026,56 mins

Dream garden room turns into a costly nightmare

Consumer Fight Back

Available for 26 days

As garden rooms grow in popularity as a way to create extra space for work, hobbies and family life, we'll hear from Newtownards couple who say they're nearly £19,000 out of pocket after paying for a garden room that's still incomplete months after work began. What was meant to be a four to six-week project has turned into a long-running headache, with no clear finish date in sight… Applications for a Stormont scheme to give eligible households a £100 voucher towards home heating oil opened this week. We’ll talk you through the criteria and how to apply. After this week's air traffic control failure left thousands of passengers stranded and disrupted travel plans across the UK and beyond, we'll look at your rights when flights are grounded and whether you're entitled to compensation. And a new government-backed scheme has launched to help homeowners identify reputable tradespeople and avoid rogue traders. The initiative allows businesses to sign up to an Approved Code, demonstrating that they meet higher standards of customer service, transparency and dispute resolution. At the heart of the scheme is a new Trusted Payments app - and we find out how it works and what protection it offers consumers. And if you’ve got a story or an experience you’d like to share, you can get in touch - just email cfb@bbc.co.uk

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