ombudsman and families
camping, caravanning and kids
In October 2008 the ombudsman took part in the Caravan & Motorhome show at Birmingham's NEC.
Many of the show's visitors were younger families – reflecting the recent significant increase in the number of families now taking camping and caravanning holidays.
Taking part in the Caravan & Motorhome show built on a range of initiatives by the ombudsman, to help raise awareness of its service with younger families.
Focusing on a stage in family life when parents might face particular financial challenges and difficulties, the aim is to remind parents about their rights as consumers to use the independent free ombudsman – in the event of a dispute with a bank, insurance company or finance firm.
Jump
The ombudsman's awareness initiatives targeting younger parents has also involved working with Bounty – the organisation that coordinates the distribution of packs of information and trial products for parents with a new baby.
This has included featuring in Jump [PDF format - opens in new window] – the parenting magazine included as part of the Bounty packs distributed nationwide to around 700,000 new parents.
This is part of the ombudsman service's commitment to outreach work with specific groups of consumers, whose awareness and usage of the ombudsman is disproportionately lower than in other sectors of the community.