Hi compldc72
I have gone through the exact pains and frustrations as you. In my case, we applied for a visitor visa in July 2006. The refusal arrived just before my gf's birthday in September 2006.
The reasons were that they didn't believe that I would sponsor her and her daughter's stay here (we put 4 weeks), and that they didn't believe she would ever return. We had documents from her employers stating that she could take an extended leave. We also told them that she had relatives to care for - so there was no way she could refuse to return. But, they turned this against us. It seems that whatever you say will be used against you. I proved to them that I had savings, a good income. But it was no use - they couldn't possibly see that someone would be willing to spend that amount of money.
At that time, we were both very upset. I mean, if you can't get a visa as a tourist, there is no chance they will let you stay here is there? Thanks to this site, and also IAS (Immigration Advisory Services), I now realise that visitor visas are the hardest to get, and that the embassy in Manila have a larger refusal rate than most others.
Maybe, with the new rules of sponsors having to deposit £1000, refusals will go down in the future? But, whilst we have a Government and Opposition that appeases the Daily Mail reader who is anti-immigration then we will always have problems. Never mind that population rises in the UK mainly because of natural reasons rather than immigration, and forget the fact that abuse of the immigration/tourist visa is fairly minimal - let's just treat everyone with the same coldness. Whilst the powers that be continue to protect those with an irrational fear of immigrants without using commonsense, we will always have our destinies decided by civil servants with little idea of what these relationships entail. Sorry for the politics.
