ihateikeaI Hate Ikea!!!Ikea Horror Stories




       

       


       
      These are letters from others who have had a bad experience at the hands 
      of Ikea.


            Wardrobe Blues 
            Video Nasty 
            A Black Mark
            Wild Bill
            Stocking Hell!
            I hate Ikea in the SF papers! 
            Legless Chair
            Naked Ambition
            Big Apple Bookshelf Blues
            Bedtime Nightmares
            Telegraph Exposure
            This Plant Is a Dead Plant!
            Never Again
            Bog Standard
            Global Impact
            So Many Reasons to Hate Ikea
            Poor lost Bunny
            Aaaarrrghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! 
            Table Manners
            Ikea Co-Worker
            More Aaaarrghh!!!!!!



      Mr S. Barnes
      The Store Manager
      IKEA Brent Park
      2 Drury Way 
      North Circular Road
      London NW10 0TH 

      31st January 2000 

      Dear Steve, 

      I am writing to request compensation for the catalogue of errors I have 
      had the misfortune to experience with your IKEA store in Brent Park. On 
      Monday 17th January 2000 I purchased 11 items costing 662 including 2 
      AXEL N Wardrobes & Drawers, item numbers 75599410, at 119 each, which I 
      gave to ALWAYS EXPRESS to deliver. I began building the wardrobes only to 
      find that 3 parts - a large front door, a soft back panel and a tube to 
      connect two of the back panels - were missing from BOTH wardrobes. I began 
      to think that I had been building the wardrobes wrongly, so I went to my 
      friend's flat where he has the same wardrobe and it was clear that my 
      wardrobes were missing these parts. I had taken a day off work to build 
      the wardrobes so you can imagine my distress when I discovered the parts 
      were incomplete. So I phoned IKEA's Customer Service division to report 
      this and I was told I would be contacted.
      On Tuesday 25th January I was contacted by Customer Services who first 
      explained that the parts would be delivered at 6pm on Thursday 27th 
      January 2000, but then called back to say that presently none are in stock 
      and I may have to wait until the weekend or even later for the missing 
      parts to be delivered. I would have expected IKEA to organise a special 
      delivery of my missing parts, perhaps from another IKEA store.
      I faxed Brian Matthews, Customer Service Manager, on 0208 2332243, on 
      Tuesday to express my disappointment with IKEA's service and seek a speedy 
      resolution to my unfortunate predicament. Six days later I still await his 
      reply. 
      After prolonged negotiations with your Customer Service division on Friday 
      28th January during which I explained that it would be unacceptable to 
      delay delivery of the missing parts, which your Brent Park store then had 
      in stock, until Monday 31st January it was agreed that I would receive the 
      missing parts on Sunday 30th January. Of course I would be expected to 
      take delivery of all parts to two new wardrobes ( 4 large boxes) and 
      remove the six parts I lacked so the remainder could be transported back 
      to IKEA. Predictably, the delivery men were unaware that they were 
      supposed to take the remaining parts back to IKEA and so they said they 
      could not do that. They were already dispirited because IKEA had initially 
      sent them to the wrong address. So my hallway is presently occupied by 4 
      large unwanted boxes. 
      Sadly, the saga does not end here. Having now built a bit more of the 
      wardrobes and checked all 8 boxes delivered it is clear that the smaller 
      front doors are too tall for these wardrobes and so I am missing two more 
      parts. As you could probably guess, I shall not be wasting my valuable 
      time or patience by phoning IKEA's 'helpline' for more inconvenience and 
      exasperation. 
      It is surely not in your company's interests to behave so unprofessionally 
      towards your customers. Accordingly, I trust that you will reimburse me 
      the full cost of the wardrobes in addition to equitable compensation for 
      the aggravation I have endured and the time I have expended in dealing 
      with IKEA, particularly the trouble I have taken in bringing these issues 
      to your attention in this letter. I consider you to be in breach of 
      contract under The Sale of Goods Act 1982 because the goods I received are 
      not and never were fit for the purpose described as delivered to myself. 
      Thanking you in anticipation. 
      Yours sincerely
      Howard Jackson 
       

      Hi,
      Delighted to see that other people hate IKEA as well! I bought a tv and 
      video table from them - the idea being that the tv went on top, the video 
      on a shelf underneath and video tapes into storage compartments either 
      side. 
      Assembled it no problem - went to put some video tapes in - the storage 
      compartments only accept tapes in cardboard boxes, not commercial tapes in 
      plastic boxes!
      I rang and complained; they just said if I didn't like it, bring it back, 
      only not quite as politely. I wrote and complained - my letter was sent to 
      the person I was complaining about for them to reply! 
      Rude, unhelpful and nasty staff, photographs in their catalogues are 
      unclear and unhelpful - I'm *never* going back there!
       

      BILL CHECKING FIASCO
      Typing in their huge product id's is dangerous - I know many tellers now 
      have bar code readers, but they still do not always use them - one small 
      keystroke error and you get billed for something other than you bought now 
      if the products had recognisable names, one could readily check one's 
      bill, but those irritating Swedish names . . . 
      Once when we did not believe the bill, we insisted that they put 
      everything we had bought through the till again, and guess what - the bill 
      was different, by c 20% - "what do you want to do?" the supervisor asked, 
      well it was getting late so we just opted to pay the smaller sum! 
      WHAT STOCK?
      We have never been without something being out of stock they would do more 
      business if they kept everything actually in stock in these days of 
      computerised stock control, surely they ought to be able to do this - 
      especially with that humungous warehouse by the A14 at Thrapston.
      Sadly, IKEA is hard to beat - we have shopped there since living in Oslo 
      in the 70's we wish you luck in getting IKEA to listen better to its 
      customers.
      Geoffrey Butlin
       


      Here is a copy of a complaint I sent to IKEA France's customer service 
      email address. Needless to say, I have not yet received a response. 
      However we now finally do have all the components of our purchase. In 
      addition to the problem below, we have had other problems with other IKEA 
      purchases recently (hinge holes not drilled in door, and shelf too large 
      to fit in pantry), which we haven't bothered writing to them about.
      Dear Sir / Madam, 
      This email is to express my absolute disgust in the service that has been 
      supplied by IKEA (Paris) to my wife and I.
      During early November, a couch was ordered (EKTORP Fredvik yellow). Since 
      then it has been a nightmare.
      - The couch was scheduled to arrive on an agreed date. It did not arrive. 
      - A second date was agreed. It did not arrive. 
      - A third date was agreed. It finally arrived BUT THE COUCH COVERS WERE 
      MISSING !!! 
      - A date was agreed to deliver the couch covers. They did not arrive. 
      - A second date was agreed. They finally arrived BUT THEY HAVE A NUMBER OF 
      VERY NOTICEABLE BLACK STAINS !!! 
      This potentially simple transaction has WASTED 4 days of time waiting for 
      deliveries that are only as accurate as sometime between 8:30am and 
      2:00pm. 
      Our original order was made early November, and now towards the end of 
      December we are still without use of a couch we paid 5,590 FF for in good 
      faith. 
      COULD SOMEONE PLEASE PROVIDE AN EXPLANATION ? 
      Below are numbers that are on invoices we have received that may help 
      identify this order. 240-120251400-1 40014062 I may be contacted during 
      business hours on 01 82 40 16 79 or after hours on 01 42 30 53 93. If I 
      don't receive a satisfactory response to this email I will be escalating 
      my complaint to higher management in the IKEA group. 
      Peter Langeveld 
       

      Hi, 
      Having experienced out of stock on several occasions after a long drive to 
      a store we got smart and phoned first. We then offered to pay over the 
      phone to reserve the sofabed as there were only two in stock. Of course, 
      they wont do anything that sensible. So we jumped in the car,drove 50 
      miles, rushed to the sofabed department, found that they still had two in 
      stock, so they allocated us one to pick up. 
      We then threaded our way through all the stuff we did not want,to get to 
      the pick up point. But our item was not in stock -although the system 
      still said it was. We were advised to phone the help line in 1-2 weeks and 
      hold until we got a human then ask for the in stock item to be physically 
      checked-presumably because the computer stock control is unreliable. 
      We suggested another approach-Ikea should deliver free to us when the item 
      was in stock. They said they could do this but had a 2-3 month backlog of 
      these in stock/out of stock errors to deal with and would prefer to give 
      us 'petrol compensation' and have us visit the store again when the item 
      is in stock. 
      So they gave us 15,which covered petrol but not wear and tear on the car 
      or on us!! What a crazy way to run a business. Quite a good product but a 
      distribution organisatiom that a child could improve. If they got that 
      right they would double turnover and earn enough extra profit to open more 
      stores. But they display the arrogant behaviour towards customers that has 
      brought Marks & Spencer to its knees. 
      I will NEVER shop at Ikea again and I hear many other people now saying 
      the same. But if you do want to shop there and you fall foul of their 
      approach (as you surely will),make a fuss and make sure they compensate 
      you-they will do it. 
      Steven Myhill 
       

      Subject: SF paper >Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 
      Did you know you are in the SF Chroncle today, as in the Bay Area they are 
      having many problems at IKEA, and we all know Americans demand a higher 
      standard of service than Brits. I would like to see the answers to your 
      letters of complaint, or some kind of follow up, so that one would know if 
      one was successful or not. It is interesting to note that stocking 
      problems are often early indicators of financial ennuis, have we spotted a 
      trend? Amusing site, thank you.
      Joanna Tamjk 


      I hate ikea because.... Date: Thu, Jun 8, 2000 
      They sold us a chair that had no feet. If you spend 90 on a chair you 
      expect it to be able to stand up. When we got the chair home it was the 
      wrong colour and had no legs. We then phoned them and a rude French man 
      said that we were just being awkward and that if we wanted legs for our 
      chair we would have to wait 2 weeks! Gits! (Ikea Bristol) 
      Regards Mark Tuyn 


      Subject: I hate IKEA >Date: Sun, 28 May 2000 
      One day in early April. I was shopping in my local IKEA for a new computer 
      table. Unfortunatly, IKEA had picked the very same shop and time to shoot 
      the commercial where that rather large IKEA man undresses and shows off 
      his tattoos.
      My fellow customers, not to mention my wife were appalled by the site we 
      were confronted with. I complained but was assured that the shoot was all 
      in the spirit of good fun. Personally, IKEA is far too crowded and after 
      my last experience, I know that they have at least one less customer. 
      Yours sincerly Patroclus 


      Subject: I HATE IKEA Date: Sat, 27 May 2000 
      I am so happy to find this site!! I live in New York though, but assume 
      this web-site can be global.
      I just bought an Ivar bookshelf, which I had delivered to my house for 
      $100 as it was 90 inches long and wouldn't fit in any car. When I finally 
      got the items delivered, 1 week later, I realized that the side units for 
      the shelf did not match the shelves. I had mistakenly picked the wrong 
      side units due to their lack of logical labeling. 
      In fact there are no labels on the side units themselves that say what 
      width they are. I have been on the phone with IKEA now for a week. As the 
      items are self service items, they refuse to make an exchange unless I 
      come in to the store myself with the items.
      As I said the items are too big to fit in a car or a taxi, so there is no 
      way to bring them back to the store unless I rent a truck. The pieces only 
      cost $40 so that doesn't really make sense. I could throw out the pieces I 
      got and pick up some new ones. I would still have to pay another $100 for 
      delivering them to my house. 
      I have spoken to supervisors and supervisors of the supervisors. I'm now 
      writing to managers higher up. I don't know if I expect a response from 
      them. I'm stuck with a non-workable shelf. No way to return it, No way to 
      make it complete. Unless I pay another $140 that is. 
      S. Johansen - New York City


      Date: Fri, 26 May 2000 
      I recently purchased two indentical white "Billy" (why do they use these 
      stupid names?) shelf units. When I unpacked them I noticed one small 
      difference in the contents. It contained a white cube of expanded 
      polystyrene - presumably intended to keep the contens from rattling about.
      Curiously, the other had substituted a rather dirty and soiled size 32A 
      black wonderbra. Was this some form of special prize? or compensation for 
      the ghastly experience that a) trying to get in, b) trying to find what I 
      wanted, c) trying to pay - that shopping in Ikea Croydon is? 
      Do other purchasers find used undergarments in their flat packs or have I 
      been singled out for special treatment? I did e-mail Ikea some months ago 
      pointing out that a) their web-site is pathetic and looks as though a five 
      year old put it together b) that their map intended to help you find the 
      Croydon store contained, as its locating landmark, the water palace that 
      was demolished 2 years ago c) the overcrowding was appalling d) if they 
      mentioned to their customers on arrival that there was a 70 - yes 70 - 
      minute wait at the checkouts the overcrowding would probably cease 
      immediately e) the totally gridlocked car park must have represented a 
      true hazard should there have been a fire. 
      Cheers Phil Stone


      Dear Mr Sagar, 
      I am very glad to see that someone is doing something about IKEA. I have 
      recently had a very bad experience with them, as follows:
      I bought my first flat in November and, not having much money, decided to 
      buy a bed from IKEA. My nearest store is Croydon so I went down there on 
      14 November and chose a HAGALI bedframe which I needed to have delivered. 
      The earliest they could deliver it was Monday 22nd November but I didn't 
      have much choice in the matter. I wasn't moving into my flat until 27 
      November so I thought it would give me a chance to varnish it before I 
      needed it. It duly arrived on 22nd and I went to construct it and found 
      that there were four vital fixings missing and I could not put it 
      together. I immediately telephoned the helpdesk and encountered the 
      rudest, most off-hand 'assistant' I have ever had the misfortune to speak 
      to. I explained the problem and finally managed to get through to her what 
      I needed. She assured me that the missing fixings would either be 
      delivered by a passing van or posted the next day.
      I waited until Friday 26th November, nothing had arrived. I was due to 
      move into the flat the next day and was concerned about the lack of a bed. 
      So I went back to the store to get the bits in person. When I arrived, I 
      was kept waiting for 40 minutes. I finally spoke to an assistant and I 
      explained that I had been told that the parts would arrive. The woman 
      disappeared behind a glass partition and, as far as I could see, proceeded 
      to stand chatting to her colleagues. After a further 30 minutes, I had to 
      ask another assistant to go and get my original assistant out.She emerged 
      and told me I couldn't have the parts because they couldn't identify them. 
      The only way I could prevent myself physically exploding with rage was to 
      walk out. 
      I continued my barrage of phone calls and extracted a name and fax number 
      of the Customer Services Manager at Croydon. Two faxes later, I had got 
      nowhere, received no fixings and no word of explanation from IKEA. Some of 
      the Helpdesk Assistants I spoke to were very sympathetic but they told me 
      that you can't telephone the stores directly and that they were sending 
      messages to the stores about the matter. 
      By this time, I had moved into the flat and was sleeping on the floor. I 
      was suffering backache and headaches in the mornings. 
      I decided that the only option was to phone them every day, twice a day if 
      necessary, to get some action. I was repeatedly told a supervisor would 
      call me back and no-one ever did. 
      Then, almost exactly one month after I had bought the bed, I received a 
      package of fixings through the post. There was a blank compliment slip in 
      with them but no note of explanation. 
      Just to cap it all, the second package of fixings had bits missing. 
      Fortunately, between the original package and the new package, I was able 
      to gather a complete set of fixings and assemble the bed. It took three 
      weeks, two faxes, one visit, numerous telephone calls (during all of which 
      I was kept waiting in a queue for ten minutes) and countless wasted hours 
      to get four little screws out of them. I never did receive any 
explanation.
      I hardly need to say that I will never, ever, ever set foot in IKEA again 
      and I tell this story to anyone who'll listen. Their attitude towards 
      their customers is unspeakable. I have actively discouraged at least two 
      other people who were about to buy furniture from IKEA and I will continue 
      to do what I can in the anti-IKEA campaign. 
      I wish you good luck. I look forward to the web site being finished! 
      Best regards, Jane Pitt 


      Bharat
      Congratulations on your stand reported in the Telegraph. 
      I have no specific grouse but I do object to foreign competition which 
      relies on a British public's belief anything non-British must be a bargain 
      or better to own. Our inferiority complex overlooks the fact that IKEA 
      sells nothing that could not be equally well produced in this country. 
      My impressions from wandering around their Newcastle or Gateshead store 
      are of success through marketing skills and nothing else, that is, being 
      in the right place at the right time.
      Congratulations also for tackling your problem with good humour. 


      Dear Bharat, 
      After seeing your article in the Daily Telegraph I thought you might like 
      me to share with yourself my hatred for IKEA.
      Firstly, I hate the shop for being located near my house and those who 
      aimlessly flock there causing hideous traffic jam around the North 
      Circular. 
      Secondly, the stock is awfully designed and is not cheap at all. 
      Thirdly the staff are completely incompetent: my story is as follows. 
      I fell for the mistake of buying one of their pot plants on my only visit 
      to the shop. Additionally as well as other cheap items for my kitchen I 
      bought a china holder for my plant. Because of the useless design of the 
      trolleys I had to place the plant in the holder to save space. At the cash 
      desk the assistant took the plant out of the china pot which was a tight 
      fit by yanking the stem of the plant. This caused the delicate roots of 
      the plant to be ripped apart and it died within one week. 
      When I called their customer service I was put though to their version of 
      Alan Titmarsh. The conversation echoed "The Parrot Sketch" by Monty 
      Python. "It's not dead it just adjusting to a new environment..." etc 
      etc... 
      For the sake of a 2 plant I am now a dedicated hater of the shop and will 
      never darken their doorstep again. 
      Regards Richard Bransby 
      PS. Do I get my recipe now? 


      Dear Mr.Sagar 
      I was most intrigued to read about your anti-Ikea club in the national 
      press. At last, I thought, someone else who has undergone the same 
      frustrations as I have and who is actually doing something about it! 
      My fiance and I moved into our new home just last month. As we had been 
      renting a furnished house, we were rather looking forward to buying new 
      furniture for our new nest. We visited department stores but were given a 
      delivery time of approx. 8-10 weeks. No good, we thought. Our immediate 
      needs were a bed, sofa, dining table and chairs and a work station for my 
      home office comprising a desk and some shelves. We leafed through the Ikea 
      catalogue, identified what we wanted to buy and marvelled at the prospect 
      of how easy and simple our shopping trip was going to be. 
      John Lewis, eat your heart out, I thought. We finally decided that we may 
      as well buy all our furniture from Ikea in one go, so our final budget 
      came to approx. 6000. So, after "chucking out our chintz", off we set for 
      the great Swedish emporium with the intention of exchanging our hard 
      earned cash for items which would enhance our home and give it that 
      understated Scandinavian appeal.
      Now, like most men, my fiancee is not the world's most enthusiastic 
      shopper. As his weekdays are stressed and long, and, as he normally 
      relishes his Saturdays for relaxing, he was looking forward to a 
      hassle-free expedition with the minimum of inconvenience which, after all, 
      was promised in the brochure. However, it seemed that most of London 
      suburbia also wanted to partake of the great Swedish shopping experience 
      on that Saturday and we found ourselves bumper to bumper all the way along 
      the North Circular. 
      Finally, 3 hours later and already feeling somewhat fractious, we entered 
      through the hallowed portals of Ikea. We knew what we wanted to buy so off 
      we set armed with our catalogue, a pencil, measuring tape and order pad. 
      All I can say that events after this point took a very negative turn. 
      Every product we wanted to purchase seemed to be out of stock - we queued 
      endlessly at the information points for help and guidance but were met 
      with off-hand responses. We managed to source some items which we then 
      discovered we had to locate and load for ourselves from their warehouse.
      We spent a good 3 hours sourcing our products, then made our way to their 
      vast warehouse. By this stage both of us were suffering from shopping 
      fatigue - this was such hard work! This was not an easy and pleasant 
      experience at all! The store was full of screaming kids and push-chairs 
      and just getting around was like navigating an obstacle course. The 
      warehouse was a nightmare! We couldn't load our heavy items on to our 
      trolley and our requests for assistance were met with total indifference. 
      We weren't just buying a few kitchen utensils, we were spending a 
      considerable amount of money - surely we should expect better treatment as 
      paying customers? Oh no, they tell you - self-service keeps our prices 
      low! 
      We sat down for a rest and to revive our spirits and decided to give this 
      warehouse lark another attempt. After all, we had already invested a good 
      6 hours in this place and we were determined not to waste all that 
      precious time. Our second attempt to locate and load our goods were just 
      as dismal and as frustrating as the first. It was at this point that my 
      fiance realised that something was not right. Hang on, he said, why am I 
      subjecting myself to this humiliation and lamentable excuse for good 
      service. I am the customer - I want to be treated like one and shopping 
      should be a pleasurable experience, not this total nightmare. 
      I really don't need all this hassle and just look... after loading your 
      trolley, you have to queue all over again to pay and then queue yet again 
      if you want to arrange delivery. I'm sorry, he continued, (at this point 
      ranting and raving like a loony!) I'd rather pay more and be treated like 
      a human being not like some moronic machine. I don't have to spend my 
      hard-earned money here. Let's go home - NOW!! 
      And with that, we left our trolley in the warehouse and walked out. It 
      didn't help that by now it was almost closing time and the North Circular 
      was the journey home from hell. We arrived home at 8pm, both of us 
      bad-tempered, with splitting headaches and vowing NEVER EVER to set eyes 
      on another Ikea catalogue again!
      I'm happy to say that we are now the proud owners of some beautiful 
      furniture which we purchased locally and where we were treated like 
      customers and received good service to boot. And, to be really honest, it 
      didn't cost that much more than Ikea!
      I wish you good luck with your anti-Ikea club and hope you will consider 
      us as enthusiatic supporters!
      Kind Regards, Meena Bedi


      I spent 115.00 at Ikea nottingham, including a new toilet seat which was 
      complete except for two wing nuts to attach it. I asked them to send me 
      two wing nuts and they wanted the receipt taking to the store 15 miles 
      away or a copy of my bank statement. 
      I expressed my disatisfaction with their approach but they stated this was 
      company policy and they could not help me any further. Main items for me 
      are they are prepared to lose a customer so easily for 2 wing nuts worth 
      10p also the environmental implication of me going down the motorway for 
      this. In addition I cannot find anyone else within the company to complain 
      to eg head office, website, e mail etc 
      Gary and Jane Keeling
      Ex ikea customers-Mansfield 


      I don't hate Ikea that much - service is a little better in Sydney 
      Australia it seems. But don't bother with their clip on desk lamps - the 
      globes will last 30 minutes at BEST. We went through four globes in less 
      than an hour. When we purchased the globes from a lighting shop, the 
      attendant knew what they were (for because of the small globe size) and 
      predicted that we would be returning the lamp within the week.
      He was right.


      Perhaps it was the many many times things have been out of stock with no 
      clue as to when they might be in stock--quite a trauma since IKEA is 1.5 
      hours from our house and we do not own a car, so have to rent one or take 
      a bus to get there...Or perhaps it is the fact that we wait in line for 
      over an hour every time we buy anything there...Or maybe it is the fact 
      that the website and catalog have NO useful info. re colors etc... 
      Or maybe it was the desk that arrived without legs and knobs...on the 
      fourth scheduled delivery date. We waited six more weeks for legs, twelve 
      for knobs, since they were out of stock, then discontinued. At my wits 
      end, I called the catalog, figuring that they might be more helpful than 
      the customer "service" folks. To my surprise (and delight), the catalog 
      had the knobs, but the store had no way of looking it up. It seems the 
      store and catalog are run as two seperate operations, with no sharing of 
      stock and no communication between them. 
      After this fiasco, we swore we would never go back, but having looked 
      everywhere else in New York for a red sofa, we returned, with heads hung 
      and tails between our legs. We found a sofa we LOVED, and thought perhaps 
      our IKEA luck was changing...except when we went to buy the sofa, the 
      saleswoman could not find it in her computer. After 30 minutes, we asked 
      if perhaps another computer might help and she suggested (!) that we order 
      it from the catalog instead.
      Having learned our lesson, or so we thought, I asked to be sure that all 
      colors were offered through the catalog, and not just the two pictured, 
      and was assured that they were. When we called, however, the woman said 
      "Oh, I'm sorry, we offer every color EXCEPT that one through the catalog, 
      you'll have to go back to the store." So, just to be sure it was in stock 
      before making the trip back, we called the store--and it was, OF COURSE, 
      out of stock. They were unable to call any other stores for us, or tell us 
      when it might be back in stock, but after MUCH yelling and 20 minutes on 
      hold, they informed us our color was discontinued. Would it have been so 
      much to ask for them to take the fabric off the rack or mark it 
      discontinued in the store?!?! Heartbroken, I wrote them the following 
      letter: 
      To Whom It May Concern:
      We HATE your company. We just had our EIGHTH ridiculously horrible 
      experience with TRYING to spend large amounts of money with you, and I can 
      now assure you that we will NEVER be back and will let all of our friends, 
      family, associates, and clients know of the HORRIBLE service that we have 
      received over and over and over again.
      Before I go on, let me tell you that we are normally polite, even-tempered 
      people. It is unusual that we are driven to yell, and I have NEVER in my 
      life written a letter like this or been as rude as I was in the last 
      paragraph. Now, just so you know, customer service is both a passion and a 
      career for me. Under normal circumstances, if I have a bad experience with 
      a company, I write a long letter detailing my experience and outlining 
      suggestions for how the company could better serve their customers. Your 
      service has been so terrible that I cannot even imagine that you care 
      about your customers--which you should, since they are what keeps you in 
      existence. I therefore will not waste my time at this point. If, but some 
      strange chance, you do care, and are interested in a little (a lot 
      actually) of constructive criticism, either my husband or I would be more 
      than happy to speak with you. Until then, I hope you go bankrupt, which is 
      what you sincerely deserve. I would rather spend twice the money and deal 
      with someone who can actually deliver. 
      There, I feel much better now. 
      Sincerely, ECL 
      Unfortunately, we still have not found a sofa, so although I am VERY wary, 
      we are now back to discussing IKEA. Are they really the only fashionable 
      and affordable furniture out there?!? Please help, I would like to prevent 
      myself and everyone else from giving IKEA any more money...
      P.S. This is now my FAVORITE web site!
      Liz 


      We bought a little stuffed bunny at IKEA last week and gave it to our 4 
      year old son for Easter. He was instantly attached to it, and took it 
      every where he went.
      Unfortunately, he left it at the mall, just 2 days after getting it and 
      when we went back, it was gone!! We phoned IKEA to see if we could buy one 
      by mail (it's too far for us to drive back and get another one) and they 
      said "Sure! If you're willing to pay $39.00 for the shipping fee!" 
      By the way, the bunny cost $2.95. Couldn't they show a little compassion 
      for the loss of a bunny to a 4 year old? Tell me they couldn't just send 
      it to us by charging us the regular mail package fee?
      I HATE IKEA! 


      We bought two couch covers at Ikea , and when we had to go downstairs to 
      give our ticket to the pompus little *itch behind the counter (who finally 
      noticed us after about 5 mins) it took over 1/2 an hour for them to 
      retrive these small items......aaaarrrrghhhhh. 
      Not to mention that when it was finally brought out of the abyss in the 
      stock room, they only brought one, so we had to wait again. Gawd knows how 
      they handle things when its busy there, we were the only people there at 
      the time, it was a slowwwww day. 
      I swear I will never shop there again, I gave it almost 10 years since I 
      had last been there and its even worse. Perhaps they should try hiring 
      some adults........... 


      Hello, 
      We ordered a table from IKEA in Edinburgh that was to be delivered to our 
      home address on Thursday 30th march, the day before we went on a 2 week 
      holiday. 
      The 'table' arrived on that date and when the package was opened the table 
      was found to be severely damaged. 
      I tried calling the "help line" number and got nothing but telephone fault 
      messages from their system. They were then faxed and told of our 
      predicament as we had thrown out our original table the evening before and 
      would not be able to action anything else until our holiday return on the 
      15th April. 
      When we arrived home there was no message from them so I contacted their 
      call centre the following day, April 16th. As a note of interest we live 
      >about 25 miles form the store so its hardly a long distance. Various 
      messages were left on my voice mail saying that they would call to arrange 
      delivery dates that never materialised.....in the meantime our family of 5 
      were having fun eating our meals from our laps. 
      Finally a call arrived saying that we could have our table next Wednesday 
      the 26th April!!!!!!! This was obviously rejected and they were told to 
      get it to us ASAP as we were not accepting an Easter weekend eating from 
      our laps with our family and guests. 
      After much stress and phone calls they agreed to deliver it on the 21st to 
      our garage that we left open as we were not going to be at home that day. 
      This was set up and verified by a Scott McLaughlan at the Edinburgh store. 

      On our return we were greeted with a "sorry you were not in" message from 
      the courier!!. 
      After another load of stressful telephone calls we were still given the 
      run-around and offered a delivery tomorrow the 22nd which was unacceptable 
      >as the promise was today the 21st. 
      All in all an extremely annoying and totally incompetent episode that has 
      left a bad taste in our mouths and has meant that we have to spend the 
      Easter weekend with no dining table and a weekend of eating from our laps 
      again, and our guests!!!!!. 
      HOPE YOU HAVE MEANS OF PASSING THIS ON TO IKEA, preferably Goran Nilsson. 
      Regards Steven McGuire 


      i Work for Ikea ,and i would like to point out that in your website , you 
      state that you are trying to get hold of phone numbers direct to the 
      store. 
      Just to Dissapoint you but there is no direct numbers , even staff who 
      need to call in sick , have to ring the Call Centre , we communicate by 
      internal Email only , the only numbers to the store are internal 
      transfers. 
      thanks Ikea Co-Worker


      Ikea Store, Straiton, Edinburgh, Scotland. 
      Bought a chest of drawers - in stock after several months wait. 
      Get it through check out and you are confronted by bollards that do not 
      allow you to take your trolley to your car. Why? 
      Attempt to get car into loading bay but it can only be accessed by 
      incoming vehicles from the main road - they have a traffic flow system. 
      Decide not to join the twenty minute queue again for the car park from the 
      main road so I stay in the car park and park the car as near to the 
      loading bay as it was possible to get then, manhandled my purchase across 
      to the car. It's all a bit crap! My lower arms are all bruises from 
      lugging this great box. For a company that is design driven it is a pity 
      that it does not extend to being customer focussed. Even Tesco is better. 
      And are those stupid yellow bags a waste or what? 
      And if you just want to pick something up that you have selected from the 
      catalog you still have to walk through the stupid store to get to the pick 
      up point. 
      AAAAAAaaaaargh!
       

