IKEA item delivered broken. Anyone had similar experiences?

Ily

Last Sunday, we visited IKEA Lakeside to purchase a number of large items. Among these was a mirror which was too long to transport using our own car. We asked IKEA to deliver the mirror, along with the other items, and paid a whopping 45 pound for the privilege.

The goods arrived on Monday, and the mirror was broken into 4 pieces. The delivery man said no worries, contact customer services and they will replace it. I made him sign a bit of paper saying the mirror was already broken when it arrived just for extra peace of mind.

Customer services at IKEA are declining all responsinbility. They are telling us WE should contact the delivery company and complain to them.
Not knowing who was right or wrong (should I contact the delivery company? should I keep complaining to IKEA? who is legally responsible in this situation?), I called Trading Standards to ask for clarifications.
They told me in very clear terms that the responsibility lies with IKEA. We left the goods inside the IKEA shop, we are IKEA customers and therefore have a contract with IKEA. The fact that IKEA outsorces its deliveries makes no difference to us. TS encouraged me not to give in, not to contact the delivery company myself 'it is not your job, it's IKEA's job', they said.

I have also put tall of this in writing and sent by recorded delivery to both IKEA Lakeside and IKEA headquarters.

IKEA still declines all responsibility. I told them I received leagal advice on the matter and what the law says but they do not budge. They told me it was my choice to have the items delivered -I could have rented a bigger car if I didn't want to. Since I chose to have them delivered, tough luck. I find this an extraordinary attitude and I am really aggravated by the whole thing.

Have you had any IKEA item broken during/upon delivery? What did you do?

Any Real life experience and/or leagl suggestions deeply appreciated.

Thanks!!!

Halloway

Trading Standards should pursue this on your behalf if you are getting nowhere. They have intervened on my behalf before and successfully resolved an issue where the retailer had basically told me to *** off.

If TS can't or won't take action on your behalf then try and visit CAB and get info on how to claim in the Small Claims Court.

The bottom line is you paid Ikea to deliver items you had bought from them and they damaged the items before or during delivery. Therefore they are liable. The fact that they sub-contracted the delivery to someone else is entirely irrelevant.

Ily

Halloway wrote: »

The bottom line is you paid Ikea to deliver items you had bought from them and they damaged the items before or during delivery. Therefore they are liable. The fact that they sub-contracted the delivery to someone else is entirely irrelevant.

Yes, this is almost word-by-word what TS have told me, and what I have referred to IKEA. It is IKEA's responsibilty, and it is the law (Sales of Goods Act) that makes it so. In any case, ty for confirming this for me Halloway, I need the reassurance right now

The fact that IKEA are instructing their customer service people to tell their customers to take the claim with the delivery company they sub-contract means that IKEA are ignoring their legal responsibilities. How can they get away with it? If the case concerned a small or new company I'd think well maybe this hasn't happened before, it's a one-off. But when the company concerned is IKEA, which is a massive company with outlets all around Britain (and the world), then it makes me wonder how many hundreds if not thousands of customers they have essentially ripped off using this 'decline all responsibility' method. I find this scandalous.

Halloway

Ily wrote: »

The fact that IKEA are instructing their customer service people to tell their customers to take the claim with the delivery company they sub-contract means that IKEA are ignoring their legal responsibilities. How can they get away with it? If the case concerned a small or new company I'd think well maybe this hasn't happened before, it's a one-off. But when the company concerned is IKEA, which is a massive company with outlets all around Britain (and the world), then it makes me wonder how many hundreds if not thousands of customers they have essentially ripped off using this 'decline all responsibility' method. I find this scandalous.

I've not heard of similar problems with IKEA but then I don't read all the Consumer boards assiduously. Generally what happens is, if a lot of people are affected by an issue then TS start to compile a dossier and will tackle the company directly. This usually get results, not least because the resulting publicity can be quite injurious to a company.

Did you pay by credit card? Depending on your CC, you might be able to get them involved either as a chargeback or a warranty/insurance issue.

I hesitate to suggest this but perhaps a letter to Watchdog is in order. IKEA are a big and famous enough company to warrant Watchdog's attention, the latter preferring highly-visible targets.

hollydays

Take a shortcut and ring and speak to a completely different department-they will probably tell you the opposite.That's my experience of Ikea sometimes.

Ily

I wanted to update you all on the situation.

The good news: IKEA have just replaced the items they delivered broken the first time around.

It took us 10 days of phonecalls to their customer services, to the Trading Standards, and 2 written warnings by recorded delivery.

It's very good news that the items are now safely with me, don't get me wrong!

What I would like to point out though is that IKEA are STILL insisting that they have no duty to replace items broken during delivery. Their position is STILL that, if an item is delivered broken, it is up to the customer to seek compensation from the delivery company IKEA employ. In this case, they told me, they replaced the items as a 'gesture of goodwill', not because they had to.

Be warned then. If you are unlucky enough to receive a broken item from them, make sure you get on their case rapidly and with iron determination. And remember, whatever they try to tell you, it is up to IKEA to replace the item for you.

Good luck my friends!