Ikea - wardrobe bought, but no hinges!

MoneySavingMamma

This week I was crazy enough to do the 100mile round trip to Ikea to kit out the house with furniture, including wardrobes for our new arrival. Total spend £500.

The wardrobe I bought was Pax, with the Ballstad doors. I researched all the info online & wrote down all the codes etc so I could easily find the items to buy.
I looked at the wardrobe in the showroom, & also checked info there, what extras I needed (shelves, drawers, handles etc) then downstairs filled the trolley with the seperate boxes. One thing that wasn't clear was whether the drawer runners were included, so I checked the box & could see there were runners included.

When I picked up the door, there was no sign saying 'pick up hinges' nor any hinges on display. There was however signs in showroom about 'door handles not included'.

I've rung up today, to see if as goodwill I can get the hinges posted out to me, as I understand I am part at fault for not getting hinges, but because there was no signage, or even hinges on display anywhere near where the doors where (we checked the whole area, because we were double & triple checking that we had the right size doors, as they do several sizes of same door)
They said no, hinges are £5 each + £7.99 delivery. I said it's very hard to know what is included & what is not included, but they weren't interested. I also told them online it does say they are included;

Good to know
Hinges are included in the combination but come in a separate package.
Knobs and handles are sold separately.


She said its different online.

I need 3 sets of hinges, at £5 each, thats £15 extra on a £15 door. It doesn't make sense for them to be free online. I think they are free instore & your supposed to just pick them up when you pick up the doors (part 1 of 2 & part 2 of 2) But the store I went to didn't display them with this information.

The point of all this waffling is - do I have a good complaints case to get them to send me some hinges?!:j

lateandlive

MoneySavingMamma wrote: »

This week I was crazy enough to do the 100mile round trip to Ikea to kit out the house with furniture, including wardrobes for our new arrival. Total spend £500.

The wardrobe I bought was Pax, with the Ballstad doors. I researched all the info online & wrote down all the codes etc so I could easily find the items to buy.
I looked at the wardrobe in the showroom, & also checked info there, what extras I needed (shelves, drawers, handles etc) then downstairs filled the trolley with the seperate boxes. One thing that wasn't clear was whether the drawer runners were included, so I checked the box & could see there were runners included.

When I picked up the door, there was no sign saying 'pick up hinges' nor any hinges on display. There was however signs in showroom about 'door handles not included'.

I've rung up today, to see if as goodwill I can get the hinges posted out to me, as I understand I am part at fault for not getting hinges, but because there was no signage, or even hinges on display anywhere near where the doors where (we checked the whole area, because we were double & triple checking that we had the right size doors, as they do several sizes of same door)
They said no, hinges are £5 each + £7.99 delivery. I said it's very hard to know what is included & what is not included, but they weren't interested. I also told them online it does say they are included;

Good to know
Hinges are included in the combination but come in a separate package.
Knobs and handles are sold separately.


She said its different online.

I need 3 sets of hinges, at £5 each, thats £15 extra on a £15 door. It doesn't make sense for them to be free online. I think they are free instore & your supposed to just pick them up when you pick up the doors (part 1 of 2 & part 2 of 2) But the store I went to didn't display them with this information.

The point of all this waffling is - do I have a good complaints case to get them to send me some hinges?!:j

You could try, but if you were unsure then surely you could have asked a member of staff? There's no legal requirement for them to compensate you, and I'd doubt there's a requirement for them to display signage either.

MoneySavingMamma

Legally I don't have much to stand on, but does it sound fair enough to ring again & take it further like trying to speak to a manager to sort it out?

Also trying to find a member of staff is near impossible!

I guess I'm after a 2nd opinion that its not just my fault & that theres a chance I can get them sent as a goodwill gesture. Or people who have had dealing with Ikea might know they never do anything out of goodwill?!

Also just searched online, using the product code given to me over the phone & by searching hinges & you can't buy online at all. So I have no way of getting them without another 100mile trip, hopefully this might get them to help me out. It backs up my arguement that hinges are actually free/included in price and they would be picked up with doors, so should be near doors!

halibut2209

A dishonest person would order one online, take the hinges out, then return it for a refund saying the hinges weren't included.

visidigi

MoneySavingMamma wrote: »

This week I was crazy enough to do the 100mile round trip to Ikea to kit out the house with furniture, including wardrobes for our new arrival. Total spend £500.

The wardrobe I bought was Pax, with the Ballstad doors. I researched all the info online & wrote down all the codes etc so I could easily find the items to buy.
I looked at the wardrobe in the showroom, & also checked info there, what extras I needed (shelves, drawers, handles etc) then downstairs filled the trolley with the seperate boxes. One thing that wasn't clear was whether the drawer runners were included, so I checked the box & could see there were runners included.

When I picked up the door, there was no sign saying 'pick up hinges' nor any hinges on display. There was however signs in showroom about 'door handles not included'.

I've rung up today, to see if as goodwill I can get the hinges posted out to me, as I understand I am part at fault for not getting hinges, but because there was no signage, or even hinges on display anywhere near where the doors where (we checked the whole area, because we were double & triple checking that we had the right size doors, as they do several sizes of same door)
They said no, hinges are £5 each + £7.99 delivery. I said it's very hard to know what is included & what is not included, but they weren't interested. I also told them online it does say they are included;

Good to know
Hinges are included in the combination but come in a separate package.
Knobs and handles are sold separately.


She said its different online.

I need 3 sets of hinges, at £5 each, thats £15 extra on a £15 door. It doesn't make sense for them to be free online. I think they are free instore & your supposed to just pick them up when you pick up the doors (part 1 of 2 & part 2 of 2) But the store I went to didn't display them with this information.

The point of all this waffling is - do I have a good complaints case to get them to send me some hinges?!:j

No you don't you purchased in store - if you bought online and they didn't turn up then that would be different. The online sections do state the hinges are packed separately.

Sorry, but you would need to pay postage to get them - £7.99 would be less than the petrol/diesel to get them again I would have thought?

I've been in a similar situation - I bought a bed but no slats...It was my fault, didn't do the research for item numbers etc before I left for the store - in your case the web shows three item numbers, I think the hinges would be 957.191.00 but they do not show when searched online.

halibut2209

visidigi wrote: »

No you don't you purchased in store - if you bought online and they didn't turn up then that would be different. The online sections do state the hinges are packed separately.

Sorry, but you would need to pay postage to get them - £7.99 would be less than the petrol/diesel to get them again I would have thought?

I've been in a similar situation - I bought a bed but no slats...It was my fault, didn't do the research for item numbers etc before I left for the store - in your case the web shows three item numbers, I think the hinges would be 957.191.00 but they do not show when searched online.

But IKEA are also asking for the cost of the hinges as well, not just the delivery. I am sure the OP has no problem in paying for postage.

visidigi

halibut2209 wrote: »

But IKEA are also asking for the cost of the hinges as well, not just the delivery. I am sure the OP has no problem in paying for postage.

That's because the hinges are not part of the price in store.

In the same way many prices online are cheaper than in store the same goes for Ikea - it's no different.

The hinges are in baskets next to both the doors and the frames in Ikea - the OP made a mistake, Ikea didn't tell them instore they were included.

Note, the hinges instore are NOT free and are not part of a 1 of 2, 2 of 2 setup - they are paid for items - we have 5 wardrobes, all from Ikea (as they fit perfectly in the spaces we have) and the hinges are part of the purchase - individually priced.

It was presumed and that is why its not Ikea's fault.

halibut2209

I was just responding to the line you wrote specifically about postage, which is not the issue at hand

EDIT: I'd go the customer service route. Tell them that all you really wanted was this wardrobe and was going to order online. But instead you decided to spend a day out going to a store to get it, and whilst there you spent a lot more with them than you initially intended to. Appeal to their sense of customer loyalty.

MoneySavingMamma

They really weren't instore next to the doors, I know this as I was with my partner & we were looking around checking we had the right door & reading all the shelf labels to ensure name & dimensions were right, so we wouldn't have missed a box or place with hinges.

I'll give them another call & see where I get.
I don't mind paying postage, but not for hinges, or hinges not postage. But not both as I think it's not clear.

Shopping in Ikea is such a nightmare, trying to match up all the bits, I really think they should have clear warnings on the shelf - HINGES NOT INCLUDED - but are available on aisle 22. Handles not included - but are available on aisle 23 .....

visidigi

MoneySavingMamma wrote: »

I'll give them another call & see where I get.
I don't mind paying postage, but not for hinges, or hinges not postage. But not both as I think it's not clear.

Shopping in Ikea is such a nightmare, trying to match up all the bits, I really think they should have clear warnings on the shelf - HINGES NOT INCLUDED - but are available on aisle 22. Handles not included - but are available on aisle 23 .....

Which store was it?

We've bought ours from Wednesbury, Coventry, Milton Keynes and Nottingham (we moved house and had a van for a few days) - all those stores have baskets of the hinges in place.

Theres a reason why Ikea is cheap, because you have to assemble what is needed to build it - if they included hinges with every frame then there would be wastage - and they would increase the core price for everyone - which is why they don't.

PAX range is sold as components, not complete products, the codes for the items are online, you could have taken these instore and would have walked out with all the items needed, it sounds like this did not happen- there are 000's of combinations in the PAX range - can you imagine signposting them all?

You mention the hinges are the same price as a door, I think this is the real issue, your budgeted cost is higher than expected - but like previously mentioned, online prices usually are lower than in store and it is Ikea's right for that to be the case.

As this board is consumer rights, you right is not to have Ikea post you free hinges or free postage on the hinges -from a Customer Services point of view they may eventually - but they do not have any obligation under law to do so.

Sooki

Surely if it was a flat pack sold not fit for purpose, I'd start politely arguing on this angle the sale of goods act. Surely the hinges would be a universal fit for the product doors and should be included in the fixing kit.

It all sounds ludicrous, this is bad publicity for them. Doors need hinges, they supply flat pack furniture.

Furniture being the operative word, a door can not become a wardrobe door unless you are provided the facility to fix it to make it function as a wardrobe door.

Misled and mis-sold especially if the parts were not readily available and it wasn't flagged up at point of sale.