Rant about Ikea Customer Services

ca55ie

Why do companies advise you to telephone their Customer Services Dept when they don't employ sufficient staff to answer the phone calls?

I have just been on hold for over 15 mins trying to contact Ikea Customer Services, as advised by the error message that keeps appearing when I try to order on line.

And no - I didn't speak to anyone I gave up :mad:

fluffnutter

Ikea are notorious for poor service. In fact they even admit it. That's their response - if we employ more staff, our products will cost more. They're totally up front about it. If you want quality customer service, don't go to Ikea.

marywooyeah

Aw that sucks is there a customer service email you could try? Or a facebook page to raise your issue on? X

ca55ie

Thanks for you replies

Hi Fluffnutter - didn't realise Ikea were quite so blatant. For a big company I thought their website was very amateurish. Now I understand why

Marywooyeah - I have emailed - their automatic response says it takes 5 days to reply to an email and 6 days to reply to my "feedback" ie complaint

Guess its time to look elsewhere for the furniture

lisa701

Good luck. Their customer service is dreadful.

I had a 9 month battle with Ikea over 3 faulty kitchen doors. Cannot believe the number of telephone calls, emails, visits to store etc. I had to make to get the doors replaced under guarantee. Minute I threatened them I would contact BBC Watchdog about the issue I received a call to say they were sorting it out and a week later my replacement doors arrives.

Still waiting on the faulty ones to be collected 2 years later.

robatwork

If Ikea ran an airline.....that airline would be Ryanair.

Littlestars_2

Because sometimes companies may underestimate the calls for a day/people being off sick etc there are many reasons. Its one of my pet hates working in a call centre because as soon as we take the call we can get a barrage of abuse from customers because they have had to wait to be answered.

Mupette

Littlestars wrote: »

Because sometimes companies may underestimate the calls for a day/people being off sick etc there are many reasons. Its one of my pet hates working in a call centre because as soon as we take the call we can get a barrage of abuse from customers because they have had to wait to be answered.

yeah all of the time it takes for the system to dial up.

you can tell i work in a call centre, telling customers it's their responsibility to look after their account and they scream (i kid you not) abuse down the phone, because you have said 'you're responsibility' doesn't matter if its in the T & C's (but thats another CC story)

tomalong

Hello ca55ie my advice stay well clear of Ikea.

My story for anyone that it interested. I made a large order from Ikea online on the 14th of December. Ikea advised they could not delivery until the 27th but happily took the money on the 16th. So its long weight but its Christmas so understandable.

The 27th came and went with no delivery or phone call to explain why it had not occurred. So I call Ikea up and after weighting forty five minutes I am finally connected to a person and then I'm cut off (not necessarily Ikea's fault was on my mobile and the signal was not brilliant) try again and another forty five minutes later I get through to another person. I explain the situation and am told someone will call me back. Needless to say no calls from Ikea for me. I call back again on both the Saturday and Sunday to confirm my phone number and each time am told someone will call back. Monday lunch time no one has been in contact so I call again and am told they could delivery on the 6th.

By now I have had just about enough (mobile phone bill now about 40 quid for calls to Ikea) and completely lost any faith in Ikea being able to deliver thus I decide to cut my loses and cancel the order. I am assured I will get written confirmation and a refund in three to seven days. Fast forward to today (9 working days later) and no refund so I call again, 50 minutes on hold to be told sorry but we haven't processed your refund. We will do it now.

Now I appreciate I am just one person and Ikea would not be worth millions if they treated everyone this badly but do not expect anything resembling customer service from them, or believe they will do anything they say over the phone. And perhaps ultimately they are not any cheaper (there main selling point) than many other retailers. So in my opinion one to avoid.

Twisted_Cherry

Mupette wrote: »

yeah all of the time it takes for the system to dial up.

you can tell i work in a call centre, telling customers it's their responsibility to look after their account and they scream (i kid you not) abuse down the phone, because you have said 'you're responsibility' doesn't matter if its in the T & C's (but thats another CC story)

Ohhh such fond memories I have of my times working in Call Centre's - a total of 3!

I had one woman once threaten to come down to our office, meet me after work and throw her prepayment meter at me of course after she had ripped it off the wall of her house... I was having a very bad day and replied 'I'll meet you at the train station save you the walk!' Needless to say a few months later I quit my job and moved onto call centre #3

And don't get me starting on dealing with Council Bins and the public! :eek:

danwisher

fluffnutter wrote: »

Ikea are notorious for poor service. In fact they even admit it. That's their response - if we employ more staff, our products will cost more. They're totally up front about it. If you want quality customer service, don't go to Ikea.

Passed around like a parcel, never heard one of there staff apologise, both useless and ignorant. Pay a little more and shop elsewhere. Better products, better service.