Ikea Exchange policy

Zoo_TV

I thought I'd have a vent about the situation both my wife found ourselves in in Ikea at Lakeside...

We ordered a bookcase and a set of drawers. In true Ikea style, we could buy the drawer innards, but not the drawer fronts - we were told that they would be in stock in 4 weeks. No problem, I checked the web site until it was in stock and we trundled down from Greenwich to Lakeside last Friday to get the 4 drawer fronts.

When we got back, I started to put them together, and out of the 4 drawer fronts we received, 2 were had the finish already coming up or rippled. We weren't impressed.

On Sunday we were round at my wife's parents in Gravesend, and I thought - let's take the drawer fronts and we'll go in on our way back, get an exchange - job done.

Wer turned up at Ikea at 3.30pm - went straight to customer services and got a ticket. After an hour, we were finally seen by the "Customer Services" rep Kim who said that she couldn't exchange the drawer fronts and only refund them. We then have to go back into the store, pick up new fronts, queue to pay for them. We asked why there was this policy and we were told that she had worked here for 2 years and that was the policy - she said this with a real attitude as well. We naturally asked her what happens if the fronts were faulty - she shrugged her shoulders.

My wife then suggested that instead of going round in a circle, and the fact that 50% of the drawer fronts we had bought were faulty, we wanted them checked. I was then told to go and get the doors myself, and she would open them -she was making it clear it was more than she wanted to do.

I got 4 drawer fronts from the store - and got stopped by security who thought i was sholifting £16 worth of goods!- went to customer services and the sulky Kim of which yet again 2 were faulty. We did have that look "See I told you so" - - but we still had to go back and queue to pay for them at the normal checkouts.

My wife and I couldn't see the logic of this as we now had the drawer fronts at customer services, we weren't asking for a refund, just a striahgt exchange and still meeting with a brick wall. My wife asked to see the manager at which point (without even checking) Kim (who was in a major strop) said that he was unavailable for 30 minutes helping a cuistomer on the other side of the store (I didn't realise she was a member of the X-Men and can see through concrete walls!). My wife asked her if she had ever had this issue with customers before just wanting to exchange and she said yes - and then my wifre asked if she had done anything about it - raised it with management (My wife works in a customer focussed environment!). The answer was a sulky No

My wife turned round to me and made a comment along the lines of "Nothing like a jobsworth - what a ludicrous policy - and the customer experience can be improved easily". I asked Kim what the customer complaints policy was. She said we can write/call the store. I asked "Who do I go to if I want to go higher?" I was told nobody. I thought this was a bit unbelievable. So there is no management structure at all above the store? Where do the goods come from? Who decides on the pricing, the corporate look? Somebody must have come up with the returns policy as "It's the same at every store"

At this point, the sulky Kim then threw an almighty strop and refused to serve us saying we were abusing her due to her being challenged in a polite and quiet way over her answers. So somebody else served us. My wife still wanted to talk to a manager and I went to queue to have to pay for the doors.

At this point the manager had turned up - when I returned some 10-15 minutes later and we pointed out the stupidity of the situation. Why can't Ikea do a straight exchange? He had no answer apart from it's to keep store thefts down and we tell customers to to have one person in customer services and the other queueing. I asked what happens if I turn up alone?

I also asked why there is no signage explaining this policy? The reponse was that we didn't want to overload the customers with too many signs? I did point out that this was probably more important to customers than whether they should buy keep thier allen keys to tighhten thier furniture....

Anyway, I hope you all know the process for exchanging items at Ikea -and don't get caught up in the red tape jobsworth called Kim

Oh and if you see Kim - say hi - you might get her "Kevin and Perry" sulks once she's finished looking through walls and knowing where all the staff are without the help of satellite tracking! :-)

viktory

Ah see I didn't have this problem. We bought a TV unit thing from Ikea and really, really stupidly stored it against a hot radiator. Of course the top warped. I called Ikea and told them that the top was warped (but not the reason!) and also said that I no longer have my receipt but do have a credit card statement that shows the purchase. They advised no problem, bring it in and we will change it.

Admittedly we had a longish wait, but eventually a member of staff checked the CC statement, went and fetched a new top and also quality checked it for us.

I suppose it depends on who serves you at the time! Don't think it was Kim.

hollydays

If possible,avoid going to Ikea at the weekends-nuff said.

dangeroussports

Ikea

Quality products.

Try as I may I cannot put the above three words in once sentence.

C_Ronaldo

Ive had products from them with no problems

dangeroussports

You left out the word 'quality' ....lol....I take it in purpose?

vikingaero

Unfortunately this is what makes IKEA cheap and also what narks people off about the store. The more procedures and duties you put into place the more you have to charge for the products to cover the time and costs. By simplifying the process and making the customer do the legwork IKEA think that they're onto a winner.

Have you tried that new ILVA store on the retail park near IKEA. Much better service and quality for not a lot more; and no flat pack assembly!

spuds_2

Ilva is very good - okay not as cheap as Ikea (but loads cheaper than Habitat), but furniture is good quality and much of it is reasonable priced. They have a Sale on now. Very nice store to wander round. It has a cafe but limited and not cheap.

http://www.ilva.co.uk/

edit: one disadvantage of Ilva is that all the furniture is quite large. Fine for loft living, but it won't fit in the alcoves of my semi.