Ikea Faulty Item Refund

gbarton24

We bought two Brusali wardrobes, paid for picking and delivery back in June and by September both had tilted and started to lean the same way and the top had sagged. One is used very lightly as it's for guests, the other more so but still not a great deal inside and nothing on top. Ikea arranged a company called ecomaster to assess whether there was and they advised both items were faulty and not fit for purpose due to a total lack of internal support inside and a refund should be processed. This was in October. We waited a month for Ikea to then ring and say they could do a refund, so they took all my details and said they would do the refund but we would have to dismantle the items and return to store. This was the first we were told about this and I said why when they've been assessed to be faulty, we were happy to get rid of them in our own time, and also we paid for picking and delivery of the two wardrobes as we couldn't do it ourselves when buying them so we can't return ourselves either. Also the back of both have 150 nails in as instructed so there is no way to safely dismantle them without destroying them in the process. The customer service guy didn't provide a reason why they need returning even though they admit there's a fault. I asked for the complaints procedure and was told there was none. I gave up with that route and wrote a letter to the UK customer service centre which took two follow up letters and 1 1/2 months for a reply, which came by phone call and we were told the items had to be assessed by Ikea before a refund. I pointed out we were told ecomaster were doing that for Ikea and Ikea accepted the fault after the report was done by ecomaster. The issue is we can't take the items down ourselves safely or get them to a store. As Ikea have confirmed there is a fault with both can they not just process the refund, its worth £280, and we can deal with getting them down in our own time somehow? The items will have to be damaged further to get them down so Ikea saying they need to be assessed it pointless as they will be in an even worse state due to their own instructions about putting them up securely. Also shouldn't they be refunding us for the picking and delivery we paid originally? They aren't budging at all and we are at a loss what to do.

marliepanda

Although they are faulty, as agreed by their agent, they still have the right to ask for it back. Otherwise you would have a refund and the items, which may be serviceable Just not perfect. You want your money back, rightly so, but they want their wardrobes back. Damaged more by dismantling or not.

They may want to look to see what has failed in these wardrobes. I assume all Brusali wardrobes do not fail in this way, so they may want to look and see what has went wrong. They may want to light them on fire and dance around to the gods of Ikea. It doesn’t matter. If you want your money they want their item.

I’ve had a lot of Ikea furniture, and I don’t believe you have to destroy it to dismantle it.

In terms of getting it back to them, what you should have done instead of raising a complaint is get a courier quote to take the items back to the store and ask Ikea to cover that.

hollydays

Also be aware IKEA customer service can be a nightmare.

shaun_from_Africa

gbarton24 wrote: »

We bought two Brusali wardrobes, paid for picking and delivery back in June and by September both had tilted and started to lean the same way,

so they took all my details and said they would do the refund but we would have to dismantle the items and return to store.

Did you pay Ikea for the delivery or was it a third party company?
If it was Ikea then I would say that you are not responsible for returning the wardrobes back to the store.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/part/1/chapter/2/crossheading/what-remedies-are-there-if-statutory-rights-under-a-goods-contract-are-not-met/enacted

(8)Whether or not the consumer has a duty to return the rejected goods, the trader must bear any reasonable costs of returning them, other than any costs incurred by the consumer in returning the goods in person to the place where the consumer took physical possession of them.

If you first took possession of the units when they were delivered to your home then this is where Ikea are expected to collect them from.

glentoran99

marliepanda wrote: »

Although they are faulty, as agreed by their agent, they still have the right to ask for it back. Otherwise you would have a refund and the items, which may be serviceable Just not perfect. You want your money back, rightly so, but they want their wardrobes back. Damaged more by dismantling or not.

They may want to look to see what has failed in these wardrobes. I assume all Brusali wardrobes do not fail in this way, so they may want to look and see what has went wrong. They may want to light them on fire and dance around to the gods of Ikea. It doesn’t matter. If you want your money they want their item.

I’ve had a lot of Ikea furniture, and I don’t believe you have to destroy it to dismantle it.

In terms of getting it back to them, what you should have done instead of raising a complaint is get a courier quote to take the items back to the store and ask Ikea to cover that.

I second that, Its easy to take apart, just reverse of putting it together

glentoran99

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Did you pay Ikea for the delivery or was it a third party company?
If it was Ikea then I would say that you are not responsible for returning the wardrobes back to the store.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/part/1/chapter/2/crossheading/what-remedies-are-there-if-statutory-rights-under-a-goods-contract-are-not-met/enacted


If you first took possession of the units when they were delivered to your home then this is where Ikea are expected to collect them from.

Ikea seem to employ a third party company

AndyMc.....

glentoran99 wrote: »

I second that, Its easy to take apart, just reverse of putting it together

Yes, just gentle tap the inside edges of the back panel will see the nails pop out.

shaun_from_Africa

glentoran99 wrote: »

Ikea seem to employ a third party company

I don't think that would matter if the OP paid Ikea for the delivery.
Who Ikea choose to use to deliver the goods after that doesn't matter if the actual delivery contract is between the OP and Ikea themselves.

pmduk

I suspect the OP might be better considering either an S75 claim or an LBA at this point, depending on original method of payment.

glentoran99

pmduk wrote: »

I suspect the OP might be better considering either an S75 claim or an LBA at this point, depending on original method of payment.

Why? Ikea have said they will refund on return, A section 75 will likely have the same outcome,

unholyangel

glentoran99 wrote: »

Why? Ikea have said they will refund on return, A section 75 will likely have the same outcome,

Actually, I believe OP said they agreed to refund if he dismantled and returned to store - not that they agreed to refund on return of the goods.

Legally, unless they included a term at the time of purchase placing the consumer under an obligation to return rejected goods then the consumers only obligation is to make them available for collection. Those provisions form part of your contract by default.