Being ignored by IKEA

henrygregory

Purchased custom spec wardrobe from IKEA (online) on 17th June 2020 the cost was just shy of £1000.
It came on 19th June 2020 - I paid for express delivery (£50).
Some parts were missing and when I unboxed the 32 boxes that it came in, I found several components of the wardrobe were smashed to pieces. Therefore, the express £50 delivery was a waste of money and not at all worth paying for because, if I had visited the store myself, I would have been able to take more care of the items and it would not have cost me £50 for fuel there and back using my own vehicle.

I immediately contacted IKEA on the phone to let them know that some of my items were damaged (obviously, it was not feesible to open 32 boxes and all of them were undamaged), to hear an automated recording stating that they are not taking calls due to Covid-19 with no alternative options.
I had no other option but to drive to my nearest IKEA on the same day (19th June) as their website was useless. The trip took 3 hours there and back. I was given replacement parts, advised customer service person that I was really unhappy and that the quality of the wardrobe was nothing like the ones they have in their show rooms. I was advised that a note had been put on my file for compensation particularly as I had arranged for someone to help me construct this wardrobe who had obviously not been able to help as it was damaged.

Since 19th June, I have heard nothing from IKEA. I have repeatedly written to them both formally via email and using their Twitter chat feature and I have still had no response to my complaint or any offer of compensation or a resolution to the matter. I have made it clear that I am not happy about the state the product arrived in and also that in general, the quality of the product is not at all acceptable. I have included 10 photographs which show the condition of parts and pieces of the item as I had opened the box to take them out. It is quite clearly a manufacturing issue.

Can someone please advise me on what I should do next? I have currently sent three letters, one main one and two follow ups and had nothing. I paid with a credit card. Not sure if I should start proceedings for a section 75 charge back of give them longer? I appreciate that times are different now, but they should not be allowing people to purchase £1000 or more pieces of furniture if they are just going to ignore their customers once they have got the money. 

Any advice would be great.

born_again

If you have got the furniture then S75 is out. 
Any compensation will have to come from IKea

visidigi

henrygregory said:

Purchased custom spec wardrobe from IKEA (online) on 17th June 2020 the cost was just shy of £1000.
It came on 19th June 2020 - I paid for express delivery (£50).
Some parts were missing and when I unboxed the 32 boxes that it came in, I found several components of the wardrobe were smashed to pieces. Therefore, the express £50 delivery was a waste of money and not at all worth paying for because, if I had visited the store myself, I would have been able to take more care of the items and it would not have cost me £50 for fuel there and back using my own vehicle.

I immediately contacted IKEA on the phone to let them know that some of my items were damaged (obviously, it was not feesible to open 32 boxes and all of them were undamaged), to hear an automated recording stating that they are not taking calls due to Covid-19 with no alternative options.
I had no other option but to drive to my nearest IKEA on the same day (19th June) as their website was useless. The trip took 3 hours there and back. I was given replacement parts, advised customer service person that I was really unhappy and that the quality of the wardrobe was nothing like the ones they have in their show rooms. I was advised that a note had been put on my file for compensation particularly as I had arranged for someone to help me construct this wardrobe who had obviously not been able to help as it was damaged.

Since 19th June, I have heard nothing from IKEA. I have repeatedly written to them both formally via email and using their Twitter chat feature and I have still had no response to my complaint or any offer of compensation or a resolution to the matter. I have made it clear that I am not happy about the state the product arrived in and also that in general, the quality of the product is not at all acceptable. I have included 10 photographs which show the condition of parts and pieces of the item as I had opened the box to take them out. It is quite clearly a manufacturing issue.

Can someone please advise me on what I should do next? I have currently sent three letters, one main one and two follow ups and had nothing. I paid with a credit card. Not sure if I should start proceedings for a section 75 charge back of give them longer? I appreciate that times are different now, but they should not be allowing people to purchase £1000 or more pieces of furniture if they are just going to ignore their customers once they have got the money. 

Any advice would be great.

I take it they are still in the boxes and not built? Also would you be able to get the 32 boxes in your vehicle? Just checking that the £50 really was unnecessary...

henrygregory

visidigi said:

henrygregory said:

Purchased custom spec wardrobe from IKEA (online) on 17th June 2020 the cost was just shy of £1000.
It came on 19th June 2020 - I paid for express delivery (£50).
Some parts were missing and when I unboxed the 32 boxes that it came in, I found several components of the wardrobe were smashed to pieces. Therefore, the express £50 delivery was a waste of money and not at all worth paying for because, if I had visited the store myself, I would have been able to take more care of the items and it would not have cost me £50 for fuel there and back using my own vehicle.

I immediately contacted IKEA on the phone to let them know that some of my items were damaged (obviously, it was not feesible to open 32 boxes and all of them were undamaged), to hear an automated recording stating that they are not taking calls due to Covid-19 with no alternative options.
I had no other option but to drive to my nearest IKEA on the same day (19th June) as their website was useless. The trip took 3 hours there and back. I was given replacement parts, advised customer service person that I was really unhappy and that the quality of the wardrobe was nothing like the ones they have in their show rooms. I was advised that a note had been put on my file for compensation particularly as I had arranged for someone to help me construct this wardrobe who had obviously not been able to help as it was damaged.

Since 19th June, I have heard nothing from IKEA. I have repeatedly written to them both formally via email and using their Twitter chat feature and I have still had no response to my complaint or any offer of compensation or a resolution to the matter. I have made it clear that I am not happy about the state the product arrived in and also that in general, the quality of the product is not at all acceptable. I have included 10 photographs which show the condition of parts and pieces of the item as I had opened the box to take them out. It is quite clearly a manufacturing issue.

Can someone please advise me on what I should do next? I have currently sent three letters, one main one and two follow ups and had nothing. I paid with a credit card. Not sure if I should start proceedings for a section 75 charge back of give them longer? I appreciate that times are different now, but they should not be allowing people to purchase £1000 or more pieces of furniture if they are just going to ignore their customers once they have got the money. 

Any advice would be great.

I take it they are still in the boxes and not built? Also would you be able to get the 32 boxes in your vehicle? Just checking that the £50 really was unnecessary...

All items were removed from boxes, particularly after the damage was noticed. As explained to Ikea in my original visit and subsequent letters, we had already part built the product when we discovered that parts were smashed. We made every effort to check all boxes and all boxes were undamaged. It was impossible to unbox them all whilst delivery drivers were there, so we built it as per the instructions opening each box as required. It was only when we got to the large glass doors, we encountered the issues when opening that particular set of boxes. By that point, the main, substantial frames were already built and with it being a Friday recycling day, the boxes had gone off on the back of the bin lorry.

Yup, the £50 was unnecessary. I had access to a work vehicle so would have been more than able to collect myself. I paid for the delivery as it would have saved me having to go and mix with people who could potentially have Covid-19. They were offering a delivery just two days after I made my order, which was good.
Was a complete waste of money in my opinion as I had to drive to Ikea anyway due to their inability to man their phone lines or get back to customers. I had to put myself in harms way as there was very little social distancing and an incredibly long queue when I had already paid for my product to be delivered.
 
I have asked Ikea for an offer as to what they would like to do next, but I have been ignored, presumably as they have a backlog. Ikea is more than welcome to come and collect the wardrobe but sadly, I am not prepared to pay someone to deconstruct what is here, so Ikea would need to cover this cost. I made this clear in my letters (3), but not even an acknowledgement. 

Hence my question, what do I do next? If I am able to get a section 75 chargeback, I will write to Ikea for a fourth time advising them to get in touch re collecting their product within a set and fair time period. But I would like to know if this is the correct thing to do. 

visidigi

You can't get a S75 chargeback.

You paid the £50 to avoid the hassle of getting the van and driving to the store. If you had to get the van, fuel and time for collecting the whole order it wouldn't have cost you much less then the delivery they offered you for a fee.

You say the problem was a manufacturing fault, these things happen. What exactly have you asked them for in these 'letters'? Your order was not a custom build, it was an order from a set of pre-determined options, so collecting it from you would serve what purpose? At the point it was identified it was damaged you should had the option to return it. But you continued to build it, obtaining the correct items from Ikea to do so. 

You are more than likely to get a refund of the difference from express and standard delivery, maybe a £10 goodwill. But the way you are writing this its like you're expecting ALOT more...so what are you expecting?

henrygregory

I disagree. I should be offered something and at the very least, an apology would have been nice.
Of course I continued building it. I had spent a considerable amount of time planning the design and I am afraid to say, the staff in store referred to it as a custom build, so custom build it is. Manufacturing issues do happen, but there are a worrying amount with this item. I have spent thousands over the years at Ikea and have had past wadrobes with them, but they have been far better quality than this. 
What I am expecting is:
1.An explanation for the shocking amount of time Ikea have taken to respond to me. 
2.An explanation for why the products in store are free of manufacturing defects. I spent some time prior to going ahead with this order checking the models they had in store and talking to staff about what options I should go for. You would expect the in-store stuff to be far more worn and defective with the hundreds of customers that must look and use it passing through every hour. 
3. All defective parts to be either replaced, with someone to do this task as I had to pay someone to construct it in the first place, or a full refund and they can come and take it away. This wardrobe was just a few hundred cheaper than getting a bespoke wardrobe installed by a qualified and competent wardrobe fitter. I wish I had just used the chap as he would have done it in a weekend. Instead, I have wasted time and significant money on junk and a company who clearly don't give a t0ss about responding to their customers.
4. A full refund on the delivery and something as a gesture of goodwill. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Sounds like you know what you want and just want advice you agree with.  I can't see what anyone else can advise, other than write to them again and keep trying.

henrygregory

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Sounds like you know what you want and just want advice you agree with.  I can't see what anyone else can advise, other than write to them again and keep trying.

I think any hard working person would expect at least a response of any kind given the time frame. Anyone who doesn't agree with that must be in a parallel universe, nothing to do with wanting advise I agree with.
I will continue to write letters, but surely there must be something further I can do if they continue to ignore me?
If I ignore my customers for one day, they kick off and from time to time have said they may not be paying my bill as I have taken too long to respond in their opinion. Yet it seems, the too big to care organisations are able to get away with it.  

frankpaul55

I had a huge issue with IKEA and their kitchen fitting service. Kitchen should have been fitted in first week of February 2020. Not completed as significant parts were missing. These were provided a couple of days later but IKEA failed to send the fitter back. After many  failed phone attempts and emails, we had to visit the store to get some action. Fitter supposed to return at  end of March but lockdown came in. Following IKEA reopening on 1st June, IKEA ignored every communication and two visits to the store and lots of failed promises. In the end I issued a Claim for breach of contract in Online County Court - money claims. On receipt, IKEA had the installation completed but made absolutely derisory offers for compensation, trying to fob us off saying we had no basis for claiming compensation for our losses. So I applied for and got the County Court Judgement for almost £2000 compensation. Seems drastic and people may be put off but the process is simple. There is an up front fee of £185 but I got this back too.

Aylesbury_Duck

frankpaul55 said:

I had a huge issue with IKEA and their kitchen fitting service. Kitchen should have been fitted in first week of February 2020. Not completed as significant parts were missing. These were provided a couple of days later but IKEA failed to send the fitter back. After many  failed phone attempts and emails, we had to visit the store to get some action. Fitter supposed to return at  end of March but lockdown came in. Following IKEA reopening on 1st June, IKEA ignored every communication and two visits to the store and lots of failed promises. In the end I issued a Claim for breach of contract in Online County Court - money claims. On receipt, IKEA had the installation completed but made absolutely derisory offers for compensation, trying to fob us off saying we had no basis for claiming compensation for our losses. So I applied for and got the County Court Judgement for almost £2000 compensation. Seems drastic and people may be put off but the process is simple. There is an up front fee of £185 but I got this back too.

On what basis was the £2,000 awarded?  What losses did you claim for?

henrygregory

frankpaul55 said:

I had a huge issue with IKEA and their kitchen fitting service. Kitchen should have been fitted in first week of February 2020. Not completed as significant parts were missing. These were provided a couple of days later but IKEA failed to send the fitter back. After many  failed phone attempts and emails, we had to visit the store to get some action. Fitter supposed to return at  end of March but lockdown came in. Following IKEA reopening on 1st June, IKEA ignored every communication and two visits to the store and lots of failed promises. In the end I issued a Claim for breach of contract in Online County Court - money claims. On receipt, IKEA had the installation completed but made absolutely derisory offers for compensation, trying to fob us off saying we had no basis for claiming compensation for our losses. So I applied for and got the County Court Judgement for almost £2000 compensation. Seems drastic and people may be put off but the process is simple. There is an up front fee of £185 but I got this back too.

FrankPaul, I am so glad you posted as it felt like I was being made to feel like the only one with an issue and someone seeking only to agree with what I thought was right on this forum.
IKEA ignored me for months, just as you have described in your experience.
I sent them a LBA via recorded delivery outlining what I was expecting. I was again ignored, however a partial refund of 40% of my purchase price arrived in my Credit Card account along with an email with a £50 compensation voucher from IKEA.
In the end, I was awarded a decent (in my opinion) amount of compensation. However, this was after months and months of chasing.
I am glad I got a resolution though, I would never chose to use IKEA again as my experience was just terrible.