IKEA REFUSING full REFUND

sheramber

As it has been opened and the legs wouldn't go back in the box, I expect it will be sold off at a reduced price  in the bargain basement.

Tokmon

Dizzycow07 said:

I had been looking for a breakfast bar for my kitchen and spotted one online from Ikea. I went to the Leeds store and ordered it to be picked up at their external warehouse. There were none in store I could see to get a proper idea of it. It was heavier than I expected but I managed to get it home and made a slit in the top of the box to remove the contents. A small box with plastic bags with screws etc was the first out. I undid these and laid them out. Next was the legs/base section. When I removed this and stood it up I realised it was going to be too tall for my small stature (just over 5ft). All screws were returned to the plastic bags and put into the small box, then back into the larger one. I couldn't get all the legs back into the main box and didn't want to damage anything trying to jam them back in. I took the breakfast bar in it's entirety back to the returns  dept and explained the problem and that all items were there and in excellent order. The 'customer' services rep asked me if I'd opened the bag of screw. I said yes. she then told me that as it was now 'not saleable' I would only be getting a refund for the table top. I explained that it was not fit for my purposes and that I had never heard of this  policy  - having shopped with Ikea for over 20 years. She said 'well it's on the website' No offer of in store credit was offered and I only recieved the price of the table top. The breakfast bar cost me £150 in the morning and by the afternoon I had and have only received £75.00 refund. I feel like they have taken £75.00 from me. They have all the goods in their possession. 
I have gone through Resolver to see if I can go any further with this and at present am not getting very far. Has anybody else had this issue with Ikea?  I've returned opened packages in the past and never had any problem.

Make sure your next purchase is a tape measure so when you look at things online you can see how they measure up in the real world and then won't have to buy then just to see the size and waste time returning them.

pbartlett

Back in the day, pretty much no-one offered returns other than M&S - which is why so many people bought from them

These days most shops have some returns policies, but if one of their requirements is that 'packs of screws shall not be opened' then that is their policy and you have no recourse.

pinkshoes

Dizzycow07 said:

I had been looking for a breakfast bar for my kitchen and spotted one online from Ikea. 

Ikea website have measurements VERY clearly listed. It is even on the overview image that comes up when you are searching for a product. 

They tend to do their own standard measurements for things rather than UK standards (so an Argos breakfast bar is about 900mm, this one is 1050mm) but as this was clearly listed that you cannot say it is not fit for purpose.

I'm surprised you accepted the £75 refund, as Ikea stuff sells very well online, so you could have got much more for it selling it on privately. 

Legally, as it was purchased in store, they do not have to refund you anything. 

DCFC79

I don't understand why you didn't check the website for height etc and use a measuring tape to get an idea for its height.

p00hsticks

pbartlett said:

Back in the day, pretty much no-one offered returns other than M&S - which is why so many people bought from them

At least in part that was because M&S, unlike other high street clothing stores around at the time such as C&A and BHS, never provided changing rooms for you to try on clothes before you bought them.  We tended to avoid M&S for precisely this reason.