I'm so annoyed with Ikea.

Moggsy_2

I ordered a range of shelving units from Ikea online a few weeks ago, using their store and organise planner. The planner is meant to show all the accessories you need to complete your plan. After completing my plan and adding accessories such at doors, adjustable legs and door handles, I went to checkout to purchase all the items for my storage plan. After assembling the units a week last Saturday, we discovered that the inner removable shelves of the units are fine if using as an open shelving unit without doors or drawers, but are not deep enough to fit flush with the top of doors and drawers, thus leaving a small gap between the top of the door/drawer and the adjoining shelf.

I went online to see if Ikea sell a deeper shelf in the same range to rectify this and they do, but they were unavailable to purchase online. This may be the reason why this shelf was not added to my trolley when doing the storage plan online. I did a search for this item on the Ikea website for stock availability at my nearest Ikea store which is Cardiff (one hour drive away) and it stated that it was in stock. When I got there, I was told that the item had been discontinued at Cardiff and the store worker apologised for my wasted journey, but did a search online to see if they had them at any other stores. The nearest other store which showed stock was Wembley in London. I asked if these items could either be sent to the Cardiff store for collection or to my home address and I would pay for the carriage, but the assistant said it wasn't possible.

I didn't fancy having to drive all the way to London, but as my storage unit is incomplete without these shelves, I felt I had no option. I telephoned the Wembley store to confirm they had the shelves before going there and I was assured that they had 56 in stock. I explained to customer service that I was coming all the way from Wales and asked if I could reserve 10 of these shelves, but they said this wasn't possible and I could only check the stock quantities before coming there. I travelled to Wembley yesterday (Sunday) and couldn't find the shelves in the warehouse. I asked one of the store workers where I could find them and after she did a search on the computer, she told me that the stock level was showing 56, but they have been discontinued. I asked where these 56 shelves were and she said she didn't know, so told me to go to customer services. I took a ticket and waited 45 minutes to see a customer service adviser only to be told he had no idea why the computer was showing 56 shelves and he had no idea what had happened to them and said these things happen sometimes. He said the shelves may be somewhere in the warehouse, or may have been removed due to quality control, but had no way of finding out. He sent me back to warehouse and told me to speak to a warehouse supervisor who had no more information to give me. At this point I was really annoyed and stressed how I was told these items were here before travelling 200 miles only to find out they didn’t have them. I explained that this shouldn’t happen and said that it had cost me £80 in petrol to get there and back. I said that I wanted to speak to the store manager and when one of the assistants phoned for the manager, I was told that the manager was unavailable and gave me a name and address to send my complaint to!

This is the worst store and customer service I have ever had to deal with! I just wanted to know what everyone thinks I should do now and should I ask for petrol compensation for my wasted journey – after the entire fault is with Ikea and not me?

ps. sorry this post is so long, but it's the only way I could explain my story
Sandy xx

Update

After my complaint to Ikea's head office, I had a telephone call with an apology and they arranged to have the shelves sent out to me from a store which still had them - free of charge. They also sent me a gift voucher for £50 to cover the cost of my petrol.

custardy

cant really help with ikea
is it possible to remove a section from the rear of the shelves to allow them to sit further in?
or does that not work with the design?

Moggsy_2

custardy wrote: »

cant really help with ikea
is it possible to remove a section from the rear of the shelves to allow them to sit further in?
or does that not work with the design?

Thanks for your reply custardy, but the shelves are in too deep and not out too far if you understand what I mean and needs come out further to meet the top edge of the cupboard door. There is no way of adjusting or adapting the units in any other way, I need the deeper shelf which is designed for that purpose - but unfortunately I can't get hold of it.

xxlaurissaxx

If I were you I would write a huge complaint to one of the bigger boses in ikea rather than the store manager (Sorry dont know anyone but it seems to work in other companies?Maybe google them? )detailing everything and ask for the petrol compensation along with more for your time and ask them to check every store in the uk for these and if they find them that you want the delivered for free to your door.

Good Luck xx

Moggsy_2

xxlaurissaxx wrote: »

If I were you I would write a huge complaint to one of the bigger boses in ikea rather than the store manager (Sorry dont know anyone but it seems to work in other companies?Maybe google them? )detailing everything and ask for the petrol compensation along with more for your time and ask them to check every store in the uk for these and if they find them that you want the delivered for free to your door.

Good Luck xx

Thanks for your reply xxlaurissaxx, I agree with you and I'm still looking for a name and address for a manager in head office to send my complaint to.

custardy

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=41770&highlight=ikea+head+office

pinkshoes

Ikea are rather useless when it comes to rectifying mistakes! My parents tried writing but didn't even get a reply. They live 1h20 mins drive from their nearest Ikea, so called in on the way back from visiting someone as they knew what they wanted.

When they got it home, and tried to assemble this lounger chair, they discovered that the two "side" bits were both left hand sides, so it wouldn't assemble. Ikea refused to help, as apparently they should have checked inside the box to see if all the holes were drilled in the correct sides!

So, in future, as recommended by Ikea, you should tip out the entire contents of a box onto the floor in the shop (no matter how big or how many pieces it has!!), and assemble it there and then, then put it back in the box!!

Perhaps when everyone starts doing this, they'll become more helpful at rectifying their own mistakes!

Sssssss

the only good thing about ikea is their meat balls and chips.

custardy

pinkshoes wrote: »

Ikea are rather useless when it comes to rectifying mistakes! My parents tried writing but didn't even get a reply. They live 1h20 mins drive from their nearest Ikea, so called in on the way back from visiting someone as they knew what they wanted.

When they got it home, and tried to assemble this lounger chair, they discovered that the two "side" bits were both left hand sides, so it wouldn't assemble. Ikea refused to help, as apparently they should have checked inside the box to see if all the holes were drilled in the correct sides!

So, in future, as recommended by Ikea, you should tip out the entire contents of a box onto the floor in the shop (no matter how big or how many pieces it has!!), and assemble it there and then, then put it back in the box!!

Perhaps when everyone starts doing this, they'll become more helpful at rectifying their own mistakes!

well as an example of useless
i have new flats on my duty,which are gradually filling up
got a large envelope the other day with no flat number
obviously missing parts for something they have ordered
i had no idea where the people lived,so returned the letter
ikea have now sent it a further 2 times with the same address in the same envelope
just putting a label over the old condemnation labels

jumblejack

Sssssss wrote: »

the only good thing about ikea is their meat balls and chips.

and the free cuppa for IKEA Family members:money: