Or do they?
I’ve posted before about my troubles with those Swedish bastards at Ikea. My brother’s dislike for Ikea is well-documented. And yet on our most recent visit to Salt Lake City, we decided to go back. It’s a bit like a dog returning to eat his own vomit. Ikea=Dog Vomit. Remember that.
We wanted to buy a new dresser for our bedroom. We decided on the black Hemnes dresser, which, at $299, is one of the more expensive ones at Ikea (it’s made with real wood!). We made the purchase and headed back to Elko, about 250 miles away.
I procrastinated on assembling the dresser for about a week, then finally decided to tackle the job. I opened the boxes and laid out all the parts. One piece, about 6 feet long, had gouges and scrapes along one side of it:
Obviously done at the factory, and very noticeable. I figured if it was on the back or the bottom of the dresser it wouldn’t really matter though. I got to step 2 and realized this part would be near the top of the dresser, facing the front, which sucks. Those of you who have put Ikea furniture together know that you can’t usually swap parts or turn them around; you’re stuck. I was a little upset, but I figured a quick call to Ikea “customer service” would get me a new part shipped out pronto! Boy, was I wrong…
I checked the Ikea website and found a customer support phone number. Upon calling it, though, all it did was direct me to a different number for the specific store I had made the purchase from: Draper, UT. So I called the Draper store directly. I had the pleasure of talking to “Katrina”. I explained my situation and she said I would have to return the item to the store. The 200-pound, already-taken-out-of-the-boxes, 50-different-pieces-spread-about-my-bedroom, 250-miles-from-the-store, item. I told her that returning the item to the store was not easy to do, and that I would prefer to have the part shipped to me. This is when she gave me the biggest lie I’ve heard in a LONG time. Ikea can’t ship items over 36-inches! Really? So I can’t go on their website and order the exact same dresser, all 200-pounds of it, and have it shipped directly to my house? She explained that the website orders come from a different department/warehouse/division/whatever and that the individual stores can’t ship anything over 36-inches. Must be a Utah thing, I guess when people buy skis or snowboards, they have to cut them in half to fit them into these mythical 36-inch boxes that FedEx and UPS are restricted to. I offered to PAY for the part and the shipping, she said No. I was about to say that I was going to drive back to Draper with something that’s about 36-inches long (no, not my penis) and tell her what she can do with her dresser, but I decided that probably wasn’t the best course of action. Years ago I did some phone support, and I know that once the customer starts making threats it was all over. I kept my cool but I was pretty much speechless. The wife suggested asking for a supervisor, but I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO. The front-line customer service folks should be able to provide basic customer service, don’t you think? So I hung up on the bitch.
To the internet! I searched for “Ikea sucks” on the google, and found a veritable plethora of blogs, forums, and other sites devoted to the topic. Boy, those dirty Swedes sure know how to piss people off! I read through quite a few stories of people getting screwed until I ran into this blog post: http://loopcycle.blogspot.com/2008/05/ikea-sucks.html He had links to some email addresses for some higher-ups at Ikea North America. I fired off a carefully-worded email to those two, along with one to their regular customer service email address. I received an auto-response from that one, but a couple days later heard from a real person. I had to restate my entire problem again, giving them all my information (probably so they can perma-ban me from the store, since I’m a troublemaker). They called me last week to verify. Guess what arrived at my house yesterday? This:
I couldn’t freakin’ believe it! They actually CAN ship items over 36-inches!!! Who woulda thunk it? So I opened the package and the piece looks good, no dents or scratches, I’ll re-assemble the dresser this weekend.
So I guess the moral of the story is: Ikea still sucks, but not quite as much as I originally thought. They really need to get their customer-service act together, though. Our last two visits have ended in sadness, I don’t know if we’ll ever go back. I’m gonna miss those meatballs.
20 responses so far ↓
1 Violet // May 12, 2009 at 5:53 am
I could tell you more just like that but am currently way too annoyed…
2 Dianna // Jun 8, 2009 at 7:42 pm
We, too, live a long distance from the nearest IKEA store (South Philly)–1.5 hours round trip. Had the same experience as you, but without a happy ending.
We had purchased a $20 shelf; and after returning home and opening the box, we realized that two important parts were missing (1) shelf brackets and (2) screws.
IKEA advertises itself as being “green.” Not wanting to make the 100-mile RT, I contacted customer service via email requesting that the missing parts (which most likely would cost less than $1 to mail) be sent to me. They couldn’t help but told me to call the store, which I did.
I spoke with four different people. The first “customer” rep was clueless and just wanted to get me off the phone. Next, I spoke to a woman on the floor, who tried to transfer me back to customer service. When I asked for a manager, she became much more helpful. She assured me that she knew exactly what parts I needed and would personally see to it that the correct parts were sent out.
Four IKEA employees and nearly two weeks later, I finally received my package–containing only the screws that were shipped in a zip-lock bag, which looked like it was leftover from someone’s lunch.
It seems as if IKEA employees cannot think outside of the “box.” If I return the item to the store, there is no problem, as I have done this before. But don’t ask for something that isn’t in the script. IKEA employees appear to have little supervision and most certainly no customer service training. The department should be renamed “No-Customer Service.”
3 Tom Vu // Jul 4, 2009 at 4:24 am
I bought $2000 worth of kitchen cabinets from Ikea in College Park, MD on July 3, 2009. There were more than 80 items when I picked up and the clerk refused to go over the order with me to make sure I got everything I ordered. I took the cart outside to my truck and checked the receipt as I load them to my truck. I found one item was missing (metal rail) which worth about $3 dollars. I went inside to complain to the clerk about one missing item but she refused to help. I asked for the manager and she was combative an rude. She said that Ikea is not the home depot as prices are low so don’t expect the same service. I finally got the missing piece but will never shop here again.
4 Steve // Jul 4, 2009 at 6:20 am
I’m noticing a pattern. How are these guys still in business again?
5 Bob // Jul 10, 2009 at 12:48 am
The IKEA bastards in Emeryville CA like to tow your car if they discover thru video spying that you are shopping next door at the mall. Doesn’t seem to matter that maybe you were planning to shop for the BIG item last at IKEA!! Got towed after parking there for one hour fifteen minutes on a weekday. Real assholes there. No more IKEA EVER for me and I’ll be sure to tell everyone I know.
6 Anonymous // Jul 21, 2009 at 7:19 am
Ohhh please!!! let me pull out my tiny violin for a bunch of whiny lazy ass americans who are so stupid they cant even assemble easy furniture!!! Go whine to ya mamas…People love IKEA they aint going nowhere so get it over it..You probably damaged the piece yourself
7 Steve // Jul 22, 2009 at 7:29 am
Riiiiiiiiiight. I damaged the piece myself, then painted over the damage so I could complain about it on the internet, waste hours of my time, and get a free replacement part. Sir, you’re not supposed to *smoke* the meatballs…
8 Liz // Jul 24, 2009 at 1:08 pm
You wrote: “Ikea still sucks, but not quite as much as I originally thought.” Well… Ikea really does suck, just as much as you originally thought and probably even more. By the way, nice blog and thanks for the post on crappy Ikea.
9 poy // Jul 27, 2009 at 12:38 am
hi,im from china…anyone know IKEA sweden head office custom service contact emails???i have complains,just like everyone here:(
thanks
10 Jan // Aug 14, 2009 at 12:00 pm
I’ve never shopped at IKEA and was thinking of doing so, but since it is a drive, was worried that the prices in the catalog would not match the prices at the store. So I went online and looked up the same bookcases and they are much higher ;priced than the catalog. And then I found this blog. I don’t think I’ll make the trip. Thanks.
11 troy // Sep 2, 2009 at 10:53 am
Fat assed Ikea bitch clowns me when I tried to return a bedframe. They claim I put it together, but I didn’t. Ikea is the Walmart of the Furniture world, with cheap items and welfare to work employees.
12 Anonymous // Dec 9, 2009 at 9:37 pm
question – if you knew you were driving 250 + miles why would you not check the product before leaving the store to avoid being annoyed at home especially if you already had issues before, to me that is well um common sense…typical lazy dumb Americans
13 Ron // Jan 13, 2010 at 10:07 am
I’ve heard nothing but bad about IKEA and I know for fact I won’t deal with them for furniture. I thought about purchasing from them because I just moved out but then I saw all the horrible feedback from so many websites… hell typing IKEA in on Google yields millions of negative feedback. Terrible company.
14 Rich // Feb 15, 2010 at 2:59 pm
I bought stuff worth $1500 from Ikea. Side tables, a small wardrobe, and some drawers etc. Took us 2 months to assemble everything of course, but we weren’t annoyed coz the stuff was cheap. After about 3 to 4 weeks of using our furniture, the drawers started to sag from the bottom, the backing of the wardrobe tore (yes tore), the dresser drawers broke. The only stuff that was ok was plates, mirrors, throws and napkins. Even if some people say that you get what you pay for, 1500 bucks is not a small amount of money. Worst part is, that now we’re stuck with them, can’t throw them out coz they’re usable, can’t keep them coz they suck. The side tables are ok though, but I always wonder, are the display items not assembled? Why do they look better than our results after the assembly?
15 Anonymous // Apr 13, 2010 at 6:59 pm
You all buy cheap “wooden” furniture made from sawdust and wonder why it fails??
IKEA is the king of marketing. We all know IKEA does that perfectly. IKEA Marketing works wonders..
Dianna, Who, in their right mind, would drive 1.5 hours to buy a $20 dollar shelf.???
The stuff at IKEA is very very inexpensive. Guess why? It’s cheap.
16 Unhappy G // May 4, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Why does IKEA see products in the U.S. that do not work with our standard system. I bought a faucet fro them that first the hose was too small (Fine It Happens) but the fact that the connection is bigger and not the U.S 3/8 standard is ridiculous. then i call the store and they want me to drive back (i live 1 hour away) and they may still not provide me with the right connection.
i have had to buy adapters at ACE in order to make it work.
17 Phread // May 5, 2010 at 11:28 am
I’ve bought, some book cases and a media center at IKEA and assembly is tricky. One hint is if it’s not going together, don’t force it, something is probabaly backwards or upside down. It is cheap so you have to be careful with it. But still for the money it’s good enough.
18 phil // May 26, 2010 at 1:55 pm
ikea has the worst customer service globally, its all in bangladesh and they can barely speak english, i asked for an interpretor..one scam they pull is to change the payment date, one month its the 12th the next its the 11th or they will “fix” their online payment so you cant pay on it till after its late, this month u cant pay until after june 26 even though the bill is due june 4..clever bastards, late fee u to death, now i just pay cash, i do like their products
19 monica // May 31, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Okay well i got a bookshelf and tonight i finally took the pieces out. well.. it was supposed to be a bookshelf with glass doors. they come seperate but they were in the same bin and everything. so i assembled the bookshelf and then i open the glass doors box.. WELL the glass doors were about a foot longer then the shelf.. winds up that we got the wrong shelf because the wrong shelf was in the bin of the shelf i REALLY wanted. now i have to go back and buy another one and disassemble the one i already have. one thing is for sure… FUCKKKKK IKEAAAAAA
20 JC // Jun 10, 2010 at 9:16 am
Hey I found your site while googling “IKEA sucks(lol)” I remember when IKEA opened its first store in the Northeast and I was there when it did. Their furniture and “housewares” were all made in Sweden(metric measurements) with significantly better quality and they had excellent customer service. I live in South Florida now and went to their rather new store in Sunrise, FL about an hour’s away from me. OMG horrendous customer service and their “furniture” has dropped so low in quality thats its not even worth buying BUT I noticed that their items are “made in China” which explains A LOT. The only positive is that Ikea sells gret cheap homewares and decor and they still have those geat meatballs but thats about it…wow…what happended to them…greed maybe? lol
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