Company: IKEA

Complainant: Tim Driver

Date: 12 September 2003


The following e-mail complaint was sent to Ikea on 29th July 2003. It is now 12th August and still I have had no response from the Bristol store. Not happy.

An unforgettable shopping experience with Ikea

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to convey to you the dissatisfaction and disappointment I have experienced with your Bristol branch over recent weeks. Please let me describe the events that have caused a customer who has contributed £900 to Ikea's sales figures this month to make the decision to never again set foot in an Ikea store.

Wednesday 2nd July 2003

Having signed a contract to rent a sizeable unfurnished flat, I organised the hire of a Transit van and time off work to visit your Bristol store, with a view to purchasing a bed, various shelving units, a sofa and more. Prior to doing all this I called your advice line to establish which items were in stock and to check your opening hours, making it clear that I would be bringing said hired van one evening with a view to buying and transporting home all the items I needed in one fell swoop.

Friday 4th July 2003

With a van successfully hired, my partner and I set out for your Bristol store, armed with long shopping list and debit card. Arriving mid-evening to avoid any crowds, we soon came to your sofa department and we tracked down the nearest member of staff who began to process our sofa order. When he got stuck and admitted that he was in fact not part of the shop floor
staff, another co-worker came to our aid and set about clearing up the confusion his colleague had created. He scrapped the original order on the computer and after much trouble informed us that we couldn't buy the sofa after all because it was after 8pm. If I had been told about this when I phoned the previous Wednesday then we would have visited the next morning, and would have halved our van hire costs as we'd only have needed it for one day instead of two.

The member of staff seemed to understand our frustration at this (not to mention our being £60 out of pocket through unnecessary van hire costs), suggesting we take the demonstration model on the shop floor. That way we could complete the purchase and take it home with us that night. Relieved, we agreed, but as we were halfway through the paperwork he changed his mind, denying that he had even suggested this. When questioned he apologised for saying something that wasn't true. So, naturally disappointed again and by now a little confused, we proceeded with the original order, which he said he could arrange manually - we would pay that evening and he would put it through the computer system the next morning. I was instructed to take the paperwork and pay at the tills and then on 21st July the sofa would be ready and I would receive a phonecall to arrange delivery date.

Having filled our trolleys with most of the other items on our shopping list, we proceeded to the checkouts, where unfortunately but not surprisingly, more confusion arose. The girl on the till, while helpful and courteous, was baffled by the sofa order. We explained the previous events and she called a supervisor over for help, to whom we again explained the situation with the 8pm computer reboot, manual order and so on. She went away with the paperwork, and on returning 15 minutes later assured us that although there had been some problems with the ordering process, it was now all sorted out. We paid the £295 for the sofa, settled the bill for the rest of our shopping (including a £100 set of covers to go on the sofa when it arrived), packed our van and made the journey home, finally arriving at past midnight. A long day for both of us, but well worth it with all the items we'd bought for the flat and delivered ourselves.

Monday 21st July 2003

After what seemed like an eternal wait, the day finally arrives when we can organise the delivery of the sofa we were so much looking forward to filling the space in the flat. Finally we could get those lovely covers on it too, and the planned Ikea look for that room would be complete. As I'd not heard anything by midday I thought I'd be proactive and called Ikea to check progress, but it seemed the sofa saga had taken a sinister new twist.

The staff member I spoke to was unable to find my order details on the system and suggested I spoke to Hammonds instead. When they also said they had no record of this order, I went back to Ikea again (fortunately I have a flexi arrangement at work where I can take a lunchbreak upto 2 hours). Same response - absolutely no evidence of this order, not under my name, address or order number. So, £295 spent and 3 weeks waiting for something that was never going to turn up. Had I not made the phonecall that £295 would have been lost forever. And £100-worth of covers that have no sofa on which to fit.

Tuesday 22nd July 2003

Fortunately I have managed to cancel the order (as far as you can cancel something that never actually existed of course) and have been assured that £295 will be refunded to my card in a week's time. I'm not sure why it takes you a week to do this, or why you earn 3 weeks' interest on that money, but those are the least of my concerns - I have a new sofa to find. Assuming the refund goes according to plan, I'm also left with these covers. The advice I was given was that I shouldn't post them to you but drive all the way back to the Bristol store to return them, in person, and drive all the way back home again. When none of this was my fault. You'll be paying my motor expenses for that, will you? After this experience the last thing I was planning was a trip back to Ikea, but it seems I lose £100 unless I do so.

That's about the end of the story, and I wish I could conclude that we all lived happily ever after.

Can you understand my annoyance, my disappointment, my disbelief at this chain of events? I'd always thought Ikea was a well run, reliable company with caring values but I feel I have been conned by just another clever bit of marketing. I thought you were a cut above the average furniture stores. Your website says "your visit to the IKEA store should be easy and rewarding" - it should be, I agree, but it was not easy and it certainly didn't turn out to be very rewarding.

I have now sourced another sofa as I didn't want to wait another 3 weeks and risk going through this all over again, and will have to source other suppliers when I come to furnish the rest of my flat which is a shame because I like the design of a lot of the Ikea ranges. Assuming you do care about your customers, I look forward to hearing what response you may choose to offer.

Yours, very dissatisfied, disillusioned and inconvenienced, Tim Driver