I fully endorse all I have read. The service is non-existant, the helpline useless, nobody ever phones back, We are stuck with bits everywhere because their instructions dont tell us how to line up filler panels, and to top it all, I have a number of serious lacerations on my hands due to poor finishing of the melamine units - like small razor blades! Very painful!
mike drinkwater ... 20 January 2004
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...and I see that I am not the only person to be verbally abused (and treated in a threatening manner) by the customer service reps in store!!!
Kerry Rickman .... 10 August 2003
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I am not at all surprised at reading these complaints as this has happened to me, lack of customer care, its like as soon as they have your money they dont care if its right or wrong your purchase(s) please will someone contact me and i will give thorough details of my rather forgotten experience.
Ben Mark Wyatt ... 07 September 2003
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I see I am not the only one to have had problems with IKEA kitchens. They obviously do not care. Go for them! I wish I had.
Joanne in Croydon...25 September 2002

UPDATE on 5 OCTOBER 2002
Ikea has replied offering me 200 GBP. I am going to turn down their offer. As soon as I have a second over I will write them yet another letter and post it here. (They still have not figured out I am a Mr and not a Ms even if it has previously been pointed out)
FC...5 October 2002

UPDATE on 27 NOVEMBER 2002
Update!!! Ikea wrote back, are no longer offering 200 GBP in cash and instead sent me the same ammount in vouchers stating it was their final offer. This is something for the BBC comedy channel... Here is my reply:
FC...27 November 2002
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I have recently had a similar experience, but I didn't let them get their claws in that deep. IKEA screwed up my order and I told them after 2 months of fouled up orders and back order insanity that they could go stuff themselves. Keith in Detroit, MI USA... 9 October 2002
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Ikea have caused me so much trouble I don't know where to start - but how about them deciding that they have delivered the wrong sofa and coming back to collect it at 12.50 am - yes that's right a.m
Glen - Milton Keynes... 11 October 2002
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Mr. FC has written to IKEA again..
click here for details. 16 October 2002
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Francesco -And I thought my experience with a recent order for office furniture was bad. Sounds like a nightmare. The recent compensation offer is insulting. I would suggest that you inform them that from now on, every time you have to communicate with them to resolve this issue, you will add a further £50 to you compensation claim.
Gerald....24 October 2002
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You'll never guess the name of the guy in Manchester who is in charge of telling you whether or not your sofa will be delivered - He's called Steven Mabey (MAYBE!!!)
ARGE...4 November 2002
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I strongly suggest that anyone caused and grief by any company purchase a book on raising a case at the small claims court. The process is simple, effective and will put the fear of God into legal departments. The law does protect you - and in some cases can work for you very well.
Anonymous...9 November 2002
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What a 'comfort' to discover that it wasn't ME who was paranoid and insane after my ordeal with Croydon Ikea. I had an almost identical experience.

(1) ordered kitchen units in the store (order was placed and 'verified' by the kitchen dept)

(2) got all the stuff home, started to assemble. That's funny? this drawer doesn't seem to fit, oh and the drawer fronts are missing, but I've got a useless 'pseudo' draw with the right product code/wrong contents. Drove 45 miles to the store, waited 15 minutes in their poxy 'Customer Service' and tried eloquently and calmly, but in vain to explain that the box code was right, but had been stuck on the wrong box. Not sure the guy even understood this, and was referred to the kitchen dept. Ridiculous trek through the store, to find the inevitable queue.

Whilst waiting, I go off and examine a display unit, to see if I can understand why one of the drawers at home seems impossible to fit. This is when I realise I had also been supplied with the wrong drawer, so now I have two problems. When I finally get to talk to the couldn't care less assistant, I explain nicely that they seem to have mucked up, and could they sort it out for me. To my amazement, instead of saying 'sorry' she says I'll have to make another 80 mile round trip to bring back the offending wrong draw set (even though it wasn't my fault, and was already in situ. Oh and by the way, the correct drawer fronts were out of stock anyway. I insisted that they should recognise they were at fault, and jolly well post me the correct draw runners, and fronts when they came in to stock. Reply " we don't post things-you'll have to come back for them, we'll call you when they come in" I insist on seeing a 'manager' there isn't one, so am told I'll have to go back to 'customer service' (total wasted time so far one hour)I then have to go through the same ordeal again, getting my stupid ticket, and waiting to be seen.

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Have to explain the whole bloody thing again, except now, because of what I had discovered upstairs, I now also needed a replacement correct drawer internals. The girl wrote out an internal order, and asked me to wait. They could give me one bit, but the rest was out of stock. Still no apology from anyone, or even acceptance that they had any part in this sorry saga. She said the drawer fronts would be sent to me. I asked for a copy of the internal order, as I could sense this was never going to happen.

Finally after waiting a further 35 minutes, and feeling on the verge of my first Ikea rage, I went back to the counter, and asked just how long does it take for someone to walk 50 yds to get my drawer? Blank expression. It finally emerges 7 minutes later. Total time wasted two hours travelling time, and 1 hour 45 minutes of the most abysmal 'customer service' so bad, you could not invent a scenario of such bland Steptford Wives apathy and gormlessness.

Not quite over . . . the drawer fronts never arrived. I made six calls (spaced out by a few days) to the so called Customer Service centre. They have no discretion to deal with a problem, no line manager, no power. All they offer is that they will email the store. There is no way you can speak to any body in charge. It is Orwellian. What made this worse, was that the bloody drawer fronts were 'in stock' but they had no record of my order/visit to Croydon (why was I not surprised by this?)

My last resort was to say that unless someone got of their butt to sort this issue out-and just post me the bloody things I would go to the store, with a photographer, and remove the items I needed to finish the job, from their display kitchen. (I was absolutely serious in my intent to do this) The CS op said I "couldn't do that, as it would be theft", to which my response was, "yes I can, yes I will, and it's not theft, because I have already paid Ikea, so test it in court! , and see who wins" They promised to phone me back (like every other time before).

Two days later, I got a message that the drawers were being despatched, and blimey, they really were!

The sad irony is that the construction/engineering of the actual product (at least in this case) is superb. If you dont want a heart attack, don't even think about buying anything but a vase there.
John Whippy, Brighton...23 November 2002
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I was just about to check out their webpage and buy a kitchen from Ikea, but have now definately thought better of it, thankyou for sharing your experiences :o) Sammi Bell...25 November 2002

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Having ordered our kitchen early October, we were told it would be delivered around 26th october. We were told that one of the lengths of worktop had been discontinued - we therefore had to purchase the piece from in store and take it with us there and then. The range itself was not discontinued, only that length for some unexplained reason. The other pieces of worktop were therefore listed along with the rest of our order. Approaching the expected delivery date, we received a letter stating that they couldn't get hold of the taps and it would be a further month! Rang to find out why it takes a month for them to get taps and were only told repeatedly that "the order is now showing for 26th November". Yes thanks, we know that - but why?! "well, it's showing 26 November -etc..." The woman seemed incapable of anything other than monotonously repeating the new delivery date with no explanation, no apology and no answer to the simple question "why the month delay !
for taps?".

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Then we received a call 25th November asking "do you know what's happening with your order?". Yes of course we do, the order will be completed tomorrow and it should be delivered this week. No.... "there are problems getting all the order together so there will be 4 seperate deliveries, the last one being on 14th January next year!!! Well, we gritted our teeth - we had expected to have the kitchen completed by now!! Patience is a virtue as they say so we decided to wait. Then we received a call the following day. "We've been trying to get in touch with you for a week - do you now what's happening with your order?". Strange - does the left hand not know what the right hand is doing? Anyway, although the opening line was similar, they had different news to tell.. they had most of the kitchen but the worktops had been completely discontinued and we'd have to have different ones which were "quite similar but a slightly longer length". I explained we'd bought a length already in store as advised by them and the lengths ordered fitted our design exactly. I was told that the old and new styles shouldn't be mixed. In other words they are not the same, which means we will have to take another long trip to IKEA to return the piece we've brought home, then re-order that piece in whatever style it is IKEA now expect us to take as a substitute!

I'd had enough by then and suggested we may as well cancel the whole order. The woman then took the work telephone numbers for myself and my wife and said the manager would call tomorrow. At least she had sense to realise that people work, which is the best place to try and ring them during the day! Still no apology and no call as yet....I don't think we'll be making any further purchases from them! Craig, Birmingham...27 November 2002
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FC (and other victims of IKEA indifference) – I’m glad I found this site, as IKEA are driving me insane. I bought a Kitchen from Thurrock on October 5th on the understanding that it would take 2-3 weeks for delivery, and I am still waiting for half of it to be delivered. We have been without kitchen facilities (sink, cooker, washing machine, cupboards) for over 3 months now, which has been incredibly difficult as we have a baby to care for. Not easy without water to wash in, cooker to cook on or a washing machine to wash clothes in! Our living room is full of half an IKEA kitchen in boxes. The contents of the old kitchen are in the spare bedroom. The bathroom sink is the only place that we have to wash our pots.

Despite over 40 calls to the ‘customer service’ call centres, I still do not have my kitchen, nor have I had any explanation for why it has taken so long to deliver something that I paid for 3 months ago. I still do not know when an important part that IKEA missed off the order is going to arrive, and nobody can tell me even if it has been ordered, so I still do not know when I will have plumbing in the kitchen. I have incurred hundreds of pounds of exra costs by paying contractors to sit around on days that I was promised deliveries. The most frustrating thing of all is the complete helplessness I feel in all of this – there is absolutely no way to resolve any issue with IKEA’s customer service as they do not have the systems in place to deal with complaints. All they do is take notes and apologise weakly – no one takes responsibility for individual complaints, no one EVER calls back, you cannot speak to anyone with any authority to put words into action, and they themselves can’t even speak directly to the stores that you bought they goods from.

What good is that? The call centres are nothing more than a front to keep customers at arm’s length from the people who make the decisions and run the company. I feel like I’ve been banging my head against a brick wall for months, and I’ve had enough.

Individual complaints are treated with indifference and ignored. Hopefully by making complaints public we can make them face up to their responsibilities and realise that they cannot treat their customers so poorly. I have written my letter to the company, and I will make as much noise as I can until I am compensated for the costs, disruption and stress that they have caused.
RP, Brighton..5 December 2002
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Add me to the list of dissatisfied IKEA customers. To make errors is human, but you expect quick responses and actions to make up for them. Alas, IKEA might hide behind their Swedish Quality stamp, but it certainly is not there when it comes to customer care. It is Russian roulette. If they get it right, great (You have to give them credit that they are cheap), if they don't, you are in deep deep trouble. Others beware!
John....18 December 2002

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