The Good, The Bad, and The Ikea

Several months ago we combined a trip to visit with relatives with a trip to Ikea in Stoughton MA.  Over the years Ikea has served us pretty well with the occasional bookcase or desk, so when we renovated the kitchen, we decided to include them as a possible source for cabinets.  We checked out several different cabinet makers and used Consumer Reports as a guide to help narrow our choice once we had decided on some acceptable styles within our price range.  Ikea cabinets outranked many more expensive brands in terms of durability, and they had more styles that fell within our tastes, so we decided to go with them.

It's been a couple of years since I built and installed the kitchen cabinets, and they've served us well, with no complaints.  We like them so much in fact that we recently decided to add one more 15" cabinet to the end of the peninsula that divides the kitchen and dining area.  There's plenty of floor space available to make the change and the addition also provides us with that much more counter space.

So our trip to the Stoughton Ikea, back in July, was for getting this additional cabinet, a futon couch for the guest room, and a couple of light fixtures.

It wasn't until last week that I got around to building the additional kitchen cabinet. Putting it together went well, but this time Ikea let us down in terms of service.  First off, they gave us a base cabinet with the wrong interior finish: white when it should have been birch.  Since the interior is only visible when the door is open, and only minimally at that, I decided to go ahead and use this cabinet instead of trying to get a replacement.

But that wasn't the end of my problems with the  cabinet order. The Ikea clerk, or associate, or team member, or whatever they're calling their paid help, neglected to include hinges for the cabinet door.  Now, I know it's up to me to check my order and make sure everything is correct and we have what we need before leaving the store, but the paid help that works in the kitchen department should have been more on the ball in making sure we had a complete order.

Trying to correct the order over the phone has been a nightmare.  I finally decided to place an order through the website, but that seems to have been lost in some internet limbo. I received an email last week that told me there was a problem with my web order and a customer service rep. would contact me within 24 hours. (I'm still waiting dear.)

I'm not ready to give up on Ikea as a home furnishings source, but my latest experience has me thinking  they expanded a little too quickly and haven't kept up with the customer service that I was used to in the past.

Handyman

Comments

[Jennifer]

How frustrating! The cabinets look good, though... I hope you get your hinges soon!

[Georgia]

Your lucky it was only one cabinet this time, we just did a whole kitchen and if I had to do it again, I'd probably say NO. We went back at least 14 times, the customer service reps in returns knew me by sight and would ask how the kitchen was going. It was the same as you said, clerks don't have it all together to make sure everything was complete, their computer system was not always updated, problem with roll-out drawers for certain cabinets, not all bad parts off shelves (one example), no compensation for all these problems, like we felt we could have gotten at Home Depot/Mennards/Lowes, everything is so piecemeal, you have to check and double check, very little damage though, just part problems, luckily we live 15 minutes or it would be a definite no no no.

[Linda Edi]

I purchased $600 worth of flooring for my condo. I made my purchase at IKEA of Stoughton, MA. This was "click and lock" flooring and the product was supposed to be very easy for a DIY project.

After hiring two separate people to lay the flooring, I decided that I needed to return the product. The people that I paid to help with the floor were knowledgeable "handy-man" types that had experience with many kinds of home projects. Both said that the product was deficient. As we laid a few rows of flooring the first row would begin to pop up and come apart.

Since the store advertised that you could return this product for any reason, I did not think I would have a problem. I had $500 of my purchase on my credit card and paid the rest in cash. Therefore, I was only looking to be reimbursed for the $500 and was willing to take a loss of the other $100 that I had paid in cash. The reason: Even though I had lost the original receipt, I had a print out from the bank that clearly spelled out the purchase that I had made. The date (10/19/08), store code, my credit card numbers, and even the exact time of the purchase, 12:20!

When I returned to the store, just two weeks, exactly,from the date I purchased the flooring, I was met with their "STORE POLICY" regarding returns.

Without the ORIGINAL receipt you cannot get your money returned, regardless of any other kind of proof of purchase!

I spoke with two people in Returns & Exchanges. The second of the two was very curt and in the space of about 30 seconds stated that without the original receipt I could only get a store credit for the returned merchandise and that, additionally, I could only get the "sale price" of .49/sq.ft. that was the sale within the last 90 days. She did not even have to look up any price list or the name of the product, etc. That told me that this store was completely familiar with this defective product and had probably had several exchanges, which allowed them to be so familiar with its "sale price."

I had paid $1.99/sq.ft. I explained that they had no other product that worked any better than the one I had purchased, as they carry only click and lock flooring. They didn't even sell a carpet product that I could put down. I was stuck with cement sub-flooring in my home, with no money to be able to put another type of flooring down.

They gave me a store credit for $228 and said that if I found the original receipt I could bring it back to be exchanged for cash.

I feel that this is outrageous. I know very well how businesses work, as I am a Marketing Director for a healthcare facility.

Their statement that they needed an original receipt was explained as the only way they could be sure that I had indeed purchased the merchandise at their store and how much I had paid, etc. Well, I feel that I proved that. Additionally, I showed that actual cash had been released through my bank to IKEA, so that they had confirmation that they were actually paid for the credit card transaction. If the situation had been reversed, and I had used a credit card that was not good and the transaction did not follow through, you can bet they would be looking for payment from me. In that case, the original receipt would mean nothing to them!

I have a basement level condo and no flooring.........its getting cold.