Friday, August 19
Ikea - Your customer support sucks.
Ok, we have a lot of Media to store, about 800 CDs of music and over 300 DVDs.
So on July 31st, after getting their catalog in the mail, we trekked off to Ikea in Houston to get some storage solutions.
For our CD's we chose an Ivar system, composed of (2) end pieces, (2) shelves, and (5) CD Multimedia Storage Shelves.
Upon arriving home, we discovered that one of the end pieces was improperly manufactured. So I took it back the next day to exchange it for a new one.
I've not got 160 miles of driving into this storage rack. I started putting in the Multimedia Shelves, only to discover that one of them didn't come with any hardware.
Ok, I'm not driving all the way back there for two screws. But of course, these are not screws that I can just get at the hardware store. So I went to their website the next day and called their customer service.
Finally got to talk to a person, they will send me the screws.
Today, nearly 3 weeks later, I get a call from Ikea, they tell me that they are not going to send me the screws because I bought the items at a "Franchise" store, and they are not responsible for customer service. I will have to contact the Houston store directly, but they can transfer me to that store.
Ok, so I get transferred to Houston. Takes about 10 minutes to get someone on the line. I explain the problem, and read them the item number off the receipt, and say I would like them to send me my two screws.
I am then informed that they cannot look up items by the item numbers on the receipt, as that is not a valid number for this process. (I'm thinking to myself that Sweedish logic is really bad at this point.) She then proceeds to look up a part that comes with about 25 pieces of hardware and wants to know which of the two screws I need for this. So I explained again that what I want are the only two screws that were supposed to come with my purchase.
She went to look again and could not find the right screws. She proceeds to ask me to look it up in the owner's manual. I let her know that I was at work and did not carry the owner's manual for furniture I purchase with me each place I got. Further that since they are looking at a greater than 20% failure rate for parts that they sold me, I'm looking for a little more from customer service than to find it myself.
Back on hold. Finally she comes back and wants to know the tracking number on my receipt and my date of purchase. Back on hold. Finally she comes back and has figured out what parts I need, when would I like to pick them up at the store?
I informed her that they would be shipped to me, as I live about 40 miles from the store, and that 80 miles with of gas at current prices would be about $7.50, and unless they were willing to pay me for my third trip to the store for a single purchase, they would mail them.
She then took my name and address and said that they would ship tomorrow.
I'm not holding my breath, and I have till 9/14/2005 to return the shelf. If I don't have the screws by Wednesday, it is going back.
Oh, the DVD racks that I got look great and I'm very pleased with them.
IKEA | IKEA Houston
So on July 31st, after getting their catalog in the mail, we trekked off to Ikea in Houston to get some storage solutions.
For our CD's we chose an Ivar system, composed of (2) end pieces, (2) shelves, and (5) CD Multimedia Storage Shelves.
Upon arriving home, we discovered that one of the end pieces was improperly manufactured. So I took it back the next day to exchange it for a new one.
I've not got 160 miles of driving into this storage rack. I started putting in the Multimedia Shelves, only to discover that one of them didn't come with any hardware.
Ok, I'm not driving all the way back there for two screws. But of course, these are not screws that I can just get at the hardware store. So I went to their website the next day and called their customer service.
Finally got to talk to a person, they will send me the screws.
Today, nearly 3 weeks later, I get a call from Ikea, they tell me that they are not going to send me the screws because I bought the items at a "Franchise" store, and they are not responsible for customer service. I will have to contact the Houston store directly, but they can transfer me to that store.
Ok, so I get transferred to Houston. Takes about 10 minutes to get someone on the line. I explain the problem, and read them the item number off the receipt, and say I would like them to send me my two screws.
I am then informed that they cannot look up items by the item numbers on the receipt, as that is not a valid number for this process. (I'm thinking to myself that Sweedish logic is really bad at this point.) She then proceeds to look up a part that comes with about 25 pieces of hardware and wants to know which of the two screws I need for this. So I explained again that what I want are the only two screws that were supposed to come with my purchase.
She went to look again and could not find the right screws. She proceeds to ask me to look it up in the owner's manual. I let her know that I was at work and did not carry the owner's manual for furniture I purchase with me each place I got. Further that since they are looking at a greater than 20% failure rate for parts that they sold me, I'm looking for a little more from customer service than to find it myself.
Back on hold. Finally she comes back and wants to know the tracking number on my receipt and my date of purchase. Back on hold. Finally she comes back and has figured out what parts I need, when would I like to pick them up at the store?
I informed her that they would be shipped to me, as I live about 40 miles from the store, and that 80 miles with of gas at current prices would be about $7.50, and unless they were willing to pay me for my third trip to the store for a single purchase, they would mail them.
She then took my name and address and said that they would ship tomorrow.
I'm not holding my breath, and I have till 9/14/2005 to return the shelf. If I don't have the screws by Wednesday, it is going back.
Oh, the DVD racks that I got look great and I'm very pleased with them.
IKEA | IKEA Houston
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