Ikea.... (Ikea)

Member Name: stephbond89

Product:	Ikea
Date:	14/01/09 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The products are cheap and cheerful!!

Disadvantages: DELIVERY= NIGHTMARE!!!

I used to LOVE ikea, the stuff is funky and cheap, which is great if your working on a budget but still want nice stuff, yeah its not the best of qualities, but at the prices your paying you can't really expect much more...

What you can expect though is perfect customer service...something we didn't get last time we went....

We'd just bought our flat and we were looking to furnish it, we bought 2 bookcases, two bedside cabinets, a coffee table, an arm chair, shelves, and some other random items. We only had a Vauxhall Corsa at the time, so we got the items delivered.

We paid £30 for the delivery, which was due to come two days after we ordered them. We got home, and read through the delivery form we had been given, we had told the delivery guy we lived on the top floor of a 3 story apartment block and that there is no lift...he said not a problem this is fine. So, we went ahead and booked it. But looking through the paper work, I read that they wouldn't bring the items past the second floor as it was "against health and safety", so i gave them a call, they reiterated what the paper said, and I told them I was on my own, a 5ft5 19 year old, with nobody else here to help me, they expected me to carry all of the things I told you we'd bought, plus a sofa, up a flight of stairs on my own...the packages were huge, especially the sofa...and there wasn't a chance I'd have been able to do it on my own.

We explained to the man we spoke to that my husband would be working when the items were delivered, so was there not a chance they could bend the rules slightly and bring them all the way up, it was only one extra flight of stairs afterall...not going to affect the health and safety of anyone other than me...

but no, they wouldn't budge, so we had to go another night with no furniture, just a bed to sleep on, and nothing else, as we had to change the delivery day to one when my husband would be home to help with the parcels.

The men turned up, they were two big fellas with big muscles...yet they left me and my skinny 5ft11 hubby to try and manover the parcels up the stairs, they just dragged the stuff upstairs (broke the table by dropping it!) and then naffed off.

If that wasn't bad enough, our coffee table, after just two months of been used (onyl for resting mugs on), the laminate off the top started to peel off, i emailed Customer Services and explained, they asked me to come into the store and show the receipt....they wanted us to bring the table back to the store...this is a 6ft by 3ft rectangle table....which is 2 ft high...... in a vauxhall corsa....even with the seats down there was not a chance it would fit in the car....and even if it would...well, we would have to kart it down the 3 flights of stairs only to bring another back, I asked about them picking it up (for a price of course), which i got a very rude no.

I said I would happily produce photos of the table and I'd come in with the receipt and would take a credit note or refund, but still no, they had to see the item, which is fair enough, but after all the problems with the delivery in the first place, we were once again having to kart the tabel down the 3 flights and back up, and trying to fit it in a car whcih is most probably smaller than the table itself!!!!

They "nicely" said they'd give us our petrol costs...NOT THE POINT!!

But anyway, we had a bad experience with the delivery, other than the table the other goods have been good, apart from the fact we got a white sofa and me and my husbad are VERY clumsy and tend to throw our drinks around!!! Lol.

I recommend Ikea...but NOT for delivery if you live in an awkward place like us, if we'd been an old couple with arthritus, the rules would stuill ahve been the same, and we'd have had to struggle with the items, as it happened me and my husband are quite fit and together we did manage the things, but if i'd lived on my own, I'd have been screwed!!!

Just beware you explain your exact situation to the delivery people, and get ANYTHING they say in writing and signed!!! That way you know where you stand!!!

Summary: Do not get anything delivered and dont expect them to want to take anything back if its broken!!