Not keen on Ikea
Sarah Sharkey from Dublin has had what can best be described as a nightmare experience after ordering furniture for her apartment from Ikea in Edinburgh last January.
She and her partner flew to Scotland for the sole reason of “a whopping Ikea shop to furnish our apartment”. They made the trip as they thought it would be “a quick and cheap option,” she writes.
They had done their homework online and had a list of things they wanted. “This trip was all about bouncing on the bed we had chosen and checking out the quality of items such as the storage units. We also wanted to avail of an in-store service where you can place your order and leave it with the store, who will pick and ship it all for you.”
Sadly for Sharkey, when they got to the store, the staff didn’t seem to know anything about the pick-and-ship service and told her they would have to wander the store in search of each item. They decided to order it all online instead. The couple paid €1,800 for their furniture plus €463 for delivery.
A month later, the delivery arrived. Sharkey says the couriers would not take the furniture beyond the apartment building’s front door so she and her partner carried it up the stairs to their apartment. As the couple struggled with their boxes they realised that one of them - containing a bookcase - was badly damaged, a fact they reported immediately to Ikea.
“From here on in there is nothing but weekly and sometimes daily phone calls and e-mails to Ikea regarding the damaged items,” she writes. She has spoken to a number of Ikea customer service staff and has sent photographs of the damaged units and faxed details of the bits she needs replaced. After many, many calls she was told that her replacement bookcase pieces had gone missing, as had a media storage unit which had been picked out and paid for but never delivered.
She was also told that, as both units had been discontinued, she could not get exact replacements, which means that anything else she is offered will not match the units that were delivered. She persisted with her calls and e-mails and eventually Ikea managed to track down some of the said items and last week - more than three months after she placed the order - another Ikea delivery arrived.
Incredibly, the company had sent the wrong units and in any event they also arrived to her home damaged. “I now have several pieces of damaged or unwanted Ikea furniture parts in my spare room,” she says. She really would like Ikea to pick up its unwanted boxes and dispose of them or at least cover the cost if she arranges to dispose of them. She also wants to know what they are going to do about her absent storage unit.
We contacted the company to find out why its delivery service seems to have gone so badly wrong in this case and how it intended to put it right. A spokeswoman said the “good news” was that the case was being “dealt with” and that the Edinburgh store was in contact with our reader.
“The service that Sarah received is obviously far from what we are aiming for and Ikea sincerely apologies for the frustration that we have caused,” the spokeswoman said. She said that while some “big steps” have been taken to improve the general shopping experience at Ikea, “Sarah’s case highlights that we still have areas where we can improve”, which is, based on Sarah Sharkey’s experience, putting it mildly.
That’s an unbelieveable story - the poor girl. They should offer her some compensation or vouchers or something
Comment by Terry | May 2, 2007 at 3:08 pmNot only did she get all that grief from Ikea and the courier she also had to assemble all the flatpack furniture herself which must have been the most heartbreaking part.
Comment by stephen | May 3, 2007 at 11:01 amSorry - I dont have a lot of sympathy - I have “done my research” and IKEA Edinburgh told me from the start that the delivery crew would only drop the stuff at the first door they met. If you contact the Glasgow store they will deliver to any floor of an apartment block. Guess you live and learn.
Comment by Simon | May 7, 2007 at 5:22 pmStephen, all IKEA furniture has to be assembled yourself. That is the idea.
Comment by Jimmy | May 10, 2007 at 3:04 pmwe ordered a complete kitchen from Ikea in Glasgow. We were told that as one of the work surfaces had to be specially made there would be two deliveries, with the bulk of the items in the first one. In the end we received the cabinets and doors in the first delivery, but no surfaces at all. Four weeks later the sufaces arrived. Apart from these couple of problems we are very happy with the items but felt they could improve on their customer service
Comment by Andrew | May 17, 2007 at 11:15 amI don’t have much sympathy for people who go to Scotland to buy furniture. There are plenty of good furniture retailers selling quality furniture in Dublin and the rest of the country. Factory assembled furniture may cost a little more than flat pack but there is no comparison in the quality of the finished article. Instead of swallowing all the hype about IKEA people who are intested in buying furniture should shop around in their own locality. It probably works out cheaper in the end.
Comment by John Williams | May 17, 2007 at 6:38 pmBUYING FLAT PACK FuRNITURE IS GREAT, YOU SEE IT IN STORE ,IT LOOKS GREAT, but dont forget ,you get it in a box, un-assembled….i run a service in nrth kildre to assemble flat pack furniture / put up shelving,/change electric fitting,lights,switches/ phone & tv sockets/handles&locks/painting/ decking/ basic gadening/ generally all the things you never get around to doing and putting up /fitting all those things you bought that are still in the box…at a very reasonable rate…in fact, i dont charge for the job (as other specified trades men do ), i only charge for my time,with a quote (by phone were possible)before anything is done.
Comment by clom mc kee | June 16, 2007 at 4:32 pmwith times to suit you, including evenings &weekends…no job is too small . so GET IT DONE.
087 0611330
I’m glad I didn’t buy wardrobes from Ikea in the end because I’ve been informed that they’re actually made from not MDF but rather chipboard. I bought two fabulous 3 door wardrobes from a guy in galway called Declan Keogh who owns Liosban Furniture Centre. €650 for both flat packs, extremely easy to assemble and painted white. Probably pay €1500 to buy anywhere else. Highly recommend and delievers for €60
Comment by Barbara | July 20, 2007 at 12:19 pmWe ordered IKEA through a company called www.ready2assemble.ie because we really like the IKEA stuff. You can go on their website and add the items you need to their order form, as you browse through the IKEA website. They then come back with a full quote for shopping, delivery and assembly if required.
Comment by Brian | September 4, 2007 at 2:23 pmWe got 2 rooms fitted out within 4 weeks and only had to pay a deposit before we saw the finished product.
IKea in Warrington is a lot closer by ship and rail and a taxi. most kitchens and wardrobe units are made from chipboard either covered in wood effect or plain melamine (plastic) an are quite well equiped to to the job for at least 20 years as long as they are not left in a wet environment. 18mm or 15mm carcases but 18mm is to be honest the only way to go. It is possible to get MDF carcases but they do cost more and unless they are water resistant MDF offer no more quality or peace of mind than the chipboard stuff. Put the money into the doors thats my advice. im carpenter and have been doing kitchens and wardrobes for 20 years now and the stuff in Ikea is good quaility for flat pack stuff but I have found the sizes units are supplied in are not always convienient to fit certain rooms to the best possable use of space. Saying that if it fits i would not have a problem buying it myself as it is reasonably priced. Now opening in Belfast so hire a van and have a nice day trip up north that way you can get what you want there and then.
Comment by TRIGGER | November 28, 2007 at 1:53 amIkea Belfast opens tomorrow so no longer have to travel to the UK.. Its a shame that the Irish polanners cant reach agreement to let Ikea build the size store required here in the Republic..
Comment by Mike, Wicklow | December 11, 2007 at 8:31 amI went down to belfast from southern ireland to buy 2 by 2 seater ektorp ,guess what they would not accept my cash in euros as uk multi stores do in the north of ireland.every second customer comes from the south .get it right mr ikea.
Comment by ray mc neice | January 3, 2008 at 9:07 pmray. oh i wont be back
Do IKEA Belfast deliver to south of Ireland e.g. Galway..?
Comment by Paul | January 8, 2008 at 1:44 pmPaul - They do deliver to the south by all accounts.
Comment by Conor | January 8, 2008 at 1:55 pmwe went up to Belfast for the weekend to check out IKEA as we are building a new house and I wanted to see their furniture for myself to decide whether it would be an option for us. We’ll pass!! Most of the furniture and fittings are so flimsy that I doubt they could last 5 weeks let alone 5 years! Some of the bedlinens were beautiful but very expensive when you did the conversions. I picked up a few kitchen gadgets that I’m happy with and the children’s high vis vests were great value at about 5 euro each. I was particularly interested in the storage units, especially the wardrobe interiors that could be used in a walk in wardrobe-some of the ideas were very clever, like the tousers rack and shoe shelves and the full length sliding mirror but the base units were expensive for their quality and my husband will be able to make the same thing in solid wood for a fraction of the price. It was good to go and see what all the hype is about but I am left wondering why there is such a hype in the first place. Ideal for a student flat but I’ll be sticking with local furniture shops, auctions and second hand/antique sales rooms for my home.
Comment by Lisa | January 8, 2008 at 4:56 pmIkea is great for anyone wanting to furnish a room or a home on a budget. If you choose carefully and assemble correctly there is no reason why it shouldn’t last. Furniture in Ireland can be very expensive and Ikea is a great way of injecting some style without breaking the bank. Mix and match cheap items from Ikea with some expensive items and you’ll get an overall great effect. We bought several items including wardrobes. They cost in the region of €700.There was some work involved but they are worth the effort. Would highly recommend the delivery service from Edinburgh. It was efficient and exact. Ikea Belfast now delivers to Dublin from £100 and elsewhere from £150. The only thing is you have to go there and pick all the items yourself. Edinburgh will do it all over the internet and phone. Great shop and can’t wait until it comes to Dublin.
Comment by Cath | February 17, 2008 at 1:53 pmwe had two rooms left to kit out in our new home and in fairness we found exactly what we wanted in Ikea Belfast, the only problem was getting it home and assembled. We just hadn’t the time ourselves, but we came across a company called Ace Assembly which shopped, delivered and assembled everything for us at a fair enough price. Would recommend checking out there web site if you need help getting anything from Ikea with out going there yourself or if it`s just an assembly job you need done, there very helpful. There web address is www.aceassembly.ie
Comment by Ciaran | March 6, 2008 at 1:33 amIKEA Belfast is just what I wanted,Only problem is it’s so far away,I did a search and found a company (Ace Assembly)who would do everything for me,helpful and very reasonable rates.I would also recommend.
Comment by Liam. | March 6, 2008 at 6:52 pmWe have had a pleasure dealing with company called UCS Express Deliveries (www.ucsireland.net) who delivered and assembled our very large IKEA Edinburgh order within a week from placing the order at a very reasonable rate of Euro 85 + 10% of the value of goods!
Comment by Aine Spriesle | March 20, 2008 at 10:23 pmWe just got several wardrobes and a kitchen table and chairs from IKEA belfast, delivered to Dublin. The charis had incorrect components in the packs.
Comment by Pat Fahy | April 16, 2008 at 3:04 pmThe delivery van crashed and several of the parts were broken. Then the replacements were out of stock.
The delivery company hardly ever answer the phone or call when the say they will. Then they delivered
wrong parts. It has dragged on for 5 weeks now and just today they failed to show up as promised. I could certainly not recommend for anything you cannot collect in one go yourself. All we have now is a couple of incomplete wardrobes and chairs.
You cannot ring the store, just a call centre in the UK. Parts show up as in stock on the website when they are not in stock. This has been en expensive headache. No apology or compensation forthcoming.
I got all our bedroom furniture and kitchen plus other bits and bobs, including glassware from Ikea Edinburgh. Our kitchen which included a Whirlpool ceramic hob, Oven and Extract Canopy as well as solid oak work top worked out at half the price of what we were quoted in Dublin for a much lesser quality and not including the Whirlpool appliances. They wre delivered on time and were in perfect order so all I can say is that our Ikea experience was a very happy one!
Comment by S. O' Donnell | April 29, 2008 at 11:49 am