IKEA Reviews

This is a summary of the mistakes and poor customer service that have occurred: After paying a tradesperson to assemble the furniture that I had ordered from Ikea, it came to my attention that the Algot system was incorrect. Two Algot systems were delivered. I only ordered one system. The suspension rail on the correct system was damaged in transit and I was promised a new rail would be delivered today. After realising that a mistake had been made with my delivery, I spent two hours at Ikea on the Tuesday after Easter. The store was very busy and it took almost two hours to wait downstairs using your "take a ticket" system, before I got to speak to someone. I was told that the wrong Algot system would be picked up on Saturday (last Saturday) and that an installer would contact me to arrange to unassembled the wrong Algot system.

I waited all of Saturday and nobody turned up to pick up the other Algot system. The installer also spoke to ** on the phone (as did myself) on Saturday and at no stage where either of us informed that delivery was not taking place. I pointed out to ** that the Bjursta table that was on my sales order was not delivered. After checking into it, she told me that despite it being on my sales order, it had not been put through at the cash register. Surely, a customer who has bought a whole unit of furniture, should be able to put a sales order through and assume that the person on the cash register puts ALL items through?? Surely, the customer should not have to do the job of your staff and double check that the receipt matches the sales order?

Someone contacted me on Sunday morning from Ikea and took payment for the table. She told me that the table would be delivered on Saturday morning. I asked for delivery before 12 noon due to work commitments. She told me that someone would pick up the incorrect furniture at the same time that the table was delivered. I waited until 4.40pm today from 8.30 am this morning for a delivery that did not take place. I lost another day's income. I understand that mistakes happen, but I don't understand how so MANY mistakes can happen! I am really upset at the wasted time and loss of income that Ikea has caused me for their poor customer service.

We decided to keep it simple and bought the range, microwave, oven and dishwasher from Ikea (and purchased a fridge elsewhere). We hired our son-in-law, a journeyman tradesman to install the cabinets and appliances, rather than have one of Ikeas contractors do the work. Because it was being done on evenings and weekends, it took several months for the reno to be completed, but we were extremely happy with the result.

Everything was fine until the first week of February 2015, nine or 10 months after the initial purchase, when I tried for the first time the self-cleaning feature on the oven. About an hour into the process, the oven abruptly shut off and remained locked. I phoned the Ikea and was told to call whirlpool as the warranty is through them. So I did and the oven is still under warranty. They set up an appointment for a technician to come to our house a few days later. I took time off work to meet the technician. However when I got home a voice mail was waiting for me, stating that this company does not service wall ovens and I would have to find someone else.

Annoyed, I called Ikea again and they set up another appointment a few days later with another contractor. The second technician arrived on Feb. 12. He informed me that the board is fried and he would have to order another and that the fan was not powerful enough to handle the heat during clean cycle. A fan was ordered as well. He did not return with the part until March 11, nearly one month later. It was installed and the oven seemed to function. Before he left, he and I agreed that I would try the self-clean feature again, as that was what caused the problem in the first place. Once again, the oven shut off after one hour. I called the technician again, and again booked a time for him to come and take a look which means I get a 4 hour window when I have to be home waiting for the tech.

March 16 the technician returned to my house. He commented that he’d never seen anything like this again and called Whirlpool himself. He was informed about a different kit that will better help deflect the excess heat and prevent overheating. He said he’d order it and return to install it. The technician returned on March 23 and installed the new kit but the oven did not work. The board is fried from the second time I tried to clean, so another board was ordered. He was back on March 31 and installed the board. Everything worked fine until April 6, when I tested the self-cleaning and once again it overheated and shut down.

Frustrated, I called Ikea and asked to speak to a manager, but was told an after sales manager would call me back within 24 to 48 hours. The next day, April 7, I called back and told them “my patience had run out and I wanted to speak to a manager right away." I was told several times a manager is scheduled to call me. Whoever took the call put me on hold for several minutes and then came back on and said “a replacement oven would be sent over on the afternoon of April 9 and installed”.

I booked the appointed time off work and waited all afternoon. No one arrived or phoned to tell me what was going on. I phoned Ikea at the end of the day to find out what was going on and I was informed that the dated line had been discontinued and no ovens were available. The person on the other end of the line seemed surprised that the appointment had even been made. At no point was I offered an apology for all time I had to take off work for technicians and no-shows. Again I demanded to speak to someone in charge and was put on hold. Eventually someone came on the line and said a manager would contact me in 24 to 48 hours.

On April 10, more than two months after my oven first broke down, I phoned again. This time, I was given two options: first, Ikea would give me a full refund for the oven and microwave and I could buy replacements somewhere else; second, they would refund me 30% of the oven price and I could live without the self-cleaning feature. At no point has anyone addressed the issue of selling merchandise that they clearly knew had a significant design flaw. Nor has anyone addressed the issue that we were sold defective appliances based on the assertion that they were designed specifically for those cupboards, and one of the major selling points was that appliances were a matching set. We now have to ensure that any replacement pieces will even fit in the cupboards in the first place.

This has been an extremely aggravating experience for so many reasons. I have wasted hours and hours and lost work time trying to resolve it. Neither Ikea nor Whirlpool knowingly sell poorly designed products and then refuse to stand by them. And adding insult to injury, I have been trying to speak to a manager for two months, and not once has one had the spine or the professionalism to even pick up the phone. I cannot encourage you strongly enough to think carefully before doing any business with Ikea. If something goes wrong, do you have the time and patience to deal with their hit-and-miss product quality and evasive customer service?

A warranty that omits coverage of this kind of damage is useless. Ikea customer service has "generously" offered to help me locate replacement Lidingo doors (the Lidingo/Akurum line was recently discontinued -- which may account for their reluctance to honor the warranty) but I hesitate to buy more of the same cabinet doors that will disintegrate in a few years.

I always put them together and, with the exception of cabinet doors, didn't have a problem. We were doing over a basement, however and I didn't want to spend a lot on furniture so bought IKEA furniture - a whole roomful - which was too much to put together myself, and included a lot of doors. So I paid to have the stuff picked and delivered - and assembled.

The assembly was supposed to take place in one day, of course. It took four. On the first day, a couple of guys showed up and unboxed everything. I was then informed I hadn't paid for mounting, so they couldn't put the entertainment unit up because the guy wanted to mount it to the wall. I said I didn't want it mounted to the wall and he said it had to be, and the baseboard heat was in the way. Because of this we actually had to redesign the room and move the entertainment unit to another wall without a baseboard heater, which necessitated moving one of four bookcases to the back of the room (they were supposed to have lined up on one wall around a fireplace) which really messed up quite a few of our plans. Then the guys left.

The next day only one guy showed and he claimed he couldn't get the bookcases up without help, (as they were almost to the low ceiling) so he sawed the back off the "legs" on each one, and then didn't finish them anyway. Meanwhile I had to go back to IKEA (fortunately I don't live far) because the change in room arrangement meant we couldn't use certain pieces on the entertainment system and had to trade them for others (they were good about that).

However, the next day nobody was showing at all, and I kept trying to call the company that IKEA subcontracts assembly to, but nobody was there, then I was on hold, then they said people were on their way...it was a nightmare. Finally the guys showed, then more guys showed (they were duplicates, by mistake), and left. Then the other guys said they had to leave because they had another job and that guy would be mad...they still hadn't finished the assembly. They did however finish the entertainment unit and - incredibly - the guy who told me it had to be mounted said it couldn't be mounted to this wall either because of the baseboard width (?) but that it didn't have to be mounted. So we moved the entire room around to an unsatisfactory layout (now unable to be changed) for nothing.

Two days later (on a Monday) after more complaints to IKEA (in person, as I know calling wouldn't get me anywhere), two different guys came and asked who had been there. When I said who, the guy rolled his eyes. He finished mounting and electric work (not included in the assembly pricing, but IKEA had already comped it, and the sofa assembly (also not included) because of the trouble.

A few days later I received a call from the manager of the New Haven store who wanted to know what happened so IKEA could decide if they wanted to file a claim against the subcontractors, and they refunded us hundreds of dollars. Hence the three stars - IKEA was actually good about the whole thing, in a very timely manner- I found their customer service to be good. However, why they dealt with such a substandard company is beyond me.

I had ordered a cabinet door from them at the beginning of this project which was being discontinued and it had to be shipped, but they don't ship it to the store, they ship it to a remote IKEA outpost in a neighboring town which is unmarked and serves as a warehouse for many things - pharmaceuticals, whatever. When I finally found the place and went in the guy there said "Oooh - IKEA? Let's hope it's here." Well, it was, right on top, but he told me that people have come from neighboring states only to find the item wasn't there - all due to this same subcontractor ("I don't know why they use them, they're a terrible company," he said). I told him that the company had called me two days prior to tell me the item was there, then they called several more times to tell me it was in New Jersey (with them). When I finally got hold of them I said, is it here or in New Jersey still? And it was like talking to aliens.

I was going to pay my friend's son, who loves to put IKEA stuff together, to do the job, and should have. Heed my advice! At least in the northeast, find someone else to assemble your stuff, or do it yourself.

Fast forward a week or so later. Once we had assembled all cabinets, we found all our base cabinets were missing shelves. Back to the store (a 45 minute drive) I went to get the missing shelves. A computer glitch with the new Sektion launch, they said with an apology. It happens, I thought, not such a big deal. Upon installing the drawers in their respective cabinets, my husband and I discovered that the instructions are completely wrong. Luckily he is a handy guy and was able to drill new holes where they should have been, which are half spaces between the existing holes. Annoying, as we wasted a lot of time and energy trying to figure out why the drawers wouldn't fit. Later that week I discovered the drawers I ordered were missing the soft close damper. Instead of rushing to Ikea, I waited until we completely finished the kitchen to see what else we were going to need and/or return.

Yesterday, I went to IKEA, and it will be my last time. I spent 2 hours there with various managers. It turns out, the drawers I ordered don't come with soft close dampers, at all. As in, not an option. Despite the conversation I had with the associate with whom I placed the order, expressing my want of the soft close drawers, I was sold the wrong drawers. Their one and only solution was that I drive 45 minutes home, disassemble our drawers from the drawer fronts, drive 45 minutes back and exchange them for the drawers that come with built-in dampers.

I would have to pay the difference, $60, for the new drawers. So, zero customer service on their part. No consideration for the time it had taken, and would take for this endeavour. No consideration for the damage disassembling the drawers would cause to the existing drawer fronts, or for the damage to the actual cabinets from removing the drawer railings.

The kitchen department manager was completely useless, and treated me like I was an idiot. She began leading me around their kitchen department to show me how to properly install the drawers. At least I got a small sense of satisfaction from that, as she discovered that, indeed, their instructions are wrong. The contractor who installed the store showroom kitchens had to improvise as well.

How can an international mega company like Ikea not own up to their own mistakes? It was their associate who sold me the wrong drawers, it should be on them to fix their mistake. I would have been willing to risk the damage to my drawer fronts, and spend the time doing so, but not to have to spend any more money for the exchange. They should have offered me an even exchange. It still would have been a huge inconvenience, but I expected at least that. Instead I was offered $20 in free food vouchers for their restaurant, which in no way, shape, or form, fixes the problem. Very disappointed in the kitchen planning service and in the customer service at IKEA. I've spent thousands of dollars there, never again. They've lost a customer in me.

It took over 3 hours today on the telephone until we were able to reach a customer service representative in order to tell them that delivery after 4 pm to our Manhattan building was not allowed!! We finally obtained the delivery company's number and they told me about a "time slot"offer - an option IKEA never offered or mentioned to us - we also consider it outrageous that we would be required to pay for a time slot!! By this time it was too late to reach the delivery van!! Now faced with a delivery that was too late for the building's service elevator rescheduling this delivery became another nightmare given the impossibility of reaching customer service! Who has time to wait on hold for hours?

In addition, the missing items which were out of stock when the initial order was placed came in (after 5 weeks), but because IKEA did not notify us in time for these items to be included in today's delivery, we were charged an additional delivery fee of $150 dollars! At this point we are ready to cancel and return the whole $4K+ order of the new kitchen and go elsewhere! It is simply unacceptable for a worldwide company such as IKEA to have such abominable customer service! In addition to this, IKEA's online "Ask Anna" option is totally useless. Why doesn't IKEA offer a "Live Chat" option so people can speak to a real person? We are EXTREMELY disappointed with this whole IKEA experience, and will not recommend using IKEA to our friends and family. We were looking forward to an IKEA kitchen, but this has become a total nightmare and not what we were expecting from IKEA.

Finding a customer service rep in the store in harder than pronouncing the names of the product! Getting one to help you is futile. They all act like they have no clue what you're asking. (I asked, "Where's the lighting dept?" Reply "Uhh?" Shoulder shrug with an eye roll! "I'm not sure.") or where to find the products. (I asked, "Where can I find the slide out trash bin assemble for the kitchen cabinet?" They said "Uhm we don't sell those." Really? What about item # blah blah blah.) They act like you're inconveniencing them from their post of "doing nothing."

I do like IKEA products, (cheaply made, yes, but you get what you pay for.) Modern design, everyone thinks you're cool if your pad is decked with IKEA, (but actually it's because they know how hard it is to deal with that place & impressed you had the patience to endure the whole experience.) Customer Service is so so SO bad. It's like they have NO standards for hiring. High school drop outs, potheads, be like, "Hey, dude, I know you have no personality or work ethics, but you could always work at IKEA!? You have all the criteria!"

At first I thought it might be just the USA stores, figuring the Swedes think we're all fat and lazy so they would give us back the same service, (cinn buns & meatballs & they're hooked) but then noticed complaints on here from all over the globe!!! Wow guys, that's bad. Worst thing is, all the complaints are the same!! (Here's your hint - quality control.) It's not hard to narrow down your main issue here.

CUSTOMER SERVICE ~ Now we all know that parenting plays a huge role in putting out quality people for employees, so you can't really be all the blame, so, your remedy is... seasoned, more professional QC with old fashion values & morals, and severe consequence for negative feedback!! No, you can't discriminate for age or race, but you can for manners & work ethics. Pay them well right off the bat, so they get accustomed to their pay. They will value & fear losing their jobs. Encouraging them to perform well. Nobody is going to go the extra mile for minimum wage. (They should, but won't.) I say, start them at $20/hr (US $) and for every true investigated negative complaint, drop their pay down a notch. (Serious consequence.) Until eventually letting them go. Discuss it during interview so they know this upon hire! Stay complaint free for a determined length of time and raise them up a notch.

Put your money where your mouth is.... You'll see how fast your customer service improves! People need positive AND negative consequences for their performance in order to make change! Or stay the same crappy cardboard assembled furniture company that you are with poor customer service and eventually you'll weed out the good clients and be left with customers of the same equivalent service. Like rental property, keep it clean and charge more, you'll attract a better tenant. Don't fix anything keep the cost low & run your own slum. I'm too good for IKEA, not the products, but the profile they have allowed themselves to become due to customer service. You get what you pay for for sure! Products AND employees.

CONSUMERS.... if you like their stuff, find what you want on their website, then search your local Craigslist, the prices are the same but you don't have to deal with the store. No you can't return it, but it's not like you can if you buy from the store anyway, at least not without a hassle. Oh yeah you don't need that family card program either. "Sign up & save." What a joke. We never even received a card so you have to print one from a kiosk every time you go, another line to wait in to save only on products that you're not there to buy, really it's just for a free yogurt & coffee. Nahh, I'm not waiting in line for that.

I then went on Ikea's website to see how I could contact them. So I decided to go full out trying to contact them, I emailed... no response, I tweeted... no initial response, I called & held for 30 minutes before getting to speak to the first person. I explained and she said she needed to transfer me... I held for another 15 minutes, I explained and she said she would speak to the delivery company and put me on hold again. She then returned 10 minutes later to say she needed to transfer me to someone else. Third person, I explained again and they called the delivery company. Back to square one... delivery company could not deliver today but could tomorrow. I was offered a guaranteed two hour window in the evening which I reluctantly accepted as it seemed it was my only option.

They agreed to refund of my delivery charge only after I asked for it, they did not offer this. To add insult to injury it will only be refunded once the delivery has been made & will take up to 7 days to appear in my account. The total time I spent on the phone was 1 hour, 12 minutes. So thanks to Ikea, I have an apartment with no bed or chair and I am furious. I have a long list of the things I need to buy for my first apartment in the US but Ikea will not be getting my business as intended.

We refused to stand in line again so I stood exactly where we were, keeping our spot, while wife went back to get the right order and had to stand in line over there because the clerk refused to handle her request until she waited her turn. We finally got out of there and wrote a letter to IKEA Consumer Affairs and got no answer, so I looked for another place where I could file a complaint and warn others that IKEA is not a friendly store. So here I am. Don't expect any sort of customer service there. They have well-designed products which are clever and attractive. They are cheaply built, however. If there's a problem, tough luck. And if you need something more elaborate like a kitchen, shop elsewhere unless you're ready to proceed with no help from them. They are a perfect example of "you get what you pay for".

No response from C&E so I called IKEA again and I was told that I would be emailed a tracking no. once the part was located and shipped. After several more days, I contacted IKEA yet again and was told that the part had shipped, but they could not provide a tracking no. because FedEx doesn't provide them with tracking for 2-day shipments (more **). The part finally arrives on a Saturday with no prior notice, so several more days are lost before an appointment can be made to install the control board. Of course, the tech arrives, replaces the second part, and still the unit doesn't work! The tech agrees that there is no longer any alternative but to replace the dishwasher under warranty.

So I call IKEA today and they tell me that the tech's report was filed as the part replaced, the unit working, and the work order closed!!! At no time in over six weeks have I been able to even turn the unit on, much less have it in operating condition. The IKEA supervisor (Ingrid) tells me that I'll have to schedule another service appointment before the unit can be replaced because the tech's notes indicated the unit was repaired successfully. I have the tech's cell no., so I call and leave a message and give the cell no. to the IKEA rep. I also call the tech's home office and let them know the situation and that I need the tech to get in touch with IKEA to clear things up.

I receive a call back from the C&E office indicating that the tech has spoken with IKEA and the situation is in the process of being resolved. After leaving 5 or 6 messages with the IKEA rep, I'm told later that evening that she had not been contacted by C&E and there has been no progress in resolving my case. This has been the case throughout six weeks of trying to deal with these people...they tell you whatever they think will shut you up for the moment, while doing next to nothing to solve the problem. On multiple occasions, both C&E and IKEA have promised a return phone call; the only time that it actually occurred, I was given incorrect information that was more than a month old. I've easily spent more than six hours on the phone with IKEA and C&E over the last six weeks and I'm no closer to a resolution than I was more than six weeks ago.

They have already spent more than the wholesale value of the unit in parts, shipping, and technician's labor. It boggles the mind why they would want to continue to pour additional resources into this unit rather than providing the replacement unit that should be available under warranty. Moreover, the unit stopped working in mid-cycle and mold has been growing inside for more than six weeks. Both my wife and I are experiencing respiratory/nasal irritation in our kitchen that may be associated with mold growing in the unrepaired/unreplaced dishwasher. This unit should be replaced under the warranty that still has more than two years outstanding.

I cannot recommend IKEA/Whirlpool products, including these brands that are also manufactured by Whirlpool, Acros, Admiral, Amana, Bauknecht, Brastemp, Consul, Estate, Gladiator GarageWorks, Hotpoint (Europe), IKEA, Indesit, Inglis, Jenn-Air, KitchenAid, Maytag, Privileg, Roper, Scholts, or Whirlpool. BUYER BEWARE...DO NOT BUY THESE BRANDS!

Items needed to be paid for prior to getting to that area which I found out from the cashier was Customer Service. My items needed to be paid for before heading over there so I stood in line and was then told I needed to go to the kiosk to place the order, NOT Customer Service. When I got to the kiosk the guy there was irritated that he had to help me because he was sooooo busy. He passed me off to another employee because he was so busy, yet stood around the kiosk and BS'd with some other employees for awhile.

Was so irritated with the whole experience that I quickly signed the paperwork and headed BACK to stand in line again! So, by this time I had been there for 2 hours! Mad as hell but glad to get finally get out of there. On the day of the delivery they were supposed to call me an hour in advance to let me know they were on their way. They called me to tell me they were at the door. Great! I live 45 minutes from the delivery location! Then I found out the guy who input my info didn't fill it in properly. So my purchase was incomplete.

I called the contact info to get it straightened out and was told I couldn't pay for it over the phone without paying another shipping fee and that when I signed the paperwork I should have noticed it wasn't complete, so it was my fault. The customer service is non existent and the employees are incompetent. I think that is how they sell their products so cheaply. To top if off, I have to go BACK to that hellhole, which by the way is 45 minutes away, to get this fixed. Thanks Ikea!!! After this I will NEVER shop there again and will tell everyone I know about my bad experience! As a former employee of Nordstrom for many years, I don't know how they stay in business. I would rather pay 10x more money for my purchases than be put through this ** this again!

The "Anna" service is a joke. It is an automated service inputted by humans that looks for key phrases then generates an answer. NOT the answer you need or want! When you call, there is a long wait time time. I was on hold for 20 minutes before someone answered my call. The person could not answer my question even though that was the number to call. I was transferred to another department and was on hold for another 30 minutes. Was infuriated by their lack of knowledge and service and hung up!

Of course, hanging up served no purpose since I would have to call again. Again, by the time all the hold time and transfers were over, I had wasted another 40 minutes of my day! I purchased a mattress. I wanted it delivered this week but not gonna happen. Tried to contact IKEA to cancel order before shipped. Once the order is shipped, you can cancel but will not be refunded the shipping cost. Today, I received the email. It had been 6 days since I placed my order and not heard from them. All I had was an email saying they had received my order request and gave me an order number. The website does not provide, anywhere that I could find, a place to enter the order number to track the order. You have to CALL! What a nightmare!!!!!!

Truthfully, they said they had a mattress disposal fee service available. I was told once the mattress is shipped, I can go online and pay for that service. NOT TRUE. YOU HAVE TO CALL, WAIT FOR YOUR CALL TO BE ANSWERED, THEN BE TRANSFERRED, WAIT FOR SOMEONE TO ANSWER THE TRANSFER CALL, THEN PAY. I like the IKEA products, as we have purchased many. However, again, if you cannot go to the store and make the purchase, be warned. You will come away extremely frustrated by the hours wasted on hold and days lost waiting for you order to be delivered.

The following day I called to explain the situation and customer service said it was my fault because I was the one that picked it. She also said it happens frequently but there was nothing they could do about it. I let them know I pulled from the correct location but received the wrong item. I also explained there was no way to identify what I had with the plain packaging. I asked to speak with a manager and the manager explained it was on me because I picked the item. He said he could deliver the correct item but I would have to pay another $65 for delivery. I said I already paid for delivery and received the wrong item. I had no way to return the green chair without renting a vehicle so I reluctantly agreed to pay the additional delivery and let him know I would not shop there again. I do not feel it was appropriate customer service and encourage others to not shop there.

When we finally talked with someone, they had no idea how to fix it. We escalated to a supervisor, who also had no idea how to fix it. After hours more, we were transferred to someone who assured us that the shipment would be cancelled. But no refund. They don't do refunds, just store credit. On the delivery day, the entire shipment showed up, with no furniture covers. We refused it. It took weeks to get them to get the store credit on our order. Recently, I tried ordering furniture for my mother from the Minnesota store. They prevent customers from calling individual stores. Can only speak with the main store on the East coast, which was closed because of bad weather. The message said to call back when they were back, then hung up. No option to transfer.

Ikea has some of the more reasonably priced (and generally poorest quality) furniture on the market. It's fine if you need a generic bed, or table, or just want a functional chair for everyday use. We've used them for kid’s furniture, which lasts a few years or less, then falls apart. We call it disposable. Certainly high volume. Sell a lot, make returns impossible, eliminate customer access all contribute to the bottom line. It would be a mistake to spend a lot of money at Ikea; remember that if anything goes wrong, you'll need to find a fix yourself. You'll never be able to return a defective item. Prices are low, quality is also low, but this might be fine for small things. I'm still trying to get them to honor my "store credit". They have my money; seems like once that happens, customers are out of the loop. Stay clear if you can.

I received an e-mail confirming my purchase and an "estimated" delivery date. Customer service said that items surely will arrive within 5 days of the estimated delivery date. I was hopeful for the items to be delivered on the "estimated" date, but having not received the courtesy 24 hour advance phone call with a 4 hour delivery window.... I waited. As promised... I received the call.... the time was set.... the items were delivered undamaged, complete, and courteously by Alex Delivery Services in Ventura County. Very happy customer!

Regardless of the ruddiness of the representative, I am so disappointed with IKEA. Do IKEA expect from the customers to get furnitures with errors and not do something about it fast? Well, the sofa bed is laying in the room for more than 12 days now (un-assembled), every time I look at it, I promise myself not buy from IKEA-USA again.

After several days of trying to let them know that pretty much everything was missing, they said they would re-ship - apparently the truck was too full for my order the first time. Not that anyone would bother letting you know that. After a full month, I got a call saying that they were delivering the kitchen in 10 minutes. Great, since they are supposed to call you the day before and arrange a 4 hour time period. Apparently, their idea of compensation on this issue is to give you a gift card for $75 - like I want to give them any more of my money. I will make sure that everyone I know hears this story and doesn't even contemplate ordering anything from Ikea. The customer service rep seemed to think that since I eventually got my order, their obligation was fulfilled.

I just stood there until they gave me a refund and didn't let anyone in the queue pass until they did. Was accused of brandishing a weapon (their knives) and threatened with police action. I stayed and said they can check the CCTV when they come. Was eventually given a refund. I went round the store, got my new complete knife set, paid and left. I never returned.

The worst part is, for some reason they cannot manufacture something and use standard nuts and bolts, it has to be some insanely complicated tiny thing that no one else has or uses. This makes it impossible to go to a Home Depot, Lowe's or local hardware store and get the parts. I have sent Ikea customer service, pictures of the unit and a picture of the missing "Cam/Dowel" Phillips Head screws and the length (we had one, we were missing 7). No, that's no good either. They cannot locate the part with even a picture of it and the length. The standard reply after repeated attempts to fix the problem is "sure we can help, just provide us with the missing part number and the 8 article number."

They are like robots. They cannot seem to comprehend that the instructions are missing and I don't have the damn codes and numbers for each and every damn screw used to make this thing! To make matters worse, they say they cannot supply new instructions or parts because the item in question has been discontinued. Now I am stuck with a $1200 hutch that cannot be assembled or used. Does Ikea care? Absolutely not.

The person I was able to find, his name is Alex, really didn't want to help from the beginning. He asked me if I looked in the correct section. Then he said if it is not in the bin 98, it is in the bin 9. I told him that the whole section is empty. He asked me if I am sure??? I replied that I am sure, but I already was disturbed by such questions. Younger boy is asking an older person if she is sure? He went with me to the Aisle and confirmed that there were NO items in the whole section. Instead of saying - “sorry” or “let me help you to locate the items,” he told me that I need to look at the Art. number of the item and locate that number myself on the other shelves??? So, according to him, I have to go around the whole self-serve area, each aisle, read all numbers in each bin until I find an item I need?

When I told him the needs to help me and I am not going to look all over myself in all bins for the items needed, he became angry, turned around and left. I was very upset. VERY! I was looking for the store manager, but it was close to the closing time and he/she wasn't available. I didn't want to leave until I would talk to the supervisor.

Here is another example of a great customer service skills: Joe, young man, came to us and asked if he can help us. I asked him if we can talk to the manager, but he said that he will try to help as much as he can and then we will have a chance to talk to supervisor after. He asked what was the problem and we told him. He was really nice, listen, helped us with all items, put them on the platform and even offered help to the register. Half of my anger disappeared after he helped us. However, I still think that this incident must be heard. People often forget that they have a job because of the customers. It is not only in the retail world - it is everywhere… medicine, restaurants, etc. This Alex should learn how to talk to people and needs to understand the simple principles of customer care.

The elevator we took to the upper floor was an up elevator only. Never seen that before. So we, me with my brand new hip and cane and my wife dragging her oxygen bottle behind her, made our way through the entire store, after not finding what we needed, just to get back to our car. Exit signs that were dead ends leading only to emergency exit doors. Employees in little groups were less than helpful. "How do we get out?" was met with a grunt and a finger pointing toward signs. There was one exception towards the end of our journey with one helpful gentleman who let us through the checkout line to get to the exit.

As to why we were there? We were looking for curtains. When we did finally managed to find the right part of the store it was very difficult to navigate. Selection was poor at best and help was nowhere in sight. That is except for one young lady who spoke so fast she was unintelligible. Even after asking her to repeat what she said.

We are on a fixed income, have very little and were trying to save money on a necessary purchase. Ultimately we spent our money at J.C. Penny's. We spent more money than we wanted to spend but the store environment and experienced staff made the purchase easy and we were able to get what we needed. A few dollars more? Yes, but worth it. We won't be back to Ikea.

I asked this problem to staff, he is called to technical staff. The guy said to me "this machine gone, you have to use different till." I show him my card still there and I put the pin code as well. I said, "did I paid or not." He said no. I said, "Are you sure." He said, "Definitely not. The things you can't receive nothing from the machine." So they charge me that money, I can see from my bank account. There is only witness technical guy who is working that night and my friends and my bank account. There is 20 pounds extra cost me. And I wrote this issue two times, they didn't pay me. So if it's like 1000 pounds still I can't claim. So can anyone help me then.

Called IKEA regarding this issue many, many times. Stayed on hold for hours and hours and could not get resolved. Many times the delivery and installation got cancelled. The time frames were between 3 pm and 9 pm. So I had to take times off from my job in order to be at home by that time. Called a direct number in Brooklyn and talked only once to a person. Last week when I called that number again, the person had left a message saying that she is away from work and will be back on Friday.

Even when I called today, the same message is going on. Are these people working or playing games? Tried to call the corporate office and left a message. Two days later a person called and after hearing my long story, asked me to wait until today, to see how the reinstallation of the cabinet went on, which was scheduled and confirmed by IKEA and call her back if there was any issue. The reinstallation never happened. The installation company has denied to do the reinstalling. When I called that person's corporate office direct number many times, again the answering message saying that she is away from work and asking to leave a message. Totally disappointed and had enough with IKEA. WILL NEVER AGAIN SHOP AT IKEA IN MY LIFE.

They opened a useless claim for me, which as it turns out is only another person to tell you the same "unfortunately" story again. I live over an hour away each direction and don't have a vehicle large enough to transport them back. I tried to get contact information for the store or delivery company to see if they would exchange these when they're in my neighborhood next. Supposedly the stores no longer even have phones! Really! Unbelievable. They could care less about your satisfaction as soon as they ring up your payment. Then you're on your own and good luck! Never, ever again!

Then received a text from the driver saying the goods would be delivered between 10:30 am and 11:30 am. Called the driver's mobile 4 times between 11:13 am and 11:42 am when we did not hear from him. No answer. I then called the ANC customer care to check and the lady Natalie said that the delivery guy had waited outside our house and no one was home. Called IKEA and was told strictly that we were not home and that the driver had taken numerous photos to prove he was outside the house. We have two options from IKEA: 1) pay another $119 for re-delivery 2) cancel the entire order and get a refund for the goods. Absolutely no empathy by them. In fact, the people at IKEA keep insisting that we were not home and defending the driver. When asked why no contact was made to let us know he was downstairs, IKEA told us that our buzzer must be broken!!!!

Overall very stressful and unpleasant experience and makes you wonder if it is worth cheaper price when you have to pay 20%-30% in delivery charges. Only use home delivery as a final and last option.

On the way I have purchased curtain and some other stuff. When I reached to cashier, I placed that paper with description of stools and other stuff. He scan other items and I have asked him to make bill of these items on the paper. He was not listening. I asked again to check other items on the paper. He misbehave like anything saying “You want me to bring these items for you? Go and get it from there!!!! And pay now for other items!!!” Amazingly very bad people working with IKEA. I search and got the stools and came to other cashier. It was very small packing and I put on the counter (belt) in front of cashier. She also screaming why I put on the counter - let it to be in the trolley. Another specialized rude staff working with IKEA.

I don’t know what is the problem with IKEA. A month ago I have purchased Kitchen counter (kitchen top). That time the situation was worse. I spent more than one hour going up & down. This person, that person and everyone angry and raising voice and laughing and not helping. Among my friends they say buy only those items from IKEA where you don’t need help from IKEA staff. Just pick and pay. If you need a help it means you made your day bad.

I called back a couple times to have a voice recording say customer service hours were 9:00 am EST - 8:00 pm EST and they were CLOSED! It was only 7:30 pm EST!!! I was furious. After looking online at all the negative reviews I FREAKED OUT not imagining that Ikea, the store I've purchased so much from, had such a bad reputation and customer service. I went to the Ikea Facebook page and decided to private message them about the issue and my complaint that they shut down the customer service number before it was even closing time. Not expecting to hear back, I was pleasantly surprised that I received a Facebook message from Ikea at 9:00 am EST the next morning asking me to explain the situation.

Long story short I sent pictures of the damage, told them what happened, and they said they would send me a new bookcase. I was sent a new order form that day, January 9, 2015 and just received my new KLIMPEN bookcase in PERFECT condition today, January 16, 2015. Moral of the story, if you need to get something fixed quick USE FACEBOOK PRIVATE MESSAGE! Apparently their social media team is on top of their game. I did not have to pay for shipping on the 2nd bookcase. I gave only 3 stars because I shouldn't have received a damaged bookcase to begin with and their customer service number is TERRIBLE but they saved themselves, well the social media team did by quickly resolving my problem.

So the kitchen is finished except for the oven. The cabinets, counter tops, sink, faucet, and all other appliances. I only need the oven. Guess what?! The FRAMTID oven has been discontinued and they have none at Ikea Tampa. They have about 20-30 available in the US, but in stores out of state. I was told that even though they have some in other locations they couldn’t get me one because they do not transfer between stores.

They do not transfer between stores. I had to repeat that because it is too ridiculous to believe. I worked in retail for 15 years and I have never worked for, or ever heard of a retail company that does not transfer/order from other stores to get something they need for a customer. Until now. They would not even call another store to check stock, or inquire about shipping from that store. I was told there is nothing they can do for me, and no one higher up I could contact. The best they could suggest would be to wait till February 2nd when they get their new kitchen system and appliances in to see if they would match. Unbelievable!

Needless to say, I'm going to have to pull out the FRAMTID built in microwave (that I paid to have installed) and return it. I'll have no microwave, no oven and the entire kitchen was designed to fit those two built in appliances. The oven and microwave are still shown on their website and still can be added to a kitchen designs with their web design program but I cannot buy one. The last thing to complete the kitchen I bought and designed from them. Thank you so much for your very poor, backwards customer service Ikea.

In my opinion, this item is still in their ownership. They originally said they could "cancel" the order and refund my merchandise total but then decided they could not do that either. The shipment will now be delivered and I must be here when FedEx arrives to refuse the order. Now, since I have no shipment number, I have no idea when that will be. Thanks IKEA for a crappy cancellation "policy."

When we finally got to the area that had what we wanted, we now had to figure out HOW to get it, pay for it. This is an entirely self serve establishment. You locate the item, YOU write down the product #, price, row & bin # it will be located in. Then take that information & begin the walk through that maze so you can descend down to the warehouse level. Once you are on that lower level, begin, yet again, the walk through the maze to an actual warehouse located in the center of this atrocity of a building. NOW grab a cart, locate the aisle and then located the bin. Just as if you were pulling orders for a distribution warehouse. Load that merchandise, and wheel it up to the checkout, Checkouts are easy to find (go figure). Once payment has been rendered, now go to either the escalators or the elevators to the loading area to load it yourself.

This is, hands down, the most impersonal place I have EVER experienced. All they need are robots and wha-la! Removal of human interaction complete! All furniture, cabinets, etc. are unassembled so be ready to build the thing too. I WILL NEVER BUY ANYTHING EVER AGAIN FROM THERE. Hated it, hated it, hated it. The cabinet is nice, but I'd rather pay more money and not have to pack a lunch to buy something from Ikea. I WANT to see human customer service persons should I need one. Not hunt down a person to show me how to do it all by myself.

The second lie he told that we were being rude. I recorded the entire conversation. The 2 managers as well as the security guard followed us around the store we purchased a queen size bed, even peeking out windows while we were tying the bed to our car. The only answer Jon could give me to refusing the return was it was up to the managers discretion, more like discrimination, and you felt like a criminal, the way we were being followed. I am a tax-paying, law-abiding citizen and I am very angry and frustrated.

THIS PLACE IS A JOKE! They have no problems taking your money and selling you crap and when it comes to returning it forget it. Unless you are returning a plant or one piece of furniture don't expect them to take back multiple items. Gosh if you bought a closet or kitchen you would be **! Thousands of dollars spent with the false promise of no-worry returns. This store is nothing like Home Depot, Costco, Sam's Club or even Walmart which stands behind their promises. FOOL ME ONCE SHAME ON YOU, FOOL ME TWICE SHAME ON ME. LESSON LEARNED! BE WARNED. STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS PLACE! DONT BELIEVE THEIR REFUND POLICY!

If you are reading this and considering a purchase, my recommendation would be go elsewhere. I spent an uncomfortable Christmas and New Year because IKEA couldn't be bothered to pick up the phone, and now face another 10-week delay with a different company. Absolutely, disgusting service - truly abysmal. Ikea are heading for collapse and closure, and it can't come soon enough.

So the bed was not really the bed as pictured on the floor -- a mattress could not be placed on the bed as it was assembled. I have to either go to IKEA and pick up the bed slats and the mid beam or pay for delivery and assembly again. Not one person mentioned these two essential items until the men stood in the middle of the room, explaining they could go no further and the bed was not usable as it stood. This seems extremely deceptive.

Never again will I purchase any items at IKEA and I am going to warn all of my family and friends that this happens. While the furniture has a reputation for cheapness, I did not understand that the store had a reputation for dishonesty -- which this was. You do not tell a consumer that they have everything for the bed when the bed is not usable as purchased.

It's a $15.00 shelf, I'll burn more in gas and time. Since the company is at fault, a reasonable resolution would be to ship the replacement parts to me along with a return postage paid label to return the defective merchandise. I was put on hold for a few more minutes only to be told, "No, we cannot do that because we did not ship it to you, so you have to go back to the store." Since I have no other choice, I will at least bring my own tape measure and make the next trip to IKEA my last. Never again IKEA!

I called IKEA back. Waited my hour and spent another hour convincing them to let me talk to a supervisor. I then had a case open and was assured that I would be refunded my shipping cost. When I picked up the order from the delivery company and returned home I realized that I was missing a significant part of the order. Mainly... the bed part. I have now been on hold or talking with incompetent people for 2 hours this evening. There has been no resolution. No one has acted concerned or in a hurry to help. I do wonder if I will ever get either the bed or my money back. Save your money to buy from somewhere else. Such shoddy customer service makes their products NOT WORTH IT.

The 9AM the next morning I again contacted the IKEA national hotline and after more than hour I had communicated my complaint and expectations for resolution, but without resolution since the Charlotte store could only resolve my issues. At 3PM that afternoon a Customer Service Rep, Michele, called me back from Charlotte and left a message to call extension ** in the Charlotte IKEA store. I called that extension 9-10 times over the next two days and never got more than a recording. Finally, on 9/13 in frustration I dialed the operator and explained my concern and was transferred to CS Michelle. She agreed to ship the needed parts to my Virginia address, but five days later nothing had happened.

I recontacted IKEA and finally got a MANAGER DERRICK who stated that my glass doors couldn't be shipped, but if I brought the assembled doors back to Charlotte, he would provide me with required replacement parts which included a 29 1/2" PAX sliding door system and 2 boxes of glass door inserts and a replacement 19 1/2" drawer system and a $200 store credit. My brother and sister in law drove 2 1/2 hours from SW Virginia to Charlotte to be there by noon the agreed upon time and NO ONE IN IKEA CHARLOTTE KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT OUR EXCHANGE OR STORE CREDIT. I was at lunch with a customer two hours away and got a phone call from my sister in law asking me to recount the entire problem and lack of progress to the return clerk at IKEA. TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY! DROP THE BALL MANAGER DERRICK WAS OFF THAT DAY AND FAILED TO SHIP AS AGREED. MICHELE WAS IN VERY IMPORTANT KITCHEN TRAINING WITH 50 % of the entire CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT.

I have never encountered a more hapless and less effective customer service process in forty plus years of owning my own retail operation. CS AT IKEA stands for CUSTOMER SCREWING. Between the three total trips to Charlotte and the time it took to assemble doors that had to be subsequently returned to IKEA, I OUT MORE THAN $635 plus the $1650 I paid for their products.

I will not recommend purchasing a mattress there because you will have to return it at your own cost which usually can be 10% of your purchase or more. I asked at least to pay the return freight to come and pick up the mattress and they refused. The mattress has been used for only 3 weeks and it shows signs of deformity and already when sleeping the the spine makes a curve on the mattress. I sent them pictures etc. Waste of time and money. Now I have to hire a truck $$$ and people to carry a king size mattress to the store and lose that money just because I chose the wrong supplier. You can exchange mattress only once. The last customer service manager told me that I should had reported it within 48 hrs after purchase in order to have free return freight which is out of question. In 48 hrs mattresses do not get damaged or lose the firmness. That was the last answer and there is no place in any receipt or paper that has that policy.

As of today November 29th two days after Thanksgiving with an incomplete kitchen because of IKEA we have yet to receive the part or a tracking number! WHY???? Because they have not sent it out! Now I have been on hold and back and forth for another hour and the customer service rep says there is no one available to speak with us. Tell me how if a company collects their money they can treat customers like crap. They collected their money without us collecting our goods! They have not returned any shipping fees to us either. All I hear is "I am sorry" BUT NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON HAS CORRECTED THE ISSUE. I give IKEA a NEGATIVE Million stars! They should not have anything to do with the public!

I paid with a bank debit card which is basically cash. It took them two minutes to take my money but they informed me it would take 7 to 10 days to get my refund. The supervisor again assured me that he would have my items delivered the next day. The next day, I called to check on the status of my delivery and ikea informed me that I called this morning and rescheduled my delivery date to December 6/2014, which is a bull faced lie. After fighting so hard for the past five days waiting on the phone for over 2 hours each time, while becoming more outraged each time the delivery never showed, while being talked down to in a very rude condescending way by an employee who goes by the name Shy, which she refused to give me her last name. She works at the ikea in Stoughton Massachusetts. It seems this store has a bunch of incompetent, unprofessional people working for them. I was told your word is your bond.

After talking to the same supposedly head supervisor at this store who only goes by the name Glenn, who repeatedly told me three times in 5 days that he took care of everything and the last time he spoke to me he said “made sure it was done right this time.” It is disappointingly clear that this supervisor Glenn at ikea in Stoughton Massachusetts is clearly incompetent and should be fired immediately. My poor daughter who has been sleeping on the floor in an empty room for the past 5 days. Sadly, she will have to sleep under those conditions a lot longer until we get our refund back whenever that is. Because after having her own room since birth and now in her teenage years, she refuses to sleep in the bed with her mother and she should not have to. At this point my health is in jeopardy because my blood pressure has been up and I have been having severe chest pains and the fact that I'm over 50 is not helping either. Ikea has no respect or consideration for their customers whatsoever. Please point me in the right direction to file a complaint against ikea in Stoughton Massachusetts.

I missed the order # ** mattress delivery. I received last call from the delivery person at 10:33 AM and I called back at 10:47. First time he didn’t received the call but on 2nd time he picked up and immediately told me that is going to San Jose and not going to return Fremont. I tried to call him again after some time and send voice mail but didn't receive any call back. Finally I rescheduled the delivery after physically went to IKEA E Palo Alto and paid again $60 and fortunately I have received this time. But I am not at all satisfied with the delivery service of IKEA.

Although it was my mistake that I was not able to pick the call, but if you people are taking good amount of money for home delivery only then you should provide service accordingly. All shipping carriers provide minimum 3 attempts for delivery. If you are providing only 1 attempts then at least provide some flexibility. No doubts your mattress are very good in quality but I can't say same for your delivery service. I have already paid $180 till now for shipping only. Overall I am highly disappointed with your delivery service, and not going to recommend home delivery of Ikea to any of my friends. In short IKEA "Love it or Exchange it" Return Policy” is not as simple as it appears.

I think above service is not enough. To add more I just called IKEA customer care today to know the refund status of order number ** which IKEA delivery service picked it on 11/15/2014 as a part of order ** and she was not able to find any status in the system. She then told, If I want to know the return/refund status of my mattress then I need to go E Palo Alto IKEA - It is already 6 days. If a person is living very far from Ikea Store so to just know the return/refund status he needs to visit IKEA store. This is horrible. There is nowhere similarity in what you people put it on the site and what is the reality. I am totally fed up with your service whether it is delivery team or customer service. I will never ever recommend IKEA to anyone. This is totally ridiculous.

October 2014 - Received payment from IKEA for additional shipping costs.

To Date our missing item has not been delivered to Shipping agent - despite numerous emails.

Conclusion: Ikea took part of our money in Fraud as they have not delivered all merchandise as per invoiced.

On November 4, 2014, I went into the store to get help compiling a shopping list. The staff person I talked to convinced me to pay the $199 to have someone come and measure and check the plan on site. I was quite happy to do this. I think I left my plan open in the store when I left because when I got home, I could not log in again. The alert said I was 'logged out automatically' and that I needed to log in again.

Here is where the problem began and the light came on that said, "Do you REALLY want to deal with this company if you have an issue in the middle of your remodel or later." The answer was no. This sounds like a simple IT fix, right? OMGGGGG their call center was impossible to deal with. They would not put me through to IT and on top of being very poor listeners, they were clueless. They would 'consult' IT and come back and ask for my email and send me a password reset. They would not listen when I had told them each time that the problem was bigger than this. I am fairly computer literate and had tried every scenario I could think of..different computer, logging in through IKEA family etc, resets hours apart etc. They wanted me to create another account and start from scratch. They would not let me talk to IT directly but insisted on relaying messages..sounded like they were reading emails.

I asked to speak to a supervisor and she showed no desire to help me resolve my problem. I felt that my business was just not important to her. There were plenty other fools willing to spend their money at Ikea and she did not need to waste her time on me. I told her that I had lost faith in IKEA being there for me if I have a problem with the kitchen remodel, and wanted to cancel the site visit. She was lightning quick about canceling as she really did not want to deal with me. I was really upset. I had wasted so much time on this company and just as I was ready to buy, they showed me they are unreliable at best and oblivious to my needs as a customer. And spending close to 4 hours on the phone over two days with scripted robotic entry level call center staff, did not restore my faith in the company. That sounds harsh...it is not the fault of those operators but of the corporation for putting them in that situation with no IT recourse.

I am back to the beginning, a week before my project is ready to start. But this may have been a lucky piece of insight that saves me much heartache and frustration in the future. As luck would have it, I went to Lowes and found a local Seattle company called Lattidude that has that contemporary look I like but way cooler than IKEA and way better quality. And I get to deal with a person who is invested in successfully remodeling my kitchen, not a call center who considers me an irritant. And they are a sustainable resource company.

They refused to listen to myself, the customer, and accused me of lying, when in fact the employee Lin was the one lying. She tried to justify her actions by saying that other customer was ahead of us, but she did not call the next number in line. I believe you waive your right to first come, first serve if you install a number system. The gentleman she decided to help over myself (the next in line with number 254) was a very handsome young man, and the employee Lin took her time to flirt inappropriately, and serve him over the customers next in line.

I will not be writing a recommendation like the manager told me to do, as I will never be coming back to any IKEA, and I will make it my personal mission to ensure no one in my family, or extended friends and relatives will shop here AGAIN. This organization structure that IKEA runs with is appalling and demeaning to the customers who support your cheap, particle board and plastic business. The employees names were Natasha, and Lin, the other had name tags flipped over and refused to give me their names. I had to demand Lin name tag be flipped over, ask she gave me the wrong name to begin with.

I am taking this to the business bureau, and on any social media site that will allow this complaint. I am disgusted by the actions of your employees and managers, how they think it's appropriate to accuse the customer of lying, while they try to justify their actions. The manager did not apologize, treat us with empathy, or even listen. She instead took the employee side, without hearing my complaint, and allowing the employees to speak over myself to justify their actions. This is inexcusable, rude, and disrespectful. I hope to try your business out of this town, and province. I will also be filing a harassment charge against the manager, who inappropriately placed her hands on myself.

I called again the next morning only to be told that the delivery guy had come the day before and called me with no response. I told him I had my phone attached to me all night and that was not true. I had no missed calls at all. He then told me that the driver called the wrong number and it was therefore my fault that I did not receive the delivery. And why did they not call the backup number they had asked me to list? I let that go. What really angered me is that I was told I have to drive all the way back to IKEA to reschedule a delivery in a very rude manner. "It's not our fault you didn't get the call." Yes it is if you called the wrong number. Oh, and I have 48 hours to do this before they cancel the order. I now have to schedule 1 and a half hours to drive to IKEA and back just to reschedule a delivery THEY botched. I'm not happy at all.

After going through the entire process of loading everything we drove the hour and a half back to my house and unloaded only to find that the dining room table I had just bought was not, in fact, a table, but a buffet cabinet. When I called the customer service line I received a dry, "well, we're sorry about that ma'am. Store hours tomorrow are ... tomorrow and you are welcome to go back to the store and exchange your product."

Even though I had already returned the truck and was pretty sure there was no way I could fit the table into my car I returned to the store and told the girl at returns about what had happened. She didn't seem surprised or affected in anyway, and told me that I would be able to exchange the items and if the table didn't fit in my car that "I guess you'll just have to return it". I waited another ten minutes for the table to come out and when it did not, in fact, fit in my car, I returned into the store and told her it hadn't fit but that if they could hold it I would be willing to borrow a car from my parents and come back the following day. She told me "We don't hold merchandise. You'll just have to return it." At that point I made a bit of a fuss and told her how ridiculous it was that I had not made a mistake, but was being penalized for it.

When I came back in the store she told me that she had talked to someone in deliveries and that she could give me delivery for $58 (about 50% discount) because of what had happened. I told her I was NOT going to pay them for their mistake and that I would just leave and not come back. She called a man over and asked him to "work some magic" to get it in my car. After removing the table's parts from the box, he managed to stuff them in my tiny car. It is terrible that IKEA's customer service does not reflect the quality of their merchandise. The way people are treated makes it seem like somewhat of a "fly by night" operation and less of a store where people should get supplies for their lives. I am very disappointed that I had to get angry in order for anyone to notice... and I hate to think what would have happened if Ky hadn't "worked some magic".

I finally really need to leave so I say I'll have to cancel my order b/c I have to go - and she says: "Go ahead!" I then decide I already spent way too much time and I do work during the week so I say I have to leave the merchandise on hold, luckily find a manager who offers to hold the merchandise, all the while I'm already on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Then another one calls me on my cell 2 days later and says: "When are you going to pick up the merchandise? We're not a storage facility". I said I'm busy since I work and can only come by on the weekend. She said – “We may need to return this to the shelves, it was your fault you left, and you left to pick up your kids!!!” How incredibly sexist! I didn't mention any kids and this has nothing to do with kids! I had a business appointment. So I get harassed and offended the second time. I will have to write an official complaint somewhere, please help with anything you can.

I trusted IKEA to provide quality appliances and thought they would have the ability to select quality manufacturers like Whirlpool to also depend on. The fact that this has been like a nightmare is something I never expected from IKEA. I have been victimized by IKEA and sold appliances lacking support and repair and that is fraudulent business. I will never purchase or recommend any IKEA appliance ever again.

Anyhow, three weeks have gone by, I am still waiting for that gift card! What I have gone through wasn't worth the money I saved with them. I am calling them twice a week to follow up with my 2 opened cases, and each time waiting is at least 25 minutes. People! IKEA will complicate your life. Nevertheless, delivering missing items to customers violates Unified Commercial Code (UCC) - nonconforming good, consumer can sue IKEA for breach of contract, incidental and consequential damages. No one should suffer through their poor service and money should be fully refund instead of store credit because after bad experience who wants to go back after all? I hope some lawyers will bring class action lawsuit against IKEA. I am praying...

Original Review: Oct. 14, 2014

I placed an order for two items on Ikea's US website on September 26, my third order from them. Though the home accessory arrived fine, the larger piece, a metal table, arrived with a major dent (more of a "smash") and a more minor one, both in the top piece. Though it's still usable, this damage is very noticeable and certainly warranted a new top piece. Over the next several days, I sent Ikea around five e-mails to three different addresses (the third, because I finally found their "Damaged Missing Parts" e-mail address and filled out the required form), including a photo of the damage. I do a lot of mail order, and in the rare instances I've had to deal with issues, have never dealt with a less responsive customer service crew--and I was very polite, even offering to take an "as is" price initially.

Someone eventually wrote back in reply to one of the first e-mails, telling me I had to call them on the phone. I found this to be a "pass the buck" type of diversion, as I had already given them all the information required, especially in the official Damaged Missing Parts form, including specific product details off the box, and how I wanted the situation handled. After reading the reviews here about phone customer service, I didn't even bother. An online company that refuses to work through e-mail--especially when their site has that as a way to handle damaged merchandise--has no business doing business online.

Afterward, I sent one last copy of my Damaged Missing Parts form, and I'm now giving up after about two weeks. I'm trying to accept my damaged table as "distressed," and I did hammer one of the dents out as best as I could (it's still extremely noticeable), though Ikea has most certainly lost a customer. I realize Ikea prefers to have a store presence to an online one, and that this is a bit of a new avenue for them. However, they would be wise to follow this piece of wisdom: Either do it right, or don't do it at all.

Looking at the reviews on this site, I have to say, I feel torn between "I'm not alone" and "does someone at IKEA look at this situation"? I can't believe this is so poor, so disrespectful and inconsiderate. In my opinion, this is a customer non-service, a dead-end line and IKEA services are simply a waste of money. My request now: come to my place with the missing box, assemble it, take back the duplicate things and leave. Because, you are not only wasting my time, my money, my energy, my work (yes, I have a full time job despite my IKEA plans) but also all that from my friends, waiting for this delivery to help me in assembling. Please proceed, without saying that you're sorry when you are not and don't expect me to thank you because I won't mean it.

Another five days goes by with no promised email from Ikea with a FedEx label. I call customer service again and wait, again, another 20 minutes (!), and have to give up because I actually do have other things to do. Called again the next day, waited another 20 minutes (!) until someone answered. This time, a young man asks me to send the photo again because it hadn't been attached to the refund request which is what was holding it up. He received it from me while I was on the line and completed the refund request but told me a refund would not be issued until they received the items back.

I told him I never received the FedEx label and he said that Ikea arranges for the pick-up by FedEx at my home and that I would never have received any kind of label. He said I had apparently been misinformed by the prior representative. We agreed I would leave the package on my covered front porch and it would be picked up by the next day. Five days later, the package is still on my front porch. I called customer service, again, waited on hold for 20 minutes (!), again, and was disconnected before anyone picked up. Called back and am approaching the 20-minute hold period (!) with no end in sight. It has now been 3 weeks since I initiated this return. What the heck is going on down there? Hey Ikea: customer service from the 80s is calling - and they've been on hold for 20 minutes (!).

Has this company that promote themselves as caring, family orientated, etc. lost all semblance of customer care. Because they have been totally unhelpful we are having to trash wood, metal and the other components of this expensive purchase. They really don't give any care for the environment. If anyone from IKEA gets to read this - shame on you. We will never buy from you again. Furthermore we will make a point to tell our story to everyone we know.

At home the next day I discovered that the boxes under the wrapping held two sets of the right side of the sofa but NOT the left side. The package consisted of two huge 5.5 ft x 3 ft x 2 ft boxes wrapped together on a heavy cardboard base. I would need lots of work space on a busy loading dock to undertake this task. Essentially it would be necessary to assemble it in the store to verify that it was correct.

After 2 hours on the phone I was continually criticized for not unpacking this huge crate in the store to verify that it was correct. The first words on the phone from IKEA were it's my fault followed by a litany of insulting false analogies to justify the claim. It seems that an apology and an offer to ship the correct package to my home and pickup THEIR error would be proper. Not with this outfit!!!

So I have to repack, drive 130 miles round-trip, spend hours? with their store reps trying to fix this at the store since the store has no log of my phone call to customer DISservice. Finally, the phone rep told me that there is no way to determine before my 130 mile trip whether the left half of the sofa is in stock. They could have given the next customer two left sides and they may be on a round trip to nowhere. Or they may simply be MIA for a variety of reasons.

IKEA - you just plain suck.

Start to demo my kitchen, have my contractors all worked out to be here when and how, and I get a call the night before delivery that now 3 of the cabinets are not in stock that I already paid for. Doors I can work around, cabinets I cannot. I am getting under cabinet lighting, and a quarts counter-top. How are any of those supposed to be installed without the cabinets. She also told me she would call me right back, and never did. I am beyond frustrated, I'm getting my money back, and shopping at a local cabinet store in my city and I'm sure less frustration!

I knew where the shelves were. Quick trip, right. It took longer the second time than the first due to delays at checkout. They did have extra clips at a customer service desk, not easy to find but it worked since my husband was waiting in line with me this time. The third time it was even worse. Five minutes to get the shelves, over a half hour to check out. The 4th and last time I will go to Ikea, five minutes for shelves over 40 minutes in line. I talked to a manager and she ended our discussion with "We don't have any more cashiers. Have a nice day, Hon." Ikea treats their merchandise better than their customers. Never again.

The customer service agent helped me place my order which now totaled only $1800. The other $2400 were out of stock items. I was told they could ship the items in stock and back order the rest, or hold the entire order until it was filled. Hmmm.... My question next was how many times will I have to pay shipping??? Well, for each order I was told. My patience waning, I asked to speak to a supervisor. He agreed to waive the shipping on the second order so had the first part of the order shipped.

This is where the annoying part starts that nobody tells you up front. The IKEA process is as follows: You place order. Small order no problem. Big order - BIG problem! The warehouse does not pull and hold ANYTHING. The entire order needs to be in stock before they will pull it, so in theory your order may never be complete to ship. For example last time I checked on the order (3wks. ago), 2 drawers, 2 chair cushions, and 9 doors were missing. Today after holding 36 minutes and speaking with somebody for 27 min., the 6 IKEA pax frames were missing along with the 9 doors. Next time I check, the doors may be there but maybe the cushions and some other things will be missing. Just seems like a circle of ridiculousness I am trapped in and am too far in to get out.

Wish I knew all of this up front and wouldn't have gotten myself involved. Result so far is 21 hours of my life I can't get back dealing with these folks! Good luck to you if you choose to join me in the circle. But be warned it's NOT Fun!

As I hadn't heard anything I called back on Monday and then they informed me that I could expect to get a call back from the claim department on Thursday the latest were they schedule a new assembling time. Should it really take 6 days before they take action and actually get back to you? In today's world you expect the standard handling time to be 24-48 hr. I have paid for a service and if a product is malfunction why should I as a customer have to put up with these outrageous waiting times? I'm really disappointed about the customer experience. IKEA need to look over their claim procedure handling time, especially when I know that I'm only waiting for their claim department to give me a call back.

On the appointed day (9/6) I surprised to get two different calls for each order stating different arrival time windows. The first one was between 14:00-17:00 and the second one between 16:00-20:00. Around 17:15, since no delivery had been made, I called custom service and they assured both would arrive with the second delivery. I asked him to double check and let me know whether both were arriving together? The person on the other end of the line confirmed it.

Around 6:00 the vehicle came and they only had items for the first order. I accepted them and signed the first order. After 10 minutes, I got two more calls asking me to take survey about both the deliveries! Both deliveries? I called customer service and they said both orders had been delivered and that I had signed both! Since then, I have been calling customer service every few hours and it hasn't been resolved yet.

I am on a call with an Ikea guy and he told me to hold on in order to check what went wrong... I am on hold for the last 30 minutes! In the mean time, I finished this review and still listening to the wonderful ads that Ikea is broadcasting!

As the date came closer I called back to make sure service was coming. Turns out no service had been assigned. So new contact person rescheduled delivery with service and gave me a date over two weeks. I asked if earlier date was possible. She swore up and down that she would find out and call me back. Never did. I called back after not hearing from her to make sure that at least the 2 week later date was still booked. Waited over an hour again. Finally was assured it was. The delivery date was supposed to be today. I called yesterday to confirm. Was told it was scheduled and that someone would call me back yesterday to confirm. Never heard back.

Called again this morning at 9am. Was told that they were so sorry and would definitely call me back in a few hours. Four hours later I called back and talked to someone new who told me that all the systems were down and that... Wait for it... Someone will call me back. It's now been over a month. I'm beginning to think that I will never get my Pax frame or my money back. Oh and it turns out that the stuff they did deliver looks refurbished as there are really sloppy paint jobs covering dented corners.

At 9:25 the driver called me back stating he waited for 15 (??!!!) min, after which he left. Stated he had a long day, was tired and wanted to go home. He stated he could turn around, but I would have to cover the fuel he burned. Another option he gave me, was paying for another delivery. Plus, stated he is not looking forward to unloading my stuff from the truck in the morning when he returns to his job. I called the delivery company this morning, spoke with a customer service representative, who was very nice and polite. He double checked with his supervisor and returned to the phone saying, "Ma'am, I just talked to my supervisor and you're 100% right. We should have called you 30 min before the driver arrived. Try calling IKEA and see if they can reimburse you for the trouble."

When I called Ikea, another CSR had me on hold for over an hr, trying to call the delivery company and get their side of the story. He returned to the phone stating it would take 3-4 days to process this on their end, since the call center is located in a different state, and that it would be easier and faster for me to go to the store myself. I advised him that we live 30-40 min away from the closest Ikea store, to which he replied that it would still be better to go there. He also stated there is no direct number to the store, so I do need to personally go in.

My father and I drove there after work. The manager (She did not give us her name, just stated she is one of the managers. I thought the first thing when you introduce yourself, is stating your name?), who did not give us her name, said she called the delivery company and they have it marked as "customer wasn't home". She would not listen to anything my father or I were telling her. When I tried telling her that I spoke with a representative from the delivery company earlier today, she stated, "I just talked to their management and you need to pay for another delivery." When I gave her the name of the person I spoke with, she stated there is no one at the delivery company by that name. I'm sorry, I didn't realize Ikea managers know every single employee of the delivery companies!! She was very rude and unprofessional, started arguing and raising her voice!

At that point, I started dialing the delivery company again, to see if I could talk to the same person I spoke with earlier. I overheard another manager approaching her and asking what was the issue and I heard her saying, "She CLAIMS she talked to a guy there." After spending about 30-40 min on hold and being hung up on, I was finally able to get a manager of the delivery company on the phone. He confirmed he could see that I spoke with one of his employees, but stated, "I do whatever Ikea asks me to do. You need to pay another delivery charge." He would not listen to anything I was telling him and did not give an answer to a single question.

Bottom line - I had to cancel an order that was over $4,000 because they wouldn't waive the fee for another delivery. The original delivery charge was non-refundable. I really hope it made her day - she got it her way! She also stated she couldn't cancel the order until it was delivered to the store. Two minutes later, I asked another employee, who placed the cancellation right away, just advising that the credit card would be reimbursed after the merchandise is returned to their store from the delivery company. I've NEVER had an experience like this before. No American stores would ever allow it.

Livid that I would have to sleep on my floor, I call Ikea first thing in the am. They also have no idea where my stuff is. 4 hours of being on hold later, and asking for 5 different people's supervisors, I was offered a $50 gift card. How wonderful. They still don't know where my things are, or when I will get them. I've now lost time at work, and will lose more when they reschedule my delivery, if they ever find my stuff. Tired and defeated, I wept. I will curse this company till the day I die. They told me they have no policy to truly compensate unsatisfied customers. Or seemingly any idea how to run a business that delivers for that matter. I don't understand, if you have one of the worst reputations on the internet with customer service, why are you still blowing people off?

"I am requesting that you send a Korndall Brown Karlstad Sofa Cover to replace a damaged and incorrectly packaged product that clearly should not have been sold. The cover that I purchased at the store was packaged in the wrong box (it had been incorrectly repackaged in a box for a Lindo Beige cover). The box contained only 2 pieces for a 7 piece set, and these were damaged (very frayed). There were also a couple of random pieces of fabric in the box that apparently belong to a different piece of furniture. My belief is that the box had been mistakenly placed in the warehouse where it should not have been sold. There are no additional part numbers, and no assembly instructions for the cover.

As an additional note, the sofa (Article 701.181.38) too was badly damaged. I sent a formal complaint with photos. No one got back to me, and I was so frustrated with the customer "service" process that I went ahead and repaired the damage myself. The repairs were a long and difficult process, taking up a whole weekend, but better, I thought, than trying to deal with people who frankly seemed to have neither the customer service skills nor the interest in helping me. At this point, I would just settle for a correctly packaged, non-damaged set of Korndall Brown Karlstad sofa covers (Article# 301.470.05). Yet I still believe that if IKEA truly cares about its customers, then it would also reimburse me for the time and trouble with the sofa.

Honestly, I love IKEA furniture, but I have never, truly NEVER, had such a bad experience with trying to receive fair compensation for an incorrectly packaged and badly damaged product. If the matter is not resolved soon, I plan to file a complaint of fraud. Photos of the busted sofa and the 2 damaged covers of what should be a 7 cover set are attached. Thanks for your time and consideration.

1) The delivery time frame is the longest of any online store I have ever purchased from.

2) Once I place an order, I can not view it in an order history when I log in to IKEA to track the status, make changes, etc.

3) Reaching a CSR is very difficult: there is either a very long wait time or the call drops after selecting the appropriate options. I have reported the problem twice by phone but it is still an issue as I have been trying to reach someone for over a week now.

4) Nobody answers my e-mails. I have emailed all relevant information on August 21st to report a problem with my order (that was within 2 days of delivery). One of the "parts'' is damaged and I need to exchange it. I have also emailed a picture. I emailed because I thought I could reach someone faster than through their terrible phone system!!

5) I have tried to call earlier this week but the offices were closed (I am on Pacific time) and I have other things to do than wait 30-45 minutes for someone to answer the phone. Today is Saturday and I am trying to reach someone again and the calls drop. Two unsuccessful attempts made.

6) I was told my partial refund would post within 7-10 business days since the cancellation. It has been at least 15 business days and I still have not received my refund.

I just posted this comment through their online survey, but I don't think they care to read it or do something about it!

I AM FRUSTRATED beyond belief. I spoke to a lady by the name of Rasheeda today at 3:04 pm for 64 minutes. After talking to her, and after ** failing to follow through with the solution he himself came up with, I will NEVER shop at Ikea again, and will share my story with as many people and in as many ways as I can. I want to thank you for your time, and kindness in how you talked with me and handled the situation. If only all of the employees were empathetic, and had the same customer service skills as you, I would be writing a positive email instead.

Rasheeda basically told me my only solution would be to drive to the store myself. It's a two-hour round trip for me to get to Ikea, plus gas. My husband who is already in Denver today unfortunately does not have the return card in his possession, because I truly thought ** was going to come through and do what he said he would do. She refused to leave a message with a different manager on duty to help me resolve this, just repeatedly told me my only option was to go myself. I suggested that maybe my husband go in, get the items and then work with customer service to ring up our purchase taking my numbers over the phone.

Rasheeda was rude, continued to talk over me, would not listen and has horrific customer service skills. She did not want to help me find a way to work through this, she just wanted me off the phone. She HAS NO BUSINESS being a person in charge of the call center, or any position of customer service. I KNOW I can drive to the store, two hours, but why should I have to when the mistake in the first place was Ikea's?

I already had to drive two hours for the return, to rectify it and then had a manager say he was going to take care of me? Take care of me he did not. Take care of me Rasheeda did not. This entire experience with Ikea, to include a lot attendant who refused to help me unload four large boxes that were wrong and had to be returned, waiting for help at the warehouse info desk (with 7 other people waiting in line for service) for over 20 minutes AFTER asking a cashier to call for help. We had to ask again.

Rasheeda kept saying we were talking in circles, that I just needed to go to the store and do it myself. Unfortunately, I was BEGGING in circles for good customer service. I asked her to consider other options so that I would not have to drive 2 hours, plus spend the gas money for something a manager already told me he would do. I asked her to 1). Continue to try to reach a manager on duty to help me, I understand they are busy & was willing to wait and keep trying; 2). Leave a message & my contact info for a manager on duty to call me back ASAP; 3). Have my husband, who is already in Denver today, (and will have to drive right past the Ikea) stop in at the Ikea and pick up the cabinets and then work with someone in customer service, or possibly a manager at that point, to take the return card # from me over the phone.

She proceeded to belittle me and tell me I was asking to break the procedures and expecting things that the store couldn't do. I can't remember exactly what her words were, but I do remember how she made me feel. She made me feel like I was demanding exceptions to be made for me, and that I was being fraudulent and wanted employees to break the rules. Well, I don't want exceptions to be made.

I did not know that the store could not take card numbers over the phone because they couldn't verify the card. I just know that ** said he would purchase the cabinets using my return card number, which he wrote down. He is the manager who told me he would do this, so I assumed it was something that could be done. I'm not asking for anybody to break the rules or get in trouble. All I am asking is for good customer service and do what you told me you were going to do.

What originally happened was, I went into the store at the end of July to return two wrong color Hemnes shoe cabinets. The employee who loaded them for me on my cart originally loaded the wrong cabinets, but I do take full responsibility for not double checking. A few days later, after discovering they were the wrong color, I drove back to Denver to make the return. Already frustrated because the lot attendant refused to help me unload my car, waiting 20 minutes for assistance at the warehouse info desk, only to find out the items I wanted we're out of stock.

** the manager on duty was called to help me. I sat and waited 20 minutes for him, because he was finishing his lunch. I asked if they could order the cabinets online for me, but not charge me shipping. He said he could not waive shipping costs. I asked him then if he could hold the cabinets for me when they came back in stock, or let me purchase them now and hold for me. He said he could not purchase the cabinets for me unless he had them physically in stock. I understand that.

He offered to check stock on August 3rd, when he was expecting the shipment to come in. He said he would then purchase the two cabinets using my return store credit card, which he wrote the number down, but did not take possession of the card. He then told me he would Fed Ex them to me knowing I lived an hour away. I felt guilty about him (Ikea) having to spend the extra money to ship, and was worried about damage. I told ** that my husband drives to Denver to work and that he could pick them up after work one day if ** would just hold them. So ** said yes, that will work. He was going to ring me up, and leave the cabinets "in the office" and my husband would pick them up. ** said he would call me Monday or Tuesday and let me know when it was all taken care of.

I never heard back from **. I called at the beginning of this week to follow up and you helped me from there. You left a message for ** with my info, you were confident he would call, but just in case you gave me your email to check back if I didn't hear from him. You offered that we would figure something else out. I know there is only so much you can do from the call center, but you were willing to help me explore other options.

I ended up calling the call center back because it's Friday. I was hoping for resolve by the end of the day before my husband comes home so that we'd have the items in time for our remodel. He won't be back in Denver before Tuesday. I am honestly so disgusted. I have $215 on my return card that I am seriously considering taking a loss and not using it. I wouldn't even hand it to my worst enemy. I don't ever want to step foot into Ikea again. I mentioned to Rasheeda in my final rant, as she refused to help me, that I will never shop at Ikea again. I'm not sure she heard me because she failed to interrupt and talk over me, so I sincerely believe she put the phone down while I vented.

It's a shame, because my next two projects this year are my Kitchen and Craft Room. I am a professional AKBD Kitchen Designer and now a stay at home mom. I have already designed my kitchen & dining room built-ins using a combination of the Ramsjö red doors and black doors at a projected cost of over $25,000 (not even including appliances!) and the craft room budget for wrap around storage was $3000. Also, about once every three or four months, my friends and I would carpool up to Ikea, to make a day of shopping and lunch, typically spending a few hundred each.

So now, Ikea has lost my future business as well as my friends if I have anything to do with it. I will not recommend my future clients when I get back into kitchen designing. I am a big proponent of RTA cabinets, but I will no longer recommend Ikea. I am honestly disappointed, because I thoroughly enjoyed our trips, and never really had problems with Ikea before. Will the loss of my business ruin Ikea? Surely not, but with this kind of continued service, it will definitely have an impact.

I may no longer be a customer, but I will not stand by and be treated like this without letting the people who really care know how their business is being run, and how their customers are being treated. Thank you for your time, and please... help me get this letter to the people who need to know. Thank you!!!

Anyway, years passed and I eventually graduated, moving to the expensive cities of D.C. and then New York in an attempt to be a grown up. Like any young woman might, I started dating the likes of Crate and Barrel and West Elm, enamored by the occasional thought of a Pottery Barn. However, when I finally moved into my very own place in NYC, I once again found myself feeling vulnerable, alone and, quite frankly, poor as **.

Looking for an old friend to comfort me and fill the empty void that was my bare apartment, I began browsing online and then I saw you. Rows and rows of icon candy in every category imaginable, staring right back at me, begging me to click. Wow, I thought to myself, looking at your shiny, appealing curves. You've held up well over the years, IKEA. It must be a Swedish thing. After some excitable browsing, I stepped away from the screen satisfied with my selection and slapped down my credit card to pay.

This is where it all began to turn for the worse. A few days later while skimming my credit card statement, I noticed that you charged me twice. I immediately called you only to be received by your voice mail. So, I followed up with an e-mail instead, certain you would see it. I even tried bartering with your online receptionist, Anna, but she refused to help. A few days later, I received all of my goods to my door, plus an unwelcome e-mail telling me that my second order was now ready to ship. I felt upset and tricked, but I knew you would still be there to assist. I'll just pick up the phone and well take care of this, I thought. After all, whenever I was interested in making a purchase in the past, you never made me wait.

So, I called. And called. And called. And the first five times you hung up on me! I wasn't sure if it was my phone service or if it was something I had done, but this immediate hang-up method continued to occur throughout our 23 day break up saga. It was ill-intentioned on your part, IKEA. It was hurtful. All I wanted was my money back.

After finally getting on the on-hold line for the first time, I waited 55 minutes until one of your cronies answered the phone. I explained my story and opened up a case and he said that the second order was now cancelled and I would be receiving my money back. My sigh of relief was short-lived. Two days later, the items showed up at my door step. No money had been refunded. So, I wrote again. Seeing as I had yet to receive one response to any of my three e-mails sent over the course of a week, though, I knew I had to call again. You were never a texter, I guess.

The second time, after an hour and twelve minutes of waiting, another one of your cronies answered the phone. IKEA would still give me my money back, but first they had to come retrieve the doubled goods. They would send their driver, FedEx, who would call me within 48 hours to notify me of a pick-up time. Unfortunately, 48 passed. Then another 24. In the past, things had never been this convoluted when I was trying to give you my money. Nonetheless, I wanted my money back and also wanted the three enormous boxes out of my 150 square-foot apartment. So, what do you think I did IKEA? I picked up the phone uh-gain.

This third time, I waited an hour and twenty-four minutes! Finally, a third crony picked up. I briefed her on the details. She explained that yes, FedEx would still come and I would still get my money back, but not all $249, as I had to pay the $50 in return shipping. I was outraged. This was coming out of nowhere! So, I asked to speak with her supervisor. Alas, she put me on hold again. At the hour and forty-five minute mark, though, do you know what happened? I was disconnected, IKEA! IKEA, do you know how that feels? I was tormented, submersed in the anguish of an unrequited call. I felt pangs of guilt and remorse for clicking on your candy icons to begin with. I dreamt of your voice, your on-hold music hijacking my dreams. I wondered how you could do this to me.

Three more calls later (each stealing away another hour of my life), the driver came in the night and picked up the goods. Of course, he only picked up two of the three boxes, leaving some cryptic note as to why the third box was not included. Still, I have not received my money back. I'm exhausted, IKEA. I'm tired and worn. I feel dejected and taken advantage of. Worst, I am forever changed. I will never be the carefree, lighthearted shopper that I once was. Instead, I will be guarded and ever-cautious, always on the defense. If you only knew the woeful pain of an unanswered text or call. If you only knew the pain of a broken promise, then, maybe you would know how it feels. But you don't care, IKEA, and for that reason we have to break up. So, as I bid you a final farewell, IKEA, I simply ask this: please, change your ways. Don't hurt another like you've hurt me. P.S. If you ever want to come pick up your things, you know where they'll be (on the curb in front of my apartment). Also, if you ever want to give me my money back, you know my bank account info. I know it's a long shot, but I'd really appreciate it.