JOIN THIS FACEBOOK GROUP: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12256012493
IKEA told me that the only way I can complain or possibly get compensation for getting mistreated is by writing to some address in the UK. That’s no fun, I’d rather find everyone else who IKEA has treated this way and get us together through Facebook. If you’ve been treated poorly by IKEA, join this group - or if you just want to show a big stuffy corporation that doesn’t value service that customers do matter and that it might be worthwhile to listen to customers rather telling them they “need to write to blah blah UK to register a complaint”, JOIN THIS GROUP- http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12256012493
The rest of the story….
IKEA had told us they would deliver our cabinets on Tuesday(for the first parts of the story see here, here, and here). Remember, I ordered this stuff in the middle JANUARY. On Tuesday, we never got the delivery, and finally were told that “they were at your place at 7:30AM, but didn’t know which flat the raised ground floor one was and were afraid to ring the wrong bell so they left” -
Are you serious? How incompetent can one company (or it’s outsourced delivery reps) be? So, Kellee called them and they promised that they would then deliver our order before Saturday, or at the worst, first thing on Saturday (before 9AM). It’s now Saturday at 5:20… Do we have the order? Of course not.
At about 3, I get a call from DHL saying IKEA has moved the order to some other courier (no reason known). Sorry, they can’t tell me who or what’s going on - I have to call IKEA.
I call IKEA. The girl says “I don’t know why your order is being switched from courier to another - there aren’t any problems on your route” - I run out of pay as you go minutes on my Orange phone, and thus get cut off.
top up phone minutes (remembering that IKEA has cost me something like 10-15 pounds between the times I’ve now spoken to them through this drama)
I call back. A new girl asks me to hold on while she finds out what’s going on. Remembering the pence ticking away as I’m on hold, I respectfully decline, asking her to call me back. A couple minutes later, I get a call back. “Don’t worry, all the orders will be delivered tonight, including yours. They’re just running late.”
Me…” So, you expect me to sit around all evening as well? I’ve got family visiting from the US and wanted to take them out.”
“her - I really do apologize”
At this point, I started asking for compensation. She said they can’t do anything beyond giving me the delivery cost back (which they already had done when they messed it up last time. I said that wasn’t good enough. I asked to speak to a supervisor. She put me on hold and came back saying the supervisor said that’s all they can do.
At this point, I was getting very agitated. I ask again to speak to the supervisor. I’m told I can’t do that. I ask for a supervisor’s name -I’m told I can’t have it. I’m told that what I’ll need to do is write to their customer response team (they mistreat customers so often they have staff dedicated to this!)… I try to explain my position to the rep in a way that personalizes it…”what if IKEA told you to come in to work today at 9, had you sit until 5, then said - oops, we don’t need you, we’re not paying you, and your only recourse is to write to some office in Ipswich”… She says - “sorry, I can’t do anything else”.
This is where I explain that I can. I can write about it online, I can start a facebook group, I can become a pain that is going to cost them well north of whatever compensation they could have provided (I would have been happy with even a 50 pound voucher). She has nothing to say, so I hang up.
So here I am - IKEA, you are the first company to make me a determined detractor. I will share this story with anyone who cares to listen, and it has gotten me so annoyed that not only have setup a facebook group, but I’ve budgetd $25 towards buying ads on facebook to spread the word about that group. That’s right, your service has been so bad that I’m choosing to spend money to tell people how bad it is. And all this could have been avoided with some reasonable service and someone at IKEA taking responsibility when things did go badly.
Image via WikipediaPikum! launched a big promotion today around the Champions League Final between Chelsea and Manchester United. If you’re over 18 and live in the UK, you can put up an entry stake of £2 for a chance to win the prize pool of over £1,000. Also, as people enter, the prize pool will keep growing. It’s our way of celebrating the all England final and providing a cool incentive for over 18s in the UK to try playing Pikum for real money. If you’re not in Pikum, shoot me a note at sean at pikumteam dot com, and I’ll invite you in.
