IKEA Flies Your Sofa Cover From Philly To LA In Their Luggage
IKEA isn't really known for their customer service, but apparently one location in LA is trying to change that.
Reader Jeremy says:
I think people go to Ikea because they are cheap, and they have a large selection of stuff. Not for the customer service - but I had such an amazing experience a couple of weeks ago that I have to tell someone.
We've got an Ikea sofa, and a footstool, and we recently moved to a larger place, and wanted a second two seat sofa to match, and another footstool. The sofa was called a Klippan, and you can get a variety of different washable covers. We went to Ikea, in West Covina, Los Angeles County, to get these. They had the footstools and the matching covers, and the sofa, but they did not have the matching cover for the sofa. We asked someone (called Kristien), she checked on the computer and said that that style had been discontinued. But she would check if any of the nearby stores had one in stock still.
She came back about 20 minutes later, and said that none of the four Ikeas near LA had one, but she would make some more calls (we overheard her saying "I don't know the SKU number, it's discontinued"). She came back 30 minutes later, and said that she had found one in stock in ... Philadelphia. We thought this was rather a long way to go. She said that was OK, because someone she knew from the store there was coming to LA, and she would ask them to bring it with them in their luggage on the flight. She took our details.
Two weeks later, I got an email, the sofa cover had arrived, and when I wanted to collect it, I should give them a call. We went there, collected it, they opened a register so we could pay (it was discontinued and wasn't in their computer), and left with our sofa cover. Oh, and then we went back and happily bought a sofa to put it on.
Way to go, IKEA.
(Photo:scentzilla)
Post a comment
Comments:
@downwithmonstercable: Plus, I love buying stuff and putting it together. It's like super awesome legos, that you can use when you're done assembling it.
I did something like that for a customer when I was working at CompUSA in the 90's. I thought that kind of service was extinct.
I understand this is really great of them to do, but wouldn't it have been easier to just ship it to the store?
@sna: Not really because the person coming to LA is presumably going in a business capacity, and would be going to that particular store anyway. And that way, Ikea doesn't have to pay to ship the sofa cover.
The sad thing is the employee may never get the proper credit for going that extra mile. I hope they did, though, I really do. Customer service like this should be rewarded, even if a little.
It's things like this make the shopping experience what it is. Anybody can walk into a store and buy something, but when a store will do what it can to work with you, for you... you get the feeling they truly appreciate your patronage. That's one of the reasons I love "mom and pop" or individually owned stores. It's so rare to find that level of customer service in a chain due to a thousand and one policies.
You must have been dealing with 2 of the 40,000 employees who are capable of thinking and making customers happy at IKEA. I've spent about 11,000 at IKEA during one calendar month purchasing new furniture and kitchen cabinets - about 4 horror stories that are worth a consumerist post each. Glad your story was better, unfortunately I feel IKEA customer service is worse than WALMART and that is utterly sad.
@Preyfar: I agree. As cheap as I am, I don't mind paying a little more when I shop at local places v. bigboxes. The extra is for service, and it's a good value in the long run.
I went there to get a broken hinge for one of their cabinets. They gave me a whole set of hinges for the whole cabinet just in case others broke. All for free ! I now always shop there for furniture.
@sna: Also, their shipping system might not have recognized the discontinued SKU - sticking it in a bag is easier than trusting it to the Post Office...
@downwithmonstercable: I love shopping at IKEA also, I just hate having to drive up to Canada for the nearest location.
@XerxesSukari: Why did continue to shop there? Did you say anything to anyone? Continuing to shop at a place that gives terrible service endorses the behavior
I just like how the hire people with tattoos, piercings, etc. And wow, it doesn't seem to drive customers away.
@deadandy: Who cares what they look like as long as they provide good service? I've gotten good service from "punkish" looking store associates while the preppy looking associate completely ignored me.
Yay! This is my IKEA. Just dropped a bunch of money there last weekend. We needed a small TV table to fit on my daughter's dresser. They didn't have one that size, but the guy in the office furniture department showed me how I could make one with a shelf and screw-on legs. Took me about an hour after I got home and works great. I love the Billy bookcases. We've had some for almost 20 years.
@downwithmonstercable: When I was dating my then-boyfriend-now-husband, I bought him an IKEA coffee table for Christmas. He was just like a little kid--as soon as he opened the paper, he got out the little alan wrench and spent the morning putting it together. He even made a Lego reference.
@Preyfar: Agreed. I hope that the OP relayed his appreciation to at least the local store manager...and hopefully the local manager would not get upset with "Kristien" for spending an hour with a customer to sell a discontinued item that was not in the local store's stock
@edwardso:
In order to have something to complain about, the OP continued shopping there.
I've always loved IKEA. I've never bought anything major there, but I love their art prints, bedding, and kitchenware.
My Billy bookcases (withe frosted glass doors and lights) are the first thing my guests comment on when they enter my home. They're AWESOME.
The funny thing is, here in Sweden, IKEA has about the best customer service and return policies of any store around. It is a real shame that they have not extended this to the US...
@kbrook: Wait a minute. Are you trying to say that the USPS loses things??? Like...if I --just off the top of my head -- shipped a bunch of laptops, they might lose them and refuse to reimburse me??? Blasphemy!!!!!
@Megan Squier: I've always gotten better service at Hot Topic than at Abercrombie & Fitch...and I look more like an A&F person than a Hot Topic person.
@cabjf: I recently went to my very first Ikea store when I visited my sister up in Portland. I would love to shop there regularly, but since I'm in Missouri I'd have to drive to Texas to get to the closest one. Not terribly convenient.
I've had good customer service at IKEA stores themselves. I think maybe IKEA corporate could do a lot better job with legacy support, but I'm impressed generally but IKEA stores. We bought a second-hand IKEA loft bed that had missing parts. The first thing I noticed about the customer service room at IKEA is the rows of bins on the wall holding common IKEA furniture doodads (screws, nuts, dowels, etc.) The customer service rep I dealt with spent upwards of 20 minutes looking for the documentation for the model of bed I had (which was an earlier revision than the one they were selling then, and had different parts), then spent 10 minutes out back looking for replacement parts (she found some though not all). All this for an item I hadn't actually bought from them! (I eventually had to have the last missing part custom made, and that's another good customer service story.)
Just don't eat at their cafeteria!!!
My policy: If you get lousy service, write a letter of complaint and I do mean a letter. I find it is better than email. BUT if you get great service, write a letter to the CEO naming the person. Years ago I wrote a letter to UPS because of some great service from my driver. The letter was posted at the dispatch center and other drivers who delivered to me (after my guy was promoted) mentioned the letter.
@TheBovaEffect: Ikea HQ generally believes that due to the exchange rate, the now-defunct gst credit on furniture purchases for out of country buyers, as well as the less-than-one-hour driving range, that the Burlington store covers the Buffalo market (you should see the lot full of NY plates on the weekend.)
I think that one thing that for a long time really set Ikea apart was that they had an employee appreciation day. For that day, ALL the profits from the ikea stores went to the employees. It was such *fun* to shop that day (and I am, by nature, not a shopper). It's my understanding that they don't do this anymore, which is a shame, but I've never seen happier employees.
@korybing:
Yeah, I'm in Missouri too. We don't have one anywhere near me. Maybe someday we'll get IKEA here. More stuff is coming here all the time.
I hope you didn't get hit too badly with the evil storm this morning. My work got hit by a tornado. We lost a roof and didn't have power all day. I missed my Consumerist! :(
@Preyfar: I work at the Costa Mesa store, but the Covina store should be similar. There are little kiosks that say "Help us improve!" scattered around the store. Jeremy (or anyone who has a good or bad thing to say about customer service) can hop on, fill out a quick questionnaire, and fill out the little comment box at the end. These are compiled weekly and put up in the staff area for all to see. If one comments on a particular individual, the coworker gets a letter from the store manager and a little pin to wear (it says "Customer Service Ambassador"); for each subsequent positive comments, s/he also gets a little anchor to wear that indicates how many positive comments have been recieved. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it feels awesome getting that letter and that stupid little anchor.
@TVGenius: There is in fact paperwork for this. It's just a very roundabout thing to do and it's a one-in-a-million shot that Kristien just happens to know someone coming from the Philly store.
@downwithmonstercable: "Not in your face, but if you approach them they are definitely willing to help." That pretty much describes Sweden in a nutshell. Hej ja Sverige.
I've had consistently great service from the Ikea stores I've been to. Fortunately they've just opened one in Tampa, so no more driving over to Orlando or Lauderdale to get my fill of Swedish goodness.
Had a great experience with the Orlando store a month or two back. A friend had just moved out on his own and had NOTHING for kitchen utensils, cookware, etc. So we head over to Ikea Orlando after he got off work, only to find that the store's hours had changed and it was now closed. We spoke with an employee near the front of the building that we'd just driven 2+ hrs to get there and they not only let us in, they had a staff member help us get everything needed, despite the store clearly have been closed for more than a few minutes.
Too bad the US stores don't have real beer (or beer for that matter) in their restaurants. It feels wrong to go into an Ikea and not have beer with the meatballs and lingonberries.
@nakedscience: That's what this site's all about. The good with the bad, equaling perspective. It happens in Consumerist's posts and it happens in the comments and we're all more aware and informed as consumers as a result.
@HogwartsAlum: You in southern missouri? We had to spend a chunk of the morning in the tornado shelters. hooray for spring in Tornado Alley!
Nice! I have always had good experiences at IKEA. The people are just the right kind of friendly. Not in your face, but if you approach them they are definitely willing to help.