LauraSanny

ianmac47

Welcome to South Philly. Next time, I'd go with the store in Conshy. As for recompense, I think that a gift card and/or free shipping would be about right. Looking at this situation, I can see pretty easily how this sort of thing happened, so, while I feel your sitting on the floor pain, I wouldn't have been surprised if I were in your shoes.

sciencegeek

The attendants doubted his height and brought out a painted stick - not a ruler, of which they have an abundance all over the store. My son leaned back on the stick and the so-called 37-inch mark lay less than 1/8" above his head. They wouldn't let him in because he was slouching and desperate to play.

I understand they are a big-box discount store, but if they're going to offer the types of amenities that attract customers, they could at least hire people who know how to deal with them. How else can a consumer let a company know it is slipping except by hitting them in the only place it matters to them, namely, the margins?

unoit99

Here in Boston, they sell so much crap daily that your chances of finding something in stock is pretty low. And checking the website or calling will always give you the wrong info. 9 in stock? Actually, that means none. Sorry you had to drive 90 minutes in heavy traffic to find that out.

winnabago

smallestmills

luckybob343

And finally, what does have a trip to North Africa to do with an entitlement to decent service? Seems to be a lot of envy around on this board.

mastrap

Anyway, in regards to "compensation" .. it is not ethical to make promises to a customer and not meet them over and over again, until finally, when you have been pressured, you meet the commitment and say in effect "see, we DID do what we said, so you should have no beef with us now".

Also, in these situations, businesses force consumers to spend a lot of time and frustration following up repeatedly until the business honors their end of the agreement. That time and frustration DOES have a value, and a good business will recognize that. I think because she took delivery of the furniture, she can't really ask for much, but I think a request asking them to atone for their poor CS is very reasonable

MadDog23

LWQuestie

Gloria

hyperlexis

ribex

1) The lack of a confirmation phone call when the CS rep said that they would call.

2) The magically appearing couch and mysteriously disappearing order form.

3) The various managers and reps, when a problem was found, broke their promise to call you back.

In my mind, only the 3rd point is a really powerful complaint.

Point one, that the form was never marked with a "Call Me" check, was probably due to the CS incompetence. And while it would be wonderful if we floor drones did everything perfectly (I work at Staples), we do mess up. That's why we should double-check everything. However, if the floor guy was asleep (as you described him), that may have lead to his mistake.

Point two, that the couch appeared "sometime" and the form disappeared by the 21st, seems to indicate a sort of database problem. Obviously the form was submitted successfully. A reasonable hypothesis seems to be that they received the couch the 19th or 20th, so that the form's status was changed so that a search for pending orders would not return it, hence the disappearance.

Point three is a legitimate problem. It is understandable if one lazy person made a mistake (see point one), but if multiple people -- including a manager -- don't get back to you, then that shows they aren't on top of the customer service ball.

Unfortunately, there's not much in the way of compensation for which to ask. People screw up. You were lucky in a sense that the forms of screwing-up simply led to sore backsides, rather than serious problems. If you want to write a letter, it would be best to simply state the trouble and inconvenience you had, and provide suggestions to improve (make the whole "call me" check clearer, etc.), and inform the HQ that the particular store seems to have a bit of trouble keeping promises.

Hydrargyri

nealio

joemono

Honestly though, as bad as that sounds, I'd say that kind of thing is more common than not. I do think that's the price that we as consumers pay for dealing with big-box stores. If you want and expect better service, you're going to have to pay for it.

I think Amara should write the letter and just tell the story without pointing any fingers, and then close with a couple of paragraphs about how she's very frustrated and was really disappointed with IKEA's service. As for compensation, I think all she can do is hint toward it.

As for being "owed" something for her troubles, I don't think anyone is "owed" anything for being made to wait. She wasn't harmed or deprived of anything (except maybe a good sleep), so I just don't think she deserves anything. Of course, if IKEA wants to make the customer happy and wants the customer to return, they might choose to do something.

I generally like IKEA, but yes, when I've been there, the service has generally been lousy and more often than not, what I came for is out of stock. IKEA is generally a self-service place, and there's usually 10,000 people there along with you fighting for what little customer-service resources they have and there are huge lines for everything, so I wouldn't expect much to begin with except for a lot of waiting.

It's IKEA...it's like a safari. If you're lucky, you'll walk out of there with your sanity, a belly full of meatballs and some cheap furniture. But if you're not up to having an IKEA "adventure", I would definitely go somewhere else, especially since IKEA couches aren't that comfortable to begin with (IMHO).

☠Gяяя I love funky unicode symbols☺RRR!

This has turned into more of attempting to read eachother's tone
(vs) consumer support.

Am curious to get the new angle Amara sees on all this now.

falconree

People need to stop thinking of themselves as kings and queens whose every wish must be fulfilled in full every time they plunk down their money and adopt a more reasonable and patient attitude. The person who wrote this should consider whether or not she has always acted in accord with her stated intentions and has ever let anyone down or left them waiting in a personal or professional situation and extend the same level of tolerance and understanding to IKEA that she wish for herself in such a situation.

By all means, write a polite letter of complaint but don't expect anything more than catharsis.

Orchid64

also, the ikea employee probably WOULD rather be down by the shore. WHO THE EFF WOULD RATHER BE AT WORK IN A CRAPPY WÄREHÖUSE THAN BE DOWN BY THE SHORE? DUH. in fact, i bet he'd rather be in n.africa with some whiny globetrotters than be there. id rather cry sand than work there.

your sense of entitlement is sickening. you deserve every bit of MDF you will eventually sit on. Enjöy!

mammalpants

doctor_cos

This was not IKEA's best CS moment, but how much worse did the woman make this situation by having an attitude? She started judging the first person there, who she claims, looked like they didn't want to be there. Did she give him a hard time? Did he "forget" to put 'call her' on the slip?

IKEA is as fault here, i'm just wondering if she made a bad situation worse by acting entitled to high quality customer service from a big box retailer.

p.s. - while she did have to wait and was given constantly changing information, it doesn't seem like the attitude of the workers was AWFUL and I don't think she deserves any compensation. Being published here should be enough.

voodoodle

As for North Africa, there are many tourist spots, almost all of Egypt, Red Sea resorts, Morroco, etc. But if they went to Libya or something, that's different.

What should the person who had a bad experience ask for in compensation? Ask for nothing, but write a factual, professional, non-emotional email to IKEA. I had a bad experience with Orvis a year ago, and wrote a simple email to them. I received a reply within 2 days asking me to call the store and ask for "John the manager" (forgot the guys name). "John" apologized for my experience and asked me to come back to buy the product I was looking for and he'd give me $100 off.
Done. Simple. Saved $100 off something I was going to buy anyway.

smarty

getjustin

crapple

I believe the complaint is justified. I also believe that, sadly, the only way to get the attention of the company is to hit them in the pocketbook. Just shopping elsewhere isn't enough - that's untraceable. But getting asking for a gift card - even if you don't get one - is a something that gets at the bottom line. If it happens enough, maybe they'll do something about basic customer service.

MMD

ribex

Thanks for the laugh, Meg! Only in Gawkerland could anyone's ideology be so far over-the-top that they can't even get through a post about customer service without interjecting irrelevant political snipes.

Oh, by the way, IKEA does offer health care to its employees. Sorry to interrupt with facts and all, but:

[knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu]

FeralKoala

It makes me sad to hear the disaster stories at Ikea. I'm looking at redoing my kitchen and I really like how Ikea helped me with everything so far. I've heard horror stories from others as well as this...so it makes me wonder if I should take my business elsewhere.

The one story I have that shocked me is The Great Indoors. I bought a Kitchenaid Pro-Line coffee grinder from them a few months ago. After having it for a month and throwing the box it came with out, I bought an espresso machine. It wasn't grinding the coffee fine enough and wasn't working out for me. I took it back to the store I bought it from and had the receipt with me. To my surprise, The Great Indoors took it back without asking ANY questions and gave me a FULL REFUND! I was absolutely shocked. I thought they would for sure deduct 10% off my check for not returning it in the original packaging. But they didn't.

I suppose I just take it as when a store does something right and tries to make you happy, it just sticks in your head and surprises you.

And for some reason, we keep buying product from Best Buy, Ikea, Home Depot...everywhere else...even though they have lousy customer service.

wiz561

If the company decides to send you a gift card for your troubles, I think that counts as good customer service. It is appreciated, but not expected.

I also think the headline was a little extreme.

AT203

beyond

I kid, of course :)

SuburbanSocialite

also, if the poster lived in Philly and wasn't able to find the sofa at the IKEA in South Philly, there's also the one in Conshohocken (across town) or if they're willing to drive an hour or two, IKEAS in Elizabeth and Paramus, NJ too. i would've checked those out first before considering waiting that long.

one other piece of advice to the poster: next time you're looking for a large piece of furniture, try craigslist. it's a great resource, things are cheaper and you're recycling rather than having something new enter the waste stream. i just purchased a like-new futon bed that retails for $400 for $150. as long as you're not squicked by the idea of pre-owned furniture.

lookatmissohio

davidaegger

Get over yourself - it was a $400 couch.

Jim (The Canuck One)

In Sweden, home of IKEA, it's quite different. I had a problem with a kitchen faucet that started dripping after 9 months of use (and couldn't be repaired as the 'packing' was sealed). And I couldn't take it off and return it for a new one as most Swedish homes do not have individual water shutoff valves in bathrooms and kitchens like we have in many American homes. So I drove back to the store where I bought it, which is an hour and a half away and went to customer service. They gave me a new one after I showed them the receipt for the defective one, completely understood my problem, and even gave me the equivalent of $12 for my drive (as gas is over $6 a gallon there). Two weeks later another new faucet arrived in the mail!!!

So I think the person in the article had an unfortunate, but rare, experience. As another reader commented, one has to understand that when dealing with discount outlets you have to have a level of shopper's patience and understanding.

MotownMan

Mentioning the youthful customer service guy. Well, it is one of those things that tends to come to mind. He's young and acting like he doesn't want to be there. For good or ill, we had a bit of a mental picture from him.

As for the letter, were it me, I would detail my dissatisfaction, and leave it for IKEA to respond. At the minimum, she should receive a letter of apology. If IKEA is wise, they will give some sort of gift card, to ensure her continued business. Just an apology would be good, a card would be 'more than right.'

Her complaints about the service are justified. No calls tied with delays. One wonders, if she had waited for the call, and it didn't come, if they'd have shipped the couch back away again.

catskyfire

"I should get a free hat...and a keychain...and some gift certificates...and some sundaes."
"I'll get your information and have our corporate office send those out to you."
"You're gonna mail me a sundae? I want it now goddammit!"

Just as long as you weren't those people...you should be ok.

blkhrt1

I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt on "having money to spend" given they live in an "apartment" and are shopping at Ikea and Target for furniture...

dbeahn

deweydecimated

"I find this person's attitude slightly objectionable, so she deserves bad service."

"I think IKEA sells cheap crap, so she deserves bad service."

"I hate people who mention things about themselves, so she deserves bad service."

Okay, no matter how you feel about this woman's letter -- at this point I think I could get shot in the face by an employee and someone would find fault with the complaint letter I wrote (too melodramatic?) -- there are two major things wrong with this:

1) The employees communicated poorly, both with the customer and with each other.

2) The policy of not calling unless there's a note to call doesn't make much sense (why no, I'd rather not know when my sofa comes in, thanks) and should be changed.

These are issues that have nothing to do with North Africa, or eyebrow rings, or ageism, or IKEA's healthcare policy, or whatever. No, it's not disastrously bad service, but I don't see why someone has to lose a limb before they get to complain.

Here's the thing about compensation: When you go to write a formal complaint letter, it feels odd not to ask for the company to do something for you. Generally I think you should only ask for compensation directly related to your problem: if you lost money, ask for money. If you're trying to get something fixed, make them fix it for free. In this case, there's nothing to ask for -- but I understand the impulse to say "well, I should ask for something, or else why bother writing?"

CumaeanSibyl

Shaggy

If you're having problems deciding what to ask for in compensation it's probably because it's not reasonable to expect much in compensation for 8 extra days of waiting. Go ahead and write them and tell them how cheesed of you are. I know that one of the rules of complaining is to say how you want to be compensated, but, if I were you I don't know that I could bring myself to actually ask for anything.

If sitting on the floor for so long was a hardship, don't complicate matters more by returning the sofa. File a couple complaints if it makes you feel better, tell people when it comes up that you had problems getting your sofa from IKEA, but, other than that, let it go and enjoy your new sofa.

Johann

Andrew

mrmysterious

seanmcleary

That's an incredibly arrogant comment. What does the employees age or "eyebrow ring" have to do with how he treated the person? What if it had been an overweight black woman? Would you have some sort of politically incorrect description for her? What if it had been a person with a disability?

bradg33

You ROCK.

falconree

bradg33

I think writing "the guy was young" was in fact quite kind. I would have typed "...the ignorant snot-nosed kid with an exposed eyebrow piercing..."

Anyway, I've grown tired of IKEA's god-like status in retial America and the declining quality of service they have been dishing out lately will be their downfall.

As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap. -Galatians 6:7

Or not.

webwbr

I would go so far as to say I found the entire letter from her 'snarky'

I think what got to me was the combination of the fact that I filed a BBB complaint this morning, I have read far worse and real valuable complaints on Consumerist,
then to come across this one where she actually got her couch (seemed to arrive fine she didn't mention any defects on top of her ordeal) but she just had to put up with some flaky attitude, boo hoo
and she just 'had' to slip in her correspondance that they took a trip to Africa - that had absolutely not one stinkin-snarky thing to do with her CS experience.

Suffice to say, no sympathy over here.

Some years ago, I received a couch by delivery that showed up with a stain on one of the cushions.
Looked at it, thought about it a second, immediately computed in my noggin, "Hey, I got it on sale anyway and there are worse things to worry about." flipped over the cushion and carried on with life.

OK, now I'm gunna get it ;-)

falconree

I recently had a problem with Alltel's service, it wasn't something I would cancel over but it was a background noise in some calls that bugged me. After 8 months Alltel finally got it fixed and I asked for them to pay a month's bill (which they did). I figured that was good enough compensation for what I experienced.

fireshaper

Was this really necessary? Amara has a legitimate complaint, but making petty remarks about an employee's age is only going to hurt her case. Why would the IKEA CSR who has to read and process this be inclined to go out of their way to take care of the problem after reading through the snarky insults?

hoo_foot

Kbomb

haha!

i had a couple of problems with Lowe's when we bought our refrigerator. called + talked to the manager. he offered to send me a $50 gift card. felt that was fair.

LAGirl

Sudonum

obbie

footnote: I, personally, find it annoying when posters, somehow, feel compelled to not so subtly slip where they just happen to be 'globe trotting.'
Not equally as annoying as poor CS, but hey, count your blessings.
You have money to SPEND. Some of us have really horrific stories AND ARE out the money too.

You got your couch and a globe trotting trip.
Chin up, life's rough

falconree