From certified pre-owned cars to refurbished electronics to sporting tickets, there has been a growing trend of businesses trying to cash in on secondary markets for their products. The latest example is Ikea, which recently got into the business of selling its own used furniture online in its homeland of Sweden. [More]
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Man Crams Soaking Pool, Video Lounge, Cafe Into 182 Sq Ft Apartment
By 8.25.10
Steve Sauer’s “pico-dwelling” is a 182 sq ft apartment he has managed to cram a soaking pool, video lounge, and cafe into without feeling cramped in the slightest. Most of the furniture comes from IKEA, natch. [More]
Fake Family Lives In Real IKEA
By 8.6.10
Guy Ben-Ner shot a short sitcom in which a family drama is played out while the characters are depicted as living inside an IKEA. They shot it in within three different IKEAs, one in Berlin, one in Israel and one in New Jersey, and its edited so the action flows seamlessly between the scenarios. Real customers walk by and at one point almost steal the camera. Amusing commentary on consumer culture and geopolitics and damned clever idea. [More]
Why Does IKEA Need To See My ID To Exchange A Defective Bed?
By 7.29.10
Pity those of us who live in the hinterlands, far from any IKEA stores. When we do manage a trip into civilization to buy cheap furniture with strange names, we take a risk. We risk buying a defective item and having to drag it hundreds of miles back to the store it came from. Jason tells Consumerist that’s what happened to him when he bought a set of bunk beds with a manufacturing defect. But that’s not his main concern. What he wants to know is: is it unreasonable for a store to scan your driver’s license when exchanging an item that is obviously defective? [More]
Yeah, But You Have To Admit It Was Kind Of Overpriced Last Year
By 7.27.10
Reader Matt says, “Just writing to share the fantastic deal we got on a lampshade last night at IKEA.” [More]
IKEA's Blue Screen Of Death
By 7.8.10
Snapped this picture last night at my local IKEA of a blue screen of death afflicting their product finder kiosk. Since it’s IKEA, they also expect customers to do their own tech support. [More]
Who Made The Lead In My Kid's Bed?
By 6.29.10
What happens when you want to trace down which manufacturer is responsible for the lead on your kid’s Thomas the Tank Engine, and make sure you dispose of and don’t buy any other products associated with that maker? Or the melamine in your dog’s food? Or the antifreeze in your toothpaste? It can be hard to find out. Global supply chains are vast and sometimes impenetrable. For instance, your IKEA Sultan Alsarp bed is made in China (not Sweden) and contains parts from Africa, Germany, and Russia. Enter Sourcemap, a open-source MIT project that aims to find out “Where does all the stuff inside your stuff come from?” [More]
Burned By A Defective IKEA Oven Mitt, I Seek Justice… But What Kind?
By 6.25.10
Scott tells Consumerist that he used some new oven mitts from IKEA last night, and found out that one of them is defective. Unfortunately, he learned this the hard way: by burning his thumb. Now, he’s not really sure what to do: the store is a few hours away, and he’s not really sure what he wants from the store in return for the incident. What would you do? [More]
IKEA Phasing Out Tris Flame Retardants From Furniture
By 6.22.10
A Slate reporter was bowled over by the pungent chemical aroma her new IKEA sofa emitted after she took of the package. She carved off a little piece of the mattress foam and sent it to a lab, which found it contained a funky flame retardant called “chlorinated tris.” This is interesting as brominated tris was banned from children’s sleepwear in 1977 after studies showed it was a skin-absorbable carcinogenic. [More]
Ikea To Put Dimmer Switch On Incandescent Light Sales
By 6.15.10
If for some reason you have a truly heartfelt attachment to the incandescent lights sold at Ikea, you might want to get your hoard on ASAP. The Swedish furniture change has announced plans to begin phasing out sales of the energy-chewing bulbs starting Aug. 1. [More]
See The Ikea Ad That Was Too Naughty For Texas TV
By 6.11.10
For some reason, a few TV stations in the Houston area have a problem with the date of June 9, or at least the way Ikea decided to portray the date in a new ad promoting the reopening of their local store. [More]
Ikea Recalls 3.36 Million Blinds Over Strangulation Risk
By 6.10.10
After receiving a report that a 1-1/2 year old child nearly strangled to death on a loose cord, Ikea — along with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada — has issued a recall on all Roman and Roll-up blinds, as well as roller blinds that do not have a tension device attached to the bead chain, sold between Jan. 1998 and June 2009. [More]
Email To IKEA Results In Free Delivery Of Functioning Closet Doors
By 4.13.10
The ever-popular EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb) scored another direct hit with reader “Generic_Username.” He and his wife bought some closet doors from IKEA, but didn’t install them until some renovations were complete. When it turned out the doors were defective, G.U. and his wife were told they’d have to pay to have new doors shipped to their house. Ugh! [More]
Latest Facebook Gift Card Scam Nabs 37,000 Victims In One Day
By 4.12.10
When you see a free gift card offer on Facebook, just stay away. Last Friday a fake IKEA gift card scam attracted over 37,000 eager Facebook users, and it’s at least the third one to successfully go viral on the site since late March. [More]
Score Free Breakfast At Ikea This Weekend
By 4.2.10
Now through Sunday, April 4, Ikea is giving away free small breakfasts at most of its locations nationwide. [More]
Paris Subway Platforms Transformed Into Large, Very Loud Living Rooms
By 3.17.10
Have you ever secretly wished that the subway platform you were waiting on could be transformed into a comfy living room? Or at least a living room furnished by IKEA? For another week, you can experience just that in four stops on Paris’s Métro system. Instead of molded plastic seats, have a seat on an Ektorp couch! [More]
Tenants Sue Landlord Over "Ugly" Ikea Kitchen
By 2.26.10
For anyone that thought Ikea made something you can be proud to have in your home, a new lawsuit filed in New York City has some bad news. The former tenants of a Gramercy Park building are pursuing legal action against their onetime landlords for, among other things, installing an “ugly” Ikea kitchen. [More]
The IKEA Song
By 2.16.10
You’ll never get the ladies with those milk crates! You need to sex up your pad with some choice items from IKEA, the furniture that helps a boy become a man. Riegel and Blatt show you how in this comedic ode. Beware, there is some NSFW language and guy in boxers humping Swedish furniture. [More]
