IKEA redefine customer service

[mydogmuppet]

I've got used to online shopping.
Comfort of own home. No traffic jams. No exorbitant parking charges or tickets. Most of the time you order and it appears via the mailman or smiling courier - job done.

The IKEA shopping experience is my idea of hell. Prams, sour faced mothers and nose-picking children after you've spent 20 minutes hunting the parking spot. Then you can queue with the world until the second coming but don't bet on getting the car anywhere near a loading bay.

So you'd think IKEA would up their game on Online Shopping ?

How wrong can I be.

They replicate their online customer service model from that of the stores. You wait. You wait even longer. IKEA don't given a rat's arse how long you wait to speak to one of their less than helpful staff. You can wait just as long as you'd spend in the IKEA check out queue. Its all part of the IKEA experience. (22 minutes).

You can of course email Online Customer Services. But hey, their mailbox is stuffed to overflowing. It will take us 5 days....120 hours to respond. Its all part of the IKEA experience.

And they save the best till last.

Eschewing the delights of driving to IKEA Southampton you order the goods delivered to your door. Parcelforce are the chosen instrument of torture. Yes, that Parcelforce who abandon their vans in narrow streets so you can't squeeze past. The driver always acknowledging his 'couldn't care less' with a cheery little snarl.

So they stiff me for £9 to deliver some plastic boxes. They (cheeky bastards) tell me its going to take 11 ..YES ELEVEN...days to deliver the same. Are they ordering from Sweden ? I get goods from Hong Kong quicker than 45 miles from IKEA Southampton. Its all part of the IKEA experience.

What is the matter with this company and why don't they give a shit ?

Oh, I wouldn't know [prim] lies

That's kind of maroon, though isn't it? I was thinking bright violet

No I don't know these things either, just lies and rumours

Ikea aren't focused on delivery customer service because they are a Swedish company. In Sweden the idea of having someone else do what you are perfectly capable of doing yourself is reprehensible. Every man and his dog has a massive volvo with an attached trailer. Delivery is just not necessary.

We go to Ikea for days out (same as pp free coffee top ups and children's play area), but we are in Sweden and it's a very different experience to the hell that is Ikea UK. We went last Saturday. Saturday in Ikea in Sweden is like Ikea in the UK when it's shut. The carpark is half empty, there were plenty of tables free in the cafe and there were 2 people ahead of us in the queue.

Soon the UK Ikeas will be just like the Swedish ones, either that or along with the snotty kids there will be miserable looking women wondering about moaning about Ikea whilst still choosing to buy furniture from them despite the many other furniture store options.

Ikea in Dublin is like that Westie.

As long as you don't go at a weekend or between 1 and 2, when the labour force from every building site in a 20 mile radius comes in for a cheap lunch, and parks their vans in the delivery bays.

Also in Swedish Ikea you can take the trolley to car. I don't get the weird set up at our old UK Ikea.

You can take the trolley to the car here too? At least in Croydon and Wembley you can - not been to any others.

Why on earth can't you take a trolley to the car? How do you get stuff to a car with no trolley?

The one in Bristol had this weird set up where you left your trolley in the 'loading' area and then fetched your car to load it. There were barriers to stop you taking the trolley further. Maybe it's not like that anymore, it's been quite a few years since I was last there.

We've been to Southampton, Bristol, Birmingham and Coventry and we always take a the trolley to the car. What's the alternative??!! (Feeling like I've asked a silly question!!)

leeds let you take trolley to car, as do Nottingham.

disgrace

me too..what year was you there?

We had a mattress and delivered and it was very good service, we got a call to tell us when they would arrive and they arrived when they said. Very impressed.

Ahhhh. Actually that sounds familiar Westie. I have a feeling Croydon used to do that many years ago - they haven't for at least 10, but I vaguely remember something like it before I starting working there.

Thanks for all your feedback. I did spend three days in IKEA in Southampton; I already knew what I wanted. It nearly killed me.

This is why I like ONLINE.
The OP was about the online IKEA delivery service\experience.
The fact that IKEA are teamed with ParcelForce really tells you all you need to know. Low expectations and you will not be disappointed.

Could be worse, they could be teamed with Yodel.

But I agree, their online service is dire. It even beats debenhams for shitness.

I need a new kitchen. I have needed a new kitchen for at least ten years. Doors are falling off and crumbling. There are likely to be structural issues.

Is it worth me risking IKEA?

I go to IKEA because the way our house is you can only get flat pack in the bedrooms so can't go second hand, the price is acceptable and the quality is pretty good. The Billy bookcases in our study that are usually double banked have lasted well for twenty years, and they have had to bear some weight!

I am not convinced by the service.

Also, due to health issues (getting better) if it didn't get delivered it didn't get here. I do as much shopping as I can online. Ebay is my friend and Amazon is a good acquaintance. I have never found IKEA appealing.

If you drink enough pernod with blackcurrant juice then your vomit will be very purple. Apparently.