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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To Hate Ikea

53 replies

Gingerkittykat · 04/07/2019 00:54

I was in big city today so decided to pop into IKEA on my way home to get some lightshades to brighten up my hall.

After trecking about 5 miles through various departments, including what they called a short cut, I get to the cafe.

I get the obligatory meatballs and chips and sit down. Then to the toilets which are always backed up with toilet paper because their water saving flush has no power.

Then downstairs to the marketplace.

I find the lampshades I want, then see they have a lovely patterned bulb inside them and a blank space on the shelf where they should be.

I eventually find the bulbs after playing trolley chicken with a couple also trying to find bulbs. I remembered the adaptor so they actually fit into my light fitting.

Onto the marketplace, I found the plates and bowls I had also wanted. I was told by a dietician to downsize my plates and bowls so my plate looks full with less. These ones are perfect, I love the feel of them and the chingy noise when you hit them and 50p each!

I get closer to having a nervous breakdown the further into the market I go. I loudly ugh and eye roll at a young couple having a PDA in the middle of the walkway, and am tempted to get exact revenge on all the kids with those damn mini trolleys.

Once I get to the checkout and load up I get a firm telling off from the checkout assistant for stepping over the yellow line before my time. The couple in front look like they are furnishing their entire house so my stuff gets mixed up with theirs as she doesn't wait for them to finish.

Then onto the food bit, and I grab some salmon, that lovely dill sauce and some daim sweets. I manage to resist the cheap hot dog but decide I need a coffee to fortify me on the way home. I press the button for a latte and it spits out more than a full cup of black coffee which spills over the top of the cup.

I get home and go to put the lampshades up and they don't fucking fit. I should have bought some kind of adaptors. The light bulbs are utterly gorgeous but outside the shop are too dim to properly light up my tiny hallway.

Total cost including 2 naff bulbs at £7 each, the food, the impulse bought candles and random crap was close to £60. I think the lampshades were around £15 each.

I can't go through the trauma of trying to return the stuff I won't use. How many people have cupboards full of random Ikea crap bought on impulse?

OP posts:
glueandstick · 04/07/2019 09:25

WTF is wrong with you? It’s my spiritual home.

ZazieTheCat · 04/07/2019 09:26

We go to view at a quiet time a couple of times a year, then buy online as needed. Free returns now with online purchases. Some of the marketplace stuff isn’t available online, but it’s easy enough to pick up a few things like glasses on one of the viewing trips. Sunday before 12 is pretty good.

Oh and always take food to nibble on as you go round, and try to get your whole days steps in by making a game of going round and round in circles.

If you actually need something specific quickly it’s shit.

FudgeBrownie2019 · 04/07/2019 09:26

I love IKEA. I love the breakfasts. Love the wardrobes (hello PAX and your array of lovely shelves for my DC to studiously ignore when they throw their freshly-laundered clothes on their bedroom floors). Love the lights (the garden ones which look like Edison bulbs are invincible). And I especially love the free teeny tiny pencils.

LaurieFairyCake · 04/07/2019 09:30

You need a 50p lampshade 'reducer' from any DIY shop Smile

nettie434 · 04/07/2019 09:40

gingerkittycat I hate going to Ikea. The problem is that when I do go, I have no idea of where anything is, which makes the experience even worse.

Lauriefairycake I had no idea that there was such a thing as a lampshade reducer but that is exactly what I need for two lamps. You have improved my day by 100%. Thank you Flowers

Julykthat · 04/07/2019 09:40

I've just ordered my Ikea stuff online. Should be here in three days. Handy when I live four hours from my nearest shop.

MsMightyTitanAndHerTroubadours · 04/07/2019 09:41

go in early!
We were at the Edinburgh one to buy a sofa bed....at 9.20!
Carpark was practically empty, likewise the cafe (no tomato, extra hashbrown breakfast and free coffee) and if they had the right mattress in stock we'd have been packed and away by 10.15

As it was we had to bugger off to bloody Braehead as well, so that was 2 hours of day wasted, but we do have the sofa bed....which incidentally went together in a jiffy, no rows, and only 14 bolts! No one lost the allen key although the spanner could have been a little easier to use.

...and we had tried to check the stock before we went, but dh could not make head nor tail of it, what with all the variations of mattresses and covers and bases.

Otherwise I love it, all the wonderful things. I do try to go with a list though otherwise it's very Spendsville and it makes dh sad :o

Rainbowknickers · 04/07/2019 09:43

We went about 6 months ago to buy a cheapy bed for the spare room
Found one after walking what felt 100 miles-bought it-got it home
No slats
Have to buy them separate
Drove back walked the 100 miles through the shop and bought them
Ended up having a car crash on the way back home
A £45 bed ended up costing over a grand in repairs
I’ll only buy their stuff now if I see it in a charity shop!

PooWillyBumBum · 04/07/2019 09:46

YANBU but it amused me that you went for smaller plates as recommended by your dietician, but ate meatballs and chips for lunch, then grabbed sweets and a calorific coffee on the way out Confused

Coralfish · 04/07/2019 09:51

You did it wrong. Ikea must be planned online beforehand. You make your shopping list in advance with all locations of items. You must also take screenshots of the Ikea list from the app as there will be no phone signal and the WiFi will not work.

PCohle · 04/07/2019 09:59

Christ what a long winded story.

It's hardly Ikea's fault you don't know about lampshade adaptors.

Oliversmumsarmy · 04/07/2019 10:00

Yabu you didn’t need to spend so much time or money in there.

You went in for lamp shades. But stayed for lunch and bought a load of other stuff.

I have been very impressed with Ikea. Dp broke a bed and despite it being a few years old I took the broken parts in and they went in the back and replaced the parts FOC

Also when my 2 were little I would drop them off in their crèche and go and have a coffee for an hour in peace.
Complete life saver

captainpantbeard · 04/07/2019 10:02
AGnu · 04/07/2019 10:04

I used to go with a friend who was like an IKEA guru. She always knew exactly where everything was & the best way to get there. Then she went & moved away. I miss her dearly but I really hate her DH & his fabulous new job when I get lost in IKEA!

skybluee · 04/07/2019 10:05

i dont like the layout. id rather go straight to what i need to buy, rather than have to travel through lots of other departments. if you have mobility issues, it is not an easy shop to navigate, compared to something where there is say one central aisle and all of the other aisles go off it. i find tesco layout quite good surprisingly. you can go directly to most of the things i need.

i like the IKEA products themselves.

familycourtq · 04/07/2019 10:05

YANBU IKEA is what it will be like if it turns out there is a hell and I get sent there.

onedayiwillmissthis · 04/07/2019 10:20

Just amble around...chuck all those..."OMG that would be reeaally useful" items in the trolley...eat your meatballs...then...just before check out park trolley neatly to one side...and leave itGrin

All the "fun"...minimal expense...and you don't have to store all that crap in the garage in 6 months time.

Twooter · 04/07/2019 10:26

We have a mini IKEA where you can look at stuff but you can’t buy any of it. If you want any of the stuff you’ve seen, you then have to order it. It has got the most empty IKEA rk ever.

sophiasnail · 04/07/2019 10:46

Just don't go if you don't like it!

ElizaPancakes · 04/07/2019 11:21

YABU. I love ikea. Sometimes I go on my own - at the weekend no less! - and just have a wander round.

Ifeelbloodyawful · 04/07/2019 11:32

YABU simply for skipping the hotdog. Rookie.

thatmustbenigelwiththebrie · 04/07/2019 11:34

The only way to get through Ikea unscathed is strict self control.

When you casually fling random mirrors in your bag because you think they'll be handy, make sure that you really REALLY need them.

Be honest, and often the answer is "no".

Tbf, you always need meatballs though.

AntiHop · 04/07/2019 11:34

Exactly the same thing happened to me op. We wanted new lampshades. I can't remember if the problem was that they couldn't be ordered online or it was too expensive for the delivery.

I went one evening after work without dp. It was really stressful trying to find the lampshades, and another small item my dp wanted.

By the time I got to the check out I was frazzled, and I got into am argument with someone in the queue as kept everyone behind her waiting whilst she disappeared off to get something she'd forgotten when her stuff was being put through.

I got home to find that one of the lampshades was wonky and they needed an adaptator ring. Arghhhhh.

There days I only go to ikea with dp as he had some magical ability to find his way round without getting stressed.

familycourtq · 04/07/2019 11:37

Fuck me, you can get hotdogs and meatballs elsewhere people!

DrVonPatak · 04/07/2019 11:43

Then to the toilets which are always backed up with toilet paper because their water saving flush has no power.

Actually, a friend that works in IKEA said huge majority of the blockages are caused by wet wipes being thrown down the toilet despite signs everywhere asking people NOT to do specifically that.