is there a worse shopping experience than IKEA?

[bossykate]

went to ikea today. well, it was marginally better than the absolute hell it is at weekends. there was a woman going up and down the queues asking if anyone would like to participate in a customer service survey - in two weeks time! clever - when the irritation has faded. we bought two full service (ha!) items - no idea why they are called "full service" as they still come flat packed and you have to assemble them yourself. only difference appeared to be the 40min wait while they got them out from stock. this is after you have paid.

so why keep going back? well i'm not aware of a competitor who offers the same choice and quality for such reasonable prices. sigh.

IMO - the answer is NO! what do others think?

feel much better now...

I once made the stupid mistake of going with my dd as well as my dh. Never ever ever again.

Yes, the meatballs are delicious, with chips and Lingonberry sauce!

I always feel sorry for the stock in Bargain Corner. It all looks so sad and defeated and unwanted.

Debenhams at lunchtime on discounts on everything day is definately a worse experience (I actually find Ikea on a midweek evening when the weather's ok to be outside not too bad - maybe some stores are worse than others?).

I queued for half an hour in Debenhams today, then got asked to find a different till as that one was closing. Cue repeat performance. By this time the shortest queues anywhere in the store were about 40 people, my car park ticket had run out, and I was already late back from lunch. I just left the things I was going to buy - even with 20% off it wasn't worth that much hassle.

I was in Ikea one day with my mother - a family sat next to us in the cafe and the dh (who looked completely frazzled) turned to me and said "my son has just told me that this is the worst day of his life". Later on I saw the family in the rugs section - the kids were jumping up and down all over the piles of rugs while the parents sat gloomily watching. It was quite funny - I was feeling particularly smug as had left dd at home with dh...

dd1s first ever outing - one week - was to Ikea....(supposedly at end of renovating appartment that we could move into with nothing needing to be done)...I breastfed sitting on one of the chairs in a garden display, she did an enormous poo a few minutes after and had to be changed on top of her bbjorn carrier on top of the loo....no sign of bb changing facilities....and of course as it was the first outing, I had no idea the poo would ooze out all over everywhere....poor mite had to stay like that during the traffic jam on the way home. Suffice to say, we hate it, but still end up going back, only now dd1 has tantrums half way round whilst dd2 does the poos....maybe they impregnate the furniture with drugs so we can't help ourselves?

I must admit I love IKEA. Never ever ever go at weekends though. I do remember going with some friends and one was 'demonstrating' how useful a baby changing table is (?) when the whole display collapsed!

I love IKEA too - but have to admit it is easier to go without dd - dh distinctly handy for lifting heavy things into car !

Why do I love it ? cheap - solid - stylish - trendyish - meatballs - gives me ideas..... ummmm, that's probably all ! Still it's enough !

Latest acquistion was a fabulous solid pine bookcase that takes 3 big toy baskets and still has 3 bookshelves for dd's playroom - for the grand old price of £50. Can't remember it's name (it's in catalogue - might be Leksvik ?) - but ALL my friends have been and got one since they saw mine - it's pure class for £50 ! I recommend it !

I love Ikea, even when I received no help and had to literally drag a very heavy rug through the store and fight to get it on my trolley!! My favourite time for going (Birmingham store) is in the run-up to christmas, during the week. It is remarkably quiet and festive! My husband hates Ikea with a passion, my children love running round and round, just to add to other shoppers' stress!

Have a love/hate relationship with ikea. Over the last ten years I've been to ikeas in Virginia and in the Los Angeles area and they had hardly anyone else in them so I was not prepared for the ikea frenzy of the bay area. Our closest ikea is in Emeryville, CA and it is frightening. I found going at 6:00 p.m. on a Saturday to be the best time to go. Must say I love the children's section and always come away with cute stuff for dd. Her idea of bliss is to go to ikea, eat the meatballs for lunch, play on the slide that leads into the children's area, then stop over in Berkeley on our way home so she can have a baby mocha at Peet's while we people & dog watch. My idea of bliss too, as she'll sleep all the way home after that!

Bossykate - in response to your question - NO!!!!

I am moving house in 2 weeks and am going to have to go to buy mega cheap glasses etc.. but am dreading it. It is really good value for money though.

I don't understand people who go there for a 'day out' at weekends. Apologies to anyone who does this but I really cannot see the attraction of trailing round a furniture shop with 3 kids on a weekend.

Another NO.

I'll never go back there again after my first and last visit--truly, truly awful.

I love IKEA, and their products, but must admit it's no fun going with the children. I really do see it as a treat when it's just me & dh. BUT I have never been at a weekend, always go midweek in school time. I, too love the meatballs with thingy-berry sauce and chips, and yes, Scatterbrain, I have the same shelves in my playroom - in fact I love them so much I bought 3 full size and 3 wall-mounted. They work so well.

actually, i was thinking today that maybe B&Q and those other DIY stores could be worse...

I love Ikea but hate going on a weekend. Best time we found was about 5pm on a weekday, everybody seems to go home for their tea whilst we eat there as its so cheap. Our nearest store is about an hour and a half away depending on traffic. Will never ever ever set foot in Croydon Ikea again. We went there to buy our kitchen, got it home, eventually got the builders in only to find that for the sink unit you're supposed to buy a separate waste part but the guy who was supposed to be helping us didn't tell us. (Did it not occur to him that we would need it?). On top of that we ended up queueing for nearly three hours at the collection bit whilst numerous people disappeared looking for the other half of our order. All they could suggest was that we had it delivered. But we've been there before (got our delivery money back in the end it was such a nightmare) so said no especially as we had hired a van to bring the damn kitchen home in one piece. Eventually I stamped my feet and threw an almighty wobbly and the manager went off to get the rest of our order himself and gave us £75 back as a token of goodwill. We normally go to the Gateshead store when we go home and the people there are so much more friendlier whereas Croydon were the most miserable (and unhelpful) bunch I've ever met. Do so wish they did it online they would make a fortune. Either that or you ring up and order it, pay for it and arrange a time to pick it up.

Have been to Homebase today and it does rival Ikea for pure rage inducement. There is never anyone around to help you and when there is they know NOTHING about anything. They refuse to see if they have any products in stock / check when they will be delivered etc...

Someone posted on here a while ago about staff in Mothercare just reading info off the boxes rather than having any knowledge - this is exactly the same as in Homebase / B&Q etc..

Is this problem nationwide or is it just London??

our local (streatham branch) home base is staffed by complete incompetents (sp?)needed to measure a cupboard in there once to see if it would fit and no one could find a tape measure. asked if they had any bayonet fit lightbulbs and the idiot wantedto know what bayonet was. where do they find these people? are they specialy bred for such jobs?

So called 'butchers' at Sainsbury Meat counter might win on the ignorance front. Ask them for giblets...they look at you blankly and think its a wind up. Honestly!!

And how many times have we heard that staff at a restaurant can't heat up baby food, for 'health and safety reasons'. Grrr...Bluewater is a culprit, as are MacDonalds. Name and Shame 'em!

Dp and I go to Ikea when we want a massive row.

Dh doesn't do Ikea, but we still have that massive row after he sees what I have bought there.

Natacsha, I know that branch and agree totally - only went there once and dh had a row with one of the people there (we had been given some homebase vouchers and they wouldn't accept them!)- haven't been there since..

tigermoth lol

Wickes DIY store for incompetence but where it benefits the customer!! We have managed to get £45 worth of border tiles unpaid for - they were sitting on the trolley with lots of other boxes of tiles and the young guy was more worried about counting the number of boxes and completely missed the smaller boxes! Also managed to get a free shower head as they mucked up a refund and gave me money back rather than taking an additional amount from my credit card!! Did I bring it to their attention, I'll leave that for you to decide!!

At least at Ikea, you can have some food, let the kids play in the toy section and let them run miles round the store. In Argos, you wait for hours and hours with no such perks. I'd rather saw off my arm than buy anything from Argos again!