Ikea delivery - wont take it upstairs!!!

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My living room is on the first floor, chose an ikea sofa as they said in store they would put it in the living room. My dad took delivery today but drivers said we're not allowed to take things upstairs as too many complaints of damage. So I now have bits of ikea sofa in my hall, a dad with a dodgy ticker, husband not back till new year and I'm pregnant!
Phoned customer service they said email in, has anyone else had this issue? This is my email - any opinions before I hit send? They won't come back will they

Hi
I was advised when purchasing our corner sofa that the delivery drivers would be able to deliver it to the room of choice. This was a big part of choosing an ikea sofa as I am currently pregnant and cannot lift heavy items.
My living room is up a wide set of stairs on the first floor and when the delivery driver arrived they informed my dad (who was taking delivery on my behalf) that the policy is to never take anything upstairs.
Obviously I can understand there is a risk of damage but this 'blanket ban' didn't seem to take any individual circumstances into account.
Can you please let me know how you can rectify this situation?
Thanks
Name/address/order no etc.

Did you mention that the stairs were inside?

As bizarre as it sounds, it seems to matter.

We had a new sofa delivered and had a discussion about where they could put it. The place it was due to go was out of action because of boiler problems. We mentioned the empty space upstairs but they couldn't take it up because the stairs were inside - they can take sofas up external stairs, like if you lived in a third floor flat, but not internal stairs. Something to do with damage and insurance.

When we called up about getting chairs for the upstairs room, we got largely the same answer. John Lewis, Debenhams, Selfridges, Habitat, Ikea - no one would move it upstairs inside the house.

I can't do it, so we got a local handyman to help my OH take it upstairs.

Oh, for what's it worth, I agree with ISeeSmallPeople. Get a handyman/local delivery company/friends or neighbours to move it.

Ikea probably won't get back to you very quickly and it'll be very low priority because they've met their legal obligations by delivering it to you - so they may agree to move it, but it'll likely be in the quiet period in January, because they will probably be rushed off their feet now.

I agree with SmallPeople. If they do get back to you it will be with some excuse. I think you would save yourself a lot of ranting down phones at disinterested and unengaged service people if you arranged for family/friends to help you . Check fine print of the contract very carefully and, if it doesn't specify that they won't help you carry it upstairs, then demand a refund of the delivery charge.

I had wardrobes delivered by Ikea last year which had very heavy mirrored doors. When the guys arrived with it and asked where I wanted it, I indicated upstairs and off they went. They did say "we're not supposed to take things upstairs but we'll let you off with it" kinda thing (i genuinely hadn't known beforehand that this was the case so I wasn't deliberately chancing my arm by asking them to take it upstairs in the first place).

So it would appear it depends on which driver you get, what kinda mood they're in and also on who takes the delivery - I'm willing to bet they would have taken the sofa upstairs if you'd been home yourself instead of your dad - chances are they would have taken pity on you being pregnant and all but now that they've gone, the chances of them coming back to rectify the situation are extremely slim!

I had an ikea wardrobe delivered a couple of months ago. They happily took it all upstairs, no mention that they shouldn't have.

I had an ikea sofa bed delivered 3 weeks prior to having my baby and I live in a 1st floor marionette. The delivery guys took one look at my very pregnant state and said that they aren't meant to take it inside but on this occasion they would. I did promise that there would be no problems if they damaged it. As it was my front door was too narrow and it did take a chunk out of the sofa but it was easily covered up by the sofa cover (I was just grateful it was brought it and it wasn't there fault at all). I suspect if you accepted the delivery and not your dad they might have taken more pity.
Do you have any male friends or husbands/partners of some female friends that could help in engage for beer?
Hope u get it sorted

This happened to me. I specified in store that I lived up three flights of stairs, and they said, "OK, we'll send two men" (it's normally one man).

I also paid a man with a van and his mates to come and take away the old sofas (which were very heavy, unlike the ikea ones).

They all arrived at the same time. Old sofas out. Then IKEA men say they're not bringing the sofas up. Health and safety, apparently.

I was nine months pregnant. On my own. In a flat straight onto a busy main road (i.e. nowhere downstairs to leave them). Five men stood round me with folded arms while I got tearful.

IKEA men said they'd just have to take it back. Which would leave me with nothing to sit on and an imminent birth. The other men said they'd do it. For £100. In the end they did it for £60. The bastards had me over a barrel and they knew it.

7 years on and I'm still fuming.

I furnished my entire two bedroom flat from ikea a few months ago, sofas, beds, tables, wardrobes, loads of bookcases etc.

It was all delivered and brought upstairs to the first floor with no queries, the stairs are outside if that makes any difference. It was one of the hottest days of the summer, the poor guys were exhausted!

Thanks for the replies.
I checked the t's and c's - it's at my discretion if I'm willing to risk damage to walls etc. I can get friends/neighbours to help so I won't be completely stuck but its more the principle (eg if I was Devora) that my dad wasn't given the option.
I've sent an email and await reply....

Sorry yes they did know stairs were inside.

FTR the only furniture delivery company I have found who will take stuff upstairs without batting an eyelid is Argos.
When I was 4 months pregnant we ordered bedroom furniture from Littlewoods. They asked where I wanted it and I said upstairs. They refused. The hall was very narrow so they couldn't turn it enough to get it through the door to the living room. They said they could leave it on the front lawn until my husband got home (which wouldn't be for another 8 hours). It was November and raining. I rang Littlewoods who confirmed that this was their policy and suggested I carry it upstairs myself ( a triple wardrobe, a double and a dressing table). I made them take the whole lot back.
We then went to another furniture shop, went through the whole process of ordering, came to sign the forms at the end (spent about £3k) when I said " your delivery men will bring this upstairs won't they? " The guy shifted a bit and said it wasn't actually company policy but some of them may do it at their discretion, but he couldn't guarantee anything. We cancelled the order there and then.
10 years later our Argos bedroom furniture is till going strong.

Laura Ashley would take furniture up to the first floor but not the second . As my flat begins on the second floor they wouldn't deliver the chair. The stairs have walls either side etc so there was no chance of them falling over the banisters. I was livid.

I now check with all companies before ordering things. John Lewis has always been great and so were M&S.

Debenhams and Next have both delivered furniture to upstairs rooms this year for me. M&S have done so previously. One of the Next deliveries was a sofa. They were all fantastically helpful and pleasant.

Oh, and I emailed Customer Services at Ikea last month with a complaint about their utterly hopeless website, and I am still waiting for a reply now!

Ikea delivered a sofabed and carried up to our loft conversion (4 flights) - no problems and no questions asked! This was Jan/Feb this year.

I also had Ikea wardrobes delivered and the guys just asked where I wanted it, and when I gestured towards the upstairs bedroom off they went. No question. DH did give them a tip as they were very heavy and it saved him a job. Clearly it depends who you get, and who is home!

I ordered a king size divan bed and mattress from Tesco about 2 months ago. I was fully expecting them to leave it in the hall because I have 2 turns in my stairs and a stairlift.

The men were fab, they saw me on my crutches, said they'd take it upstairs. DS2 showed them where, they unpacked it, put the feet on, attached the two base pieces together and took all the packaging away! They were an independent firm that Tesco use, the delivery fee was a fiver! I was so impressed I rang and told their customer service department how brilliant they were!

keep complaining until you get to speak to a manager in charge of deliverys or in charge of ikea direct. play the pregnancy card and make sure they send someone to sort it out.
we had a big problem with various thinsg over our ikea kitchen recently including delivery problems and I stood my ground and kept complaining, ended up with a large amount of ikea vouchers, around half the cost of the kitchen plus they also sorted every thing out. I had to get past quite a lot of rude people before I got to a good manager who was understood the problems we had had and felt we shoukd be compensated.