IKEA- why i bloody hate them and their lousy customer service...is this legal??

[noonar]

bought a sofa last weekend. i bought the wrong covers. we bought a 2 seater sofa, but bought sofa BED covers instead. no written description on the pack, just the name (ektorp) and a pic of a 2 seater sofa. the only way we knew we'd bought the sofa bed covers by mistake was by looking at the pic in the instructions, inside the pack.

my fault , apparently, for not being a human bar code reader. the sofa bed covers have a slightly different code. silly me.the receipt gave no description of the product either.

now i have to return to the store and will lose 30% of the £120 paid as i have opened the packet. ffs. i had no way of realising an error had been made without opening the pack.

can they do this, legally, dyou think?

I think legally they can but am very surprised tbh. Most big companies would exchange no problem.

but if there is no written description on either receipt or packaging, surely they are being unreasonable??

I expect they are being unreasonable, but they didn't put them in your trolly did they.

no, blinking, they didnt, but my point is...is it reasonable to expect shoppers to identify their purchases by bar code rather than written labelling?

I thought you only lost some of the money if you didn't have the receipt?

If you can't get any joy with the branch, write to Head Office. I think yo ucould legitimately argue that it was not properly labelled.

nicky, i will, but its just bloody exhausting arguing with these idiots.

daisy, i have the receipt!

oh, it is knackering!
Good luck though!

I found this

"Can shops have a no refund policy? IS, Halstead

You're entitled to a full refund if you return the goods soon after purchase.

At the end of March 2003, the rights available to a consumer who buys faulty or misdescribed goods changed. A consumer who buys such goods is entitled to a full refund if he/she returns the goods soon after purchase. Otherwise the disappointed consumer is first and foremost entitled to have goods repaired (free of charge)"

on the bbc's website. I think if there was no way you could know they were srong until you had opened the packet, then they are being unreasonable not giving you a ful refund. Contact the store and speak to them, and then ask Trading Standards for their advice if it;s a no-go with IKEA

Ikea are wankers

Waited all day/took day off work for Ektorp sofa covers to be delivered yeaterday(same product as you??!) and the buggers never showed up.

Rang them and not even an apology.
Just a "they should come on monday or tuesday"

Good luck

thanks, nicky.

daisy, maybe i need to google misdescribed goods...

I have done something similar with a storage system - brought the white instead of pine - no way of knowing until opened.

I took back in orginal packaging (only one end open) and they refunded me the full amount. Was prepared to have arguement along your lines, but no need.

Good luck!

but they are in separate bays for picking? I found the difference quite obvious when I bought ours???

allgone, its so annoying. i actually have my new covers, now. bought them online and they came early. shock horror! i still have the old ones that i bought last week, tho. sorry youve had probs too.

IKEA's website doesn't mention the loss of 30% if opened. It just says return unused in it's original packaging. Not that the original packaging has to be unopened.

I would challenege them on this, although I'm sure I saw stuff instore about it.

ours arent even kept in the store, they are in another depot a few miles away.

piffle, they are in the same aisle, on the same shelf, opposite the actual sofa.

daisy, it says on back of receipt...

must be different at yours we found it not an issues also returned a wardrobe door out of packaging... Got full exchange price!

the reason i know that they are in the same place is that i saw the shelf edge label which read £80- the correct price for the sofa cover , but the product i bought cost £120. so i was in the right dept, just reached down and picked up the wrong pack.

so have you called them about it?

they are a bit shite though. We bought some storage units which we had to collect from a separate building. As DH loaded them into the car we noticed one of the boxes was ripped to shreds and the unit was damaged. We took it straight back in, and they were going to give us a refund and we would then have to go round the store again to get the replacement units. I was 36 weeks pregnant at the time and appealed to the better nature of the woman doing the refund. She finally agreed to get a couple of lads to bring up a replacement. They keep things cheap by having virtually no Customer Service.

Good Luck with it.

just to clarify, it was the person on the phone who was saying i'd lose money. i rang up to check that my brother could get a credit note on my behlf, as the product was paid for on my card.

the staff in store may prove to be more reasonable...watch this space.