Ikea complaint to customer service - bad experiences

Good day,

we bought a Karlaby 3-seat sofa bed at the Ikea store in Cologne-Godorf, after some time the first slatted frame broke, then the next one and so on, seven pieces broke in a short period one after another. We did not jump on it, did not have wild sex or anything like that on the sofa.

Then everything happened as follows:

1. A call to the IKEA hotline, we were asked to write everything down and send it via online form. A message via online form to the Ikea complaints department. Photos, receipt, description - everything included. After one and a half months no response.

3. A call to the IKEA hotline, "we will call back as soon as possible." No callback in the following days.

4. Another call to the IKEA hotline. After a half-hour wait in the queue an IKEA employee answered. "I will transfer you." Another half-hour of listening to music. Another IKEA employee answered. I told him the ticket number (received after filling out the form in step 2). He could not recognize the number. He could not do anything with my IKEA Family card number either. Based on my last and first name, he could not identify me either. He received my email and wrote down the phone number and promised to get back to me shortly.

Since then nothing new.

The slatted frames can actually be purchased on Ebay for 30 euros. That might be the easier option. But why should I spend money when there is a complaint case? Why should I waste so much time trying to get in touch with the contact person at IKEA regarding a COMPLAINT? And why do IKEA employees say they will call back, but do not call back at all?

Best regards, Leonid

Unfortunately, the entire organization of the hotline for customer complaints is a disaster (I have dealt with it myself before - though not with the patience of Igranats - and there are several others here who have reported on it). There seem to be major problems with internal communication between the hotline and the stores or customer service. It's a shame that Ikea doesn't place any importance on this at all. With the many hundreds of millions of pieces of furniture sold by Ikea Germany each year, a well-developed telephone customer service for after the purchase should cost on average no more than 10 cents extra per piece of furniture, which the customer wouldn't even notice if it were added to the price. It's not only that personnel are almost certainly being cut, but the staff who are there for customer service also seem to be largely cut off from the rest of Ikea. Or somewhere there is a long assembly line where at the end there is a big trash bin where customer inquiries fall. No offense, Ikeaner.

But apparently Ikea has not yet developed any awareness of this problem (at least not in Germany). Just as the famous chair in every store is put through continuous testing, Ikea should also check the quality of its customer service.

I already have my reasons why I recommend a visit to the store instead of the hotline here...
That it is not possible for everyone is clear.
The most annoyed about this are, by the way, the colleagues in the store who have to fix the nonsense the hotline spreads.
A student who types questions into a computer and reads answers from it, without ever having worked in a store, is simply no substitute for an employee with practical experience. I just fear this will not change in the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately, this is common with 98% of all hotlines.

I have to say that we are not rip-offs or anything like that. We bought a huge amount of stuff at IKEA, including the entire kitchen. Most of it was already fine, some things were somewhat okay, and only two complaints, the sofa and the extractor hood, about which I have already posted in this forum, where we are only requesting a replacement part delivery.

I cannot remember a time when anyone was reliably called back. This is not an excuse for IKEA, but I wouldn't know where it would be better, especially if there are call centers. Ikeaner have already written about that.

At the customer service in the furniture store, I have never experienced being simply left hanging. Broken slats from a sofa bed were replaced immediately. For that, a new one was cannibalized.

I have also never had any problems with customer service at the furniture store. However, I have the unbeatable advantage that the nearest Ikea is only 7 km away; you can even drive there just to get cookies. I can imagine that it becomes problematic and much more annoying when the nearest Ikea is over an hour away by car.

I know some large companies where you don’t get stuck in a waiting loop but can contact them by email – and where you then really get help quickly. So it can be done differently. On the other hand, I know from many craftsmen that they never call back, at least from the moment they have the signed contract in their pocket.