Loss of a long-term IKEA customer

Hello Community, after a very long time as a loyal Ikea customer, I had a really bad experience today with my first complaint. This moved and upset me so much that I made a personal decision and forwarded my dissatisfaction to the IKEA service email. Here is my letter to IKEA... form your own opinion about it...: "Dear Sir or Madam, with this letter I am giving you feedback on an experience made at the Dortmund store in the context of a complaint handling. Background information about the complaint I have owned the cabinet from the Besta series since April 2010 in the dimensions 60x40x128 (001.340.47). It was mounted by me wall-mounted on a sand-lime brick wall with 8mm dowels and corresponding screws according to the instructions. The items inside had a total weight of 28-29 kg. Last week I unfortunately had to discover that the top cover of the corpus had a damage. The two rear screws of the four screws on it were torn out of the chipboard along with larger parts of the panel. The cabinet sagged at the wall about 10-15 cm, only the front screws of the top cover held the corpus together. Fortunately, no one was injured and the contents of the cabinet were not damaged. I disassembled the cabinet, removed the two doors (501.784.68), and brought the corpus for complaint to the Dortmund store (12.xx., xx.xx o’clock, service ticket # xxx) together with the receipt. Report of the complaint handling I was asked various questions by the service staff regarding the installation. I was told that it was necessary to send an IKEA team to my home to determine the exact circumstances of the damage. I pointed out that I had no objection if an IKEA employee made the 25 km journey to Bochum, but I was firmly convinced that the damaged corpus I brought along and the exact installation details should be sufficient to settle damage over 55 EUR. Next, the service employee asked me what exactly I had stored in the cabinet. After explaining that various items such as vases, photo books, etc. had found a place in it, I was told that this cabinet was only suitable for up to 128 DVDs (reference to note in the computer system under the heading "Customer Benefit"). My question whether videotapes could also be stored in it was met with surprise. It took a few minutes of convincing on my part that a load limit of furniture definitely makes sense, but the objects themselves should play a subordinate role. I was then informed by the service employee that I would receive a replacement cover for this corpus. After I fetched a replacement corpus from the shelf, I was asked to remove the cover from my brought-in defective corpus. Then the new cover was handed to me from the box. I was kindly seen off by the service employee with a half-assembled corpus. Personal conclusion In 20 years as a loyal and faithful IKEA customer, I have roughly calculated that I have generated between 25,000 and 30,000 EUR in sales in your stores. So far, your products have always met my expectations. Believe me, after such a long time as an IKEA customer, I am very aware of what I can expect from a 55 EUR corpus. After my now actually first real complaint case, I am deeply disappointed about a) the course of the complaint. Sometimes I felt more like a beggar than a customer with a serious concern. Especially being left standing with a half-assembled corpus is by far the greatest humiliation I have ever had to experience as a customer. b) the result of the complaint Thank you for the replacement cover, but a new replacement corpus would have been exactly the result I would have wished from a service-oriented furniture store. Considering my future consumption cycle as a consumer regarding the purchase of furniture, IKEA could certainly still generate another 15,000 to 20,000 EUR in sales with me. Unfortunately, I have to inform you that I am hereby ending my loyal customer relationship with you and will therefore not buy any more furniture from you. Best regards" Your Tomtom

So, I don’t know exactly what you expected? A new wardrobe and a bouquet of flowers?

The lady handling the complaint obviously did nothing wrong. What I really appreciate is that despite your frustration, you don’t speak badly about the colleague. You surely know that a three-time repair attempt is legally mandated. That is exactly what she did. She also tried to find out where the error might have been, whether in the material or maybe in the usage, and even gave you tips on that. I don’t find it humiliating to leave with half the wardrobe and the new top panel. Why? It is common practice for it to be handled that way, and many customers do the same. Before they return the entire 3-meter Pax wardrobe, they come in with the damaged side panel or similar, exchange it, and are on their way again.

By the way, it doesn’t matter at all whether you spend 10, 100, or 1000 euros at Ikea. All customers are treated equally. The colleague doesn’t see how long you have been a customer or how much you have spent. And honestly, it doesn’t matter at all. You are free to go somewhere else. However, I am curious where you will find this price-performance ratio. Also generally with Ikea products. You always have to look beyond the obvious, and there are things I don’t like about Ikea either. But please try to find a system similar to Besta anywhere else. Either it’s big junk or expensively delicate. Believe me, I have actually tried that myself.

At this point, I would like to thank you again for not portraying the employees or the goods themselves in a bad light. The employee has continued to exhaust her options to help you. Fundamentally, I would find it a shame to lose customers like you. Despite everything, you remain friendly even when you are disappointed. The rudeness one has to listen to every day is sometimes really hard to digest.

Regards

Na.

What is going on here???
Everyone calm down a bit again.

Dear Tomtom. Could it be that you did not interpret the instructions for your shelf correctly? I know of a wall-(hanging) shelf from the Besta series, but the number you show us is a shelf for the floor, and I have looked at the instructions. There, I cannot see any (hanging) wall mounting for your shelf.

What you probably mean:

Quote from the IKEA website:

...This piece of furniture must be attached to the wall using the included fittings.
The type of attachment depends on the wall material. Please use screws and dowels suitable for the wall type (sold separately)...

But I cannot find the term "wall shelf" anywhere.
How many brackets did you use to hang your shelf?
There are differences between the shelves. For the shelf you show us (001.340.47), the dead weight is almost as much as the wall shelf (801.340.53)...

Please check once which shelf you actually have.

:

Unfortunately, you are not entirely correct with your statement:
Quote:

You are surely aware that three times rework is legally required.

IKEA has a rework right of 2 times. After that, the customer can withdraw from the purchase contract. But first, the customer must prove that everything was done correctly.
Next, the employee did everything right; whether she was friendly, I cannot judge.

:

You write:

This was mounted by me hanging on a sand-lime brick wall with 8mm dowels and corresponding screws according to the instructions.

Can you please explain the instructions in more detail? I cannot find any instruction specifying which screws to use for which wall. Or do you mean:

The type of attachment depends on the wall material. Please use screws and dowels suitable for the wall type (sold separately)...

Then you continue:

The two rear screws of the four screws were torn out of the chipboard along with larger parts of the panel.

If I imagine: A lid with 4 metal dowels and 4 eccentrics is supposed to hold a weight of roughly 65 kg, I would be slightly confused. That results in an individual load of a good 16 kg per metal dowel.
For the wall shelf, I come to a load of only 14 kg per shelf. Then there is the wide distribution and better distribution through the longitudinal division.
Then you continue: "The items inside weighed a total of 28-29 kg."
I do not want to accuse you, but why do you know the weight so exactly? Could it be that you miscalculated a bit, and it was perhaps 4-5 kilos more?
Anyway....
It is nice that you have spent so much money at IKEA in the last 20 years. Because in doing so, you have contributed to many people having a job. I personally think that’s great. To my sorrow I also spend too much money at IKEA, but that’s just by the way.

At times I felt like a supplicant rather than a customer with a serious concern. Especially being left with a half-assembled carcass is by far the greatest humiliation I have ever experienced as a customer.

Maybe it just seemed that way to you? I cannot understand how everything went.
The fact that you had to assemble the carcass again yourself is not true either. Only you are a person with technical understanding, at least that’s the impression I have, so it was probably easy to screw in the 4 metal dowels, wasn’t it?
Now to the topic "new shelf". You have no entitlement to that. The seller has the right either to rework or replace. In this case it was reworked. All correct.
I cannot completely leave this out and have to comment on my "predecessors":

When I read this here, I see the following:

The customer has (rather unconsciously than consciously) overloaded a shelf that is not intended for wall mounting.
Now he writes a letter and complains that he (without any entitlement) only gets a new lid and threatens not to shop at IKEA anymore.
Nicely or not nicely written.

Is the point of view now a bit clearer to my predecessors?
No offense...

Hello everyone, I just registered and have been an Ikea customer since 2007 or 2008, even though I haven’t spent tens of thousands of euros there, but I really like going (walking, no car ).

As for Tomtom, I find his complaint absolutely unjustified. The sentence about wall mounting is included with many articles/shelves because Ikea has to legally protect itself, since, for example, children can pull on a shelf and could be crushed by it, so it should or must be attached to the apartment wall (STANDING!). That way, Ikea is out of trouble.

That only the defective part is replaced is perfectly normal. So no bad customer opinion can be generated from that. And whoever drives 30/35 km to Ikea has to know what they’re doing. Ikea can’t be blamed for that.

And now here is my customer opinion on Ikea in case of damage! Oh no, I only had an exchange, that’s how it was.

In 2008 I returned an item, I think it was the blue transport cart that I didn’t want after all. At the service point, they say that whoever waits longer than, I think, 8 minutes (there’s a clock nearby), gets a voucher for a cold drink in the restaurant. That’s exactly how it was, I waited about 12 minutes and mentioned it with a shy grin. During the conversation it was apparently forgotten again, so that in the end I brought it up again and received the voucher handed over. The exchange (unused) was of course no problem. (It was freshly bought anyway)

Then in 2009 I believe, there was a survey that I was supposed to participate in. It was about the new functions/elements of the website, like this community or whatever it was, with a forum and such... So I took part and it also took quite a long time. At the end, however, there was only a THANK YOU and that was it! I was angry, not even a raffle ... and I “complained” to the service online via form or email.

The result was: I received by post, but only after another inquiry (it had been left at their desk), TWO FULL RESTAURANT VOUCHERS FOR FOOD AND DRINK OF CHOICE! I gave one to a friend from Ulm (also an Ikea fan) and with the other I chose the Argentine steak with my friend during a visit in 2011 (it was still valid), so saved 10 euros.

All experiences from the DUISBURG (-Hamborn) branch, as well as the internal service employees who were VERY FRIENDLY! They apologized with the vouchers because they hadn’t thought to at least link the survey to something you could win. Because I gave very precise individual feedback and sat there for at least half an hour. Had I known that beforehand, I would have clicked away the survey! It said “short,” haha.. funny (And I like doing surveys)

And recently I also occasionally visit the branch in DÜSSELDORF next to the company Henkel (factory/industrial area). Everyone there is also friendly.

Yesterday at checkout I experienced that my goods fell off the conveyor belt at the end, EVERYTHING! hehe I wasn’t to blame, but immediately (it was CLOSING TIME!) dozens of employees rushed over and picked it up for me, and the cashier apologized and asked if nothing was broken. I said if it was, I would come back (grinning noticeably) and she too, and she said that was only natural and apologized again.

At home in Duisburg I was only at 11:20 pm by the way (Saturday, they were open until 9 pm), that was a day.. help (Yes, took bus and train, as always)

And now I read here from Tomtom this delightful opinion/complaint about ending a very long customer relationship with Ikea just because he screwed a standing shelf to the wall and fully loaded it.

Seriously?

One more thing: In the restaurant (Düsseldorf) I noticed that they now have coin slots next to the beverage dispensers (hot) except cocoa and coffee “normal.” Everything else costs 1 euro or 1.50. A month ago that was not the case. I only saw customers who stood there dumbfounded and shook their heads.

PS: I think IKEA is brilliant, I never thought it would be like this before. Ikea wasn’t in Duisburg and I only knew the name and that everything there was supposed to be cheap stuff. No no, I have to use the shortcuts I always take anyway so I don’t get caught up in a buying frenzy. Especially down in the hall, it’s particularly bad. I always try not to have a cart or a bag, but that only works if I only want to buy 1-2 items, otherwise you need at least one shopping bag again. Luckily they lie around everywhere, I always decide on the bag in the store because I end up buying more than I wanted.

That’s Ikea. And I really like walking through the showroom. The Ikea interior designers are really great. I’d love to get locked in there and stay forever. Speaking of which: I told two Ikea employees something like that once, they laughed and said they always make a point of checking everywhere because they have actually locked in customers before, because for example, they fell asleep in a bed, hehe.

And again: No matter which employee in the store, no matter what time I talk to, always friendly and always explaining and showing everything! TOP!

And one more thing: The Family products or prices (I of course have the card, just for the restaurant alone) are brilliant. I got the laptop bag for 15 instead of 20, or the shopping cart for 15 instead of 20 (now only 7.50 or 8.00 EUR instead of 20!) and and and. Especially since I once saw the shopping cart in a ZDF test, competing against models costing up to 200 EUR, which ALL FAILED, only the Ikea one held up perfectly, waterproof too!

Everyone I drag to Ikea, I first drag into the Family department (taking a shortcut) and force them to fill out an application. The transport insurance is also great, no matter what happens and whether it’s your own fault, it will (allegedly) be exchanged. Has anyone actually had experience with that?

But I still have to shake my head about the above “complaint.”

Ikea customers are just different, 99.99999% are lovely, nice customers with excellent pronunciation
The rest....I’ll say nothing about.

What was done here with the shelf, I personally find amazing and wonder why a hanging shelf wasn’t just bought right away, then maybe the questions could have been saved, but even that seems to have been too much, hats off to the Ikea employee.
The job these employees do is one of the most stressful you can imagine, not all are nice when it comes to exchanges (I mean the customers, not the employees), what they have to endure again and again in terms of hostility and insults when the customer doesn’t get their way, respect ladies and gentlemen from the exchange department!!!!!!!

After 20 years as an Ikea customer, you should actually know that a standing shelf doesn’t serve as a hanging shelf, I wouldn’t have refunded or exchanged anything!!!!! But that’s Ikea, even with customer errors they show goodwill on their part, of course it also depends on how I approach the employees, if I’m nice and friendly, I am served accordingly.

But unfortunately I have often experienced how customers have recited the entire animal kingdom and the employee remained calm.
Or people get upset about checkout lines, why actually, that’s part of Ikea
Has anyone taken a closer look at how such checkout lines form? I have and I found it really amusing.
First, the goods go on the conveyor belt, I’m not up yet, I push forward up to the cashier and make faces because she hasn’t scanned my goods yet, then it’s time the customer in front of me pays, I’m finally up, so I watch fascinated as the goods get scanned, first the big items on my cart then the small items on the belt, everything gets scanned and the belt is almost full at the back but I as the customer only get the idea to take the goods off the belt once everything has been scanned, so I calmly clear the belt first, hm there was still something??? Right, I still have to pay, in the meantime, comments come from the following customers: could this maybe go faster with you? They don’t mean me as a customer, no, the cashier is surely meant, well then I want to pay, OOPS not enough cash on me, no problem, I pay by card, just annoying that I have to enter the PIN, because the next customer is already standing there and waiting for their goods to finally be scanned

I love Ikea and admire the employees there every day for their patience and good mood, no matter how stupid the customer is behaving right then

One small note, joking with the cashier I find great when your goods fall off the back of the belt but sorry it was your fault, you could have already put them back in your cart

One small note, I think joking with the cashier is great when your goods fell off the belt at the back, but sorry, it was really your fault, you could have put them back in your cart by then

I'm not that dumb either, I was paying by card, had everything ready, but the process took a while and I only had 5 (bulkier) items, which the cashier stacked awkwardly on top of each other

I couldn’t push the cart back and leave my card in the reader while the cashier was waiting for my input, especially since there was a voucher and all sorts of things being scanned, also the family card and so on. And the 5 items were already at the back of the belt and the belt just kept running and since I am blind in my left eye (so I couldn’t see the end of the belt), I also couldn’t see that belt end from any peripheral vision, and after the waiting time, I didn’t expect the few items (all plastic and 2x metal) to fall down from there.

Honestly wondering how the two shelf inserts VARIERA RATIONALLY could have fallen off the back as flat metal packages (shrink-wrapped). That means the cashier must have placed them on top of the microwave hood and the drain rack for the sink! Oh man… Mom taught me early on, "always put the heavy stuff on the bottom…"

I didn’t even realize the noise came from me, that is from my goods, which I did not stack that way on the belt. After entering the PIN, I finally turned around out of curiosity (after all the racket) and was surprised that the staff suddenly bent down at my checkout end (which I found very kind).

But next time I’ll definitely take the self-checkout, no more waiting in line for me and I’ll handle my goods myself and they won’t just fall off somewhere.