IKEA's Bed Mistake

I'm just flabbergasted that someone would drive almost 4 hours to get
beds for their kids. I'm all for providing your kids with good stuff
but that is crazy!

That's really odd. IKEA is my favourite chain store, and I've always
found their customer service to be top-of-the-line in every case.

That said, maybe you just got somebody on a bad day. Try calling
back, speak to a manager if necessary, and be sure to specify that
you're willing to pay for shipping, which is pretty reasonable in my
opinion.

If that still doesn't work, try contacting IKEA's national customer
service instead.

I hope it works out! Good luck!

This is an unfortunate situation. While I agree that it is totally
Ikea's fault, the only thing I can recommend for the future is to
never purchase furniture so far away from home again. Obviously,
you're not going to open up a box of furniture before you leave the
store because everything is supposed to be in there. I purchased 2
bookshelves from Ikea once and noticed the second one was missing half
the hardware when I put it together. Luckily I had extra of the same
kind on hand at home, because I didn't even feel like driving back a
half an hour to go pick up the missing pieces. I have tons of other
things from Ikea though and never had any other problems. Good luck
to you.

Ikea is totally responsible for this. A bunch of people are blaming
the posters, but when I go to a store and purchase something in a
sealed box, I don't sit and open the boxes to make sure all parts are
there. Ikea should have checked before they put the item back on the
shelf.

Someone at Ikea really dropped the ball on this one. Maybe try calling
again and speaking to a manager? It's not clear in the letter whom you
spoke to and I'm wondering why any manager worth their salary wouldn't
jump on the offer of a customer paying shipping (Which, by the way,
was overly generous and thoughtful on your part IMHO).
I've had small problems with Ikea of Conchohocket and Ikea of Newark
when I lived in Jersey, and they've always sent missing pieces, one
time they tracked down discontinued bookcase shelves for me from
several stores which saved me from having to get a whole new wall unit
set. I've always been pleased with their quality and customer service,
So I'm shocked to hear their refusal to help.

Yeah they should pay for the gas.. and wal mart should pay for the gas
when you have to return bad meat!

Hmm.. I dont see either happening. I cant beleive they do it where you
are.. thats insane.

That sucks. Everything I've bought at Ikea is great, including my two
big dressers and a nightstand.

I'd like to suggest that when you chose to make your furniture
purchase from a store nearly four hours away, furniture that requires
complete assembly no less, you took your chances. I'm not saying this
situation isn't fair, but sometimes one must consider the
ramifications of making purchases at one place over another.

If I were going to drive that far for self-assembly furniture, I'd be
inclined to take everything out of the box either in the store or in
the parking lot (once purchased), and do an inventory assessment.
Pain in the butt and time consuming? Yup. So is returning to the
store.

I'm glad my Ikea is only 15 minutes away!

Ikea seems to be notorious for having parts missing when you open the
box. We have a dresser in our house right now sitting without a knob
because we didn't want to drive an hour back to the store. They try
to place the burden back on customers by urging us to check all the
parts before we leave the store. Why should we have to do that? It
would be a huge pain, and you really don't know if you've got all the
parts until you put it together. And in the act of pawing through
everything there's a good chance you'll lose some pieces in the
process.

On a related note, they are often out of stock on many items. This is
frustrating when you drive a long way, especially if you do call first
to check if something is in stock, and it still isn't.

Not that I don't still love Ikea :)

I'll break down IKEA for you:
They make their money by selling everything for cost but holding back
4 parts from everything they sell. When they resell those 4 parts,
that is where they make a profit.

I'll break down IKEA for you:
They make their money by selling everything for cost but holding back
4 parts from everything they sell. When they resell those 4 parts,
that is where they make a profit.

Here, if Ikea makes a mistake and you have to return a product, they
will give you money for gas expenses if you had to drive at least a
certain distance. So, really, it's not THAT crazy of a request for
Ikea to pay his gas. The company itself DOES have that policy.
According to BF (Recovery/Returns manager for local Ikea), things just
aren't done in the USA like they are in Europe. Pity. :S

Idea....can you contact the manufacturer of the bed and let them know
what is missing? I did that once with an entertainment center once and
had the part within a few days.


Oh, and no, I was not implying that it was the OP's fault. I just
think it would have been a good idea considering the distance he was
driving.

Although you shouldn't have to, it is a good idea to check and make
sure you got all the required parts when you buy something that needs
to be assembled. This is especially helpful when you live so very far
from the store. If it happened to us it would be no big thing because
IKEA is 15 minutes away but we we purchased something out of state we
would check it.

That being said, I think they should ship you a new one. This is not
your fault and it would be very difficult to return it.

As others have already posted, Bob, this issue was in no way Ikea's
mistake. It was your mistake to not check the purchase before
returning home. Consider, if it is really their fault that you live
so far away. No. of course it's not.

I'm sure after thinking things over, awhile, you have also come to the
same conclusion and agree. Let us know, however, if you do run into
problems with the exchange.

Just a small suggestion... if I were driving 214 miles to purchase an
item, I would check and make sure everything was there prior to
leaving.

With that said, good luck with your problem.