Buck up, Ikea…

I have always loved Ikea products and concept, so much that I visit Ikea at least once a month, and most of my stuffs are from Ikea, including 2nd hand stuffs. 😛 However, last Friday, I had a most terrible experience in Ikea that would probably taint the image of Ikea in my brain forever.

My church wanted to renew the book shelves in our library and initially we wanted to custom make. However, it was really pricey so I managed to convince them to buy from Ikea. I’ve used the Billy bookshelves myself and really liked them, not only its functionality but also its class and style.

So, with my youth pastor and a couple of young girls, we headed off to Ikea Damansara on a Friday morning. When we got there, we were all excited, as these young girls don’t come Ikea much. We shopped around and finally decided on the number of shelves we needed, which were 10 Billy full height shelves at RM185 each, and a pair of glass doors for each bookshelf.

I sent the girls in search of any Ikea employee to help us out, as we wanted the items delivered and installed in Kajang. Someone came along and told us we need to bring the order down to the checkout area and show it to one of the workers there who would help us. So we went down and found someone, but the person told us it is a self-serve item, so we have to get the trolleys and get it ourselves. So, we pushed 4 big trolleys to the area where the shelves and doors are packed, but it was impossible to us to carry even one shelf. For one, there is only one man amongst us 3 ladies, me being heavily pregnant and the other two being thin young girls.

My pastor then approached the neared employee, a big burly looking guy and tried to explain to him that we needed help to carry 10 shelves and 24 doors out to the delivery area. The guy simply flashed and said, “I’m sorry, it’s self service”. At this stage, you can imagine how helpless we are, so we had to explain to him in detail to get him to see the situation. After some minutes only did he say, fine, let me get someone.

A few minutes passed and a very thing young fella came, he was willing to help, but he looked really not strong enough. He huffed and puffed as he and my pastor used all their strength to carry each shelf onto the trolley, while the girls carried the doors. The big burly employee looked from a distant, and as we were pushing the trolley to the cashier, and came over and just pat the poor on his shoulders which lifting a finger to help. While the rest of us were struggling with pushing the ultra heavy trolleys.

After making all the payment at the cashier, we had at least a security guard that helped push one of the trolley to the delivery area. At the delivery area, we made the payment and was told a call will be made before delivery, but there was no confirmation of date and time.

The next day, someone called my pastor to say that they are delivering the shelves that day itself. However, our library was not ready for the shelves so my pastor asked if it can be sent on Monday instead. However, the person said it’s not possible unless we want to pay RM20 per day per trolley. That means a total of RM160. Well, we had never heard of this before, so my pastor asked to talk to the manager, who was not at work, and finally managed to waive that fee with a superior.

However, they then said they can only send it on Tuesday and not Monday. And when they came on Tuesday, they presented an invoice of RM160 for the storage fees! Again, my pastor had to make calls to the customer service, who didn’t believe he already spoke to someone on Saturday that had waived that fee, and finally after calls here and there they took the invoice back. Now, another thing was the installation which took 3 Ikea workers 3 hours when they promised 40 minutes in the first place….

And then I wanted to know what is the actual Ikea practice…and this is what they replied me when I wrote to them.

ustomer Service/Ikea_kl
toleona lim
dateThu, Nov 27, 2008 at 9:00 PM
subjectRe: [TAG] service

Hello There,

Thank you for your interest in IKEA products. All purchases of IKEA items will need to be done at our store, as we do not have an online service. IKEA is mostly a self-service concept store. Customers are welcome to drop by at our store to view & test the products at the Showroom & pick up the items at Markethall & Self Serve area. You may ask for assistance at the Self Serve area if you find items too bulky to pick.

After that customers can then just make payments at the Checkout (cashier) area. Customers are encouraged to cash and carry their purchases; so they save on transport cost. If they do not have transport and would like assistance, we have Home Delivery services.

Home delivery can deliver furniture items only (excluding fragile items) and a service charge of RM65.00 per trip for a one-tone lorry. All items are to be delivered within 3 days from the date of purchases(Storage charge of RM20.00 per trolley, per day is more than 3 days is charged). Same day delivery is possible depending on the availability of the deliveries for the day. For the same day delivery, customers need to confirm with the delivery department prior to purchases before 2pm.

An assembly service is 5% from the price of the item (except Kitchen items). Assembly charges for normal items are paid at the Home Delivery counter together with the delivery charges when arranging for delivery appointment. We only assemble items and do not fix items to the wall. All Kitchen items are assembled by an outside contractor and assembly charges are calculated differently (ie. by per square meter). Customers are able to source for their own contractor or they can also contact CT Art at Tel: 03-7726 9954, email (ctartdesigns@yahoo.com) to fix and assemble their Kitchen items.

However, delivery is within the Klang Valley area and within 3 days after purchasing the item. Customers from out of the Klang Valley area will need to arrange for their own transport service. If you need assistance, you may also contact the delivery contractor. His name is Mr Jaafar at: 012-2665527.

All arrangements for delivery services and assembly are between the customer and delivery contractor. Hope this is helpful and see you soon. Thank you and have a pleasant day.

Best Regards,

IKEA Damansara,
No 2, Jalan PJU 7/2,
Mutiara Damansara,
47800 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor D.E.
Telephone : 603 7726 7777
Facsimile : 603 7726 6255
Website : www.ikea.com.my
Store Hours :
Mon to Thu : 9.30am to 10pm
Fri, Sat, Sun, eve of & on Public Holidays : 9.30am to 11pm

So, apparently from the email they sent, they are supposed to help when we really desperately needed help at the check out area regardless it being self service, and they shouldn’t be charging a storage unless it’s 3 days after purchase, in our case we wanted it sent in 3 days. Ikea, I really hope you buck up your service in 2009.