Thumbs Up for IKEA!

[Keebler Elf]

So I was putting together a shelving unit I bought at IKEA and I accidentally broke a couple of the metal round screw tighteners. Man was I pissed!

I figured now I'd have to contact IKEA, pay exorbitant shipping, and wait a few months to get some additional fasteners in the mail.

I had to return some stuff to IKEA so while I was there I asked about the fasteners. The girl at the counter identified the shelving unit from my description (I didn't have the item number), looked it up on their system, and opened a pdf attached to the file that showed the instructions and all parts. From that I could identify the part I needed and she went into the back and gave me a handful of the fasteners. No charge!

Wow! That's what I call customer service. Everything about IKEA impressed me. They clearly do everything they possibly can to better their business and their customer service was exceptional. They've definitely earned my repeat business.

 

[stinkynuts]

I never bought anything there. But I can say that their food is horrendous.


Nice furniture, nice layout. A fun place to kill some time.

 

[james t kirk]

I never bought anything there. But I can say that their food is horrendous.

Not the cinamon buns. Mmmmmm

 

[Hangman]

I never bought anything there. But I can say that their food is horrendous.


Nice furniture, nice layout. A fun place to kill some time.

Those fifty cent hotdogs are awesome!!

 

[shack]

So I was putting together a shelving unit I bought at IKEA and I accidentally broke a couple of the metal round screw tighteners. Man was I pissed!

I figured now I'd have to contact IKEA, pay exorbitant shipping, and wait a few months to get some additional fasteners in the mail.

I had to return some stuff to IKEA so while I was there I asked about the fasteners. The girl at the counter identified the shelving unit from my description (I didn't have the item number), looked it up on their system, and opened a pdf attached to the file that showed the instructions and all parts. From that I could identify the part I needed and she went into the back and gave me a handful of the fasteners. No charge!

Wow! That's what I call customer service. Everything about IKEA impressed me. They clearly do everything they possibly can to better their business and their customer service was exceptional. They've definitely earned my repeat business.

Shill.

 

[out4fun]

I say shill too. I think its about the shittiest furniture on the planet. Big deal - they gave you a part for your bookshelf that broke before you could even get it together. How professional of them!

 

[ig-88]

Sure, they get kudos for logistics.

But, for all the furniture problems i've had, IKEA wasn't always the cheapest solution.

Sometimes they had the cheapest answer, and they have some great stuff for less important furniture like side tables.

But I wouldn't buy a major piece of furniture like a bed or a couch from them.

 

[Thunderballs]

Ikea is alright. It's not the Art Shoppe (I once saw a $38,000 coffee table there) but at least it's cheap. You know you are not getting top of the line quality but it has it's use at times.

 

[fuji]

Wow! That's what I call customer service.

Ikea is a service business. They aren't selling you a product so much as a service: the furniture is cheap ass, shitty quality stuff that falls apart every few years, so they know you will be back again, and again, and again.

 

[HOUND_DOG]

you get what you pay for at IKEA. Had couple of issues with missing pieces before as well. Things went smoothly for me as well. Too smoothly IMHO. They know their packages tend to be missing pieces, and have a whole dept to take care of this. I would be more impressed if the damn stuff had everyting to begin with. Also had huge issue with my delivery once.

 

[Moraff]

For the most part you get what you pay for at IKEA.... if you're buying compressed saw-dust board that's held together with small screws and tacks don't expect it to survive being moved.

Some of their stuff is much better quality... the LEKSVIK line for example.... real wood and slightly better fasteners.

 

[canonabcde]

Those fifty cent hotdogs are awesome!!

I love to have breakfast in Ikea. One dollar only. awesome !

 

[pc0mo]

For the most part you get what you pay for at IKEA.... if you're buying compressed saw-dust board that's held together with small screws and tacks don't expect it to survive being moved.

Some of their stuff is much better quality... the LEKSVIK line for example.... real wood and slightly better fasteners.

actually peoples number 1 problem with moving ikea furniture , is they dont take it apart. that type of hardware is not meant to be moved around as is. even the hard wood type shelfing will have the same problem .

easiest thing to do is just knocked it down saran wrap them all together and put it all back together at the destination.

 

[peteeey]

Ikea is a Swedish word that means "poorly designed furniture that's impossible to put together."

 

[stang]

I've bought stuff there. No complaints.

 

[fuji]

I disagree with the "poorly designed" comment, Ikea has some excellent designers. The furniture looks great, and is well thought out.

The problem is that it's essentially disposable furniture: You can use it max two years, then you need to replace it.

You CAN use it longer than two years, but it starts to look like crap because the cheap-ass material deteriorates pretty quickly.

 

[needinit]

I bought a few pieces years ago (when first aprtment etc) but did notice last time the quality had dropped a lot (just bought some storage cabinets for the laundry), so don't buy there any more - do go occasionally for the food, swedish chocolate and so on - I lived in Sweden at one time so appreciate the food items!

PS Even though it is at Walmart (which I don't tend to shop at) I have recently bought a couple of Sauder items and found these to be excellent quality for the price (and American made - okay not Canadian, but still close!)

www.sauder.com

 

[Timbit]

Sauder stuff is available at Canadian Tire and (I beleive) Grand and Toy.

I also happen to like IKEA stuff - I have a couple of chairs that have to be 15 years old that are still in great shape (although I have replaced the fabric covers). The trick is to retighten the fasteners every 12 months - it works wonders.

I just found their chocolate this year - fantastic! And the cinammon buns are out of this world!

Timbit

 

[raydeon]

I bought a beautyful computer desk unit, 8 ft. long, separate pedestal, curced top, beautiful magohany wood finish, over 12 years ago. It has survived one move without a scratch. I love it and would not part from it. It was not cheap, $2,600 at the time, but well worth it.



QUOTE=peteeey;2790368]Ikea is a Swedish word that means "poorly designed furniture that's impossible to put together."[/QUOTE]

IKEA stands for Ingvar Kamprad, the initials of the founder, and Elmtaryd Agunnaryd, the name of the farm and the village where he grew up.

 

[fuji]

IKEA is also the worlds largest charity, in dollar terms, due to a complicated tax evasion scheme. It is technically a bigger charity than the Red Cross. It doesn't do much you would consider charitable though--it is a tax evasion scheme.

The company pays practically no tax. It runs as a non-profit charity which raises funds through retail locations and spends the money raising "awareness" about interior design through public events that feature Ikea furniture (other companies might call these events "marketing").

The charity owns the retail stores and licenses the use of the name "IKEA" from the founder and remits large cash payments to him for the right to use the name. Those payments filter through an array of different countries in such a way as to result in him paying next to no tax on the income.

Ikea pays no tax in any of the countries it operates, and only very little tax in the few countries the profits are laundered through on the way to his pocket.

Overall its net global tax rate on profits was estimated by The Economist as being about 3%.