Comments on: IKEA Customer Service Really Failed This Weekend And I Won’t Be Back Soon.

By: david

david — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:23:29 +0000

Thanks for the comment Joseph…it’s amazing what companies get away with, isn’t it?

By: Joseph

Joseph — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 07:30:40 +0000

We went to Ikea today to buy a few things. After checking out I noticed they were selling food items in the area just outside the checkout area. I found a 1/2 pound chunk of swiss cheese, and attempted to purchase it. The sales clerk in the food area rung up the cheese, and I noticed that they had included sales tax. In California food items that are not hot, or intended for eating on the premises are not taxable. Of course I refused to pay the tax and left the cheese with the sales clerk. I called Ikea’s “customer service” explained the problem. The “customer service” person put me on hold for 20 minutes. She came back and told me she couldn’t find someone in customer service to help me, and I’d have to call back. I told her that I thought I was talking to “customer service” but still couldn’t resolve the problem. I should have paid the sales tax, and filed suit in small claims court (I’m retired so I have the time).

By: L Stein

L Stein — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:41:56 +0000

I have complaint with one of your store supervisors I have sent him two emails in regards to speaking to one of his supervisors or and the head-office, and by the way I reside in Toronto Canada. I would like to speak to someone about this matter as soon as possible but I am not sure who to contact from here, I also called Ikea ans spoke to someone she couldn’t even give me a proper email address. This is concerning one of your products I had consumed and got very ill.

Regards, L.Stein

By: david

david — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:44:39 +0000

they didn’t know what was on your card…could be $5..could be $5,000. until the system was up there’s no way to tell – Yes, they did. They called it in and sure enough, that worked fine.

By: nedm

nedm — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 16:17:52 +0000

It’s pretty rare when a system is down. Considering that it’s GE that does the finances of most store cards (ikea, home depot, lowes etc) if something wrong happens at ge it effects all the others.

In order to legally comply with sorbanes oxley EVERY purchase must be accounted for. There’s been restrictions in terms of what the receits say, what state laws say etc. For example paying for something with a check one day and you return the other you won’t get you’re check back because it hasn’t reached it…checks are extreamly slow because you deal with companies that have their incorporation in one area that services one of the branches of the federal reserve and not the others.

Often times if a product is used you might end up with store credit back even if cash was used because now you’ve used it to the point where it isn’t able to be sold as new.

Since the system was down consider the following

1) they didn’t know what was on your card…could be $5..could be $5,000. until the system was up there’s no way to tell

2) Gift cards/merchandise credit etc are NOT the same as cash. Cash transactions mean your change is in cash and you usually keep the receit to prove you paid for something. While credit issued involves the ability to issue a card. If a store cannot issue cards (which they said) then they can’t subtract anything off the card

3) what you were asking for is transactions to be done after the point of sale and that’s illegal in some areas. That’s like issuing a post dated check to a place

4) keep in mind this isn’t just ikea…walmart had trouble with their own cards right after Christmas.

if you want something that is “like cash” then just use cash

By: David

David — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 02:48:37 +0000

Really Patty? Ouch – but will have to check into it, and I will be sending a letter to the AG’s office of California for sure.

By: Mrs. Accountability

Mrs. Accountability — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:28:12 +0000

I have never understood the big attraction to IKEA. One came to our city about a year ago and we’ve been by it dozens of times on the freeway, but have never stopped. My husband’s job actually gets the returned (broken) merchandise. It seems to be low quality merchandise from what he’s seen. On another list I’m on, the ladies are all happy and excited, and several are jealous for a couple of members who just got a new IKEA. After reading your post, I’m even more persuaded to stay away…

By: Patty

Patty — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:12:40 +0000

Ouch, makes me glad that we don’t have an Ikea within a decent driving distance. What I think they were doing (or trying to do) is to make you wait that month where they can then charge you for the pleasure of holding on to the card. Because I am willing to bet that they are one of those companies that have the fee tacked on that for every 30 days that the card is not used $5.00 gets taken off.

By: SC

SC — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 22:56:22 +0000

Yikes, I would’ve been pissed.

While I understand sometimes things are beyond their control, they should’ve posted signs when they knew of this problem so people at least knew–especially as it sounds like a lot of people were using gift cards.

This kinda happened once at Costco–only way to pay was cash or check (debit/credit/and I’m assuming gift card) was down. People were pissed. I wasn’t buying a lot–was planning on paying cash so I had the money, but they only had signs at the cash registers–should’ve told people at the entrance (as they’re entering) of the situation so people could turn around and save them the hassle.

By: L

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:03:44 +0000

I understand your frustration, although, as someone working in customer service, a lot of those things that you suggested are completely out of the control of even the managers of those big stores. If our gift card system goes down, there’s nothing we can do about it. Nothing. While, if the system had been down for a while, it would have been nice of them to post a sign on the door, but what happened if the system had gone down while you were already in the store. They don’t usualy make announcement for that type of thing.

People seem to think that gift cards are better than paper gift certificates, but they cause a lot more headaches.