There’s a new shop in Southampton. One which I definitely won’t be buying anything from. I will probably be in the minority here but Ikea is top of my list of companies never to give money to again, even above British Gas and phones 4u!
Close by is John Lewis, which is a shop that’s top of my list of places I will spend money, and entertainingly Ikea are trying to lure away John Lewis customers with a big sign for meat balls (there’s a photo on Flickr).
I had the opportunity to test my theory that John Lewis had superb customer service earlier this week, and by some amazing coincidence it was for a very similar reason to the problem Ikea completely failed to resolve. In both cases I bought something that had slightly too much metal- the item from Ikea was missing a hole in a metal bracket, and the furniture from John Lewis had a bolt that wasn’t machined properly. Pretty easy to fix in both cases you’d think…
Ikea
Long story, very short. Several phone calls, an insanely long queue at the customer service desk (being hidden behind the store, with a number ticket queueing system should be a clue to how well that was going to go) and several letters, resulting in me being out of pocket and not having the item I wanted. As far as I can see, Ikea have zero respect for customers from the moment you try and get in the store. Fail.
John Lewis
Phone up once. Phoned back with arrangements for exchanging product. Now I’ll admit, there was a worrying moment when it looked like they weren’t expecting me, but I soon found the right person, who was the same person I’d spoken to on the phone! How often does that happen these days?! Result.
So you can keep your meatballs Ikea… well, almost all of them. I will be over at some point to use the free meal vouchers you sent. It’s a shame they came with a stock letter that had absolutely nothing to do with my complaint.
For anyone who still wants to risk it, don’t forget to check the Ikea-cam before you go. I’ll be waving from John Lewis, eating a very nice ham and cheese omelette.
Notes from a small field 