Stupidity delivery

I haven’t updated in a while. I’ll do my best to do better.

Lemme tell you how the new year started with a huge dose of stupidity from IKEA.

I had ordered some furniture, including an armoire, online. The delivery happened without a problem. Except that only two of the three boxes came in the delivery, and I was missing the doors.

I called IKEA on the Sunday and they immediately diagnosed the problem. The solution: a delivery on Thursday to take back the incomplete purchase and give me a complete new set (I get this, for inventory purposes). I told them that was fine, except that I had to leave home at 5 p.m. that Thursday on the nose, because I had to grab a train to London at 6 p.m. IKEA says no problem.

Thursday 4 p.m. comes, and nothing. I check the status of the order — it’s still being prepared.

I let IKEA know that this was now unfeasible, and that I would be back on Tuesday for pickup. They email me to say I should call to set up a new appointment. This was Friday, when I was in London.

Saturday comes. The delivery people call. They’re coming to my apartment. I told them that I had already told them I wouldn’t be in town again until Tuesday. They said okay.

On Sunday, I get a text, saying that they’ll be by Monday.

An increasingly annoyed email to IKEA follows. They call Monday, saying they don’t have a record of any scheduled delivery, so we scheduled something for the following Saturday.

Monday evening, and I’m on the train. I get a call — they’re coming to the apartment.

At this point, I email IKEA again to ask about their incompetence. Now, the first time, they apologized with the following language:

Je suis navrée de cette situation inhabituelle et je vous prie de bien vouloir nous excuser pour la gêne occasionnée.  

Ce n’est effectivement pas l’image que nous souhaitons promouvoir auprès de nos clients.

This time around, they apologized with this language:

Je suis navrée de cette situation inhabituelle et je vous prie de bien vouloir nous excuser pour la gêne occasionnée.
Ce n’est effectivement pas l’image que nous souhaitons promouvoir auprès de nos clients.

Geez, it’s almost as if they didn’t mean it.

Anyway, they come on Saturday and the exchange happens. You’d think that would be the end of this.

But the following Friday, while out for lunch with a friend in from out of town, I get a call. The delivery people are coming to my apartment.

My friend, who speaks French, told them that the exchange happened six days earlier. Implied: PFO.

This being France, customer service isn’t a thing. I’m filing a formal complaint with IKEA, but it probably won’t do much good.

Sometimes, I do miss customer service.