IKEA Gibberish

[Peter Twydell]

In message , Ron Lowe writes

Must....resist....the....temptation....to....ask....who...that....was...

[lairdy]

There you go then. Have you checked recently though ? I seem to have misplaced 1/2" since my youth. It may of course have gone sideways.

That's the one.

(I'm moving house soon. Already having nightmares about being drawn inexorably back to I*** for bits and pieces for months to come.)

[The Medway Handyman]

Elderly? Cheeky git! Hen pecked I'll admit to :-)

If they knew the answer to relatively simple product related question everybodys life would be easier.

As it happens, I didn't take out my frustrations on them at all. They remain juvenile imbeciles though.

[Chris J Dixon]

Saw a memo from our procurement people today, explaining (in essence) that there had been quite a bit of the new accounting software saying "No!". This has apparently resulted in suppliers "receiving none payment" sic.

We were wondering if they bothered to send it in a brown envelope.

Chris

[Mary Fisher]

Details, please?

Mary

[Cicero]

============================ Well, I think they do their best with rather limited training. The fact is that product information is an expensive commodity - one of the hidden costs when we buy from more traditional shops.

We like the convenience of the large outlets like Ikea, B&Q etc. and the price we pay is a lower standard of service and long queues.

Cic.

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[The Medway Handyman]

A good point. Personally I've always believed that if you sell a product you should make it your business to know all about it. I guess they are on minimum wage and have no motivation from their management.

Aint that the truth...........

[nightjar]

What you are asking is that every employee should be capable of answering a wide range of questions about every product in the IKEA inventory. That is the only way that an employee, chosen at random, is likely to be able to answer the particular question you want answered.

Colin Bignell

[Jason]

Wierd isn't it. If it was an outside builder that came in to do it, it would be "don't worry about the mess, would you like a cup of tea, do what you need to do, take your time...".

-- JJ

[Jason]

"nightjar .uk.com>"

No, I think he is expecting every employee to know how to find out, and to be motivated to do so. There is a big difference between knowing everything, and knowing enough to know where to look for an answer.

-- JJ

[Jason]

Oh, and sometimes a "I don't know" will do better than a guess. Sometimes people will just say what they think you want to hear, just so they an make a sale and move on. That results in conflicting information, and usually several visits back to the shop to buy the extra bits you were not told you needed, or for a refund on an item that was not quite what you were told it was.

-- JJ

[The Medway Handyman]

No I'm not. What I'm asking is that the specific staff behind the kitchen help desk, in the kitchen section know the basics of thier range.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I'm told by a plasterer that the standard trick is to ask to borrow the vacuum cleaner to clean up any mess. Housewife is delighted you offered, but secretly horrified at the thought of her lovely expensive vacuum cleaner being used for that mess. More often that not, the response is "Oh don't worry about that -- I'll clean it up after you've gone."

[Andrew Gabriel]

On my way over to my brother's place last weekend, I stopped off at IKEA to pick up some things he wanted. Only when I got back to his place did I notice the catalogue I had picked up said "STORE COPY - RETURN TO CHECKOUT DESK ON THE WAY OUT". Did I pick it up from the wrong pile (it was a giant pile inside the door), or aren't you allowed to take any catalogues from the store anymore?

[deckertim]

Just been to Ikea at Lakeside. Another improvement they've introduced is being able to take your trolley out to the car park.....Perhaps they have started to listen to some of the complaints.

The downside of their expansion at Lakeside is that you have to drive over to another unlit warehouse complex next to a crummy lorry park to pick up items that are not self service.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Same at Brent Park store in all respects (except the external warehouse a mile up the road has been there for ages).

When I have been picking up kitchen parts in the evening, I would order them in the store, and then go to the resturant for a meal. Afterwards, I would drive over to the warehouse, walk in and pick up my order almost immediately. Couldn't help noticing the same customers who were in the kitchen department earlier had been sitting in the waiting area all that time ;-)

[nightjar]

IKEA has gone upmarket since I was last in one if they have help desks for product ranges now. However, I still think you are being hopelessly optimistic if you think they ought to be able to tell you more than you can find out by looking in the catalogue.

Colin Bignell

[Richard Conway]

You do a fair bit of plastering don't you Andrew...is this a technique you us at home ;)

[Roly]

If you live some distance from an Ikea and want to make sure that important stuff is in stock, you can phone and check.

They will then lie to you and you'll waste the journey to the store.

Inside, the assistant will tell you that the particular item hasn't been in stock for ages and the call centre people are always doing that.

When you complain to Ikea, you get the most appallingly condescending reply suggesting that it's never happened before. I've had two of those replies from four wasted journeys and have now given up any hope of ever getting an honest reply from either their call centre, their customer services department or individual store managers.

It's particularly annoying in my case as I live roughly equidistant from four stores and it's of little consequence which one I went to, so long as the stuff was going to be there, but they simply can't be honest and admit that something is out of stock at a particular store.

[Andy Hall]

This is where you insist on compensation for the wasted time and fuel.

I have done this both with IKEA and Marks and Spencer in the past and have received cash in one case and a store credit in the other.