Ikea vs B&Q for DIY furniture

[David.WE.Roberts]

Ikea always seems to go together right - unless, of course, you don't follow the instructions correctly.

We have put a lot of Ikea stuff together over the years.

It just works.

I've just spent a frustrating (well, it felt like at least an hour) trying to put a B&Q circular garden table together.

Should be simple. Two metal frames at right angles, held in place by a metal loop with welded brackets.

Turns out after much pushing and grunting and removing and refitting that the frame is bent to f*ck and/or not welded up correctly.

or

is what is should look like.

Now trying to ring them up to ask them to hold a replacement for us.

Friday evening is not a good time to get customer service.

It is a shame that there isn't an Ikea anywhere near us. Nearest is about

1.5 hours drive each way.

So how can Ikea do it and remain cheap, and B&Q just can't?

Grrrr.

Dave R

[Adrian]

Simple. Ikea give a f*ck.

[The Natural Philosopher]

on one of their beds with a free swedish hot tart?

almost worth visiting ikea...and lying briefly on one of their beds.

Do you have to buy anything?

[Adrian]

It's a stereotype, sure, but I'm not altogether sure it's one borne out by their staffing...

...as you'd quickly find out with a visit.

I do like Ikea. But whenever we go, we do tend to buy a lot more of the small stuff - kitchen, candles, food - than furniture. And much of that lot's largely due to 'erself being demi-Swede.

[spuorgelgoog]

Ikea now do online ordering and delivery of a subset of their range.

Owain

[Wesley]

Their stuff assembles very well and is good quality but beware of their staff.

I had to make five return visits to our local store when buying some kitchen units because the staff are total muppets and can't get a simple order right. This is the staff in the Kitchen department AND the collection department AND the shipping department/

Firstly they f***ed up the order and I had to personally return over a quarter of the items. Then they messed up the replacements! In the end I was tearing my hair out, unable to comprehend how they could be such prats.

They did give me a voucher in the end to make up for the mistakes but only after a prolonged battle with their customer service department who would not admit that even their website description of one item was wrong.

[tim.....]

.

That's about as far as mine

I don't see that as an impediment for a one off major purchase.

Ikea have an international presence so overall probably sell many times the quantity of each item.

So they can put more effort into the mechanical design

[Brian Gaff]

Its all down to proper quality control of the pieces and proper handling when being delivered to stores etc.

I have at times bought CD racks from CPC and found seemingly the same items are not quite the same size so mucking up the look of a run of them, and in two cases some end cheeks not even drilled correctly to fit the bits together. I suspect there is a kind of cheapo we make anything outfit that these companies use to make stuff and nobody actually checks the job is being done right.

Brian

[Dave Liquorice]

So does B&Q, they just don't call themselves B&Q everywhere.

I thought Kingfisher owned Home Depot in the US but I can't quickly find a link between the two other than the same typeface and colour scheme for their corporate image. Is it "coincidence" that Home Depot only trade in the US, Canada and Mexico and Kingfisher in Europe?

[charles]

I bought 4 stage lights from CPC a couple of years ago. 3 had one type of cable, the 4th had a differnt type. That 4th also had no connection between the earth on the plug and the body of the light. (CE mark fitted as final assembly stage?) I reckon same product, different factory.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Not the one item I've bought from them - a computer station in pine, ages ago. Bits were missing from the sealed box. And to get those bits replaced involved queuing for literally hours with all those who return stuff. The whole experience was such I decided never to use them again.

The actual goods were fine - the customer service the very worst I've known anywhere.

After waiting over 3 hours with no sign of being anywhere near the top of the queue, I went into the warehouse, opened up another unit and just took the bits I wanted and walked out. I'd have been happy to have been stopped by security.

[Peter Johnson]

I don't think Kingfisher are active in the US. UK businesses can't usually make it work, as Tesco has just discovered. Make what you will of this:

About Kingfisher:

[David.WE.Roberts]

We go to Ikea for major purchases - where the saving outweighs the cost of fuel and our time.

However it is a major trek and not really justified for a £59 table.

Cheers

Dave R

Oh, and sorry about the URL

or chop the session based crap off the end of the original URL

[Steve Firth]

"David.WE.Roberts" wrote: [snip]

Because B&Q don't give a hoot about getting things right.

Since Ikea built some new stores we now have a choice within a reasonable drive both in the UK and Italy. In Italy B&Q are Castorama selling exactly the same tat with exactly the same "f*ck you" attitude. Ikea are weirdly variable some stores have exceptional customer service but our closest Italian store sucks as does Croydon.

Given a free choice I would buy garden furniture from Uno Piu (only) excellent design and quality but either 1000 miles or 100 miles from home depending on which home.

[David.WE.Roberts]

Well, got the replacement and put that together O.K. (ish).

General design is very good, both for looks and for self assembly.

The manufacturing is crap.

The frame almost fits together although a couple of the captive bolts (or tapped whatever) are banjaxed but at least it sits firmly on the deck, and the composite top is very nice indeed.

So good engineering and style in the design.

Rubbish production.

But I guess that is the way of business these days - cheaper to order goods with a 10% or more failure rate and just throw away the rejects than to pay a bit more for quality control at the point of manufacture.

So we pay the price of returning goods for the reduction in overall price.

Cheers

Dave R

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

I agree; there's only one problem with the instructions, which is that Ikea have not managed to find a way of conveying to 'idiots' that although the drawings look sparse in detail, the details they show are crucial.

So if for example they show pre-drilled holes in something, you really do have to check that the piece you're holding/aligning has the same holes in the same place. I've always thought this was obvious, but I think it may be the reason that some people have so many problems.

[GMM]

I'm sure everyone has the same experience: I have bought (along with other things) two whole kitchens from Ikea and only had to go back twice: Once for a duff nut that sheared as I was tightening it and once for a missing piece. Each time, it was sorted out with no fuss. In my experience, the thing to watch out for is packs that have been opened and re-sealed. Apart from that (my missing piece was for a re-sealed box), it has always impressed me that they have exactly the right amount of everything. B&Q I try to avoid (although sometimes you do need an 8x4 sheet cut down). Not only is a lot of their stuff poor but it irritates me how often I have picked something up there, only to find the price at the till is higher than the price on the shelf (never lower, of course). Arguing nearly always solves it but this shouldn't be necessary in a large, legitimate enterprise. I'm surprised trading standards haven't taken an interest.

[Steve Firth]

"Arfa Daily" wrote: [snip]

We used to use their display cabinets in the shop. They cost a fraction of the price of similar units from shop fitters.

[Dave Liquorice]

shortcuts

I noticed them the last time I was in an Ikea.

Some one who must be obeyed suggested that a trip to Ikea would be good idea, on BOXING DAY! After a 3 hr traffic queue to get in, herded round the "you must look at everything" path, not buying anything and a 2 hrs to get out of the car park even she agreed it was not a "good idea".

This was at least thirteen years ago, we havn't been to Ikea since an I think that was the last time she agreed one of her ideas was not good.

[Bob Eager]

We decided to look at IKEA fourteen years ago, at Lakeside.

But decided to take a look at Costco too, and went there first. Spent some time wandering around, joined on the spot, bought a load of stuff...and went home.

Never have been to IKEA!