No More IKEA Emeryville for Me
Don’t get me wrong, I mean, I love shopping at IKEA . . . the drive to the mega-store, the search for parking, the endless meandering through furniture and accoutrements, only to find yourself facing the stark reality of a giant warehouse, asking yourself if the Black-Brown BILLY bookshelf, which looks so black in the warehouse, is really the same color you were looking at in the showroom, and standing in line, wondering just what kind of crap they put in a 50c hot dog. But once you pay, and you’re rolling out the door, you know you’re not far from the actual joy of wrangling your heavy flat-packed furniture up the stairs and getting busy with the allen wrench.
But yesterday . . . well, I have officially given up on the Emeryville, CA IKEA. Here is my tale, as told in the call-and-response format that passes for “customer service” via the “Internet” these days:
From: Danny Howard
To: IKEA USA
Date: Jan 8, 4:43PM
Via: Web Site Feedback ThingusHello,
My wife and I have enjoyed shopping at IKEA for some years. We are accustomed to long lines, and the need for patience. But today, your Emeryville store took the cake.
We can forgive that the flat carts were not supplied, the line was unmanned, I had to go to the loading area to fetch one. Okay. Too bad none of the staff seemed interested in mediating this problem.
But what left us livid, was that after we checked out, we wheeled our carts over to an open parking spot in the loading area, and I went to fetch the car, and drove all the way around the store, and got to the loading area, only to find that someone, over my wife’s objections, had taken our spot. They were not loading … they continued to occupy our spot as I was circulated out of the loading zone.
Now … I figured “no big deal, I’ll just come around again” but upon exiting the loading zone, there is no option to reenter the store parking lot. The street leads to the highway. That is very upsetting.
So, some time later, I managed to drive back to Ikea, drive all the way around the parking lot, all the way around the store, and get back to the 5-minute parking of the loading zone. The car that had taken our spot was still sitting there, several minutes later, and the rest of the loading lot was filled with PARKED CARS–unattended–just sitting there. NOT LOADING.
While waiting for me to make my way around, my wife asked staff why they were allowing the loading zone to be filled with parked cars. They replied that they had no authority of enforcement. She asked to speak with a manager. Nobody ever came to hear her concerns.
Fortunately, on my second try, the second-to-last spot in the loading zone was available. Had it not, I would have had to park in the FIRE LANE, in order to load our purchases.
We have never been fond of the Emeryville store. The store in Shaumberg, IL is much nicer, and we may visit East Palo Alto some day. But this I can say with some certainty: I will not return to the Emeryville store, unless I can be asured that the loading zone can be made available to people who need to load their purchases, and not to _ssholes that feel entitled to make their own rules, in the absense of management on Ikea’s part.
Thank you for listening.
Sincerely,
-danny
IKEA responds:
Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 19:36:26 -0500 (EST)
From: customer_care@ushelp.ikea.com
To: dannyman@toldme.com
Subject: Re: Contact UsHello <dannyman@toldme.com>,
In order to provide you with the quickest response to your inquiry, this is an automated response. If this information does not provide a response to your inquiry, please reply to this e-mail so we can better respond to your request.
Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
If you change your mind after making a purchase, just bring the product back to your IKEA store unused within 45 days. All we ask is that you bring your receipt and the original packaging.
This return policy does not apply to cut fabrics, bedding (mattresses, mattress pads, comforters, quilts, and pillows) as well as products from AS-IS and items damaged after leaving the store. A fee of 30% of the purchase price will be charged for cancellations of custom upholstery.
You can be the first to hear about special offers, the latest web exclusives and more by subscribing to IKEA’s email list:
http://info.ikea-usa.com/IkeaOptin/Registration.aspx
We hope this information has been helpful.
Best Regards,
IKEA Customer Care Center
Which, according to my careful, cynical, jaded reading, translates as “we don’t actually want to read e-mail, so this automated system will pretend that you are asking some basic question that is easy to answer. LALALALALALALALALA_THANKS_FOR_CONTACTING_IKEA_GOODBYE_NOW_LALALALALALALALA!!!!!!!!!!
Perhaps . . . perhaps I will be proven wrong . . . and perhaps . . . perhaps the Emeryville store does have a way to keep the loading zone ready for loading . . . but . . . I have, let us say, lowered expectations.
Anyway, I got a nice dresser, and tonight maybe I’ll drag the bookshelf upstairs. But for now, I have a Monday to attend to.
Responses
bruce
I just got back from a bad experience at ikea.
First buying kitchen cabinets is complicated, and without help it is impossible
to make sure you have everything right. The staff does not seem interested in
helping, or answering questions. Having worked in customer service I know this
is a bad morale and institutional problem. Once one worker sees a superior
behaving like this they just stop working. Staff walks around the store carefully
avoiding eye contact and answering questions wrong. (at least most of mine)
I asked about office wall caibinets being able to have a shelf inside them. I
pointed clearly to the model I was interested in which had no shelves or holes for
shelves and was told I would get shelves. The second time I asked the IKEA staff
admitted I was right and you cannot get shelves for these.
Then substituting some kitchen base wall cabinets I was told there was a 30″x42″
wall cabinet when it was really 2 30″x24″ cabinets pushed together.
This was not told to me, and I ordered it. Then I had to wait over an hour for
my then WRONG delivery, told by Melanie that my order needed a forklife to get,
when people were buying pretty much the same thing and 4 orders past mine were
already out. Mine came in and was wrong.
I called the store to talk to the real manager, but Melanie quickly ran to the
operator and intercepted the call and told me again about the forklift. With
6 levels of warehouse levels I could calulate there is over an 75% chance that
any item will need the forklift, so why all these customers were ahead of me.
I can just assume it was because I was white and the other customers were non-white,
and the staff at the counter were all black. I hate to make assumptions like that,
but what else can I think. I know statistics, and I could see the way they talked
to me when I just wanted to be nice and cheerful and get out of there with my
cabinets.
This was the IKEA EPA store, and I was livid by the time I got out and ended up
cancelling the whole order. I got nothing after over 100 minutes of being in that
store.
I just send IKEA an email and wonder if I will get any satisfaction from pointing
out what a horrible experience I had there, and how their staff really has poor
customer relations skills. You can notice that when you go in to talk about kitchen
cabinets, at least, the staff ignores you, pushes you to the most junior person, and
there is not training or expertise.
There was one girl who was very good on my first order and did a great job. She and
the help she gave me was the one reason I came back, but she was not here today.
It seems that when junior people see their superiors treating customers with disdain
and basically like they are a pain in the butt, they too get infected with this
attitude, and before long the whole store is acting like that. I know dealing with
the public is a crummy job, but I am polite, friendly and clear and to the point.
Why does IKEA allow their store to be run like the 3rd world, and why do Americans
allow these kind of companies to thrive when their service is so poor?
I am really unhappy, does anyone know where I can get some office wall cabinets
outside of IKEA that are nice and inexpensive?
-B
Joey
Ikea has just lost me ,and everyone I know, as a costomer. I purchased 2 cake pans a few months ago in the Stoughton,Massachusetts store because my grandchildren’s birthdays were coming up. I made my grandson his 1st birthday cake and washed the pan in the dishwasher. The pan rusted terribly all along the sides. The bottom was ok. I took the 2 pans back to IKEA with the original barcode on the bottom and asked for a refund or replacement.They refused to take them back because I didn’t have the sales receipt and the pans were discontinued.(Derrrr- I wonder why?. I spoke with the manager and she could not help resolve the issue either. Now I don’t trust any of their product and I will not purchase from there again. They lost many a reliable customer for $5.98, 2 $2.99 cake pans.
Ikea is not for me ……..hope this helps someone else……Joey Sheehan
Paul
There seems to be a pattern of unavailability with IKEA. They are very secretive about phone numbers and ways to contact them. If you Google IKEA, you can’t get a phone number that works. Don’t even try to use the IKEA Chat link or hope that you will get a meaningful response to your e-mail. As for the (800) number posted on the Website, it will put you into a vortex loop from which you never escape but for hanging up. Do not be deceived by the computer voice that says “please hold for the next customer service representative.” You can’t even phone your local store and get connected. You will be lulled by the elevator music and then unceremoniously redirected back to the circuitious menu of “options”. Call the corporate offices in Baltimore. 1-(610)834-0180. The phone system seems to work and the person in customer service was efficient and seemed competant. I’ll let you know if I receive the promised replacement parts.
Uriel
Funny thing about that IKEA store in Emeryville. When I was leaving the endless circular drive a few moths ago I witnessed someone driving a UHAUL rental truck pull into the parking lot.
Not paying any attention to the height warnings, it smashed the sprinkler system and the truck could not move forward or backward, its occupants in their own private rain storm. Using my cell phone, I tried to call Ikea to tell them to send help (no one could get in or out of their parking lot not to mention the trapped truck and water damage). I tried for 20 minutes during peak hours to get one person to answer the phone. I finially said, “They’re on their own.”
Tammie
Danny, this is hilarious. The SAME THING happened to me when I was pregnant with Jett oh so many years ago. I was standing by the loading area, waiting for Jett’s dad, 8 months pregnant, feet swollen. Some lady comes out with her husband and immediately starts standing in an open spot. It is incredibly crowded and I had been standing there for 10 minutes already. Meanwhile Jett’s dad arrives with the truck… she refuses to move. He argues with her for 1 minute, then gives up and slowly starts backing into the spot… very, very slowly. The women, stubborn as ever, instead of getting out of the way decides to press her back against the truck, as if she could stop it. Slowly…very slowly, she loses the fight. She starts screaming to everyone around her, “Did you see that?” She realizes that the pregnant woman standing there with swollen feet (me) is the one whom the man was trying to park for, so I can sit down and he can load the stuff. She paused, maybe for a second upon that discovery, then declared “I’m going to sue you! You can’t do that!” to Jett’s dad. Of course, he completely ignores her, finishes loading the truck, we start leaving, and as we pull out, her husband finally just arrives and she starts yelling at him about what we “did to her”. Unbelievable. It is people like her who contributes to the chaos, and IKEA’s fault for not helping to direct traffic or post big signs prohibiting saving loading spots or other rude behavior.
may
oh ikea , is the worst customer service , even the manager on the showroom they have at palo alto ,ca , she is the worst, could you believe we asked for help, because we have kids , she told him you should for 20 minutes, he came bake and told me , you know when you go with kids it is not easy to wait that long since we went on Monday to buy it only and leave, since it easier than any other day, and then i became mad and i went to her telling her and i was angry i have kids should i wait for 20 minutes , she said yes the guy he is on his launch you should wait with bad tone , instead to be nice , here i lost my temper since she is pregnant she can’t help, i said no one on the floor no it is bad economy , i asked for the manager, she was the manager,really is the worst store in my opinion you can used high quality furniture an looks like new better than ikea , i will never ever go there , the worst store for the customer service even in my idea they are not that cheap for the quality they have , the worst management and customer service
Julia
I had the worse experience at IKEA Emeryville, CA Yesterday.Couldn’t sleep all night…still very appalled by their hostile customer service department.
we spent about 2 thousand dollars on a living room set of Ektorp Sofa collection 2 weeks ago only to go home and find out that we were missing all the screws to one of the chaise. So we return to IKEA yesterday to request for our missing parts. Waited 15 mins to have our number called and when i got to the register, i mistakenly gave the lady one of the other receipt from the big purchase that didn’t reflect the chaise purchase. She said ” Mam, if you give me the right receipt then we could move on with this.” Not liking her tone of voice i dig through my wallet for the correct receipt and flicked it lightly toward her direction and landed it right next to her key board. My husband realized that i was upset and told me to retreat with our baby toward the bench. The Lady then disappeared 10 mins into the back room. When she came out i heard that she was asking for my husbands drivers licensee and home address. He came back and told me that we have to wait some more since they don’t have the parts in the back and someone will bring the parts from the aisles. so…we waited for another 10 mins until baby got fussy and my husband had to take him to the car. I sat there for another 5 mins and then i went to ask her for the status. she told me that I need to have patience and that they are still checking on the parts that she has no control over another department. I picked some indifference from her tone of voice and returned to her in another 5 mins and asked her again for the status. Without even pausing to check she said” You know what, we are out of stock and you need to leave and just wait for it in the mail.” “will why didn’t you just tell us you don’t have the parts in the first place, instead making us wait all this time? are you following proper procedure or protocol?” I said…And she replied ” you don’t need to be yelling mam, I feel threatened and i think i need to call the security to escort you out.” at the same time all the other customer service girl said…”yes…call security…we feel threatened!” I was so angry about their demeanor i walked out of the return asked another worker outside to help me get a supervisor. ( which was useless and more waste of my time) I was so upset I asked my husband to come back in and handle the rest. Oh yea…when my husband asked how he could file a complain to the manager on duty and was told that they have me on video tape yelling. Many other customers came to me and told me that they could proof that i wasn’t yelling.
Yelling, threatened…these are subjective remarks for them to use against customers. I would love for them to play the tape and let everyone be the judge of that. Bottom line, we never got the parts to our furniture and its questionable if we will even receive it in the mail and I lost sleep over this unpleasant ordeal.I knew that i will never shop at the Emeryville IKEA ever again… Oh by the way…The Customer service Rap’s Name is Catherine. Does anyone know an effective way to file a complain? I just want to prove that I was really mistreated.
Reese
I’m a professional mover in Emeryville, CA. I’ve been in the Emeryville Ikea numerous times with customers dealing with the horrible customer service, all while they are paying me and my helper $80.00 per hour to wait around with our truck.
I will say that they have taken some measures recently regarding the loading zone. They have taken it a little too far in my opinion. The last time I was in there browsing I had left my bicycle locked to one of the railings out front. I hadn’t been in the store for 5 minutes when I heard the announcement “Will the owner of the green bicycle parked out front please move the bike to our designated bicycle parking area in the garage”. It was a slow day and the store had just opened for the day so the loading area was completely empty. I picked up the wine glasses I went for and was in the checkout line when another announcement comes on. “the owner of the green bicycle parked in the loading area, this is your final warning please move your bicycle immediately or it will be confiscated”
Ikea has some good cheap stuff I’ll give them that, but as a furniture mover I can tell you that Ikea furniture has a much higher cost of ownership than if you invest in quality hand crafted furniture. Do yourself a favor and spend 50% more on something built locally or shop on craigslist for used furniture. There are amazing deals to be had on high quality furniture.
It’s my opinion that Ikea is detrimental to the local economy. Many custom cabinet builders and furniture craftsmen have been unemployed and their jobs have been replaced with minimum wage, uneducated and unprofessional customer service representatives.
Ikea is also really bad for the environment. As a mover I haul away tons of unwanted crap, mostly cheap furniture that people no longer want. Thrift stores will not accept any particle board furniture so this stuff goes straight into the landfill, not to mention the millions of tons of packaging that ikea ships with its products each year.
I encourage everyone to boycott Ikea, you’ll be glad you did!
Vineet Daniels
i bought my stuff on 25th from ikea emeryville… its 28th… its still not been delievered… called them up and they said… the stuff is lost…. is there any responsible employee in the store who can help me out…. kindly email me ASAP at vineet.daniels@gmail.com .. because this is heights of unprofessinalism…. i would have called ikea 15 times and paid the delivery charges twice… no one has bothered to help us… and when ever I call them up… they all sound clueless…
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