Supporting England in the World Cup Like I've got time for a BlogSpot!!: SVEDËNHELL

My life, wife and other goings on

26 September, 2005

SVEDËNHELL

I wish to officially take back what I said two weeks ago. I hate Ikea! I loath it with an unearthly passion and now I'm going to tell you why. I'm going to moan, I'm going to rant, I'm going to blitch, and you're just going to have to listen. Cos it's my blog. And I said so.

This is how you buy stuff in Ikea Israel. First, you have a look through the catalogue, either online or in print, and get a rough idea of what you want to buy. You choose beds, a sofa or two, tables for the kitchen and dining room, chairs for both, bathroom cabinets, office equipment, etc. Then you go to Ikea, and are greeted instantly by bright lights, clean walls, a kid’s crèche and two elegant restaurants (one meat, one milk - both fully kosher). Until now you're doing great, you're happy, you're relaxed, you're naïve.

You spend a good few hours on the top floor, where everything is laid out nicely and it's easy to see what Ikea has to offer. You're given a small pad and a truly Swedish pencil, and walk around with the catalogue in one hand, the pad in the other and the pencil in your mouth (or behind the ear for the authentic experience) choosing what you want for your new home and writing down all the product codes. This part is actually quite difficult, as you try to match colours, fabrics, rooms and themes as much as possible. Admittedly, it's slightly irritating that "light wood" in one bookshelf isn't quite the same tone as in another, and that the chairs that match your table only come with red, black or beige cushions, while the matching couch comes in blue, green, yellow or white. But you're bigger than that. You struggle on, and with a triumphant but weary smile on your face you bring your full list, with codes, numbers and colours to the cashier.

With a tone that one normally saves for children and the physically disabled, your cashier pitifully informs you that you've been writing down the wrong product code. You've been looking at the red number on the bottom left corner, when you really need the black number on the bottom right. You need to start again.

Most of us begin to crumble at this point, but some foolhardy people still believe they can keep their composure, and with a smile slightly wearier than triumphant, they head off back through the faux wood jungle once again. Many are lead to believe, you see, that re-writing their list "should be easy", as they've "done in once before" and that all they need to do is find the stuff on their list and write down the other number. I mean, it sounds logical? No? No. for this is Ikea, and logic hath no place within these halogen lit walls.

The Ikea designers, with their incessant scheming, have named all their products in their warehouse after Swedish porn stars! Their basic extending kitchen table is called "Mygård", their single beds are "Tðvik", their bookshelf’s "Billy", and their aptly named saucepan rack "Feckїt". So you're trawling through the shower curtains, trying to find the code to something on your list called an "Anneboded", and about now even the most hardened crusader begins to loose his cool.

But this, my friends, is just the beginning.

Because sometimes, the product code you now need is missing, replaced by a little yellow slip that says "ask at the product helpdesk". So you go to the product helpdesk, to be told that for some reason or another, the product that you want isn't available. Here is a true list of reasons we were told we couldn't get the products we wanted today, in order of appearance:
  • The one in stock only has one door instead of two.
  • It’s not available in that size.
  • No-one else wants it in blue.
  • Everyone else wants it in blue.
  • It’s not in stock, never was in stock, and never will be in stock.
  • The guy who knows where we keep those isn't here today.
  •           and
  • It’s in our warehouse, but too high up.
Never mind that you've just spent two and a half hours colour co-ordinating your living room, we don't have half the stuff, so you'll just have to start again.

I'm gonna speed up here cos I'm probably boring you. I boring me for goodness sake! Here is the abridged version from what happens next to when you finally get to go home:

You go back to the counter to pay, she sends you downstairs to the warehouse, they send you back upstairs to get the petek (product slips) for half your stuff, and tell you to come back down afterwards to get the rest off your stuff. When you get back downstairs, you discover that they don't get the stuff for you (like in Chul), but that you have to go round the warehouse and get it all yourself. So you spend an hour or so putting beds, wardrobes, desks, bookcases and the likes into oversized yet still ridiculously small trolleys. Then, physically exhausted, you bring said trolleys to the checkout only to discover that they don't fit through the slim checkout isles. I have seen grown men cry at this point. Somehow, you get the stuff through the checkout, give in the aforementioned petek, and are told that you have to wait another hour while they get the aforementioned stuff for you. At this point, I cried. Finally, and I do mean finally, you get all your stuff together, pay for it, they give you the receipt and another slip of paper which you take, with your beds, wardrobes, desks, bookcases and the likes, to home delivery where you have to wait for yet another hour for them to give you stickers to label all your products and a stick to hit the dog that bit the cat that ate the goat.

You can then, after spending seven hours wandering around SvedënHell learning to swear profusely in Swedish and cursing every Nordic god you can think off, go home.

Thank you for listening, I feel much better now.



11 people wanted to say something:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

shmuli, i'm so sorry about that horrible yet typical israeli experience. at the same time i couldn't stop laughing.

2:22 am, October 01, 2005

 
Blogger Ross Dudley said...

We are having our own war with IKEA. Check out our story. It was a funny story though.

6:15 am, October 06, 2005

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ok you didn't mention the hell you go through when you get home with all of that stuff to put together. What ever you do publish your histeracal story me and my husband have literally about got a divorce over our big IKEA idea, thanks your story made us both feel a little better. Whatever you do don't think you can get a deal in the "as-is" section you can't take it back and you come home with half a bed.

10:12 am, January 28, 2006

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello. Just read your blog about IKEA. I am a great IKEA fan, and I have to say that your experience is typical, but you must persevere! Invariably the store is out of one or maybe two things you want, so... you go again! Oh, and one or two of the things you buy will have one or two pieces missing (usually a screw, nut, or peculiarly shaped piece of plastic). You will only discover this when you get home.

8:23 am, March 26, 2006

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here is a short film that we made that I am sure you guys will enjoy

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ama5GGE0GP8

10:40 pm, August 15, 2006

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What would you expect from a company founded by a guy who was a member of the Nazi party until 1956?
Just Google "IKEA SUCKS"or "I HATE IKEA" or "Ingvar Kamprad+Nazi"and you'll have hours of interesting reading.

11:27 am, September 19, 2006

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Get some IKEA laughs here -

http://www.jibjab.com/search/jokes/photo/ikea/rating/1

6:10 am, September 23, 2006

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Return Policy
If you are not entirely satisfied with your purchase, simply return the unused item in its original packaging within 90 days unless noted below. A receipt is required for all returns and exchanges."


Okay, so I assemble the chair, and I'm not entirely satisfied (barstool is easily tipped over by my toddler).

Then I disassemble the chair, and return it to IKEA. It is only then that I am told that anything assembled is consdiered "used"! Which sucks, since at least half their merchandise requires assembly. At the very least, the return policy should indicate that assembled = used. Not entirely satisfied? No, I'm entirely dissatisfied! Never again!

9:51 pm, January 09, 2008

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I bought an Expedit bookshelf and two Hopen dressers. I started assembling the bookshelf first and I noticed a deft in the laminate. What am I going to do? Take all this heavy stuff back. I continue to build. Then I start building one dresser. When I am nearing the end, I find completely defective pieces, whatever is on it is completely peeling off. I am pissed, I am tired, it's midnight I go to sleep. I wake up and read the return policy. It is clear to me that you cannot possibly know if you are completely satisfied until you open the box and assemble the item. Clearly that makes the item used, so how do you return this shit? Apparently it is to their discretion. This means I have to disassemble this garbage and obviously it will get destroyed in the process. Take this heavy stuff back, wait in line to return. Finally, I said let me be a big person, let me lose my money with respect. So I decide I will forget about the bookcase because I am not disassembling it for the defect. I will take the two pieces of the bookshelf and exchange it. And I will return the unopened second bookshelf. Completely satisfied? Not by a long shot, but you know, I heard someone was unhappy at a store once so they went their with a razor and cut up all of the clothes. I'm sure that person felt completely satisfied.

5:27 pm, March 31, 2008

 
Blogger Unknown said...

I have been trying, for 4 weeks, to get Ikea to deliver a door for a PAX wardrobe. At the store, I was sold a 195 cm door for a 236cm wardrobe. The balance of the 236 cm space was to be filled with two drawers which Ikea no longer makes.

The guy working in the wardrobe department of the store SOLD ME 2 DRAWERS IKEA NO LONGER MAKES.

One of their staff also handed my 2 bar stool covers that I needed and asked him to fiond for me. He gave me the wrong ones. I am waiting for them as well.

Ikea Sucks!

8:45 pm, September 17, 2009

 
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1:34 pm, October 04, 2020

 

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