Problem Solved: IKEA charged my card but didn’t deliver
Q: I ordered furniture from IKEA in April during the lockdown. I had to choose the delivery option because IKEA wasn’t doing in-store pickups, for obvious reasons.
IKEA gave me a super far-out date of May 11. I accepted it because these are difficult times and I wasn’t in a rush. I just wanted to take advantage of an online deal they had at the moment.
Fast-forward to May 11. I have had no email update on my delivery, no calls, no contact from IKEA whatsoever after the initial order confirmation. When I look up my order on the website, there is no delivery or scheduling information.
I’ve called several customer numbers, and they all eventually hang up after declaring that there is no operator to take my call. The only email contact they have currently is for canceling orders, which I don’t want to do. I sent IKEA a direct message through Instagram in a desperate attempt to reach them. No response.
At this point, it feels like they just took my money and ran off like some highway bandit. I just want to get in contact with IKEA and find out the status of my order. I do not want to cancel, as I still want the products I purchased. I need a fixed delivery date and assurances that they will comply with delivery sooner rather than later. Can you help me?
Shaun Rodriguez, Miami
A: IKEA should have responded to your many requests, regardless of the pandemic. And I have to say, this is not like IKEA at all. The company is known for its fast, efficient customer service — not for stonewalling its customers.
You should receive an immediate confirmation from a company when you place an online order. After that, you can track the order through the confirmation number. It appears that IKEA charged your card but never sent you a confirmation. That’s a red flag.
During the coronavirus lockdown, a lot of businesses stopped answering their phones. That’s understandable when your employees can’t come to work. But if you’re still taking orders — and offering discounts to encourage more sales — it’s not unreasonable to expect an employee to take calls from its customers.
But the COVID-19 crisis was a once-in-a-generation event, so the normal rules of business don’t apply.
You mentioned not having any IKEA contacts. I can help with that. I publish the names, numbers and email addresses of the IKEA customer service contacts on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. You could have followed up with one of these executives to find out the status of your order.
I checked with IKEA. It turns out you placed your order while the IKEA site was “experiencing technical difficulties.”
“This resulted in the order being placed into a status that prevented it from moving forward within our warehouse,” a representative told me. “We’ve reached out to Shaun to see if he’d like to continue with his order or cancel it.”
If you need help with a coronavirus-related refund, please contact me. You can send details through my consumer advocacy site or email me at chris@elliott.org.
Christopher Elliott is the chief advocacy officer of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers resolve their problems. Contact him at elliott.org/help or chris@elliott.org.
Source https://bayareane.ws/2zbVwCb
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