Ikea ignoring me

[henrygregory]

Hi there,
Purchased custom spec wardrobe from IKEA (online) on 17th June 2020 the cost was just shy of £1000.
It came on 19th June 2020 - I paid for express delivery (£50).
Some parts were missing and when I unboxed the 32 boxes that it came in, I found several components of the wardrobe were smashed to pieces. Therefore, the express £50 delivery was a waste of money and not at all worth paying for as if I had visited the store myself, I would have been able to take more care of the item and it would not have cost me £50 for fuel there and back.

I immediately contacted IKEA on the phone, to hear an automated recording stating that they are not taking calls due to Covid-19.
I had no alternative option but to drive to my nearest IKEA on the same day (19th June). The trip took 3 hours there and back. I was given replacement parts, advised customer service person that I was really unhappy and that the quality of the wardrobe was nothing like the ones they have in their show rooms. I was advised that a note had been put on my file for compensation.

Since 19th June, I have heard nothing from IKEA. I have repeatedly written to them both formally via email and using their Twitter chat feature and I have still had no response to my complaint or any offer of compensation or a resolution to the matter.

There are various quality issues with the product, all of which I mentioned in my complaint and included lots of photographs to evidence this so that it was really clear what was wrong.
Can someone please advise me on what I should do next? I have currently sent three letters, one main one and two follow ups and had nothing. I paid with a credit card. Not sure if I should start proceedings for a section 75 charge back of give them longer?

Any advice would be great.

[henrygregory]

Hi there,
Can anyone offer me any advice? I have sent five letters to IKEA and around 20 Twitter messages and have still heard nothing back from them. I first made the company aware of the issues on June 19th and have had absolutely nothing from them. Do I need to contact my credit card company?

[des8]

Well you can lodge a sec 75 with your credit card provider and recoup the cost of the furniture and your consequential costs
OR you could send IKEA a letter before claim setting out the complaint, tell them what you want and advise that if they don't respond within 7 days you will initiate court action
OR you could do both (but only receive one refund!)

[henrygregory]

Well you can lodge a sec 75 with your credit card provider and recoup the cost of the furniture and your consequential costs
OR you could send IKEA a letter before claim setting out the complaint, tell them what you want and advise that if they don't respond within 7 days you will initiate court action
OR you could do both (but only receive one refund!)

Thank you for your post. I contacted them on 19th of June - the day I received my order to express my dissatisfaction. I actually went to one of their stores and I was given a case number and told that I would be contacted. Nothing. Since then, I have sent dozens of Twitter messages and six official letters, but still getting nowhere.

I gave IKEA one last chance last week as it has now been in excess of two months and got a reply on twitter stating that their customer services department has had over 3000 messages.
I have replied this morning asking if they need more time and again re-iterating that I have been waiting now since 19th of June 2020 for an order worth just under £1000. I will give them a few more days, if I hear nothing, I will do a final LBA letter stating that I will take further action within seven days. I have been so patient.

[des8]

"their customer services department has had over 3000 messages" indicates a high level of satisfaction perhaps??????????

[henrygregory]

"their customer services department has had over 3000 messages" indicates a high level of satisfaction perhaps??????????

They have responded again with a message apologising stating: "This is due to us processing a large number of enquiries across all of our channels.". This was on 27th August on Twitter. I have sent several messages since and have not got a response again despite threatening legal action on the basis that I first contacted them on 19th June 2020 and this matter is still totally unresolved.

If I do a sec 75 request, I have lots of evidence of my chasing IKEA so I am sure my credit company will award this but doesn't a section 75 refund everything?
My complaint is with the damaged delivered goods which I had to then drive to nearest IKEA and replace due to them ignoring me (cost of driving there, fuel time etc, plus the cost of the delivery I paid for) and my other issue is with the poor quality of the furniture.

So I am not sure a full refund is what I need. I am not really sure how I should approach this as the section 75 would just give me a full refund if my understanding is correct which is not ideal as I still need the wardrobe now it is built and have invested considerable time and resources in getting the thing built. What I am looking for is a refund on the delivery charge, payment for my having to drive to an IKEA to finish building a product I had already paid express delivery for to have delivered and compensation for the poor build quality. I have highlighted this several times in the 6 letters I have sent the company which have all been ignored.

Can anyone advise on the best way forward on this?

[des8]

You have sent an LBA, so act on it.