Majjie's Blog

I'm cursing in a ladylike fashion, of course ... well, ok ... maybe I'm not.

I know I was singing the praises of IKEA last year for being cheap and cheerful ... with the emphasis on the cheap ... but with some nice styles too. And I love their made-to-measure worktops (or I did). The reason I'm cursing now,  is because I made a special trip to my local store this morning, to fetch a kitchen brochure (they have a dedicated kitchen one) and a price list.

The price list is essential, if you're going to design an IKEA kitchen (or any other kitchen with modular units in fixed sizes), because it tells you what sizes of units they do (or quite often ... don't do!). IKEA don't, for instance, do those really useful 300mm wide larders with pull-out baskets - which are great for separating an oven from a free standing fridge-freezer. Their minimum width is 400mm ... but I digress.

It's the school holidays ... so the car park was full and I had quite a trek to the store. There were also a lot of little darlings racing about in the store - and bouncing about on the furniture - so I took a short cut, instead of following the arrows around the accepted route. Only they've moved the kitchens!

How do they do that? They're open practically every hour there is. Do they have a huge night shift that comes in and moves everything?

Anyway ... then I had to back track against the flow ... dodging the sprinting children, the pushchairs, the chatting mums and grandmums and the serious dads with their bulging yellow bags. It's a place to go, only when you've got time to spare and are prepared to mooch. Mind you ... what happens then, is that you end up with some new glasses, a pot plant, a rug and a folding chair ... when you went in to get some shelves. But I digress again.

After battling my way back to the kitchens, do I manage to  pick up a couple of brochures and a price list? No I don't. They have a new price list ... and their prices have gone up (some units quite dramatically) ... but they don't have any available. Only some dodgy photocopies of part of one - without all the units included. It's hard enough to read the print on the real thing (or it is for some of us, who might no longer be in the first flush of youth!) ... let alone the dodgy photocopy. They don't have any brochures either. Are they coming in tomorrow, irritating but not too much of a disaster? No. It's going to be at least two weeks before they get any!!

So that's why I'm cursing.

I know they have a (naff) CAD programme of their own which includes prices ... but I have my own super duper programme which will use their dimensions and anybody else's and give pictures a million times better ... for their potential customers.

What is it about these multiples that they don't understand customer service. Can I spell it out for IKEA in words of one syllable ....

DO NOT CHANGE YOUR PRICES ... UNTIL YOU HAVE THE PRICE LISTS AVAILABLE (sorry that was more than one syllable) ... UNTIL YOU HAVE THEM FOR US TO PICK UP!!