Let me start this review by saying that, yeah, I am obviously aware that we are in the middle of a pandemic. And maybe what I am writing about isn't earth shattering, but retailers should be bending backwards to take care of customers. IKEA definitely is not.
What prompted me to visit the Houston IKEA was that I received an email giving me a $10 credit, and a free frozen yogurt, for my birthday. It was a nice gesture, and why wouldn't I take advantage of it? Let's set this aside for the moment.
I selected 3 items for my bath, which would be discounted because of the coupon. I could not order the items online since they don't honor their own coupons on their web site. Their app is laughingly mediocre, as it doesn't give availability for items, or even doesn't have a store locator. So, I had to get into my car and drive over to IKEA, a 25 mile drive.
When I got to the store, I could not find my items. I asked a couple of store employees, who looked in their systems and told me that 2 of the 3 items were backordered. OK, I continued to look around the bath section, and actually 1 of the 2 items was not even stocked and labeled properly; I found it only by accident. Alright, I had to substitute another item, so I had what I needed and I went to check out.
The checkout process went smoothly, the only thing that did. After that, I walked across from the cash registers to the Bistro to collect my frozen yogurt. All of their self serve machines were closed, which I totally get. I went to the counter and tried to order my frozen yogurt. They refused to take the coupon that I showed them, since they said their barcode scanner was broken. I asked if there would be any way we could do this, since I don't live close by. They refused to help me. Not cool.
OK, so I tried to call their Customer Support number, to discuss my concerns. The first woman I reached was really empathetic, and she said she would transfer me to their resolution group, who would help me. What she transferred me to was a recording that said they were too busy to help, and then hung up on me. I called back right away, and got a second person, who did the exact same thing to me. I then called back a third time, and I'm afraid that I lost it. I explained to the person I reached that I had been cut off twice in the last 5 minutes, and I wanted to speak to a supervisor in that group, not resolution. She refused to transfer me, saying that they have a protocol and that was the protocol. I had enough, and I hung up on her. I then attempted to send an email, but they are not accepting emails now except to cancel orders.
As others have indicated, this experience is not unusual. They are providing NO customer support, and their store experience, which in the best terms can be characterized as spartan, is now negative. Products are not located where they are supposed to be, retail equipment is broken, and there are not enough people to help. Those that are available don't seem to care about providing any kind of service, let alone decent service. They've lost me as a customer, forever. read more