In general, I really like IKEA, but this 1 star review is for their terrible inventory management system, which really screwed me over.
The bad inventory management system cost me 6 hours of driving! 11 items still loaded on the truck is not the same as 11 items available for sale!! I guess you have to call them every time you want to buy something to make sure it's in the store and not in the parking lot still in the cargo truck!!
I live near Leesburg and this IKEA is the closest to me, even though it's still 1 to 1.5 hours of driving each way, due to rush hour traffic. Unfortunately, due to scheduling, I can only go after work.
Since it's hike, I ALWAYS check their online management system to make sure there are several of the items in stock that I'm trying to buy.
In this case, I was trying to buy the Nyhamn sofa bed for $150. So on Wednesday, I make the 3 hour round trip to buy it. Online it says there are a few in stock. As IKEA goes, it comes in several components - cover for $25, frame for $50 and mattress for $75, all to be purchased separately. I load them up go to checkout and the lady tells me "$200." I ask "how is that?" and she tells me I've loaded up the more expensive mattress by mistake. I'm not sure how that is because I loaded it from the correct bin, but maybe the bin was mislabeled. I go back to the bin to buy the cheaper mattress and sure enough, the more expensive mattress was in the cheaper mattress' bin. I can't find the cheap mattress anywhere in stock, after digging around and moving several of the heavy and unwieldy, more expensive 60 pound mattresses. So I go check the computer and it's now out of stock.
Fair enough, that could be on me. Perhaps they sold out of their last few while I was driving down.
That same night, I log back on and now it says there are 11 in stock. I think to myself, "Great, a delivery truck has just come in tonight. I'll go back tomorrow and get it."
So I come back the next day (today, Thursday, Nov. 8) and once again, there are no mattresses. I ask the service desk guy to help me. He also sees that there are 11 in stock. We go back and once again, the expensive mattress is in the cheap mattress' bin and there are none of the cheaper mattresses around. He goes into the back to check and then comes back and says, "Yes, we have them, but they're on the truck and we can't get them for you."
And that's that. They had a truck full of items that they didn't unload for 24 hours, yet listed as available for sale in their system. They know their customers make long trips to get to the store, but don't bother to update the inventory correctly. Your time and effort means nothing to them!
11 items in stock should mean 11 items available for sale, not 11 items on the truck, not 11 at the distribution center, and not 11 on the ship from Sweden.
I love IKEA, but I wasted nearly 6 hours driving and several gallons of gas due to this.
Thanks a lot!!! read more