My Amazing Ikea Adventure! Some statistics and a summary to start. Ikea have messed me about since December, and I still do not have the sofa I want, in fact I have quite the opposite. Let the comedy show begin. Total number of phone calls: 11 Total time on phone: 10hr 23mins 39secs Total number of delivery days: 7 (6 have failed, 7th is yet to happen) Total time wasted: 58hr 35mins 52secs Read below to find out just how Ikea can mess up a sofa delivery so badly I have had to spend this long sorting it out. Some may wonder how hard it is to get a sofa from Ikea, a company that has made it big by selling and delivering things such as sofas and beds etc. After years, you would think that they could get this process correct. Let's look at my adventure and find out. Firstly, me and my partner order a sofa from Ikea on 29/12/2020 - we took measurements before ordering and thought it should fit up the stairs, but we knew that if it didn’t then the compact version would. Knowing Ikea's exchange policy, we thought it was worth a shot. This order was placed on December 29th, the sofa arrived January 12th and unfortunately, though not worryingly, didn’t fit up the stairs (by less than an inch!) We had received emails confirming both the delivery date and the payment. Now this is where things get interesting. I called Ikea on the 16th of January and after 48mins 5sec I decided to call back another day as I had had enough of listing to ABBA by that point. I have time tomorrow, so I'll try again then. A few things came up that delayed me calling again for a day or two. Total time on phone: 48mins 5secs Total time wasted: 48mis 5secs On the 19th, I called Ikea to inform them that I had tried to fit the sofa up the stairs and that I had taken the plastic packing off to remove the arms and back of the sofa to lighten it. I was hoping that the lighter sofa would be easier to move and fit up the stairs now - it wasn’t, so I informed Ikea that I would like to swap for the compact version (this is the klippan 2 seat sofa, and klippan 2 seat compact sofa) I was told this would be no problem at all. I asked them if they could drop the new one and collect the old one at the same time to save petrol and make it easier for all involved! Ikea agreed this would be ideal for them too. Alas, we then hit a brick wall - our address was not on their system...an address that they had just delivered a sofa to. I was told to call back after the next 48 hours as it will have been added to the system by then, I was given a case number for that so that I could have an easier phone call next time. This phone call lasted for 1hr 1mins 33sec, about 30 of which was spent waiting for someone to answer. Total time on phone: 1hr 49mins 38secs Total time wasted: 1hr 49mins 38secs I phoned back on the 23rd and was told that the address had indeed been added to the system and that we should be getting the old sofa collected and new one delivered on the 06/02/2021. This phone call was relatively painless, the lovely lady on the phone also checked the sofas were the correct ones on the system for the collection and the delivery. We received an email to confirm all of this, it stated on it the start date and the items to be returned and delivered. This call lasted 53mins 29sec with Christine M. Total time on phone: 2hr 43mins 7secs Total time wasted: 2hr 43mins 7secs I waited in on the 6th and no sofa arrived. Neither me nor my partner could remember for certain at the time if it was coming on the 6th, so we waited a day or two...still no sofa. I then rang to find out what was going on (this was the 8th of Feb). During this phone call, to the best of my recollection (as this was now a month ago) I was told that there was some issue with the address that needed correcting which was why they hadn’t delivered it on the day they’d given. However, we received no email, phone call, letter, or communication of any kind to tell is about the issue! So, I waited in all day like a lemon for a sofa that was never even coming. Upon concluding this phone call, I was left under the impression that this was now sorted and that the sofas would be collected and delivered on the 21st of February instead, and again, received an email to confirm all of this. This call lasted 1hr 24min 28sec with Bethany T. Total time on phone: 4hr 11mins 35secs Total time wasted: 16hr 11mins 35secs (+12 hours for waiting in all day) Onward we go to the 21/02/2021. (Oh, boy!) I wait in again... for no delivery. By this time, I have had enough of calling Ikea and listening to poor quality Abba tracks in the same order, repeatedly, for 30+ minutes before even getting to speak to someone. As such, on this occasion, I asked my partner to call for me on her next day off from her very busy job as a Healthcare Assistant, looking after the vulnerable at this dire time. She called them on the 25th of February and was told, for the first time, that they could not take the sofa back due to it being out of its wrapping! She was also told that the reason the delivery hadn’t appeared on the 21st, was because it had been rescheduled as they didn’t have the sofa in stock. My partner then rang me while I was at work to tell me what had transpired. At which point, I called Ikea (again) straight away to set the record straight and sort out this massive mess. I was told that the information my partner had been given was in fact incorrect, and then the woman I was speaking to proceeded to try and help me solve our reoccurring issue. She triple-checked which sofa was being collected and which one was being dropped off; then made sure there was indeed another date for delivery, informed me that it would now be delivered on the 27th of February, that there would be no issues at all this time and all was sorted now. On this occasion, we did not receive an email to confirm. My partner was on the phone for 34mins 33sec, and I was on for 45 mins 53secs. Total time on phone: 5hr 32mins 1secs Total time wasted: 29hr 32mins 1secs (+12 hours for waiting in all day...again) So, the 27th comes around and (Can we guess the running trend here?) no sofa turns up. So, I waited all day, just in case, and then I called on the 28th to find out what had happened this time. I was told that they had simply changed the date again without telling us, so I asked for them to make sure I received an email to confirm the date, which was the 2nd of March. At this point, I also asked what kind of compensation I may receive for all the trouble I had been through up until then. Unfortunately, I was told the most the Ikea caller himself could do was knock 30% off, and to be honest, I didn’t feel that this quite covered all the stressful hours of phone calls and days of waiting in. Consequently, I asked if I would be able to speak to a manager to which I was told this would be no problem and that a manager would call me later that same day and my phone number was taken. This call lasted 41mins 51sec with Nathan M at 11:48am. Total time on phone: 6hr 13mins 42secs Total time wasted: 42hr 13mins 42secs (+12 hours for waiting in all day...again, again) Later that same day (28th of Feb) at 6:32pm, I had still received no call and knew that the helplines closed at 7pm so I called again. For the first time, there was no 30-minute, crackly ABBA concert before getting to speak to someone! I nearly dropped my phone in shock as my call was answered immediately. Once again, I explained the situation and gave my order number and asked why I was yet to hear from a manager. It was explained to me that there are 3 call teams, and some have different procedures, but normally it would take 48 hours for a manger to make a call-back. However, he understood that my situation was somewhat complicated and that he would look into it. He chased up the person I had spoken to most recently and also sent an email to his manager to arrange the call-back. He ensured all was well as he didn’t want me to have to call back yet again. This call lasted 18mins 45secs with Richard. At 7:02pm, I received a phone call from Richard again to inform me he had been sent an ‘out-of-office' notification until Tuesday 2nd of March. The day the sofa is going to arrive. I thanked him for informing me of this, and for actually updating me when he found out new information, unlike any other time previously. This call lasted for 39secs. Total time on phone: 6hr 33mins 6secs Total time wasted: 42hr 33mins 6secs Now, we arrive at the 2nd of March, and by 3pm there was still no sofa. It was a lovely day outside, the first proper day of sun we’d had recently, my partner had a day off work, the worst kind of day you’d want to spend waiting for a delivery. We needed to go shopping (pretty badly), so I thought I would call Ikea and see what was going on and find out when the sofa was going to arrive, if possible. What I found out may shock you...(Dun, dun dun!) Please do not read on if you are weak of heart - Jump scares are instore. The sofa had been blocked from being sent! The reason for this was explained to be that there were so many case files opened on my order they wouldn’t send it, and once again, no one let us know about the issue. The man I spoke to on this phone call informed me that his colleagues shouldn’t have opened new case files for each call but should have simply added to the original case and if that had been done, none of this would have happened. He proceeded to try and unblock the order and eventually succeeded, I then asked about my call-back and was told that manager call-backs can take a long time and are very hard to arrange and that he had no idea when it’d be. I waited on the line while he tried to get a manager. We had been on call for 2 hours by the time I finally asked if he had all the information for the call-back and could continue without me on the line, he told me I could leave it with him. I was then told that the new delivery was the 6th of March. I left this phone call very unsure about whether this person had a clue what they were doing, he had sent us an email and the receipt on the email didn’t quite make sense to myself or my partner but it had the right date so we decided to wait and see, as this should all finally be sorted out and over with. This phone call was 2hr 2mins 46secs with Alex O. Total time on phone: 8hr 35mins 52secs Total time wasted: 56hr 35mins 52secs (+12 hours for waiting in and window-watching) I am writing this on the 4th of March, two days before my sofa is supposed to arrive, and I can already tell you that I couldn’t have been more wrong about this being sorted and over with. What could Ikea possibly do to make this worse, I hear you ask? They can’t have done anything else before even delivering the sofa, could they? Yes, yes, they could. Apparently, they could let me know at 7am that an Ikea delivery will be with me in an hour. Out of so many days that they were supposed to come, they turn up on the one day that not a single person has even mentioned. But regardless, surely this is good, right? My sofa is going to be here, who cares that its early? Well, I would usually agree with that. Except when the drivers knocked on and told me they were delivering, I told them they were also meant to be collecting and they had absolutely no idea what I was on about as they’d only been contracted to a delivery. Sod it. “Just bring the sofa in and put it there for now”, I said. Now, this is the icing on the cake, the final straw on the camel's back, the 100,000,000,000-lotto win. These two men bring the sofa in and it is the exact same one that I am trying to send back... because of course it is, I’m dealing with Ikea here... SO, I called again today (4th march) at 8:32am and explained all of the above to the lady on the phone who has now arranged for both the unwanted sofas to be collected and the one that we actually want to be delivered. She also chased up the manager call-back and was unable to find anything but assured me that she would email me or call me back once she had found out what was going on with that and assured me that this would be before 4:30pm as that’s when she finishes work, it is now 6:38pm and no email, no phone call. This phone call lasted 1hr 47mins 42secs with Michelle K. Total time on phone: 10hr 23mins 39secs Total time wasted: 58hr 35mins 52secs Safe to say that at this point, I honestly don’t know what Ikea could to make this absolute disgrace of a situation up to my partner and I since it has caused a great deal of stress and irritation, and also cost us a great deal of time. This is still not sorted and has wasted my partner’s booked annual leave, in which she’d hoped to relax a little away from a hard, stressful job as a Healthcare Assistant in a Care Home working 12-hour shifts. Don’t forget about it costing me hours of my life I will never get back, being on the phone to them constantly to sort this out when I shouldn’t need to be. During writing all of this, I found an email from Ikea on the 3rd of March that I now understand was about the sofa delivered on the 4th of March this seems to have been arranged by Carole M, who as far as I know, I have never even spoken to, so God knows who has messed up this badly. FYI – I am dyslexic so through typing this out my English, spelling and grammar may lack in places, and I have done my best to accurately relay the events exactly as they happened. All the times and dates are taken from phone records and emails we’ve received, as well as the names of those who we spoke to. However, the totals were worked out as best I can and may not be exact, but they do give an idea of how long I have wasted on Ikea over the last month or so. More importantly, how much of my time Ikea has wasted.