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Not keen on Ikea

Sarah Sharkey from Dublin has had what can best be described as a nightmare experience after ordering furniture for her apartment from Ikea in Edinburgh last January. She and her partner flew to Scotland for the sole reason of "a whopping Ikea shop to furnish our apartment". They made the trip as they thought it would be "a quick and cheap option," she writes.

They had done their homework online and had a list of things they wanted. "This trip was all about bouncing on the bed we had chosen and checking out the quality of items such as the storage units. We also wanted to avail of an in-store service where you can place your order and leave it with the store, who will pick and ship it all for you."

Sadly for Sharkey, when they got to the store, the staff didn't seem to know anything about the pick-and-ship service and told her they would have to wander the store in search of each item. They decided to order it all online instead. The couple paid €1,800 for their furniture plus €463 for delivery.

A month later, the delivery arrived. Sharkey says the couriers would not take the furniture beyond the apartment building's front door so she and her partner carried it up the stairs to their apartment. As the couple struggled with their boxes they realised that one of them - containing a bookcase - was badly damaged, a fact they reported immediately to Ikea.

"From here on in there is nothing but weekly and sometimes daily phone calls and e-mails to Ikea regarding the damaged items," she writes.

She has spoken to a number of Ikea customer service staff and has sent photographs of the damaged units and faxed details of the bits she needs replaced. After many, many calls she was told that her replacement bookcase pieces had gone missing, as had a media storage unit which had been picked out and paid for but never delivered.

She was also told that, as both units had been discontinued, she could not get exact replacements, which means that anything else she is offered will not match the units that were delivered.

She persisted with her calls and e-mails and eventually Ikea managed to track down some of the said items and last week - more than three months after she placed the order - another Ikea delivery arrived.

Incredibly, the company had sent the wrong units and in any event they also arrived to her home damaged. "I now have several pieces of damaged or unwanted Ikea furniture parts in my spare room," she says.

She really would like Ikea to pick up its unwanted boxes and dispose of them or at least cover the cost if she arranges to dispose of them. She also wants to know what they are going to do about her absent storage unit.

We contacted the company to find out why its delivery service seems to have gone so badly wrong in this case and how it intended to put it right.

A spokeswoman said the "good news" was that the case was being "dealt with" and that the Edinburgh store was in contact with our reader.

"The service that Sarah received is obviously far from what we are aiming for and Ikea sincerely apologies for the frustration that we have caused," the spokeswoman said.

She said that while some "big steps" have been taken to improve the general shopping experience at Ikea, "Sarah's case highlights that we still have areas where we can improve", which is, based on Sarah Sharkey's experience, putting it mildly.

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Below are some of the comments that have been posted on the Irish Times website, www.ireland.com

The very idea of being cooped up on a Ryanair flight for seven hours while being bombarded by advertising and then not being confident of getting home again brings me out in a cold sweat. I don't care how low Ryanair goes, I won't be stooping for a "bargain". - That Girl

The €2 charge is annoying, but if that was the only problem with NTL, I would be a happy camper. We were left a whole month without TV or internet! I have never come across such an incompetent company in my life and such powerless customer service. - Clodagh

ESB meters

I can't read the meter - I'm disabled, not lazy. I have to phone (at my expense) to do ESB's job after waiting up to 30 minutes for someone to deal with my call. A smart meter would be helpful to me in my endeavour to reduce costs. I'd expect them to pay given all the charges "lumped" on our bills. - Mairéad

Health insurance

Last week's emergency legislation on health insurance altered the levels of the playing field for independent insurers. Twenty-five minutes of debate in the Dáil What about cancer treatment emergency legislation? €8 million slashed off the bill; no risk, no equalisation. - Brian Greene