IKEA: Yeh Tune Kya Kia

 

The year 2020 was a tough year for an end of the decade. Not that 2021 is better, but atleast we know what we are up against and in much better position to fight the pandemic, even though the struggles are also a work in progress.

Hoping everyone is doing well and praying they do well along with their families.

This tale is about the beginning of the pandemic which we thought would go away when we would usher in a lockdown. Apparently the corona virus was smarter than and we ended up playing an hide and seek game that is still going on...

Since it was a lockdown, offices were closed and work from home became a norm.

The only thing that I miss about the office is the adjustable chair. Being a tall guy, having a lever for adjusting your chair's height, pushing it back feels like heaven which I miss a lot. This is not about the chair, which again I would have loved to have one.

I have to say a home is certainly not a place to work for a tall guy where the ergonomics goes against them. If you don't believe, please do search for the average Indian height, you will know better.

The start of the lockdown I managed to do my work through my arrangements. As months passed by and duration of work getting longer, my back began to complain.

The complaint of the back was so much that I knew I needed a solution. That is getting a work desk which should take care of the problem.

This was going to be the first time experience of mine buying an furniture online. I did not knew that I would be regretting it so badly. After going through a couple of home decor sites I zeroed in on one and that was IKEA.

The purchase and delivery of the table was fine. It was when I opened the box, I realized that one of the corners of the table was chipped off.

Immediately I got in touch with their chat box support on the site and they assured me that they would take care of it. What I did not know was this was just the start of my nightmare. It all began in Oct 2020.

Days turned into weeks, weeks into months. I had nothing better to do than doing follow-ups to the great international brand of IKEA and keep asking when the replacement would happen. All I got was a date. Yeah I am too reminded of Sunny Deol's famous dailogue tareek pe tareek.....

I seriously wanted to be one of those guys working in the chat support system. I hope they pay nice. The beauty of the chat support system is that the employees can disconnect the chat without even providing you a resolution. On top of that there is no feedback system with regards to the interaction. Sone pe Suagha.

The email system should be replaced by postal service. Such is the world class treatment was provided by this global MNC that the only thing I would get would be a call and a date. No responses or even an acknowledgment to one's email.

The call center was no better. The only good thing was I could vent out my frustration, despair on those hapless agents who would assure of looking into it but nothing would happen. Any talk of speaking to higher ups will be met with a silence stating we cannot do that. How pathetic is the customer service? You cannot give solution nor intent to provide an escalation matrix to ensure that people in the top knows what is going around. 

The person who handles the customer service department surely needs to be given a raise. This kind of customer delight is not heard of before. May well give them an award.

Finally the month of Dec 2020 arrived, I was again assured that I would get a replacement on 31st Dec 2020 which again turned out to be a dud.

I gave it up and stopped following with this company who seems to be lost on responding to their customers and fulfilling their commitments.

2021 turned out to be a good year though. Out of the blue, in the second week of Jan 2021 got a mail from the company stating about the replacement.

Guess what they actually got it replaced. I should thank my lucky stars.

One lesson that I learned through this ordeal is never to buy furniture online. Tauba kar le humne.

I only hope this only helps others as I came across lot of other people on social media awaiting their replacement/refunds. Such kind of pathetic service was not expected from a brand like IKEA. Naam bade aur darshan chote.

Ikea yeh tune kya kia....