Source: Radio New Zealand
IKEA’s first Auckland store opens on December 4 Marika Khabazi / RNZ
Homeware retail giant IKEA appears to be a victim of its own success.
It is shutting down its customer support centre from Friday for the rest of the week so its team can focus on rebooking customer orders and resolving outstanding cases.
The Swedish furniture and meatballs retailer, which opened to great fanfare two weeks ago (even the prime minister was there) has 29 pick-up points nationwide, meaning plenty of people have opted for online purchases.
But now some customers are dealing with repeated delivery delays and wrangling over payments.
IKEA customer Pete Targett was in the queue for the delivery of a “small desk”.
“It’s gonna be now six weeks from the point I ordered it to the point it gets delivered,” he told Checkpoint on Thursday.
“I realise there’s going to be a fairly high demand on opening day, so I was up at seven o’clock and I placed my order and got a delivery date of 15 December, which was 11 days away. But I realised that there’d be a lot of customers wanting deliveries, so 11 days – I could live with that.”
On 14 December he checked the progress of the delivery and discovered “it hadn’t even been picked out of the warehouse, let alone packed or shipped”.
He tried contacting IKEA’s customer support via the website’s chatbot, but it was of little help. It eventually gave him a phone number, and after spending time navigating the IVR system, he eventually got through to a human being.
“They were helpful as much as they could be, but told me that the only day they could give me was the 13th of January. And I said, ‘Well, if that’s the case, then can you just refund my shipping cost, because it wasn’t cheap?’ And then my $69 desk was going to cost me $80 to get it shipped to Wellington.”
He negotiated a $40 rebate, but was then told he had not paid for the desk – when he had. Then he got a credit note for the refund, but it was for the wrong amount.
Yet it was not over. He then got an email saying delivery had been changed to 14 January and asking if he could “please pay the bill” or they would cancel his order. A similar email arrived the following day. IKEA apologised for those too, Targett said.
One of the call centre operators even told him they had been helping out in the warehouse.
“It’s all hands to the pump over there, apparently.”
He suspected training was the problem, considering IKEA – an international retail giant – likely had robust IT systems.
“It’s disappointing… may be some time before we order anything else. Let them get their act together, you know?”
IKEA’s opening was attended by Christopher Luxon. Marika Khabazi / RNZ
In a statement, IKEA said it had extended shifts and increased capacity where possible to move things along. But during the customer support centre shutdown, customers would not be able to contact the team.
“The sales and orders secured over the first few days have surpassed our expectations and as a result some of our fulfilment services are currently unavailable,” its website told customers.
“As a brand‑new team, we are learning quickly and adapting our operations to meet this incredible level of demand, and we are working around the clock to secure optimal operations as soon as possible.
“For now, click and collect and some delivery services are temporarily unavailable while we catch up. Customers with existing orders will be contacted by our customer service team in the coming days to agree on a convenient time for delivery or collection where possible.”
Targett estimated there was a 50 percent chance the desk would actually show up on 14 January.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
