Ikea
In my previous post "Everything is crap" I promised to write more about Ikea once the legal stuff was all over. Well, it is, so here goes.
Almost exactly a year ago, we had some furniture delivered from Ikea. One of the delivery men dropped the furniture on the hearth of our almost brand new and expensive limestone fireplace, and broke it. When we pointed out the damage, the other delivery man then became quite rude and abusive, denying all responsibility and shouting a lot.
We contacted Ikea, thinking that they might be concerned about this. Not a bit of it. They pointed out that the furniture was delivered not by Ikea, but by a separate company. I had always thought it was a bit strange that, if you go to Ikea and buy furniture that you want delivered, you have to queue up again after you've paid for the furniture and pay separately for delivery. Now I know why. It is so that your contract for delivery is with the delivery company, and not with Ikea itself, so Ikea can quite legally deny all responsibility when things go wrong.
Of course, denying responsibility and being legally correct is one thing. You might have thought that they would also care about good customer relations. In my book, having your delivery company cause damage worth a 4-figure sum to your customer's property and then having nothing further to do with it isn't a particularly smart way to build customer loyalty.
Well, we contacted the delivery company (Allways Express), and asked them to pay for the damage. They wrote the occasional letter acknowledging receipt of our letters, but nothing that made it look like they were going to pay, and after a couple of months of this we got a solicitor involved. Allways Express continued to make endless excuses, despite threats of legal action, but eventually, almost exactly a year after they broke our fireplace, we finally got a cheque from their insurance company.
You have to ask why it was such a big deal for them to pay up, given that they were insured in the first place.
Anyway, I'm glad that we finally got paid for the damage that was caused (although we have not even remotely been compensated for the huge amount of time it's taken to pursue this).
Needless to say, I won't be shopping at Ikea again.
I have just had bedroom furniture delivered by Ikeas delivery company "ALLWAYS EXPRESS HOME DELIVERY SERVICE", which they should change to "BULL IN A CHINA SHOP". They have ruined my new carpet, infact it looks like a herd of bulls have stampeded through my place. When I saw the mess i told them they must wipe their feet.I then heard a noise where one of the men had fallen over because the parcel was to heavy for him. Not believing my eyes I then saw them wipe their feet going OUT !!!!!!!!!!
Express is the right word for them because they just throw the goods in and go.I was not impressed when I phoned them up. No surprise when I tell you they did not want to know and told me to contact the head office at the top of my bill. Surprise surprise there was no phone number. I contacted Ikea customer service and they told me it had nothing to do with them..........You don`t want to no what I said then !!!!!!
Thats the sought of service you get for buying cheap. Never again
I have also stopped shopping at Ikea due to the rude and aggressive nature of all-ways delivery. I am a landlord and estimate that I sepnt over £20,000 a year with them. I suggest that readers actually stop using ikea, perhaps then they will look to put out this delivery contract to a more customer focussed firm.
i bought two wardrobes from ikea then discovered that id made a mistake with the measurements tried to contact allways express to council the delivery before it left ikea what a headache couldnt find them on the internet or leave a voice message i wont be using this delivery service again after all the bad reports ive heard about them sounds like this delivery company are a bunch of cowboys putting it politly even ikea were at fault because i was lead to believe that my measurements were ok but when i double checked i found then to be wrong mfi were bad enough thats why they went bank rupt made for idiots wonder what ikea stands for anyone got any ideas
mr Dsimms i agree allways express should be called bull in a china shop councilled my delivery after reading what you amongest others have said about them
not using allways express delivery should charge name to never express delivery meaning you can never get hold of them
Just had a similar experience with ALLWAYS, whose installation guy left nail and drill marks all over our hardwood floor. Emails to Allways have gone unanswered and the phone rings and rings with no answer. Please provide the name of the solicitor you used when your fireplace was damaged. It seems that legal action is the only communication to which Allways will respond. Thank you.
Hi Dana
Sorry to hear that you've also been a victim of the cowboys at Allways Express. Actually, I wouldn't recommend the firm of solicitors we used, which was provided by our insurance company. They were a bit rubbish. I'm sure a good solicitor would have got them to pay up in much less than the year it took for us. Problem was that it was a big law firm and our case was handled by a dippy paralegal.
I'm sure any reasonably competent high-street solicitor would be able to handle this perfectly well, if it's a nice small firm where one of the partners either handles the case personally or at least takes a keen interest in what is going on.
But if my experience is anything to go by, you do need to get a solicitor (or start legal action yourself, which actually isn't that hard to do if it's a small claims procedure), as they won't take any notice otherwise.
Good luck!
I Experinced a similar rudeless, agressive , heartless service from 2 Guys @ALLWAYS EXPRESS HOME??? DELIVERY SERVICE, There were meant to deliver goods(my bed) at door step for which they charge a fortune, however, once they entered the premises they made an excuse that they cannot deliver goods to the door step as it was more than 50yards away from where their Van had parked, ( they did have a trolley they would normally use) after arguing and fighting to get the furniture inside the house , they insisted that they will not go any further and If not delivered now, it will be a fail service and they will try to come again another day( with the same arrogance and Excuses) I spoke to the manager on the phone but before which they had left already. I insisted this be delivered at our doorstep as I am 6months pregnant and cannot carry any stuff myself and will need a hand to do so, But HEARTLESS as they were, they came in again, Dropped stuff at the gate (main entrace)and said this is the best we can do, STRANGE BUGGERS... Anyways with the help of our lovely MR Neighbours help we managed to get stuff inhouse. What a day of stress and drama.. if only they dint waste their time arguing with a pregnant women for 15mins and instead helped me with the stuff in the house they would have got some good wishes.. I dont think this company has any Good Will... Please avoid getting things from these guys... They are RUDE, HOPELESS, AGRESSIVE, ....... can go on n on.. and ya.. forgot to add.. when I told one of the guys.. We paid you to deliver this to our house..guess what he said...' You paid the company not me'... can you believe it!!!! Anyways.. I am stopping here..
Hi. I just had some items delivered by allways express home delivery service as well. After spending £45 I found their instore service good but their delivery drivers very rude as well. After putting the stuff down, they wanted me to sign the delivery note without checking anything and said just put the comment on "unchecked" as well. I said that I wanted to check it all and they pulled a face. I went through it all and then signed the paper. I went to complain to IKEA and they were simply not interested either! They kept telling me that it was separate company. I asked that someone had given them permission to provide services and so surely if I wanted to complain, i should be able to do that to IKEA but the customer service was simply not interested. I am going to email everyone I know, not to use the service. There are no email contact details. I haven't had a problem with the online service but this was really awful. Hire a van and get the stuff yourself. I have a gift card left to spend, but unlikely I will ever buy anything from IKEA. They really don't care about customers.
Allways recently delivered around £1,000 worth of Ikea stuff to my house. I must say, my experience was completly different. The guys were very careful about how they carried the bulky items, so as not to damage any walls, etc. What's more, I asked that it be taken upstairs and put in specific locations, which they did without any arguments. I agree that the fees are a bit high, however, to save the hassle of hiring a van and having to carry it all myself - it was worth it.