IKEA INDIA - Very poor customer service

Hi,

I am from India and I placed an order for * Units of the IKEA Racka/Hugad double curtain rod range on ** June, **** (Order No. ********* - Receipt attached) on IKEA, Hyderabad.

Since IKEA, Hyderabad does not deliver to places outside Hyderabad in India, I planned to have a courier service pick up the material from IKEA, Hyderabad.

It has been a nightmare coordinating with IKEA Hyderabad to arrange a pickup by my Couriers.

*. It is impossible to get through to the Customer Support on the published customer support no. All Support Executives are endlessly occupied. I have made at least ** attempts to contact them over the order, spending at times * minutes on a call that keeps me waiting and tells me that no executives are available, recommending that I use the chat services on your IKEA India website.

*. The chat web client on the website fails to load.

*. Before placing the order, after many attempts I was once able to connect to an executive who advised me to speak to a courier service with which IKEA India has partnered for delivery to other locations in India. I tried to get in touch with them, speak to them, mailed them, but got no response. I was not able to again reach IKEA India Customer Service (on phone or on chat) and tell them of the problem I was facing with their preferred delivery partner.

*. Since , by now, I had already placed the order and paid for the same, and had spoken to a Courier service who'd agreed to pick up the material from the Hyderabad store, I was desperately looking to contact IKEA store, Hyderabad, but to no avail. There was absolutely no way of getting in touch with them.

*. The courier people tried to pickup the products from your store today (* July, ****), but couldn't do so, as they had not been unit-packed but put aside as a collection loose components, which, obviously, a courier company cannot accept for delivery. So, the courier company abandoned pickup. I had been trying so desperately to contact the IKEA Hyderabad store, just so that this situation could be avoided.

I am a first-time customer of IKEA, although I first heard of IKEA twenty years ago, and have been a great admirer of the engineering approch to product design at IKEA. In fact, I think the whole IKEA philosophy was revolutionary.

However, I am deeply frustrated and disappointed at the abominable Customer Service experience I've faced with IKEA India. The least I imagine I can expect is that I should be able to contact your staff in order to decide, as a resident of a city which you don't serve, whether a purchase from your store is feasible.

I seek your intervention so that I can be helped out of this predicament.

Thanks and regards,

Kalyan Das
Kolkata, West Bengal, India