Where’s Cheri Davis’ furniture? She paid for it months ago and IKEA took her money. But that’s it. What’s the status of her IKEA order?
Question
I ordered new furniture online from IKEA in April. The company charged my credit card and sent an order confirmation, but that’s it. I’ve had zero communication since. When I log on to my account on the IKEA website it shows “no orders.”
However, it does have a spot to manually search for orders there (using order # and email address). I see an order when I do that, but it’s a very generic lookup that shows no status other than the date and the amount. My estimated delivery date at checkout was June 9.
I am concerned. Like everyone else out there, I have tried social media, and dozens and dozens and dozens of calls to their customer service line that end getting disconnected. I have even written two of their executives very kind letters, with no response.
I see that some people can at least see that their order is in fulfillment, preparing for shipment, but I have zero status on mine, and their orders are newer than mine.
Do you have any suggestions on what I should do next? I don’t want a refund, and I don’t care if it takes three months to receive my order. I just want someone from IKEA to check my order number and verify that it didn’t fall into some unmonitored queue due to a technical glitch, never to be fulfilled. — Cheri Davis, Owensboro, Ky.
Answer
IKEA had a massive backlog of orders during the pandemic. It seems everyone wanted to do some home improvement at the same time, which overloaded IKEA and other furniture stores like it. You probably recall Shaun Rodriguez’ case, which also happened during the pandemic. My consumer advocacy organization has been slammed with similar cases. Yours is one of many.
What’s the status of my IKEA order? Here’s how to find out
I list the names, numbers and email addresses of the IKEA customer service contacts on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. It looks as if you followed up with the executives to find out the status of your order but heard nothing.
By the way, your paper trail with IKEA is impressive. Not only did you contact the executives, but you also left polite messages on Facebook and you initiated an online chat. Most of those messages were not read.
When a company is overwhelmed with orders and experiencing “technical difficulties,” you really only have two options. You can wait, or you can ask for a refund. You wanted your furniture, so you decided to wait.
By the time you contacted me, almost three months had passed since you ordered your furniture. IKEA had your money. It was time for action. I contacted IKEA on your behalf. It appears that my email crossed with an acknowledgment from IKEA that your order had shipped. It took almost another month for you to receive your furniture.
That’s way too long.
So why am I writing about your case in December? Well, IKEA isn’t the only one with a backlog. By the way, here’s how to fix your next customer service problem.
How long is too long to get the status of your IKEA order?
Should we cut companies some slack during the pandemic? If so, how much? A month? Three months? I’d love to see your comments.