A brief rant

I rarely do this on my blog, but I feel the need to rant and this seems like a decent place to do it.

As you know, we moved the kids into our bonus room back in January. The bonus room does not have a closet, so we started searching and thinking of the best options to add closet space in their room. We opted for a large, free standing wardrobe from IKEA (the Elga wardrobe). Last week we hired a babysitter to watch the kids, drove to Charlotte, and bought our furniture. The Elga is something that has to be ordered in pieces--the frame, the doors, shelves, etc. We placed our order with a nice lady on the showroom floor, payed for it at the checkout line, and waited for it to be given to us at the Full-Service department. The guys brought it out, we loaded it up, and headed back home (2 3/4 hours). All seemed fine.

Then Nathan began assembling the wardrobe. And...a door was missing. Not something small, like a hinge or screw or allen wrench, but a door. A big, huge door. How did we miss that, you wonder? Well, we loaded one door and several smaller flat boxes. One door is a mirror (we loaded that one), but the other door is different, so we assumed it was in one of the smaller boxes. It wasn't. Cue the really long phone call with IKEA, where I was told that they probably couldn't ship the door to us. Why? Because it has glass in it (it is not entirely glass, like the mirrored door), and their delivery trucks aren't equipped for that, and they can't ship it by any other method, again, because it is glass. The nice customer service lady would send my information to their resolutions department for confirmation, but it wasn't looking good.

Two days later I received a phone call that confirmed the bad news--they couldn't deliver it. However, if we could just return to the store, they would be happy to give us the door. The store is 172 miles away (Yes, I calculated it!). When I mentioned that, the customer service rep was apologetic, and mentioned that something *might* be done to help offset the trip.

So Nathan took off today to go back to IKEA for the door. By the way, to get the door home we have to take the car seats out of the van, so it is not like it can be a family trip. Just a long trip for one big door! IKEA gave him the door, and a $20 appreciation gift card--to IKEA. That was it. Nathan talked with the employee at the returns desk, who spoke with the manager and relayed the message to Nathan. Basically, they would not do anything more than that because it is our fault. What? We turned in our order to the full-service desk, were shorted a crucial piece, and it was our fault! Why? We should have doublechecked all of the boxes and numbers before we left. The gift card was basically a conciliatory gesture for us--they don't normally "do things like that." Thankfully my husband was gracious and kind. He thanked the employee, told him he had been very nice, but that he was greatly disappointed with IKEA today. And he left, with the door, with a $20 gift card, and no desire to buy anything at IKEA for awhile.

Now that I have ranted, I must admit that we SHOULD have checked every single box. But we didn't think we had to, and quite frankly, we bought five other bookcases in addition to the wardrobe, and thought we were doing well. It is a very hard lesson learned for us. The twenty dollar gift card does not cover the cost of the door, or even 1/3 of a tank of gas. Please be warned as you are reading this--DOUBLE CHECK everything you purchase! Do not hear me tell you that IKEA is bad. It is not, but we are paying for two mistakes--IKEA's mistake and ours.

Okay, now that that is off my chest, I feel better. I promise, no more rants for a while.