[IKEA guys at work under the watchful eye of Loki]

I was looking forward to today with mixed emotions. First of all I was thrilled that IKEA finally agreed to send someone to fix the wonky drawers, but since their solution had been to replace the entire bed frame I wasn’t looking forward to having most of my morning/afternoon disrupted. Also, when I spoke to them last Friday the conversation went something like this…

IKEA: Based on the report we received it looks like we are going to have to replace the bed frame, and since you didn’t pay for installation you will have to pay for this now.
Me: I don’t think so… (there was more, much much more, to what I replied to this, as you can imagine)
[pause while I was put on hold]
IKEA: Okay, Ms Hennessey, we will bring you a new bed frame and install it for you, but first you will have to dismantle the original bed frame and have it ready to be removed.
Me: You know what? I don’t think so. I spent TWO DAYS putting that bed frame together and I am not about to take it apart because it’s flawed and you have to replace it. As it stands I am going to have to lose another day waiting for IKEA to show up and then who-knows-how-long while everything is dealt with. I have already lost enough time… (and quite a bit more in that vein)
[pause while I was put on hold]
IKEA: Don’t worry Ms Hennessey, on Tuesday we will bring a new bed frame, dismantle the old one and assemble the new one for you.
Me: At no extra charge?
IKEA: None at all.

But you know what? The two guys who showed up to do the work first came up to assess the situation. I told them about the “one screw” that seemed to be, well, screwing things up, and asked them if it wasn’t possible to just repair the existing frame. They said they’d give it a go.

Out came the power tools and soon they were tightening bits here and there (impossible to do with just an allen key and normal screwdriver!) but even after all that two of the drawers were still a bit tight. I told them that wouldn’t matter so much if they weren’t the two drawers I was going to use the most (by the foot of the bed). No problem. The guys flipped the bed frame over, slid in the drawers and asked if that would do. I said it seemed a much more reasonable solution than having to take the frame apart and install a whole new one. And they assured me that since the bed came with a two-year guarantee that if this repair job didn’t do the trick I could have the bed replaced at any time. So fine! I agreed to that though didn’t understand why I had to sign papers saying they’d replaced the bed when they hadn’t…

What an ordeal though! If I ever buy anything major like this from IKEA again I’m just going to pay for installation. Now I can finally properly enjoy my new bed. And fill up the drawers!  🙂