Tag Archives: IKEA

ikea redux

20 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by in home

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[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!  🙂

if it ain’t fixed…

14 Wednesday Nov 2012

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…but is mostly okay, best to leave well enough alone?

That is the question. IKEA finally sent someone over to assess my complaint and he somehow got the drawers to slide in and out, albeit not smoothly, but he admitted defeat after trying to secure the one errant screw that has, well, screwed things up. So he took some photos and said he would send a report to HQ and they’d get back to me. But now what? The drawers are more or less working and, as long as I don’t move the bed, I doubt the unsecured board will shift again. I don’t know what else IKEA can offer, other than another base.

Meanwhile… I LOVE my new bed. The mattress is a combination of coils with a thick layer of latex on top. At first I thought it was too soft, but that is only when I sit on the edge of it. Actually lying down and sleeping on it is a dream.  I also like that it’s smaller than the old king-size one and doesn’t take up the whole room, though it’s still roomy at 150 x 190 cms. And now that it’s cool enough for the duvet it’s a lovely cosy & comfy experience going to bed. Especially as the two young’uns have started joining me.

ikea hysteria

22 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in welcome

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I’m hysterical. After spending most of Saturday and then several hours today putting this goddam bed together… ONE DRAWER won’t fit. I think it might have something to do with the ONE SCREW that wouldn’t go into the base. In any case, it had better get fixed. Have already sent off a written complaint to IKEA and have contacted them on Twitter.

Why do we do this to ourselves? I’m guessing it must be like childbirth… between IKEA purchases we forget just how hellish the assembling bit was and then decide it is somehow worth not paying the extra 30 euros to have it done for us. I don’t even want to think of the hours I’ve spent doing this but the physical side-effects are hard to ignore. My lower back is in serious pain, hip joints are screaming, knees are bruised from crawling around on marble floor, and various muscles not used to being held in prolonged unnatural positions are adding to the misery. Other casualties include the bottle of wine I put in the freezer to fast-chill this afternoon while Peter and I fit the drawers. This was supposed to take about half an hour – NOT THREE – and of course the bottle exploded. And so instead of enjoying a nice glass of wine at the end of my labours whilst being pleased about my nice new bed looking LIKE THIS I am now drowning my sorrows with a bottle of cava I’d been saving for another occasion.

To be honest, this was the nicest bedframe I’d found – and the cheapest. So I should’ve just splashed out and had IKEA do the assembling. The other places included delivery and assembling but their prices were way higher. Lesson learned. I hope.

ikea hell

20 Saturday Oct 2012

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This was basically my Saturday, from start to finish. Started off with removing EVERYTHING from my bedroom and then waiting for the IKEA delivery. They finally came around 3 pm and then I started trying to put my new bed together. It was all going well until it didn’t (realised I’d put something on the wrong way – twice!) and a painful hour of undoing and getting it right was rewarded by flipping the bedframe upright and having two pieces fall off. Fuck. By then I decided there were enough screws and whatnot holding the thing together that I’d just throw the mattress on top, hope for the best, and then attempt the drawers another day.

The good news is that the new mattress is wonderful and even Loki decided he liked it well enough to spend the night with me (first time he’s ever done that!). But my new bed still has a way to go before it looks like this. Stay tuned…

uh oh…

26 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by in cats, home, ipad, work

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It began as what I hoped was going to become a normal morning at casa az, with me sitting up in bed with my new iPad, catching up on this and that. The cats had been fed, Peter had gone off to work and I was feeling good. So when Azar came back to bed after a second light brekky and a long drink I snuggled up with him and all felt right with the world, right up until he suddenly hurled all over my clean sheets, partially digested cat biscuits and a LOT of liquid spewed everywhere.

This led not only to getting up very abruptly but also to doing three loads of washing (even the mattress protector had been soaked through!). Luckily it’s been one of those bright sunny spring days with a brisk dry breeze. And so then, possibly in a fit of laundry madness, I decided I would also wash the cover of the red IKEA chair I bought last year. You know, now that I have the iPad and am reorganising my upstairs room, I suddenly had a vision of me comfortably sitting up there working on the iPad and looking out over the terraza…

Have any of you ever washed IKEA furniture covers? It took forever to get the damn things off (also washed the one on the footstool thingy), had to roll and tug the material off the clingy spongy cushion inside. And now that they are upstairs drying on the line – and looking considerably smaller! – I am having serious doubts about ever getting the cushions back inside them. I know, such a vexing life I lead. But I also went to the gym and got lots of social media work done.

What did you do today?