I was interested to read your 28 March 2015 article about Ikea kitchen guarantees falling flat, as I am in the middle of a similarly frustrating experience. Our kitchen was designed, supplied and fitted by Ikea in 2011, and all the appliances are from Ikea. In March this year I noticed that the coating on the two cupboard doors near the oven was starting to peel, so I contacted Ikea via email. I did not hear back until the end of April, when I had an email offering a visit from a company called Ecomaster to inspect the damage. I had a text from Ecomaster saying it would be in touch to book a visit. Then nothing.
I tried Facebook and seemed to be getting somewhere, but then had an email saying the doors had been inspected and I had agreed there was no issue. This was not true. Eventually I had a call from a customer service representative who said she would sort it out. I had a visit from a technician, then a letter saying there was no fault and it was not going to replace the doors.
I contacted the representative to query this and was told the problem was that I was opening the oven door too soon and allowing steam out! In the kitchen’s care brochure the only advice about doors and steam is regarding dishwasher doors. Are Ikea honestly suggesting I should turn off the oven and allow it to cool down before I get the food out? I thought buying a kitchen from a reputable company that offered an extended guarantee was a sensible decision. I should not have had to email 10 times, post on Facebook twice, write nine Facebook messages and involve the national press before it decided to honour the guarantee. HB, Coventry, Warwickshire
After you contacted us, you heard from an Ikea customer service representative who told you it was able to replace the doors – which are from a discontinued range – after all. But it has failed to give you, or us, a reasonable explanation as to what may have caused the damage. What is more, you clearly would not have got any joy without our intervention.
Gerard Bos, Ikea’s UK and Ireland customer relations manager, told us: “We will always aim to put things right as soon as possible, once we have been made aware of any issues. We have subsequently been in touch with HB and hope we have resolved this matter to her satisfaction and have apologised for any inconvenience caused.”
Having seen the number of complaints on social media from aggrieved Ikea customers claiming its guarantees are worthless, we would urge the firm to smarten up its act in this area.
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