More phone calls

I am sure you have shopped at IKEA's before, maybe even requested their delivery service, or set up a date to have the huge pieces of furniture assembled. We have done that before and so we were quite confident about our trips to IKEA and the orders.

And to be honest, we had quite a few pieces, since we desperately needed wardrobes as there are no walk-ins here in Germany. The first delivery was scheduled for August 24, right after our return from Croatia. Andrea did not get hers during our first trip to IKEA, it was out of stock, but two days later we got it AND the friendly person from customer's service managed to have it delivered on the same day as our wardrobe. Well, that's at least what we thought.

So on August 24 there was a knock on the door and I greeted the person joyfully and lead him into Andrea's room. "The little wardrobe will stand here, the big one..." "Lady, we have only got one wardrobe - maybe the other one will come later in the morning with a different crew."

In order not to make that story too long, here is what happened: While the men were assembling our wardrobe, which took them about 3 hours, I was on the phone with IKEA for about 2 1/2 hours, trying go find out what had happened to Andrea's wardrobe. All of a sudden, I knew what was wrong: the address! I had not checked on the correct address when I got the delivery slip, and the item was sent to a completely different customer. To make matters worse, my phone number was wrong, too. - If I could call the delivery persons?- No, no way? - If IKEA could please call them? - No, no way.- If I could get this wardrobe maybe delivered with Stefan's, which was supposed to come on September 2?- Maybe.

Well, IKEA and I spent a lot of time talking with one another, customer service representatives explaining the matter to each other, then again to me, trying to find a solution - and then the next thing happened: the back part of one of the pieces of our wardrobe was missing.

Now this threw customer service completely off balance. They would not accept that it was just one part of a package that was missing, but insisted that it was the whole thing that was not there. I tried to be patient and by the evening, everything seemed to be settled. Somebody would call me the next day and arrange for a new delivery date, and MAYBE everything could be sent in one delivery.

The next day: no phone call from IKEA, so I called them in the afternoon, only to find out that there was nothing in our file with regard to the endless phone calls from the previous day. But somebody would call me back soon and.... ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Two hours later - a phone call to tell me that everything would be in our apartment by September 2. Everything - does that mean two wardrobes and this back board? - Hang on, why are you talking about a back board? - I tried not to scream!