About a year or so ago we bought a 2-pack of 24-hr. Light timers at IKEA in Stoughton, MA.
The cost was less than $5.00 for both, so we tossed the package (and the receipt). Who keeps a receipt for a $5.00 item?
Last week one of the timers failed, so we took it to IKEA expecting a quick exchange or credit.
Instead, we got "How do we know you didn't buy this at a flea market?"
My God, what presumptiveness! My wife and I are 60-ish and grey-haired, and we drove a half-hour in rotten weather to return a $2 timer, and the clerk responds as if we're thieves.
So already a bit irate, I asked to see the manager.
What seemed like an inordinate amount of time later — we were all ready to give up and leave — the manager appeared.
His line was the same.
I told him that IKEA had lost us as customers, and turned to leave. But then, beginning to steam, I turned back and asked for his and the original clerk's name.
Instead of identifying themselves, they threw us out of the store.
I'd like to note that this IKEA store is essentially empty. Apparently other customers have been treated similarly, and have learned their lesson and now shop elsewhere.
IKEA management should be treating its employees well enough, and hiring employees with sufficient intelligent and self-respect, to treat customers with respect. No customer should ever be accused of being a thief (or the equivalent — buying a broken component at a flea market and trying to return it).
If IKEA management can't manage to believe that the customer is always right, then they are not going to succeed. All they need do is look to General Motors and Chrysler for a view of their future.
The problem with the timer is a built-in inherent design defect. One of the AC line plug prongs is mounted weakly, and breaks away from contact inside the timer. This will happen to people who use the timer intermittently and thus plug and unplug it often, because each re-insertion puts pressure on the defective internal component. This timer is made in China, and it is distributed exclusively by IKEA. Obviously, IKEA is not going to repair the problem, because they weren't interested in replacing the defective product — or even hearing of the problem.
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