Buying from Ikea.
If you are going to Ikea with the intention of buying (maybe a lot of) furniture from Ikea, be prepared, because this is how it works:
- You walk around the store choosing your items. Furniture is mainly collected from the warehouse area near the tills.
- You pay for your items at the tills.
- You then wheel your items to the van you have hired/borrowed to get your furniture home or you wheel it to the in house delivery team.
- If you use the in house delivery team, you will not know until you arrive and show them what you have got and where you live, when they will be able to deliver it to you.
The main points to note are:
Don’t go with the assumption that you can show the Ikea staff the catalogue page or where in the showroom the items are that you want and they will arrange everything for you, they won’t. Staff are on hand to assist going through the above process and getting the right items, but you have to take them through the check out tills. This is therefore time consuming.
The in house delivery firm might not be able to deliver for several days.
Some of your items may be out of stock, and it may not be clear when they are back in stock! Examples abound throughout Internet forums of peoples angst at "it being on the computer" but not on the shelf.
This is just how Ikea do things and it is worth going with the right expectation to avoid disappointment. If you get exactly what you want first time, you will find the process fair and reasonable, however if you have to take items back for exchange or refund the process can take ages. Bear this in mind when selecting your furniture, as a compromise during the initial buying trip may make the whole process much easier.
Flat Pack Blog
Sunday, February 6th, 2011
Whether it is a bunk bed or loft bed, it is important to heed the warnings on the instructions. If you do not attach the slats properly to the upper bunk your child can suffer serious injury. The following two things have been identified:-
- The slats must all be fastened down on the top or raised bunk. On a normal bed the slats are often strung together and fastened down at six anchor point. If the slats fall through the bed you only have 12 inches to fall so no issue. If you are on the top bunk, such a fall could cause a serious injury, especially considering the way the slats might move and trap an unlucky child.
- Slat must be placed right up to the head and foot boards on the upper bunk. Again an unlucky child could slip and get trapped in a seriously uncomfortable or fatal position.
The chances of these two things happening are increased during play and therefore it is imperative that bunk beds and loft beds are assembled correctly.
