Return policy is pathetic. Review on IKEA, Hyderabad

I rarely give negative reviews but this one really pissed me off and I wasted all of my Christmas vacation dealing with IKEA for a simple return. We paid 1.5 lakh for a pax wardrobe combination online to be delivered in Pune on Dec 8, 2020. Within 2 days, the order was delivered. The wardrobe combination had shoe shelves, baskets, drawers, and knobs. As we started to assemble the wardrobe, we realized that the shoe shelves won't work for us but more baskets would be better. So we placed another order on Dec 16, 2020, for a few more baskets, drawers, and doorknobs. Again the items were delivered the next day. After assembling the wardrobes, it was time to return the shoe shelves and some other components we did not use.

By this time, we had found that better door knobs are available in the market so we decided to return the doorknobs from the 2nd order as well. And here's where the fun begins. I emailed customer service on Dec 16, 2020, saying that I would like to return the items. The customer service responded that I have to send them pictures of the products I would like to return. I promptly did that and also told them that I have to return items from 2 different orders. Customer service informed me that I have to pay return shipping for each order and they will be picking up the items from 2 orders separately. This is what enraged me because the 2nd order had just 2 packs of knobs that we wanted to return which weighed less than 1 kg. It did not make any sense that they will come separately to the same address twice just so that they could charge us twice for pick up.

And thus, started the chain of customer service calls. Every time we called, the customer service guys didn’t know how to process the return and we were told that someone from returns would call us back within 48 hours. They would not give a specific time for a callback, just called at any random time and God forbid if you missed their call, the same cycle would repeat. After spending my entire Christmas vacation going back and forth with them, they finally agreed to waive the return pick up charges for the 2nd order. After this, we were made to pay the return pick up charges and they sent a return pick up order receipt on Jan 1, 2021. The return picks up receipt only listed one item which they would pick up and did not list the refund price for the item. Now again I will have to go back and forth with them to fix the return receipt to include all the items that need returning.

As of Jan 4, 2021, the issue is still not looked at. At this point, I am not confident that around 10, 000 rupees which we are supposed to get back from IKEA, will be refunded to us or not. We were regular customers of IKEA in the US and now in India also we couldn’t stop raving about IKEA. But after this incident, we have lost faith in IKEA and would not recommend shopping online at IKEA. If you are buying something from them, they will take your money as soon as possible but if you want to return something they will use every trick in the book to delay your return. If anyone wants to shop online at IKEA, please be aware that they will make your life miserable if you want to return something.

You will not able to return it in the store and will have to fight with them every step of the way to get your money back. Their return policy doesn’t align with their sustainability principles either. Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal are far better when it comes to customer service and returns.

Update: Feb 15, 2021: Its been more than a month since the products were returned to IKEA. They did not pick up the products on the scheduled date. Had to call them back to reschedule the pick up. They did not even acknowledge that they received the returns. Even after umpteen number of followups, they still have not refunded me my money.