Just stumbled upon this post of mine and thought it was worth a rebump, especially in these times of (rightfully) shaming companies that exploit immigrant workers.

It’s a bit a luck of the draw with Ikea. 

 To  be fair, I have had some things put together by them very well, very quickly and the guys very pleasant. They have  breakneck schedules and are local independant tradesmen employed on a pool type basis by Ikea, if I have understood correctly. 

 I had a bad job done which I complained about in person, then sent a letter with photos  by email to an address I was given. 

What followed was a bit long and complicated due to a dispute and I couldn’t find a way to resolve it  for a while ( a few months), so will spare you all that,

 I could have saved myself some  time and trouble though,   because what worked in the end, and what I would immediately do now, if a complaint  for bad work was not attended to correctly,  was to send a letter by  ‘recommandé avec accusé de réception’* to the Customer Service Department with a further complaint and brief outline.

*(for any on here who do not know what this is, you pay extra, (11fr) to have a receipt that you fill in with your address, and send with the registered letter, which has to be signed by the recipient on delivery, and which is  then sent back to you by the post as proof the letter was received). It''s expensive but you are sure that the letter has been received

 I was contacted by someone in just over a week who came to my place, to see what the situation/problem was, and listened to my side of the story .  He was very pleasant.

 The whole thing was resolved within a further10 days. and the furniture was replaced, by 2 other assemblers from Ikea, who did a perfect job .

I have encountered ikes service man on one of my clients job sites .

they have refused to attach the 3 door wardrobe to the wall with screws saying there is a risk of drilling in to the electrical cables , when they saw a plug on the bottom of the wall . So they just left all doors aside and left 

If you want a cheap deal, you get cheap service, so you make your choice and pay your money.

It can work to your entire satisfaction, it can be a disaster.

But as the old adage says there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Can't say that's all to surprising, unfortunately. It's affordable but cheaply made furniture that's designed so you can assemble it yourself. You can't expect top of the line service from there I wouldn't think, though I've always assembled things myself without too much trouble and I'm certainly no handyman.