Why I hate IKEA

Well, maybe hate is a little strong. I'm just really frustrated, and have nobody to take it out on. We drove all the way to the Dallas/Frisco IKEA on Tuesday, spent a LOT of money there on a lot of stuff for Sam's room, including his new bunk bed. Have you any idea how hard it is to tell your child he can't sleep or play on his new bed because there were two little tiny metal pieces that were defective? Did you know that IKEA won't help you if you've misplaced your receipt? Nope, won't even talk to me without it, won't listen to my problem or find any way to help me. So either I burn the thing in the front yard, or saw the top bunk off and just have him use the bottom. All because IKEA can't send me the parts I need. I know the part numbers, 100514, 2 of them, there were 48 in the package, plus a huge number of other parts, and only two little defective nuts. I'm so angry that I feel like posting publicly and telling people NOT to shop at IKEA. And I was so impressed with the store when we went that I had been plotting ways to go spend a lot more money there. Now I want to boycott the store and tell everyone I know to not shop there and to tell the WHY. Of course, since they are probably a decent company otherwise, I won't really do that. I don't believe in hundreds of irate emails to a company from people who weren't in any way affected by my little problem

I don't like that I spent $450 on something nobody can use. Well, I think it was $150 for the bed, $200 for the mattresses, plus I bought sheets and pillows and two dragons. We bought a table, and chairs, an art easel and a spinning chair that Sam has dubbed his space shuttle. We bought two planters, a couple of kitchen gadgets, and a little halogen light for the space over the kitchen sink. We ate lunch there, the kids played in the playland and had so much fun we had to drag them away against their will. We contemplated all the other things we would love to buy. We're in the midst of remodeling a bathroom, and IKEA had some really neat things for bathrooms. Argh, it all makes me want to scream! And to think my sister was headed to IKEA today. I should have told her the part number to see if she could have picked them up. She said her IKEA kept little parts outside the customer service department that you could help yourself to. Sigh. It's never simple. I do find it ironic that I refuse to drive 2 hours to IKEA to get these little parts, when I used to drive 2 hours just for groceries.