Ikea/Ecomaster - Should I formally complain?
 

Bit of a longer one but I'm in two minds.

Our kitchen from Ikea is just over 2 years old. They provide a 25 year guarantee on the kitchen. On four of the doors there is bubbling on the door and the "whatever material covers the door" is coming away from the doors.

I was in Ikea one day and asked what I have to do re getting them replaced. They told me to phone in to HQ and they would deal with it. I did and was asked to provide photos and copies of receipts for the doors which I did. They then told me they send out a company called Ecomaster to inspect the doors and provide them with a report on the cause.

I googled Ecomaster. The reviews of customers on their own website are all say how wonderful they were. The reviews on every other website are about how dreadful they are and how they deny claims. How they say one thing to the customers face during the visit and then report something different. They have been featured on Watchdog which is never a good thing.

However the appointed day arrived. Ecomaster had been excellent on keeping us up to date on when the person was coming. They arrived and the person was excellent according to my other half as I was at work. They did a lot of writing on a tablet and stated the problem looked like a manufacturing one and therefore ikea would replace the doors. He asked her to sign the tablet which she did but due to its configuration you can't actually see what they have written. There is then a feedback section where you can put from happy smiley face to frowny face etc.

Ikea phoned that night, Ecomaster had ordered the doors on our behalf and they arranged for them to be delivered. Ecomaster then phoned and arranged a day to come for them to be fitted.

This is where it all goes wrong. The doors arrived. I left them in the boxes. Ecomaster man arrives and while the first one couldn't have been better this man was his polar opposite. He was a man who gave every impression of hating his job. He was so grumpy and unpleasant in attitude that I came so close to asking him to leave. However equally I just needed four doors fitting. I would have done it myself but they need drilled for the handles and one of the doors is the dishwasher cover and I remember my fitter at the time saying that it was a bit of a mare to fit.

Long story short the wrong doors had been ordered. Three were correct but the fourth was wrong. Immediately he said that he would not be fitting any of the doors. His stated reason was that because the job would not be finished today that meant he would not get the same pay. He stated that for an unfinished job he would be paid £15 but for a finished job he would be paid £45. I then spotted that one of the new doors was damaged. On further inspection there was another damaged door.

He wrote something up on his tablet and asked me to sign. He took the tablet away and I could see him entering his own smiley face report. He marked himself as excellent and disappeared into the gloom outside.

I was left with two doors which could have been fitted not fitted and two damaged doors. I phoned Ikea and told them what had happened. However the fixing of this is not very simple. I'm on holiday this week so could be around the house. I won't be next week. They want to deliver the replacement door and collect the damaged ones but I won't be at home. Its 25 miles to my nearest Ikea. I informed them that todays Ecomaster person was not going to be allowed back in the house which they stated they would pass onto Ecomaster. I am now having to go to Ikea probably today to drop of the bad doors and pick up the new ones. Ecomaster phoned last night to arrange to fit them. They were aware of my not wishing yesterdays man back but did not ask why or indeed seem to care.

I suppose my question is am I just being grumpy myself and should let it pass or do I formally complain to Ikea about this process? I would complain but I have no real idea what I want to happen as a result of it. I will be out of pocket having to drive to Ikea and back but I feel that is minor. I was back and forward so often to them when the kitchen was being fitted my car drives itself to their front door. Clearly Ikea must be aware of the compliants about Ecomaster and given yesterdays man if he is repesentative of their level of service I can see why. I don't see any point in complaining to Ecomaster as I didn't employ them Ikea did and they therefore are reponsible for them not me.

Any thoughts?

As long as they fit the new doors I would not waste any more time on this.

I would also not be Collecting the doors from IKEA and I would only be accepting an appointment which suited me.

I would wait and see if they fix it this time. If you continue to have trouble then maybe complain.

Unfortunately tradesmen are not like Disney cast members, in that they don’t have to be nice and bubbly persons.
It may just be his usual demeanour. As long as he wasn’t rude to you then I don’t think you have a complaint with them.

It’s unfortunate that the replacement doors were damaged, but things like that can happen. If the next set are fine, and fitted OK. I’d move on, not worth the stress you’d put on yourself.

And next time if signing off on a tablet, ask the person to scroll back and read what you are signing for, so you are comfortable with what you are signing for.:thumbs-up

I understand where you are coming from. What annoyed me most was his refusal to fit the doors he could have fitted. That would have saved time on the next visit. I am now going to have to take a day off work for this as I had arranged it for my holiday to be done. His pay structure should not be my problem.

OP.

I would let it go personally.

However going off on a tangent. Be careful that the new doors match properly.
Little doubt the new ones will be a different shade due to yours having been exposed to daylight.
Sadly no company will replace all the doors in this situation so sometimes it's better if possible to put the new ones in a less visible area.

Already spotted that issue! Problem is I am limited in my options on that one. No choice over two of the doors due to their handle configuration. One I can move, one will be out of place for a year.

He explained why he wasn’t fitting the other doors.

I would also let this go. It seems to have been dealt with fairly quickly but unfortunately there was a mistake and these things do happen.

Mmm. frustrating - been there!

We have a Magnet kitchen. 8 years after I fitted it the solid wood corner peieces were showing as a different colour than the doors. Not by much but I can see it.

They sent me 3 new pieces but sadly they are the same. All down to the UV lights fading the doors faster than the solid wood pieces.

Thankfully it now looks better as the contrast has got even more obvious and it looks like it should be different.

I disagree. A person who is dealing with a customer needs to be properly trained to do so. He needs to be polite and respectful and do the job in hand.His behaviour was extremely unprofessional.

The fact that wrong and damages doors were sent does not excuse the fact that he had the ability but chose not to fit the remaining doors. Companies do have to take responsibility for their staff and their attitude. On one hand I would say complain about his attitude. Some one should not get way with providing their own feedback and mistreating their customer.
Their feedback system is flawed to allow an engineer access to feedback forms and the should be sent via an email. (Ikea may be employing the company based on this feedback)
If it was me I would probably wait until the doors were fitted and then make my complaint as I would not be wanting any 'compensation' but feel it unacceptable that someone should treat you in this way.