[Keter]

I'm livid. If you don't want to read me ripping a store for a bad shopping experience, stop here. I'm mad at them, not y'all.

Because of work commitments, I've not been able to get to a "Seize the Day" sale before, so I was really excited that I was going to have time to go to the one this morning, when they had something I wanted - the Malm 3 drawer dresser, on sale for $40 off.

There weren't that many people in the store and the only activity up front was a big loading party. I went directly to the Malm dresser display to get the bin number and see if there's anything else I needed to do to get a couple, and there's no crowd, no salespeople, just a sign stating the sale price. I get the bin number and go on my way. I'm almost to the self-service when they make the following announcement:

"All coupons for the Malm 3-drawer dresser have been handed out, and no sales will be made without a coupon."

"What?! What coupon?!" I shrieked loudly enough that everyone looked at me.

Nowhere - not in the email announcing the sale, any sign, or anywhere else did it say anything about a coupon. I'm really good at following directions - when there are some. This was a total surprise.

So I asked to speak to a manager, who proceeded to lie to me. He said:

"We had people up front handing out coupons until just a few minutes ago when we made the announcement. We ran out of inventory."

Uh, no. I had been in the store at least 20 minutes by the time the announcement was made. It takes that long just to work your way through, particularly today since they had a lot of debris blocking the aisles and shortcuts from some extensive remodeling work they're doing in several areas. The only Ikea people my husband and I saw up front were the guys loading a big truck that was parked at the curb near the entrance and one elderly greeter who said hello and had a single store map in her hand. So to be charitable, maybe he thought they had people up front, and those people were busy doing something else when I came in. In fact, the whole store seemed very short-staffed.

And out of inventory? Why then did I see three huge stacks of the product, and I only saw five people with the dressers on their carts? Am I supposed to believe that all of those dressers were being held for people shopping in the store? (They lost a $350 sale a few months ago when they wouldn't hold paid-for items for forty minutes so my husband could go get the enclosed trailer when a surprise storm blew in while we were shopping.) And I didn't see a single person walking around with a coupon of any sort: I saw a total of three couples standing around the self serve area looking confused and there were no employees in that area at all. I think it's more likely that they just decided to terminate the sale early because they were short staffed.

So, my first experience with a "Seize the Day" sale will be my last, and I've got a really bad taste in my mouth from the experience that I'm going to warn other people about.

Copying to the store and to Ikea corporate.

[Kayla]

yuck, that is a bad experience indeed. i can offer no wisdom, but please let us know the outcome.
i have never done a seize the day, at least not on purpose. i've stumbled into one before (never seen that many sultan mattresses) and i'll avoid at all cost.

sorry you had a bad day and experience... that stinks!

[Keter]

I don't really expect there to be an "outcome" - I mostly just wanted to warn folks who haven't done this kind of sale before that they may encounter some serious curveballs. If anything worthwhile evolves, I'll update.

[Kayla]

thanks

[crg2mls]

I wish your experience had gone better; I went today for my first Seize the Day and didn't have a problem. It definitely sounds like there was some serious communication problems in your store. I arrived at the store shortly after opening and to my surprise there were at least 100 people on line. After standing on that line to get a coupon we later proceeded to yet another long line to pick it up. If it weren't for my daughter already having Malm pieces I wouldn't have waiting in line.

[Narf]

I have to agree that the store didn't really handle this one well, but I can chime in on doing coupons.

A few sales ago (Tundra flooring @ $0.49/sq.ft.), a couple employees were injured here at Covina when customers started pushing and shoving trying to get the boxes as they were pulling a new pallet out. Since that incident, tickets were issued out here for the special items.

[Kayla]

guess it's one of those things that there are kinks in all systems which work out as time goes on

[GardenOfDarwin]

Yikes! That sucks. Can we get the lowdown on 'coupons' from an insider? Do all Seize the Day sales require a coupon? If so, why isnt' that in the fine print? I've never noticed it...

Susan

[Ikea.Girl]

Its not a coupon really - more of a ticket. Each ticket represents one unit on hand. 300 chests = 300 tickets.

People start showing up early, early, early, early for these deals and the store will start handing the tickets out to customers as they arrive for the sale. There usually a crowd of coworkers working the crowd so that everyone is aware of where they need to go to get a ticket and what to do afterwards. Once they are handed out the customers with the ticket has until a certain time to pick up their product in self serve or marketplace. The product is basically sitting and waiting to be picked up - guarded by coworkers. They have to be - I've seen customers scream and yell and steal from each other and rip product from coworkers hands - its ridiculous. At my store the deadline to pick up is usually always noon.

You had asked "Am I supposed to believe that all of those dressers were being held for people shopping in the store?".

Yes that exactly how it works. To avoid a riot (which has happened) the store encourages the customer to get a ticket and shop around a bit. That way theres no lines, the coworkers handing out the sale items aren't bombarded and those that arrived first to the store are assured their sale product.

After that deadline, any remainder products are free for all.

I suppose its the only way they could figure was best to be fair to those who arrived first without creating a chaotic mess.

I know at my store there have been days when the tickets were all distributed BEFORE the store even officially opened. As most of you know the showrooms will open before the actual store opens so you can browse a little and people have been known to come an hour before opening.

I know it can suck because it always happens sooo fast.