SALLY SORTS IT: Ikea left my new kitchen in a mess for 16 months

We ordered an Ikea kitchen in December 2021. They told us it would be delivered in February 2022 and installed the following week.

The delivery occurred ahead of time, with little notice and without a countertop. It turned out that the countertop was out of stock. The installers installed the kitchen anyway and left it unfinished.

Since then we have lived in a construction site. The last time we heard from them was last November.

I emailed the CEO of Ikea Europe (Javier Quiñones) and received a response via a customer service specialist who, quote, is “working at the highest point of escalation within Ikea and Javier has asked me to investigate this on your behalf.” ‘. Please help as we are getting nowhere.

LR, Cambridgeshire.

Sally Hamilton responds: So much for Ikea’s promise to take the complaint to the top. Nothing much seemed to be happening, a bit like with the kitchen installation.

Your problems began in mid-January 2022 when Ikea told you by text message that the kitchen would be delivered more than a month ahead of schedule, with just three days notice.

This meant he had to put aside the work he was doing to convert his garden office into a bedroom for his daughter so he could store the kitchen furniture there.

You had no choice but to take two days off to organize everything and your daughter had to stay in her rented house for another month.

Then the delivery arrived without a countertop. She was told the countertop was out of stock, so she agreed to take on a temporary one until her chosen style became available.

You paid £2,000 to Ikea’s recommended installers to install it, but they told you there would be no point in doing the splashbacks, footboards and trim because they would have to be removed to make room for the worktop.

He tells me his kitchen looked like a construction site for months, with bare concrete walls and exposed but safe electricity. The worrying thing is that all the persecution emails he sent were largely ignored.

In August 2022, she was told it would probably be best to order another countertop. You were flexible and visited the store 60 miles away in Milton Keynes to choose one.

A few days later, your luck seemed to change when Ikea told you that your original choice was back in stock and would be installed. But four days later he was told it was sold out again.

At the end of August, unable to wait any longer, he told them to use their second countertop again.

Finally, at the end of November, the installers arrived to install the second choice countertop and backsplashes, but they didn’t fit.

The Ikea installer called the office, gave them the correct measurements and left. Since then he has not heard anything again and has been left without a functioning kitchen.

I asked the Swedish retail giant to pay urgent attention to your case as it was exceptionally poor service to leave you and your family living on a construction site for over a year.

I urged the company to ensure the work was completed without delay and also to compensate him for the ordeal during what was a kitchen nightmare more than worthy of a visit from Gordon Ramsay.

My intervention seemed to finally get Ikea to cook with gas. Within a few weeks, the work was completed in May to a standard with which you said you were satisfied.

As an apology, Ikea refunded him approximately 25 per cent of the total £6,700 cost of the project, a refund of £1,750.

I thought it was a reasonable offer, but if you don’t agree you can still take your case to the Retail Ombudsman at cdrl.org.uk.

What can be done with our son’s mortgage after his shocking death?

Our son, who was single and had no dependents, lived alone in east London.

Early on January 7, he called us confused, but before we could find out more, the call ended.

Upon redialing, all we could hear were sirens and doctors attending to the aftermath of an accident.

The police told us a few hours later that our son had died after crashing into a building. We expect an investigation next month.

I tell you this as background to the problems we have had dealing with our son’s mortgage lender, Barclays, to whom he owed £155,000.

I have asked Barclays two simple questions: Could we continue making your monthly payments and/or could we pay the outstanding amount so that your mortgage does not go into default?

It’s been a complete disaster with no one being able to answer these questions. Can you help?

DM, Dorset.

Sally Hamilton responds: What a horrible experience to lose your child in such a violent way, and not knowing the background of how or why it happened makes it even worse. Meanwhile, you have been trying to control your child’s finances as best you can.

More than six months after the tragic death of his son, Barclays still could not answer his simple question.

I asked the bank to re-examine his case and give him the answers he sought.

It took two weeks for Barclays, but it finally returned to confirm that it was sending him a redemption statement, showing how much was left to pay on the mortgage and allowing him to redeem it as he had wanted to do all these months.

A Barclays spokesperson said: ‘We have every sympathy with the family of our late client. On this occasion, a declaration of redemption has been provided, but normally we would require a grant of probate to confirm the executor of the estate.’

While he was pleased that the issue had finally been resolved, he was upset that the bank did not explain to him at the beginning that probate was necessary.

As for the thoughtless addressing of arrears letters to his late son, the bank simply said it was following “regulatory requirements” which say they must be sent on behalf of the deceased until the grant of probate is received.

I’m afraid there was no apology for the correspondence that upset you, which is disappointing. Even if these are the rules, surely banks can sweeten the pill with more discreet messages for those left behind.

However, she told me that as soon as she received the repayment statement, she paid off her son’s mortgage and plans to put her apartment on the market so she can try to overcome her traumatic experience.

• Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk; include the phone number, address, and a note addressed to the offending organization giving them permission to speak. to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot be responsible for them. The Daily Mail cannot accept any legal responsibility for the responses given.