The Anonymous Widower

Sorting Out IKEA

Ever since Summer 2015, I’ve been unable to purchase anything on-line from IKEA. It is very difficult trying to build a kitchen in phases to have to go to the store to buy or order everything. Especially, when you can’t drive. I am lucky, that I can get a 341 bus to IKEA from about two hundred metres away and can even catch a bus from closer, that uses the same stop as the 341 at Manor House station. So it might take about an hour, but it’s not an arduous journey.

I think that the reason for non-delivery, is that they don’t like my home address, as they use a system that checks it against a list of ones with a large number of problems in the past. These were long before I bought the house.

If this is the case, a friend who used to be the Compliance Director of a major finance house in the City, said make a request to see what they have on you, under the Data Protection Act. So I searched Google and found this page on the IKEA web site,  entitled Privacy Policy.This is said.

For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998 IKEA Limited, is the “data controller” collecting your data. Our registered company address is: 500-600 Witan Gate House, Witan Gate West, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK1 1SH. If you have any questions regarding this policy or in respect to data privacy, our contact details are;
IKEA, Customer Support, Kingston Park, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE2 9ET
Telephone number: 0203 645 0000
e-mail:customer.service@ikea.com

So I sent this e-mail to the e-mail-address on Monday morning.

I will give you a bit of background.

 

In December 2010 I purchased and moved to XXX XXXXXXXXX XXXX, London N1 XXX, where I have lived by myself since.

 

The property was built new around 2000 and before I purchased the house, it was let out to a selection of tenants, most of whom seemed to have skipped without paying the bills for energy and lots of other purchases, judging by the number of bailiffs, who used to call.

 

From 2011 to July 2015, I bought more than several IKEA products on-line and they were all successfully delivered against xxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.com to the N1 XXX address. I had started to rebuild the kitchen and currently it sits half-completed.

 

Order numbers include XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXXX

 

In October 2015, I tried to place some further orders and despite getting the initial confirmation e-mail several times, no product was ever delivered.

 

In the end, I took a taxi to Edmonton and ordered and paid for the products in the store. They were delivered OK, but I had to waste an afternoon travelling to Edmonton and pay extra for the taxis.

 

Because of the difficulty, I assumed it was an unsuspected problem with my credit history, so I joined Experian and when I looked last week, my credit score was 986, which according to a friend, who runs a financial business, is good.

 

But it doesn’t appear to be good enough to buy products on-line at IKEA!

 

I am now ready for the next phase of the kitchen. So as to test if the hiccups of last summer, were just a passing issue, I attempted to place a small order. Despite getting the order number of XXXXXXX and the first confirmation e-mail, no money has been taken from my credit card and I have not had the Delivery Advice e-mail advising me of the actual delivery date. On trying to track the order, it is not in your Order Tracking system.

 

Obviously, I would like to find out, why you can’t accept my orders and to that end, I want to obtain all the information you hold  about myself and my address and e-mail address, under my rights as laid out by the Data Protection Act.

 

I understand there could be a charge for this.

Obviously, confidential information has been redacted.

So far, two days later I’ve not had a reply or even an acknowledgement to my e-mail.

Today, I will be sending a copy by post.

April 20, 2016 - Posted by AnonW | World | Data Protection Act, IKEA, Shopping