IKEA West Chester Home Furnishings

Reviews 3

SA

Sarah Asbury

This is the only Ikea Ive ever been to, but I love it. If youve never been or are traveling from far to go there, plan lots of time. Its so much fun to walk through and see the showroom. My favorites are the little faux living spaces they have scattered around. The ones that are set up to show you an example of a full apartment/house set-up, instead of just a living room or just a bedroom, are especially fun. The upstairs is the showroom, where they have displays set up too showcase their products, than downstairs is the marketplace what you can find small goods like lamps, comforters, kitchen utensils, etc., as well as the warehouse area where you pick up the flat-packed furniture. The quality and prices vary depending on what you are looking for. Some things you can find a decent quality item for very cheap, while others seem very overpriced for what you get. For that reason, if you are looking for something specific, Id recommend doing your homework. Pick a few options you like from the website, then check out reviews, and go to the store to see the items in person, that way you can make an informed choice. (Its also helpful to have a couple options in case your #1 choice is out of stock--the website listing for stock is NOT reliable. We waited for weeks for a certain dresser to come in stock, then went to the store for something else, and found they had like 6 of them, even though the website said there were none!) Downsides: It is always crowded on weekends, and especially hectic around back to school because of college students shopping. Also, their as-is discount section is worthless. Ive looked there at least 15 times over the last 5 years, and never found a good deal. For example, there is often completely broken furniture in there with only maybe 15% mark down... Thats ok for scratched items, not ok if Im going to have to completely repair/rebuild the item. And last, they dont provide bags to take your stuff home in, you have to bring your own or buy theirs. Its especially annoying since their bags are made of a tarp-like material, and are very wide-mouthed but not deep, so you have to be careful that items dont fall out. Overall, the quality and selection are much better than for comparable items at department stores like Walmart or Target. Though of course, it is still mostly MDF/particle board stuff, so do keep that in mind. That being said, we couldnt have afforded to furnish our first house without Ikea. Our friends often joke that our home is an Ikea catalog, since it seems like everyone they ask about something we have that they like, there is a 70% chance it came from Ikea! PS: One final tip--of you purchase any furniture, take the time to look at the directions and ensure you have all the needed pieces before you start assembly. And sort those pieces into piles so they are easy to find as youre assembling. Youll thank yourself later.

WI

William Gratsch

The store makes you walk through a maze to get to a department. You cant just walk straight to the one you want. Its an attempt to get you to look at all the other stuff you didnt go there for and all the while creating immense traffic. The carts have swivels on all four wheels which is a bad idea. Its why cars dont have four wheel steering. The website doesnt work. My girlfriend and I both setup accounts and neither one will let us login. The products have weird non universal UPC codes that dont work on the website. Half of the items in the self pick are inaccessible without a forklift. The employee at the self pick didnt know what he was doing and mumbled. The floor employees dont know their own product. I saw a guy asking about the price of a chair, no price tag, and the employee told him to ask at the register. What a help. The two items we were looking for were out of stock with no tags alerting customers on the floor models. Then there was a chair with an out of stock tag when there were two shelves full of them in the self pick. Employees are not competent at keeping product in stock or tagging items that are out of stock or even untagging the items that are fully stocked. So its clear they dont know whats going on with their own store. You cant prepay for items even though theres an order for more in a week because they "cant take money for something they dont have". Other stores do it for items on backorder. It makes even less sense when you can buy the items online, if I could get my account to work. We were told its first come, first serve and they only ordered ten. The manager didnt/couldnt do anything except say an insincere sorry. What a bad business model. Refusing to take money so that the customer can go buy product from a different company. Which we did at furniture fair, where we were greeted by a helpful employee who answered questions. IKEA is a company with a bad business model (for the customer) that sells overpriced junk because its "designer" fashion crap from a European company but really made in China like everything else. Just another company that doesnt care about an individual customer because theres another hundred idiots in line so that they can be chic. For all that Im concerned, IKEA can take their ugly yellow/blue store with a swedish flag (really, this is the US not Sweden, very tacky) and go back to Europe. P.S. every product has an ugly name with twice as many consonants as vowels that no one can pronounce including employees who usually wont even try. Most companies are smart enough to market products with names appropriate for the region.

RA

Rachel Robinson

Im really torn with this.... I mean, I LOVE IKEA for their space savers and for their decorating ideas and items. But thats where the love kinda stops. As long as youre not getting appliances, or well used furniture (like couches, beds, and chairs) youll be ok. The furniture is great and more suited the college student type. It just wasnt meant to last. The tables I havent had too much trouble with. One completely broke all the way around while putting it together, but Im putting it more on defective materials the way that it broke. The main issue I have with IKEA is their customer service... or rather, their lack thereof. I have gone multiple times where their signage is completely wrong, or nowhere near whatever is on sale. Its very non specific. Once I attempted to buy some candle holders that were on sale, only to be told, the color I had were the only ones that WERENT on sale. Nothing on the sign said that. Just this past weekend the couple in front of us and the one at the register next to us all saw the same signage for the same thing. There were only shelves next to this sign, with it displaying some picture frames, and a handful of frames at the top near the ceiling that even my 66" fiance couldnt reach. The cashiers actually ARGUED with all of us that they werent on sale the frames were. Even after one of the other couples asked for a manager there was nothing they said other than "thats not what it said" and "go show me where and Ill [prove you wrong]" basically. there were SIX people and you couldnt do a thing?! There is no "The Customer is Always Right" factor here. And sadly, its not the first time its happened.... And thirdly, never use the company that installs the marble counter tops. They do shoddy work, cram the counters into corners or walls, and just do shoddy and uneven work. Then take forever to come out and fix it. Its just not worth it. Now as far as their lighting, and their decorations, and space savers they have, its just amazing. You can even get great decorating ideas from walking through the showroom upstairs. I love just browsing their ideas. The food is also amazing!! The meatballs are so good. Stopping to get lunch is worth it just for itself. And its relatively cheap!