Several months ago I purchased a glass-topped desk from Ikea for our daughter. I later found that the desk was too large for the space. I found every receipt except the one I needed, and not having a receipt, Ikea refused to allow me to return the un-opened desk.

I was polite as was the Ikea representative, I mentioned that we are good customers and that we paid for the purchase using a credit card and we knew the date of the purchase as well. This fell upon polite but unsympathetic ears, and I was informed rather matter of factly that they were sorry but no returns without a receipt. She added that they were unable to trace the purchase in their system. This of course was untrue as all large stores have this capability. It was not done because Ikea does not want to do it.

No, I do not hold Ikea responsible for my failure to find out about their return policy before shopping there, and I do not hold them responsible for losing my receipt. The problem I have with Ikea is that they have a poor return policy. Honest and good people can lose receipts, and indeed I have don so. Since I knew the date and could provide the card number on which the purchase was made, Ikea could have confirmed that the purchase had been made by me and should have refunded my money or at least provided a store credit. Though they seem friendly their return policy is not.

Before the end of the call, the Ikea representative and I wished each other a pleasant day. I began making calls to find a glass cutter to cut the table-top. It cost us $120, but Ikea lost much more: I am an instructor at a local college, I make a point to tell my students to check return policies of stores before shopping. I always reference my experience at Ikea. So far I've reached hundreds of students each year. Not to mention friends and family. Ikea proved they had little regard for me as an individual shopper, but we are all capable of spreading the word about unfriendly policies of merchants who are fortunate to have us as customers. I no longer shop at Ikea and I know a lot of other people who don't either.