Costco.com e-commerce confusion/bait and switch - Page 2

wolf · 08-02-2003, 05:33 PM

1. The couches are always more uncomfortable than they look (and they look really damn uncomfortable).

2. "Easy Assembly Required" is a lie. Someone mistranslated the Swedish for "There are parts for four different pieces of furniture in here. None are compatible."

3. Don't get too excited over the free hex wrench. It's metric. It doesn't fit anything else in your house. You can pound it into the drywall for use as a hook for a set of keys.

4. Never buy bedding or sheets at Ikea. Like everything else. They are metric. They do not fit your English measurement bed. If you buy an Ikea bed you will forever be buying your sheets from them, unless you like buying flat sheets only and making hospital corners. Despite working in a hospital, I am not capable of making hospital corners. Many of my patients aren't allowed sheets anyway.

5. I have many accessory items from Ikea. I love my 50 cent garlic press and my $1 antifreeze in the handle ice cream scoop (the identical item is sold by Pampered Chef at those stupid parties for $15. I regularly piss off Pampered Chef "Hostesses" by announcing this loudly when the item is displayed.)

6. They used to have great ads "Mom, can I have a cookie?" They seem to have fired this ad agency. Too bad.

elSicomoro · 08-02-2003, 06:21 PM

Hmmm...interesting concerns. Gracias.

xoxoxoBruce · 08-02-2003, 06:40 PM

Quote:

3. Don't get too excited over the free hex wrench. It's metric. It doesn't fit anything else in your house. You can pound it into the drywall for use as a hook for a set of keys.

Ha, ha, ha. That's really funny.

Maybe you should hang onto the wrench since there's a good chance that everything you by in the future will be imported.

wolf · 08-02-2003, 09:22 PM

Imported, yes. Damn near everything we buy NOW is imported (have you tried to find underwear made in this country? damn near impossible) anyway ...

Even if the other stuff you buy is imported, it still won't fit the proprietary Ikea hex wrench.

warch · 08-04-2003, 04:42 PM

Oh now...I must got to bat for IKEA! Love IKEA! I roadtrip to Chicago to partake. (Maybe its the lingonberries talking.) Poang chair is beech and leather. very comfy. no dent yet. You do need the footstool, too. Their rugs rock. Endtable-a-rama. Shelves and more shelves, of all sorts and a variety of woods/finishes. The kitchen, bath stuff is great, lamps are fun and inexpensive. For office organization,you can create whatever storage and surfaces you need. Very sturdy! I am good with measuring tape and hex key. TAK!

Undertoad · 08-04-2003, 05:12 PM

I do not feel sorry for the old lamp.

xoxoxoBruce · 08-04-2003, 05:26 PM

Quote:

I must got to bat for IKEA! Love IKEA!

I'll bet they've got thermos bottles. RED thermos bottles. C'mon now, fes up. You've sold your soul to Ikea for red thermoses, haven't you.

warch · 08-05-2003, 09:31 AM

DOh! Bruce, you read me like a cheap novel. Lets just say they have heat conserving vessels.

The real thing that Ikea does is they nestle down in that rather large space just above Target, Pier one, discount store pressboard, not yet cured rainforrest mystery wood furniture, but below the big-buck, I-wish-I-could-afford-but-I'm-no-dave Herman Miller, Room & Board, Amish craftsmen, fine woodwork. Its assemble yoself, but at least its real woods. And its got the cool Scandihoovian style thing goin on.

08-05-2003, 10:07 AM

Ah, the Herman Miller Aeron is worth every penny though. That's one thing you should just bite the bullet on.

Undertoad · 08-05-2003, 11:08 AM

Update: costco.com failed to live up to their pledge to respond personally to all e-mail within one business day.

russotto · 08-06-2003, 08:55 AM

Ikea stuff mostly sucks, but it's cheap and there's a huge gap between Ikea prices and the next level up. I bought my picnic table at Ikea for $100 (chairs for $30 apiece); would have cost me several hundred elsewhere. Of course it's not going to last, but I keep it outside; nothing lasts too long out there.

The table and chairs, BTW, came almost fully assembled; they merely needed to be unfolded and locked into place. One of the pins for doing so with the table was missing, though, not that it matters much.

Finish unfinished furniture? Ha. Ha Ha. Hahahahahahahahaha. Yeah. I can see that happening. It'd sit for a few months in my house waiting for me to do something. Then I'd move it to the garage or basement and stain or paint it over the course of a few weekends. I'd be left with a piece of furniture bare in some spots, globby in others, with definitely-visible fingerprints, which would never dry.

MaggieL · 08-06-2003, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dave
Ah, the Herman Miller Aeron is worth every penny though. That's one thing you should just bite the bullet on.

Having furnished a household in the 1970's-80's while living less than 10 miles from the Plymouth Meeting store, Ikea has been a significant part of my life. Some of their stuff is decent. Some of it is not. Examine prospective purchases closely in the store.

Metric you'll just have to live with...also note that anything they sell having to do with paper (file drawers etc.) will assume ISO paper sizes, which makes sense for Eurofolks.

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/%7Emgk25/iso-paper.html

But apropos the Aeron thing....I'd recently heard that there was a vastly cheaper (half the cost?) Aeron-type chair produced by the Aeron folk to sell into the post-bubblebust market. Excuse me....I mean "to bring innovation to the long-neglected mid-price category".

http://www.hermanmiller.com/mirra/

Anyone tried it?

Undertoad · 08-06-2003, 12:47 PM

Turns out you could get an actual Aeron for that price from eBay.

costco.com update: no response after two business days.

warch · 08-06-2003, 01:31 PM

But is it an actual Aeron? Or perhaps an Aeron that has been but a helpless player in an unfortunate and excessive display of human acrobatics? Or maybe the victim of a toddler covered in maple syrup? Or kept for 17 months on the deck of a ship? Beware.

Cost co continues their suckiness. Boo.

Leus · 08-06-2003, 01:58 PM

08-02-2003, 05:33 PM	#16
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	More About Ikea 1. The couches are always more uncomfortable than they look (and they look really damn uncomfortable). 2. "Easy Assembly Required" is a lie. Someone mistranslated the Swedish for "There are parts for four different pieces of furniture in here. None are compatible." 3. Don't get too excited over the free hex wrench. It's metric. It doesn't fit anything else in your house. You can pound it into the drywall for use as a hook for a set of keys. 4. Never buy bedding or sheets at Ikea. Like everything else. They are metric. They do not fit your English measurement bed. If you buy an Ikea bed you will forever be buying your sheets from them, unless you like buying flat sheets only and making hospital corners. Despite working in a hospital, I am not capable of making hospital corners. Many of my patients aren't allowed sheets anyway. 5. I have many accessory items from Ikea. I love my 50 cent garlic press and my $1 antifreeze in the handle ice cream scoop (the identical item is sold by Pampered Chef at those stupid parties for $15. I regularly piss off Pampered Chef "Hostesses" by announcing this loudly when the item is displayed.) 6. They used to have great ads "Mom, can I have a cookie?" They seem to have fired this ad agency. Too bad. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

08-02-2003, 09:22 PM	#19
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	Imported, yes. Damn near everything we buy NOW is imported (have you tried to find underwear made in this country? damn near impossible) anyway ... Even if the other stuff you buy is imported, it still won't fit the proprietary Ikea hex wrench. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

08-06-2003, 01:58 PM	#30
Leus Abecedarian Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Chile Posts: 179	Attached Images

08-02-2003, 06:21 PM	#17
elSicomoro Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 12,486	Hmmm...interesting concerns. Gracias.

08-04-2003, 04:42 PM	#20
warch lurkin old school Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Minnesota Posts: 2,796	Oh now...I must got to bat for IKEA! Love IKEA! I roadtrip to Chicago to partake. (Maybe its the lingonberries talking.) Poang chair is beech and leather. very comfy. no dent yet. You do need the footstool, too. Their rugs rock. Endtable-a-rama. Shelves and more shelves, of all sorts and a variety of woods/finishes. The kitchen, bath stuff is great, lamps are fun and inexpensive. For office organization,you can create whatever storage and surfaces you need. Very sturdy! I am good with measuring tape and hex key. TAK!

08-04-2003, 05:12 PM	#21
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	I do not feel sorry for the old lamp.

08-05-2003, 09:31 AM	#23
warch lurkin old school Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Minnesota Posts: 2,796	DOh! Bruce, you read me like a cheap novel. Lets just say they have heat conserving vessels. The real thing that Ikea does is they nestle down in that rather large space just above Target, Pier one, discount store pressboard, not yet cured rainforrest mystery wood furniture, but below the big-buck, I-wish-I-could-afford-but-I'm-no-dave Herman Miller, Room & Board, Amish craftsmen, fine woodwork. Its assemble yoself, but at least its real woods. And its got the cool Scandihoovian style thing goin on.

08-05-2003, 10:07 AM	#24
dave Guest Posts: n/a	Ah, the Herman Miller Aeron is worth every penny though. That's one thing you should just bite the bullet on.

08-05-2003, 11:08 AM	#25
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Update: costco.com failed to live up to their pledge to respond personally to all e-mail within one business day.

08-06-2003, 08:55 AM	#26
russotto Professor Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 1,788	Ikea stuff mostly sucks, but it's cheap and there's a huge gap between Ikea prices and the next level up. I bought my picnic table at Ikea for $100 (chairs for $30 apiece); would have cost me several hundred elsewhere. Of course it's not going to last, but I keep it outside; nothing lasts too long out there. The table and chairs, BTW, came almost fully assembled; they merely needed to be unfolded and locked into place. One of the pins for doing so with the table was missing, though, not that it matters much. Finish unfinished furniture? Ha. Ha Ha. Hahahahahahahahaha. Yeah. I can see that happening. It'd sit for a few months in my house waiting for me to do something. Then I'd move it to the garage or basement and stain or paint it over the course of a few weekends. I'd be left with a piece of furniture bare in some spots, globby in others, with definitely-visible fingerprints, which would never dry.

08-06-2003, 12:47 PM	#28
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Turns out you could get an actual Aeron for that price from eBay. costco.com update: no response after two business days.

08-06-2003, 01:31 PM	#29
warch lurkin old school Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Minnesota Posts: 2,796	But is it an actual Aeron? Or perhaps an Aeron that has been but a helpless player in an unfortunate and excessive display of human acrobatics? Or maybe the victim of a toddler covered in maple syrup? Or kept for 17 months on the deck of a ship? Beware. Cost co continues their suckiness. Boo.

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