Ikea recalls faulty designed furniture

Ikea recalls faulty designed furniture
Sunday, 18 August 2013

DOHA: The Swedish home furnishing giant Ikea, which opened its first store in Qatar this March, has stopped the sale of Kritter and Sniglar junior beds in Qatar for faulty designs, confirmed a senior official of the Company yesterday.
The company has recalled all the units of the defected beds sold in Qatar for repair or refunding as part of its global initiative.
Confirming the recall in Qatar, James McGowan, Regional Brand Manager of Ikea, said: “Ikea recalls for repair a number of Kritter and Sniglar junior beds due to laceration hazard. This is part of our global initiative in response to complaints about the faulty design.”
The furniture chain took the decision to recall the products in 17 countries, including Qatar, after seven reported cases of a metal rod breaking and exposing sharp edges in different countries.
The Kritter junior beds affected with faulty design have the numbers 1114 to 1322. And the numbers of Sniglar junior beds with similar design faults are 1114 to 1318.
The company recently warned that the rods could present a ‘laceration hazard’, although so far, there have been no reports of any injuries. Customers who have purchased the affected products with certain numbers are asked to visit the local Ikea store located in the Doha Festival City or contact customer services toll-free on 800 4532 at the earliest to receive a free repair kit or a refund from the local stores.
According to media reports, Ikea has sold 10,000 units of such beds in Sweden, but could not say how many had been sold in Qatar and elsewhere.
Asked to provide more details, McGowan, said: “More details are available online. We do not have exact numbers readily available about the number of units sold in Qatar. More information can be obtained online from the Ikea websites or by calling local stores.”
After several attempts, this newspaper was finally able to reach a customer care executive at Ikea Doha to find out the procedures for refunding for the junior beds in question.
The executive, said: “The refunding will be provided only if the customers bring the product unopened with original packaging and the invoice within seven days from the date of purchase…If the product found open for use, the customers will have to buy some other items instead of cash refund.” When tried to know further details about the Kritter and Singlar junior beds, the executive, without providing satisfactory answers put the call on hold to transfer it to some other staff member. The call subsequently got disconnected without any response after several minutes.
The other countries where the faulty products have been recalled are: Belgium, Britain, China, Czech Republic, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and Turkey.

The Peninsula

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