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Does Anyone Have Any Experience Of Buying Online From IKEA France


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Just about to fly out for third viewing trip with very high hopes for a particular house in NE Charente having had excellent reports and a ton of photos from friends who viewed and reported back. Going to be stretching the available budget pretty thinly so it is very important that all costs for moving are factored in. As this is will be a maison secondaire, we will have to furnish the whole house. We intend to furnish basically at first then gradually add. We are quite impressed by some of the furnishings in IKEA. I tried to look at the IKEA France website to see if it is possible to buy online and have them deliver but that particular page would not open.

The nearest IKEA is in Bordeaux. A fairly lengthy trip when time is off the essence. Assuming that the IKEA range is universal, we know what we want. Do any Forum members have any experience of ordering online and having them deliver? I am aware that delivery is quite expensive but probably no more so than hiring a large van.

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We ordered our kitchen by telephone - some of what we wanted couldn't be ordered online so we phoned. We were notified of the delivery date well ahead of time; we were phoned with the approximate time of delivery (to within an hour) the night before. When unpacked, one drawer base turned out to be faulty so we phoned and a replacement was dispatched. I think you have a month to confirm that there is no internal damage to items. I'd advise ordering a few extra handles, legs, hinges, etc - the small stuff that, if one piece is faulty means you can't complete building an item without waiting for a replacement.

Overall, a very positive experience. Much better than going to the store. [;-)]

One thing to remember is to count / catalogue everything off the van and tick off on your own order sheet. Take your time. I believe that if anything is on the IKEA delivery sheet but later you can't find it (so it may not have been on the van) that's your bad luck as you signed off for a complete order.

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Hi

Yes we ordered online last year a new kitchen.

No real problems apart from they missed of an oven we had put on the order, but we sorted that out.

The delivery does seem expensive but you have to factor in what it will cost you to get a van and time etc.

They delivered to us dead on time and actually gave us a time they were coming unlike what happens in the UK when you have to wait in all day or AM or PM, and all the items were there.

We were very impressed

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I am currently trying to make my mind up am I better off buying a 3 piece suite (Ekthorp) in UK and shipping it to the Vienne, or buying it from Bordeaux and having it delivered, 230 euros last time I checked, or hiring a van to collect it from Bordeaux? I am in the very south of the Vienne, would Nantes be any closer than Bordeaux? I'm about 2 hours from Bordeaux.[8-)]

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Do check out the prices though.

Not really looked myself but 'er indoors tells me that stuff here can be nearly 50% more expensive than UK so if you are contemplating a big spend it may be worthwhile looking to UK and using someone like BritExpress for delivery.

No connection with either company but 10% of any resultant savings as a consultancy fee please [:D]

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A chum locally baulked at paying €300 for delivery of a van load of IKEA stuff from Bordeaux so, he flew back to the Uk, where he insisted the IKEA prices were much cheaper, hired a van, drove back to the Dordogne, unloaded it all (with help, in the middle of the recent tempete, drove back to the UK and then flew back here.  In all two people spent a week on the travelling and buying, with a third person coming back and going back to the UK.

And he insists it's the cheapest way of doing things, tho I can't see that myself.

We have a builder locally who is willing to do the white van man thing and spend a day going to IKEA to pick up kitchens etc, even if he's not fitting them - which is what we're going to do, employ him for one day, to Bordeaux or Toulouse, depending on which store has what we want.

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[quote user="Tony F Dordogne"]And he insists it's the cheapest way of doing things, tho I can't see that myself.[/quote]Depends very much on how much you are spending. If a couple of thousand then it could work out cheaper.

I see a business opportunity looming for my 8m3 box trailer either by acting as driver or renting out by the day [;-)]

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It looks like it's going to cost me £160 more to buy the goods in France rather than in the UK, so if I add the 230 euros on that Ikea will charge for delivery, I might as well buy it from here and ship it[:(]

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Thanks for the tip Ernie....It is probably totally obvious but I never thought of checking the prices. I assumed they would be pretty well identical to the UK. Just checked a couple of items on my list and found a bed was almost double the price and a chest plus 40%. Looks like its back to the drawing board.....We are flying out next Monday to give our intended purchase near Confelons 16 a final visit before signing. Does anyone know of a good second hand furniture shop nearby?
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There's a relatively new Ikea in Tours - alonside the A10 - it's easier to get to than Bordeaux!

i had some heavy dining furniture delivered from the on-line Ikea.fr site and it took about three weeks, but the delivery prices seem to have gone through the roof since then - i'm after a Day Bed which is about 200 euros and they want 100 to deliver it!

happy Ikea'ing![:D]

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I have bought a fair few items from Ikea both directly and on line (the kitchen) and have always found the service very good. Don't forget however that there are plenty of other good furniture shops in France, some like FLY have some nice stuff and will lend you a van free of charge to bring your things home with you. This can be very handy if you need to get a few basic items eg beds to get you over the first few weeks. Good luck!
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  • 2 months later...
We looked at prices at home and from IKEA in France to buy

on-line.  A few things worked out about the same, like dining room chairs,

but very few articles are cheaper there.  Does seem incredible when it all

comes from the same factories.  Some of

the differences are astounding - eg dining table worked out £100 more in France

so bought it here and took it over.  Some things don't come flat pack and

just won't fit in the car so had to buy there, like beds and mattresses. 

The delivery price varies according to the total cost of your order so either

make sure if you slip in to the next band up to make full use of the balance or

knock something off to come under the threshold. 

The order gives you an indication of what week you can expect delivery and they

phoned us on the Monday.  Stuff delivered on the Wednesday, though the

driver had a big problem finding us.  My brother went out to look for the IKEA

lorry after the driver phoned for directions but it complicated matters when

the driver turned up in a plain white truck - a sub contractor. 

If you order something that is made to order, such as a leather sofa, the delivery

cost is built in so nothing extra to pay (though you can't tack a couple of

chairs on to have them delivered free at the same time!)

The alternative is to do an online stock check for the things you want and, if

they are all available do as some have suggested on here and hire a van. 

Our initial enquiries to get hold of a van before we came over in January

suggested it was impossible to hire a fairly large van in Moulins but would

have to go to Clermont-Ferrand to get one.  First morning there drove in

to the Leclerc car park in Moulins and there was a row of them, all shapes and

sizes.  The girl that dealt with us the next morning would not accept my

brother's old style driving licence as she'd never seen the old green sort

before so make sure you have your photo licence (and the counterpart) if you

are hiring.  It would probably work out quite a bit cheaper to do it that way if you are buying a load of stuff.

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Just to agree with others, although we have to date only ordered online in the Uk, all delivery was brilliant.

We are looking to get furniture from Bordeaux for Haute Vienne - having worked out the costs, we think it it is cheaper to go to Bordeaux and pay the higher price in France for the Ekthorp - which we too would like, than hire a van in Uk and bring it over. By the time we costed van hire, foreign insurance and petrol, getting it from Bordeaux, even at a higher price than Uk is a better deal.

 

 

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Have you looked at the Sterling shopping site? I asked them about ordering from IKEA UK and getting them to deliver it, they said they would pick it up from IKEA UK on my behalf, saving the £35 delivery charge, deliver it to my house in France ( south of the Vienne) for £275. Given that it was £160 cheaper to buy it in the UK, and IKEA France were going to charge me 230 euros for delivery, it seems a reasonable deal. Their website is: www.sterlingshopping.co.uk .

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With the exception of things like the cheap glasses, kitchen storage jars etc we really don't like IKEA stuff so can't comment on delivery charges. However, we are really surprised though with the number of people furnishing their houses with modern IKEA furniture.  Do you all live in modern (new build) housing in France?

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I suspect it's relatively cheap and when people have a limited amount of time in their maison secondaires it's an easy and quick way of furnishing a house. Even if once inside the house it means it's difficult to tell if you're in Manchester or Montpellier... though the weather may provide a clue. [;-)] But then the interesting pieces that add character can be found and added over time.

I have to say I'm entirely satisfied with our kitchen - for the price, the quality and range of fittings is excellent. But we bought the cheapest doors and my carpenter husband is making doors and drawer fronts from an ash tree we had felled and planked in Wiltshire 5 years ago so visually it certainly won't look like IKEA.

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No, in an old farmhouse actually! My sons however have modern tastes and can furnish their rooms as they wish, I suffer badly with my back and find the Ektorp range of settees/chairs to be the most comfortable I have ever used, and having loose covers ideal for me, as I also have dogs and cats. (they think the "not on the furniture rule" only applies when we are in the room[:)])

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No, we don't all live in modern houses but strangely enough, some of us can 't afford antique furniture.  Our small house is at least 600 yrs old and we are unlikely to find appropriate furniture for its age.  We also want a few mod cons like a computer and a fridge and hot water !  It was a holiday home first and we found Ikea stuff was reasonably priced, fair quality and much more our style than the very fussy stuff you can find in many French shops.

By the way, the prices in UK and France were similar a few years ago - remember the pound has fallen a lot so of course most thing in France seem dear to people with income in sterling (especially when it's a modest pension).

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