So Long Ikea, it was nice knowing you: An Ikea Failure

A therapeutic way I chose to deal with a multitude of disappointments over the last 18 months has been to clean, organize, and generally group the poop I could control.  

My linen closet was a mish mashed disaster of medicine bottles from when the kids were infants, sheets for toddler beds, toilet paper and games with missing pieces.  There were some keepers in there, good sheets & towels, medicine, band aids, and an assortment of shampoos & conditioners (my mini stash).  I emptied the thing, bought bins & labeled them, and put everything away neatly & nicely.  There are no photos, not even on instagram... I blame 2012.

After the linen closet was good I faced the room that needed to be dealt with.  The storage room.  I'd show you photos of the before, but there aren't any. Not because of 2012, but because I am THAT embarrassed about what it looked like before. 

Like any good project management centered person I made a folder, took measurements, gauged the volume of stuff that needed to be saved, and investigated the best options for creating a storage room I wouldn't be ashamed to have company see.  On an expedition to Ikea to look at PAX wardrobes as part of the solution we discovered these:

Dombas Wardrobe
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70215714/

4 were purchased - 3 were assembled and filled and 1 was returned because once we put them in the space we liked the way 3 laid out instead of 4.  We also found some industrial style shelving that was featured in a pantry display and even though it was marked "temporarily oversold" I managed to hunt it down in the warehouse & we purchased nearly everything we needed of that system for a wall that will allow us to hide the shelves behind a curtain.  

Broder System
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S59884329/

When returning the Dombas Wardrobe 2 weeks later (which I continually call Dumbass) I went to see if the rest of the parts I needed for the shelves were in.  Finding none of the brackets I needed (7 packages of brackets, 001.171.37) I sought out an Ikea employee to find out when they might be getting them in.  

Broder Front Bracket
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40117135/#/00117137

It wasn't as easy as it sounds because the not so helpful employees in the blue and yellow shirts in the warehouse area were VERY engrossed in a conversation about a party they had been to the night before and the really bad behavior of another Ikea employee at the party (bodily fluids were lost publicly).  

I was given a look for interrupting them and told that I was "lucky" I didn't purchase a system that had been discontinued and lectured about how I should never buy something that is temporarily oversold without checking with an employee.  They would be getting more brackets in, but it wouldn't be until after they finished their redesign so I should check back after Thanksgiving.  Also, to save myself an unnecessary drive I should check stock on-line and no, I couldn't order the brackets on-line. And stop being an interrupter, don't I know how rude that is. 

That last part was implied.

So I began checking the website every week... hoping for my brackets to come in so that I could finish what I started & get the boxes off the floor and up on the shelves where they belong.  Thanksgiving came and went, Christmas came and went, the New Year came and went....... finally in an effort to finish a project that languished incomplete for months Mr. Motorcycle called Ikea.

The system has been discontinued. 

They will not ship us brackets from any store even if we pay the shipping. 

The Ikea phone person said there was an alternate bracket available and gave Mr. Motorcycle the item number so we could go to the store and buy the 4 they have on hand in Bloomington.... 

I looked it up before heading out to make sure they really had them...

Broder Center Bracket
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60176001/#/40176002

There is no way that is an alternate bracket.  

Looks like we'll be taking what we've installed out (the posts and suspension rails), and trying to reuse the shelves we bought because we can't return the parts we have because the packaging & receipts are long gone.... 

I'd show you an after picture, but the fact is we aren't at the after because Ikea Failed me, putting Ikea in the same column as a few other people I'm learning to live without.  

So long Ikea, I hold a grudge for a really long time.