Real-time Customer Service by Chatting
I recently visited Ikea in Raisio nearby Turku to get some new furniture. My son is so big (time really flies doesn't it?) that I had to give up our extra room that has been serving as my study to him.
One of the things we bought was a new work desk for me and as everyone knows those things come in really small boxes and offer plenty of mental and physical challenges before one has the actual piece of furniture in existence. As I was trying to decipher the instructions and assemble a drawer for the desk I underestimated my strength and apparently overestimated my understanding of the drawing and managed to break couple of special thightening screws.
In order to get replacement parts I headed to Ikea website and noticed a real-time chat possibility there. Clicking on the link I got a new window with a chat session with Reetta from Ikea. I explained my worries and she asked a few questions and promised to send me instructions for getting the parts.
Reetta was a bit slow in answering to me (probably handling several customers simultaneously) but otherwise I was very positively surpised with the customer support experience. Didn't need to email them and wait a day for an answer or even to pick up the phone.
All in all nice to see a chat option used nicely in handling customer support. Now I'm just hoping the Ikea pulls through on the experience and Reetta sends the instructions to my email as she promised. :)