IKEA Belfast Free Tea & Coffee

ei9go

I was in the IKEA Belfast store on Sunday last.
Due to the UK opening hours restriction on Sunday, they open at midday but can't sell anything until 13.00 hours.

From IKEA UK website: "Our showroom is open for browsing Monday to Saturday from 9:30am and on Sundays 12noon. During this time you can also enjoy a complimentary tea or coffee in our Restaurant."

We went to the restaurant and bought their lovely apple pie and two teas.
Was charged for the tea and said to the lady that it was free between midday and 13.00 hours.

She said it was only free Monday to Friday with the IKEA family card.

I paid and sat down to find it on the website in case I had got it wrong which I hadn't.

Tried again with phone in hand and showed it to I presume a floor manager who immediately refunded the two teas without question. There was a brief tense moment between the manager and the cashier when he selected "cashier error" on the till as the reason for the refund.

Looks like IKEA are just charging anyone who doesn't complain for the complimentary tea during the " browsing hour". Surely the tills should know the time and be set not to charge during these times but then it seemed very deliberate to me.

L1011

Sounds like a single cashier not knowing their policies to me

BuffyBot

Conspiracy for sure..

davo10

To be fair to IKEA, small shops like that need every penny they can get.