IKEA

Here is my IKEA experience this evening:

I have an existing IKEA Family card.

I was creating a shopping list that I wanted to save, so I created an online IKEA 
account (using the email [not listed in gist]).

I looked for a way to associate my existing card with my new online account - there 
was no visible way to do this. There is no online help to indicate if this action is 
possible or not.

I selected 'Join IKEA Family', on the premise that maybe I needed to have a 'family account', 
and then I could add my existing card number. There is no online help that states you 
can or cannot do this.

This action resulted in me being allocated a new IKEA Family card number, with visible no 
way to change it, or add another card to the account. There is no online help for this situation.

I called the Dublin Call Centre, where they suggested that we merge the old card and new card. 
Good idea, I agreed, but after a short while, I was informed they had no access to the Dublin 
accounts. Note that this is the *Dublin* Call Centre. They gave me a number to call where people 
could help.

I called the number and the call didn't go through. It turns out it's an 0871 number, which 
I can't call from Ireland. Remember I am calling from Dublin.

I went back to the website and called the Belfast Call Centre number that was listed there. This 
number is not accessible from where I am calling, either.

At this stage, the online chat people had finished for the day, and I had to consign the last 
hour of effort to the bin of history. 

I had multiple server timeout issues with the website as I traversed it trying to find out how 
to do things, so it has been quite the unexpected poor performance from IKEA this evening.