VIKTOR DONOVAN: May 2013

Sunday, May 26, 2013

LONDON SHOPPING SURPRISE

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

IKEA: WHEN COST-CUTTING CAN BACKFIRE

I, like so many other people around the world, have a love affair with IKEA and their innovative products at good prices. Trimming costs in manufacturing has been an essential element in this, but lately I have noted that their cost-cutting is showing up in the shopping experience itself -- and that is a big mistake.

It used to be fun to go to my local IKEA and just look around and eat or have a latte, but the cafe' where you could get a very good latte has been removed. At the restaurant where the food used to quite good, there is no longer the same variety and the quality is down. This is no doubt a way to cut costs. But the cost-cutting has gone too far when you no longer feel inspired to go there. Self-defeating certainly for IKEA if people do not turn up.

No more hand-made latte at my local IKEA.

IKEA introduced customers to a self-check system claiming that would be faster, but since they have reduced check out personnel generally, this is no longer a faster way. You still have to wait a very long time sometimes. Last month, a customer who desperately looked for someone to ask something, asked two women who loaded plastic shopping bags if they could help. "We do not work here" they said. By this they meant, that they worked for a subcontractor to load the bags and knew no more than that. Sure, this is a way of saving money for IKEA, but what impression does it give to customers?

Another ways IKEA cuts costs is to move production of items like napkins to a country that produces them in the cheapest possible way. That is how IKEA keep prices low and we benefit from it. Napkins and candles, that is what people often load up on at IKEA, and so do I. But the six packages of white napkins I bought two months ago emitted a sharp chemical smell. And it did not go away after the package had been opened. I looked at the country of manufacturing and noted that they were no longer made in Sweden. I wondered why no one had discovered that the napkins had a chemical smell ? Was their quality control at fault? Maybe this was a glitch, but what I discovered when I complained about this, was not very nice.

When I visited the kitchen department at IKEA, I told two young women who worked there about it and they quickly told me that it was no use telling them, they had no influence with the company as what they said did not matter much. It was much better to make the complaint in a computer on the floor. This is a sad state of affairs, if people working at IKEA feel that way and cannot get their voices heard. I decided to write to IKEA via their "contact" on their website. I got an immediate response on April 18, confirming receipt of the complaint and that they would respond no later that April 24 at 18.30 (6 PM). That seemed like a long time but hoped for an early reply.

On April 24 at !8.29, I got an email saying that their handling of claims took longer than usual and that they would when they had "dealt with my case". Oh, I thought, IKEA is contacting the factory and investigating the matter so they can give me a good reply with an explanation why the napkins had a strong smell of chemicals. That is maybe better than just offering compensation.

The days went and i heard nothing. On May, 10 I finally heard from IKEA again. This was 22 days later, more than three weeks! I was eager to hear what their investigation had resulted in. With such a delay I expected an interesting response.

What had they done? Nothing.

Did they apologize for the 22 day delay in responding? No.

Did they offer any compensation for the smelly napkins? No.

Had they investigated my problem No.

So what did they say?

They wondered if I still had the wrappers. They wanted a code of the wrapper indicating the time of production. That question could of course have been asked 22 days ago.

When i pointed out the lack of an apology for the three week delay and no offer of compensation, they offered me compensation for the price of four packages of napkins instead of the six I had bought. I suppose that saved them the value of two packages. Still cost-cutting, apparently. Considering the extremely bad handling of the complaint, and that they had a chance of making a larger gesture, they missed out big. Customer service at its absolute worst!

I still have a warm place in my heart for IKEA, but i do not like what I have experienced lately. They are on probation now. The napkin story and its many phases may seem small but raise a serious question about customer service. IKEA and its misplaced cost-cutting policies are not serving IKEA or it's customers well.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

HOW TO SQUEEZE A LEMON WITH GRACE

I think there is a certain functional beauty to this funny looking contraption. It enables you to squeeze a lemon at the dinner table with elegance.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

NEW BOOK!

Much of human activity is centered around food. We think of food whether we’re hungry or not. We spend a great deal of time buying it. We take hours preparing it (well, some do). We talk about it. We read about it in cook books. We watch television when chefs talk about it (sometimes to excess). When we socialize, it is often centered around the communal intake of it. We give it as gifts. Food, we can’t escape it! Some people become keenly interested in preparing food for themselves and others; many have become what we call “good cooks”. Usually a degree of creativity is involved together with a keen interest to entertain and a need to take care of others, to be a good host. It is such people that one remembers, and that is how I got started on Food & Folk, remembering, for example that excellent couple, Beatrice and Clayburn La Force on their ranch in Alpine California. After that I just kept going.

MY HOMETOWN GOTHENBURG

A series of closeups (224 photos) of Gothenburg, Sweden. Language: English and Swedish.----- This book consists of a series of closeups of Gothenburg. It is no history book but, hopefully, it will generate some curiosity about our city. When you walk in a city like London you are struck by Britain’s colonial past and its enormous wealth which manifests itself in buildings and institutions all over the city. When you walk in “Little London” as Gothenburg is often called, one is keenly aware of its importance as the best fortified city in Northern Europe. Two forts still watch over it. Remnants of the seventeenth century wall, and the meandering moat are a reminder of the city’s military past. Positioned on the West coast of Sweden, Gothenburg was once a world leader in ship building and shipping and evolved naturally into a merchant’s city. The English and Scottish heritage here is very important. There are clues and traces everywhere. One has only to look.

A GARDEN IN MY HOMETOWN

A book in English and Swedish about the Garden Society of Gothenburg--TRÄDGÅRDSFÖRENINGEN -----The Garden Society of Gothenburg is one of the best preserved early 19th century parks in Europe. It is situated directly downtown, offering lovely walks in the park or in the shaded woodland areas along the canal/moat, waterfront. The garden recently went through a major renovation under the auspices of Ulf Nordfjell, the internationally known landscape designer. The aim was to bring the garden back to its old nineteenth century glory. Carpet bedding returned and five new woodland areas were designed by five international garden designers. A superb new rose park was added, a successful blending of historical roses and perennials.

Love letters from my Swedish grandfather Folke to my American grandmother Olga 1909 - 1961

My American grandmother, Olga, met my Swedish grandfather, Folke Jonsson, in Brussels in 1909. Olga was 18 and Folke, 23. They settled in Gothenburg and Särö, Sweden. Olga, being American, had her family in Florida, and Folke soon came to realize that if you marry a woman from another continent, and this woman is charmingly independent, innovative and brave, and has her own means to boot, she is bound to want to visit her native country some time -- or several times -- or more than several times. To Folke, a sensitive soul, the long separations were quite painful and he suffered till his darling Olga returned. He “talked” to her in his frequent letters. Olga saved all his letters, in their original envelopes, in neat little bundles held together with different coloured ribbons. They were a treasured lifelong testament of his love. Olga and Folke corresponded in English as Olga was American and preferred writing in English. Had my grandfather Folke married a Swedish woman who had stayed at home, there would not be this stack of his letters today. He never intended the letters to be shown to others, but more than one hundred years have passed since Folke wrote them to his darling Olga. I have enjoyed getting to know my grandfather in this manner and I think others, not only relatives, should also share that privilege.

A pictorial Companion to the letters in the book above: 150 pictures of Olga & Folke 1909-1978

NEW BOOK BY DONOVAN O'MALLEY

REVIEW: "...O'Malley continues to prove that he is one of the more important writers around, a writer who with every book brings into our lives some very strange, often exceedingly humorous, and now, frequently very lonely people. His ability to create language for each of his characters is sharp, well studied and written, and without belittling anyone he, in language, shows the difference between class, and education, and exposure. Likely that comes from his experience in writing plays where characters are alive and moving, but with his considerable literary skills he makes his written page people morph into real life folks. He is in top form here ... " Grady Harp, June 12 (Hall of Fame reviewer)