I am no longer such a big fan of IKEA. It took me ages to assemble the new bed I bought there Friday, only to find out that they didn’t give its midbeam. For some reason the bed doesn’t come with a midbeam, that’s a separate purchase … and I bought it … just didn’t receive it. I called yesterday, they said they could send it to me but it’d take two weeks. So basically I’ll have to trek back out to Elizabeth, N.J. sometime during the week. Damn them!
My experience with IKEA…
1) bought bureau when I moved to NYC 2 1/2 years ago.
2) dad wanted to help me assemble bureau.
3) dad finishes his part…and says “what are these extra pieces for?” (should have been my cue for trouble)
4) 2 months later….bureau falls apart.
5) dad comes back and takes bureau in shambles back to ikea.
6) call levitz…get bureau fully put together:)
So yeah…not such a fan of the putting stuff together thing (well at least if it includes my dad!).
i actually got a coupla things from there for my current place…2 years later, everything is still standing, however the directions to put things together are so hard to understand…not everyone reads things visually.
my brother did the smart thing…pay someone to put his ikea bed together.
There is a reverse correlation between how fast you run and how well you can put Ikea stuff together. My Ikea stuff never falls apart. 😉
just don’t let your boyfriend try to put your dresser together…the back panel will end up nailed heavily to the front of the dresser, and you’ll forever have little holes in the front of your dresser, and a torn up back panel stapeled to the back of the damn thing…
i love the concept of ikea, just wish i were a little more functional with the hammer. my thumbs tend to get in the way.
Ladies, I actually am confident in my abilities to assemble this damn stuff … just so long as they include all the parts. In fact I will hearby offer my IKEA-assembling abilities to any of my female nyc-based commenters — except you, flygirl.
IKEA, nice, Swedish, genuine furniture. Ive never bought anything there without either some missing screws or some extra stuff. ;). Btw, IKEA stands for Ingvar Kamprad (the man who started it) Elmtaryd (the house/farm where he was born) and Agunnaryd (the village where he grew up). Over and out!
Hey, why does the ikea bed fall apart. The wooden slats always fall off of the frame. It is a friends bed, not mine. any hints on how to correct this.
sorry, no
djstarr, I am having the same problem with my Ikea bed. First of all i got the aspelund model and well i could go on about the assembly, but i’ll just say it was hell on earth. I just bought it. i’m thinking i should have bought the cheaper slats that were just flat. I’ve got these ones with rubber ends and they have fallen on both sides after my first night of sleep. I had to go and sleep on my futon early in the morning, because i didn’t feel like messing with it again. I am thinking of taking measurements going to home depot and picking up some plywood to put down and then put the slats on top of that. i read someone who tried that and i guess it worked. i really could go on and on about how much my first experience at Ikea was horrible, but i’ll save it.
Well I am almost done putting my new IKEA Aspelund bed together. It has taken me a lot longer than I thought it would…..and the directions wern’t always helpful (some text wouid be a welcome addition to the diagrams) , but somehow I managed to do it alone. But I haven’t slept on it yet, hope it doesn’t fall to pieces under me at 2 am.
I recommend going slow, keeping the A/C on high and stopping regularly for some fun distraction. I guess that’s why it took me several hours instead of 3. As my mom says, everything in moderation!
I too have been sleeping in my front room for several weeks since buying an Aspelund. In my case the problem is that the metal sidings have been incorrectly drilled so the little plastic plugs that keep the slats in place have nowhere to go. I have been sent out replacement parts that are exactly the same, so obviously a bad batch. I commiserate with those who have also had the bed collapse on them when they are trying to sleep, or in my case, make a move on somebody…drat!
i got the same problem….. i bought the bed (Aspelund)
if im getting too excited in the bed with my girlfriend 🙂 it starts to collapse.
i’m trying to call them right now…
……..
(u can imagine the waiting time on the phone with the costumer service if i still here)
The IKEA futon is total garbage. Most of the slats break, and the company doesn’t want to know you unless you have a receipt. They have NO parts unless you can prove you bought it in one of their stores. After warranty is almost non-existent and they don’t want to know you if your out of warranty.
Uggghhhh… So First off… Ikea regrets to inform me that I need to buy a mid-beam seperatley! I buy the damn thing and now I have lost the f-ing instuctions! So here I am sitting inside of my bedframe on my laptop, when I should be comfortable on the damn thing! Please can somebody help??? Instructions or something….
I finally fixed my Aspelund bed! No more collapsing slats!!!
The problem was with the metal X-shaped frame underneath. IKEA’s instructions showing how to attach it are WRONG! The four ends of the “X” should NOT be attached to the corners of the bed; instead, they should be attached to the holes near the middle of each side. This slideshow includes a picture (different bed, but same idea):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blakeformayor/57900071/in/set-1253224/
Re-attaching the X-frame near the middle does two things. First, it keeps the sides from bulging out and letting the slats fall through. Second, it frees up the holes near the corner of the bed so that you can attach the retainer plugs that Heather mentioned. The plugs hold the slats in place and keep them from sliding. (I, too, originally thought my bedframe was missing the holes for the plugs, but it turns out the plugs are actually supposed to go in the holes where IKEA wrongly tells you to attach the X-frame!)
To summarize: if your X-frame is attached to the corners, that’s probably why your slats are collapsing. And here’s the easy fix:
– Take apart the metal X-frame
– Reattach it to the holes near the center of the sides
– Put in the plugs (eight total) to hold the slats in place.
Let me know if you have any questions. I hope this is helpful!
I bought an Aspelund and the thing cannot be put together. It’s seriously not possible with what I have been given. These tiny metal screws are not the right diameter and not long enough to hold this X-frame together. How did you make this garbage work?
Slatmaster,
I’ve yet to try your method, but I wanted to say thanks in advance in the event that I forgot. Me and my BF have been crying (not literally; actually, we’ve been screaming at each other) in the middle of the bedframe trying to make this x-frame make sense. Just having a different approach in mind has saved my life…thanks!
Bob
I thought I had it all solved with zip ties.
After two goddamn trips to Ikea, the first of which they never gave my girlfriend the slats, we never received the things that hold the slats in place.
I thought I had it figured out with copious amounts of zip ties.
I was wrong.
None of the screws fit, so I’d thrown them all out.
This is a continual project and I’ll go to the grave without finishing it, I’m sure.
Hi,
We bought a malm bed frame from IKEA. Everything looked good, until it was time to fix the mid beam. I guess I have to extent the midbeam to reach it to the footboard and headborad, but how do we do it. I tried to extent, its really tight.
can somebody help me with this pls.
What’s wrong with you Americans? IKEA furniture is dead easy to put together, you just have to read the instructions CAREFULLY, and take things SLOWLY, OK?! At least that is what we do here in Scandinavia. Paying other people to assemble the furniture for you is just SAD and PATHETIC. Everyone, man or female should be able to assemble an IKEA bed as a test that they have a high enough IQ to be categorised as a member of the human race!
We are too busy fighting in world wars to protect other countries like yours! Ha ha, just kidding.
It does take time to put things together and it is why things cost less with them.
Enrico:
Your IQ test should include the ability to spell and in so doing–you yourself would fail!!
i agree with enrico..its damn easy to put all together. Just go through the instruction…I did it myself, the whole bedroom set, without the help of my husband.
I’ve put together plenty of Ikea furniture, no problem. But within a week of putting together my Malm bed, the slats started falling through. I was not at all confused during assembly, and the end results looked exactly like the diagram. A quick Web search shows that MANY people are having this experience, so even if it’s an assembly problem, Ikea has failed its customers with directions. However, I believe it’s a design problem.
Hi Guys,
Any new posts on this subject? My aspelund bed keeps collapsing. I put it together with no problems. Although I didn’t understand what some plastic, grooved covers for screws do, seem pointless. Some have said keeping slats in place but the rubber band holding the slats in place just sit on it.
Anyway, the design appears a bit different to that above. There is no X shape, instead there are metal tensioners fixed to each end of the mid beam, and to both side of bed frame – 4 in total. I think this is to stop the bed bowing in or out. However I must have had to put the slats back on the metal frame about 10 times now in less than 8 weeks. It sucks.
Hi!
We have exactly the same problem with the slats continuously falling out of place. We were tinking of putting plywood across the bed and putting the slats ontop of that but if anyone has another suggestion i would really welcome it!
Thanks!
Our Malm bed slats continue to fall through at the slightest movement. It’s a design problem which leaves too much room for the slats to fall through. A solution we are going to try is putting a wood shim between the rubber ends in the mid beam, which will fill the space and hopefully prevent the slats from falling on the sides. Or a piece of plywood under the slats would do the trick, too.
Here’s what others are suggesting:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=267011
We tried stuffing cardboard between the extra space between the slats and the metal. Didnt work. I sat down, gently too, and teh thing fell through, cardboard was popping out everywhere. I will never sit on this bed again.
My girlfriend bought an Aspelund about six months ago. The slats were a major pain-in-the-rear, but we figured that out. Just tonight, however, the head of the bed frame snapped as we leaned against it. No slamming and bamming, no roughhousing, just a gentle lean -that’s all we gave it. My girlfriend is going apoplectic. Our question is: what’s the warranty on this piece of crap? No info on the Ikea website.
Well, I spent what little money I had at Ikea for a bed frame and nice slats. Every time I lie down to enjoy my new bed, the slats fall out and I have to fix it again. I tried every way to fix it. I’m throwing the whole piece of junk away and walk away never to buy from Ikea again. Burned again by big business.
Firstly, I love IKEA. Like life, if you make poor choices you can get burned, but if one chooses carefully and practices methodical patience and doesn’t throw in the towel with mistakes and bumps in the road, one can be happy and even rewarded. I have some pieces from IKEA that kick major *ss. Its like mining. There is lots of slag, but there are diamonds mixed in – – beautiful pieces well constructed and designed by real artists.
That said, lets talk beds. My wife and I bought Engan (yes, remembered to grab the center beam) and Sultan Lillaker slats. Although the Lillaker slats were a bitch to assemble, we were excited for the upgrade and the promise of complex redistribution of weight that would afford a blissful nights sleep. Wrong. The glow vanished when the slats dropped out on the edge midway down. No resolve yet. We are thinking of going back to our simple flat slats that we enjoyed for years without trouble.
Returning the high tech hangover inducing Lillakers of course.
Good Luck out there.
I have a simple fix for this problem. I bought an Engan Bed with Sultan Lillaker slats. Like everyone else I was frustrated by the slats falling away from the edge midway down the bed. I purchased a set of extra strong velcro strips with adhesive backing. Trim them to a width which matches the width of the rubber slat strips. Then attach them at either end of the rubber slat strips and in the middle – match this up with the opposing side of the velcro on the metal edge. Then stretch out the whole slat assembley into full position and engage the opposite halves of the velcro in each instance. The velcro I bought was rated to attach objects of up to 15kg in weight on vertical surface so provides plenty of traction to keep the slats firmly in place.
The advantages of this approach are cost (£10), simplicity and finally there is nothing permanent. So for dismantling a moving purposes it will work a treat.
Hope everyone out there appreciates this fix – it certainly has saved me a lot of grief.
Cheers
I most certainly hate IKEA! Dealing with the Customer Services is like hell. No one can give you a straight answer and when they do they pull and tug you everywhere. I definitely hate them now.
I also have a problem with the bed slats falling off the bed. The website has a 25 year warranty but you need to have the receipt. Well, I bought it with my IKEA credit card but unfortunately the credit card and the IKEA store are not associated what so ever! I can’t even have the credit card verify that I bought certain product on a certain day from an IKEA store b/c the stupid credit card doesn’t list items purchased. Just the date and how much the total was.
I am never going to shop at IKEA ever again! Such a stupid store!
Bought the Engan bed this weekend, and assembled it on my own in about 2 hours (although the directions recommended a 2 person assembly). The only difficult part was screwing in the diagonal cross bracing – have always found IKEA assembly difficult when putting metal screws into another piece of metal. Easiest way was to put in the screw into the cross brace first (with lots of force!), then undo and attach it to the bed frame – this opens up the metal opening a bit, making screwing it in place easier. (Hard to describe…sorry if unclear).
Was going to buy the fancier, more expensive slats (as I’d heard the simple flat pine slats may fall out), but they were all out. Instead bough the cheap flat pine slats, and they fit perfectly and snuggly. I can’t even see how they could ever fall out. The screws with the plastic caps keep the slats tight and stretched out. All seems good. I even jumped on the bed to check it out… perfect! I recommend the Engan bed (and one or two intelligent people to assemble it). It required some thinking and some strength, but if done as directed, it all works. Might go back to buy the matching end table. For those people that forgot the center brace… it says clearly on the tag in the store the aisle and bin location of the bed, and underneath the aisle and bin location of the brace. If you missed it, that’s your fault, not IKEA’s.
Well, to those of you having problem with your slats…. sorry but you have not properly read your instruction…
I have assembled few beds together myself and the trick is after you laid down the slat, you also have to put the provided type
of thick screw and plastic fuuny looking piece to keep the slats apart…otherwise slats will move back and forth and it’s falls down 🙂
now go back and look at your instructions once more to find out what exactly I’m talking about… Good luck…let me know how successful you were.
I was having the same problem with the slats falling through, and a simple (albeit strange) solution has seemed to fix everything. There’s a slight gap between the 2 slats on the midbeam, so we just decided to stick writing pens (which happen to be the perfect width) in the middle to fill the gap, and call it a day. Its worked ever since, and no butts on the ground : )
The slats thing has been an issue for me as well…and I am also good with assembling things. I just applied Shalin’s idea with sticking pens in the gap on the mid beam-Thanks. Simple, cheap, and I hope effective. sweet.