Tuesday 30th April 2019 - IKEA Rhodes Gift Card Complaint & Redemption

I will never shop at IKEA again. As soon as I arrived home empty handed I threw out their catalogue!

It has been a while since I last visited an IKEA store and will never do so again

Here is why. I will be forwarding my complaint to the Department of Fair Trading or ACCC as soon as possible.

This is the letter of complaint I intend to lodge detailing my visit to IKEA Rhodes.

IKEA inside Waterside Hopping Centre @ Rhodes

1. The amount is quite significant - if it was only a $5 - $20 voucher I would not have minded but $200 is a very significant amount and all vouchers over $50 should be be honoured regardless of expiry date with the exception of a business going into administration for example

2. The manager said he could attempt to look up the details of my gift voucher but no guarantees he would be able to find it on the system as it is so old and could have been marked inactive. I argued that I purchased it and would have used my Ikea Family card to collect points from its purchase therefore there should be some record of it.

3. There is usually an expiry date either written on the gift voucher or somewhere on the back of it in the conditions in very small writing. There was nothing on the gift voucher itself front or back but on the cardboard sleeve there is the amount of the gift voucher hand written and nothing else. Expiry date  is not even written in the conditions. It could have been a condition that back then there was no expiry date. Therefore the onus was on IKEA to have hand written the expiry date with the amount inside the cardboard sleeve which they neglected to do. Where I work in retail we always hand write the amount, gift voucher number from the system, expiry date and even sign our names on the actual gift vouchers as well as advising the customer not to misplace them and to treat them like cash as we are unable to look them up on our system if they are lost. As long as the customer physically had the gift voucher with a voucher number we are able to look it up for them and even go to to the extent of allowing them to redeem it if they are a little expired as a gesture of goodwill. The difference I work for a small business - IKEA is multinational and international therefore I am disgusted at how I was treated.

4. I was advised if I had the proof of purchase that went with the gift voucher from IKEA which they advised would have had the expiry date on it. Of course I didn't. Who gives the original receipt with the gift voucher to the recipient? It's a gift voucher! Being asked if it was an IKEA gift voucher was also an invalid question - the gift voucher card itself had IKEA printed on it. What other gift vouchers does IKEA accept?

Postscript : On Saturday morning I rang  IKEA's customer service number and after selecting through several menu options and being on hold for 20 minutes I finally got through to a customer service officer to speak to - yes an actual human! I explained the above situation hoping to avoid having to esculate my complaint to the Department of Fair Trading and or the ACCC. The result was an apology and a reissue of a new gift card now valid for 3 years only. After providing the gift card barcode number which was all the information that was on the gift card, the customer service officer performed a search on the card number ( after putting me on hold again) and found that there was a small batch of IKEA gift cards that actually did not have an expiry date  on them and mine was one of them hence the reason why details could not be found on the system. I now have to wait for the new gift card to arrive in my po box as my case has been esculated to the payments department. They had all my current details correct therefore my gift card could not have been that old therefore making it still valid. I knew I was in the right and the manage on duty that night at Rhodes IKEA was in the wrong.

TBC.....

Thursday 16th May 2019 - Still waiting for my IKEA gift voucher - by the time I receive it at this rate it will have expired!!

Finally received my replacement IKEA gift voucher in the mail by registered post. It now expires 12th May 2022. 

Went back to IKEA again on Monday 27th  & Tuesday 28th May 2019 to spend it on essentials. On Monday I purchased a white queen fitted sheet and 2 matching pillow cases ( the cheapest cotton one possible but much better quality then the polycotton from K mart which I purchased and making me sweat.), a white coat rack which I realky like, a bsr of dark chocolate on sale and 2 different packets of gummy jellies - onr sweet the other sour. Tuesday I am returning to find a white desk top and 4 white castor legs to match. I reslly wanted an oak/white desk top but it is unavailable- could not find any legs on website showing up on catalogue therefore hopefully both available when I get to IKEA.  TBC

Monday 29th April 2019 - Trip to Macquarie Shopping Centre

It has been so long since I have travelled out to Macquarie Shopping Centre - in fact ever since the train line closed from Chatswood Station for the construction of the new Metroline.

Photo below

Macquarie University train station closed - to st there it is replacement buses only SL1 SL2 SL3 bewteen St Leonards Station  or Chatswood Station 

Bus services have replaced the train service and  ran quite frequently between Chatswood and Macquarie University / Macquarie Shopping Centre however I could not be bothered.

Today I took the SL1 bus  ( abbreviated Shore Link bus route 1 Chatswood to Epping) for the first time out to Macquarie University Station just as the bus and train timetables changed today with services amended in preparation for the opening of the new Metroline - an opening date has still not bern announced by the state government. Train testing is still in progress without any passengers on it - I would due to be one of the first passengers to take a ride on the new Metroline train !

Anyway once at Mascquarie Centre I was feeling hungry so went to Nene Chicken - Korean style fried chicken which I ha ve only had once before and have blogged about. Last time I only had original chicken tbis time I forked out $7.95 for a 6 pack of spicy ( or swicy on the menu signs as they can"t spell)  drunettes and wings.

So what did I think? Never again! Stick to the original fried chicken. It was definitely not worth the $7.95. I waited forever to get my "meal" and there was noone else waiting.

The chicken pieces came in a cardboard box much like a chicken nugget box in a paper bag with a mandatory single packaged wet wipe. Just as well this was included with the "meal" as it was impossible to eat without one! OK so I open the box and the chicken pieces look appetizing- covered in a sticky reddish glaze sprinkled ith sesame seeds. I take a bite into a brunette and it was really hot which meant freshly cooked however it was not spicy at all. Then I  took a bite into a wing asnd again not spicy at all however it was nowhere as hot as the brunette when I picked it up. Worse still was the rather l are pool of sticky reddish glaze at the bottom of the box - far too much glaze to chicken ratio and far too sticky and sweet. I ended up unsatisfied after finishing the meal covered in sticky glaze I opened the wet wipe  and cleaned as much of the sticky reddish glaze off my fingers and hands as I could before heading to the nearest bathroom to way my hands thoroughly with foaming soap and water to rid the stickiness and smell.

I will never agasin eat this. Rating:  3/10 epic fail!!!!!. I think a $4 or $5 small bucket of Karaage chicken would have been better especially from the Chstswood Mall market food stall  stall.

Photos below

Thursday 25th April 2019 - Anzac Day

You don't really wish everyone a Happy Anzac Day as you would a Happy Easter as it is a day of rememberance rather then celebration of our armed forces - those who served those who are currently serving and those that sacrificed their lives in war for our freedom.

For the veterans in particular who serviced , it is a special day for them beginning with dawn services  with the sounding of The Last Post not just around Australia but also abroad for example in Gallipoli.

It is unfortunate that due to the increase in terrorist attacks around the world security at this annual day of events has had to be heightened with bag and security checks as well as concrete barricades fences even intelligence involvement and eagle eyed armed guards stationed around and above to protect the thousands of people gathered at dawn services followed by the parades.

After the parades, it is usually a lunch a drink and a game of two up at the local pub cafe restaurant or RSL club. Rum and milk and the traditional ANZAC biscuit on offer for the day - these of which is believed sustained the troops during time of war.

The were 2 notable news worthy "sniplets" this year relating to ANZAC day.

One was about how fines are imposed for tampering with the original ANZAC biscuit recipe as this is trademarked/copyrighted. The addition of ingredients such as coconut to the ANZAC biscuit is OK , this ingredient was left out of the original recipe as coconut was difficult to obtain during war times however the addition of ingredients  such as chocolate chips to the ANZAC day biscuit is an absolute No No. AND you cannot call an ANZAC biscuit anything except a biscuit - it is not a bikkie or a cookie. A company was asked to correct this when they tried to create an ANZAC Biscuit Ice Cream Creation previously.

The other was about an unfortunate typo on the banners that flew above ANZAC day "celebrations" this year at Canada Bay which was too late to correct. The banners were errected but read " Lest We Forgot" unfortunately instead of "Lest We Forget". It could have been worse and read just " We Forgot" or "We Forget".

Finally Prince William on behalf of his grandmother The Queen who recently had a birthday but too old to travel abroad for royal duties,  makes a very brief visit to New Zealand to lay a wreath and attend ANZAC day remembrance before heading off to Christchurch to meet survivors and victims of the recent Mosques terrorist attacks.

I worked this year on ANZAC day but strict trading hours apply on ANZAC day . No retail stores open before 1 pm usually although some stores may open or trade  earlier as a mark of respect.. Food and beverage establishments may differ. Where I worked we only traded from 1 pm to 4 pm that day which was not even worth it however these trading hours were compulsory for ALL retailers in the shopping centre a cording to Centre Management as advised in their regular news letter. They also recommended extending trading hours from 1 pm and 5 pm. Major supermarkets obviously opened and traded extended hours outside of the minimum 1 pm and 4 pm trading hours. It is also late night shopping on Thursdays although people don't really bother at this particular shopping centre.

The shopping centre does display a wreath during ANZAC day - photo attached

Lest We Forget - at least they have the spelling correct! To all our Diggers I hope you all have a great ANZAC day and thank you - because of you I have been fortunate never to have had to experience war.

19th - 23rd April 2019 - Easter Very Long Weekend of Doing Almost Nothing

Yep that's right I watched tv a lot , caught up on cleaning, washing, cooked - well baked a chicken and vegetable loaf and just slept a lot.

I had nothing to do or go to but I did do essential grocery shopping on Easter Saturday. ( my fridge is still not functioning properly - the temperature shot up to 15 degrees when I opened it to check the fridge thermometer I placed in there since moving in - surprised I haven't had food poisoning)

On Easter Monday 22nd April 2019  I decided that I had to get up and go out but waa so lazy I only arrived in the city just before noon.

I did manage to catch the full Easter Parade which was meant to be between 10 am and 12 noon doing a complete loop around Hyde Park and did manage to take some pretty good photos of the parade heading back towards their mustering point. Probably doesn't make up for the St Patrick's Day parade I missed previously through The Rocks though.

Photos below

The rest of Monday afternoon will be spent at Bondi Junction. Trackwork again just as well we have the M40 bus!

Tuesday 23rd April 2019 - Last day of The Royal Easter Show @ Olympic Park which brings the country to the city together - such a hike to get out there but it is the last day and a last minute decision of mine to go this year. All Showlink tickets which cost $39 available from Woolworths had sold out. I visited my local Woolworths at Chatswood before ringing at least another 3 Woolworths to find out if they still had any Showlink tickets left - all of them completely sold out as well. I had to resort to booking a Showlink ticket online which cost me another $2.65 handling fee ie instead of costing me $39 it ended up costing me $41.65. If I had lined up to buy a ticket at the gate it would have cost me $43 and not included free public transport to and from the showgrounds. Showlink tickets purchased online or at Woolworths include return public transport to and from the show which is great as public transport to Olympic Park is quite expensive. 

I have planned a list of things to see and do today - mainly to see The District Displays before they are dismantled and the produce sold off. I love to hang out inside The Woolworths Fresh Food Dome although there seems to be a budget cut this year. I plan to avoid the dogs cats horses cows and pigs this year but alpacas ducks chickens sheep and goats will be my focus on animals this year. Then there is Jurrasic World 2 Fallen Kingdom as well as the arts crafts fashion and more work related baking , cake decorating & sugar arts competitions to view. I have ear marked some show bags I may like to purchase - limiting it to 1 only this year as they are quite expensive and looking out for any special deals BUT I am not quite at the Olympic Park yet! It is now 9.36 am and I estimate I won't arrive at Olympic Park Station until after 11 am today. 

Arrived at Central and ran to the Grand Concourse where the intercity trains depart. 2 minutes until the Olympic Park train departs therefore got onto the last carriage of the train. The train is a special events train - an express direct to Olympic Park Station with only 2 stops in between Redfern and Strathfield. By Redfern the train carriages are already 90% full. Uh oh I see clouds in the distance. By Strathfield the train is standing room only.

I reach Olympic Park Station around 10.30 am however it was a walk to the main entrance to the show. Not a big queue though yo buy a ticket at the gate which was a very different story from 4 pm that afternoon  ( I left the show around 5.30 pm that afternoon just as it was beginning to get dark) that afternoon as hundreds of people lined up to buy a discounted twilight ticket to take advantage of the final hours of the last day of the show before it closed for 2019. The annual Royal Easter Show is on for a short period of only approximately 2 weeks. This year it was on from 12th April  - 23rd April 2019 not always coinciding with the school holidays.

First stop after getting my paperless ticket on my phone scanned at the gate the Stationary Stockmen and 2 cute alpacas along with their young handlers and a makeshift shed. ( see photos attached below) 

Next I headed straight to The Woolworths Fresh Food Dome which is where the district displays are located. The Dome is where there food and beverage sampling  and all sorts of food and beverage products can be purchased including fresh oysters chocolates pies myself bars general honey and bee products wine spirits cheese melted ice creams and gelato pasta pizzas breads pastries etc . 

First stop is always The District Displays made entirely of produce from each district where I took heaps of photos ( already uploaded onto Facebook). Next queue up to get free tastings on offer from the Woolworths stall. They must have had a budget cut this year - their workshop talks and demo area and stage was 4 times as large as their tasting stall this year with half a cucumber a mini frankfurt and mini banana smoothie only on offer this year. I was hungry as I had been up early this morning and had not had breakfast yet so any food samples were welcome. I had just sampled a piece of hot cross bun from a bread stall. 

After the Woolworths sampling I did the laps of The Dome's food and beverage stalls before heading off to do the laps of the Home & Lifestyle Pavillion right next to The Dome. I was tempted to purchase a pie to eat from a bakery stall in The Dome for around $6 - $7 but did not have enough cash with me so held off until later in the afternoon to purchase a pie to eat. I had packed some fruit cheese and bread so snacked on that in the morning. 

The Dome contained the same stalls as the previous year - the fresh oysters with their display of oysters at various stages of their life cycle, cheese melties which are usually $2 but due to inflation are now $3 - is it really worth it? They use the cheapest slices of  no frills white bread from Coles with a slice of plastic cheese melted in between. At the end of the day to get rid of  any loaves of unused white bread some of the cheese melted stalls around the show give them away to visitors passing by FREE! I remember getting a free loaf of bread one year but not this year. Not a huge fan of refined white bread or plastic cheese.

I spent quite a bit of time looking around the Home & Lifestyle Pavillion . Here you could find various government and semi government organisations and pick up some freebies. I started off by getting a free Darrel Lea nougat Easter egg from their stand ( I was curious about their hot cross bun eggs however when I returned to their stand later in the afternoon when I spotted them they had sold out completely of all eggs!). I kept walking around and the NBN stand was next spotted so typed in my address to see if the building I was living in was connected - the computer could not determine if it was so I picked up a free NBN show bag which contained a notebook a ruler a stress ball  & a packet of blue & white Made in China jelly beans - what no pen??? Needing a pen I walked back to the Transport for NSW stand which was huge and grabbed a silver pen & a packet of mini colour pencils from them that the stand was giving away. Other things I saw in the Home & Lifestyle Pavillion were Service NSW Bupa, spas, ceramic frypans, stainless steel pots and pans, the CWA tea rooms area serving scones and tea, lots of kids activity stands such as the Bandaged Bear Hospital for Westmead Childrens Hospital and the Genes for Jeans stand. Then at the far end of the hall there was the Pet Pavillion - on display were not dogs and cats but frogs, lizards, snakes and birds.

Next onto my favourite halls just across the road ( I left the Show Bag Pavillion  next door for the very end of the day) - the Arts and Crafts Pavillion , Fashion and Style Paillion and Flower an Garden Pavillion (cake decorating sugar art floral arrangements photography ceramics scones fruit cakes biscuits knitting crochet painting gardening sculptures jewellery textiles etc it was all here in these pavillions). My favourite is always the baking cake decorating and sugar art competition displays. I also spent time looking at the vegetable growing competition. Native floral arrangements are my favourites too.

Next onto some outdoor exhibitions - Jurassic World 2 Fallen Kingdom. This was near Little Hands On The Farm  and The Paddock and was a display of numerous life sized moving dinosaurs complete with sound effects fenced in an enclosed space - a crowd pleaser guaranteed to scare naughty children.

In between I managed to catch the tail end of the Day Circus Street Parade - always a great parade to watch full of kids cartoon characters such as Paw Patrol Ninja Turtles etc. I did not stay for the Night Circus Street Parade which takes a different route around the showgrounds at 6 pm.

A quick look inside the World Bazaar tent then onto to see the animals via a quick stop at a full scale replica of a driverless train carriage at The Metroline display tent which I have already seen on display at several other events prior to this Easter Show - the driverless carriages are now probably 10 years old and will be obsolete by the time they start running live! Still no date as to when they will start operating.

I followed the Animal Walk trail and picked up a Junior Farm Hands Passport. Budget cuts again only 7 stamps to collect this year and instead of a booklet was just a piece of double sided printed A4 paper. It was certainly a lot easier to collect the stamps this year except the Horse Pavillion stamp. By the time I reached the booth they had already packed up for the day and it wasn't even 4 pm yet! So collecting 6/7 stamps was OK.

Horses in the horse marshalling area

Pony and donkey rides for kids

Goats & Pigs - is this a match for Molly the goat?

The only pies left for sale inside The Woolworths Food Farm - cheese burger pies at least they were freshly baked!

Dung nettle and cotton plant displays inside the Farm Of The Future tent.

The Day Circus Street Parade

Sheep In Paddocks & Junior Farm Hands 

Junior District Displays

I followed the crowds into the Pig and Goat Pavillion - boring,  through to the Poultry Pavillion  where I avoided the hens although not the turkeys and just spent my time looking for Fluffy an Beaka the ducks as well as eggs and baby chickens and then the Sheep Pavillion through to the always cute Farmyard Nursery where there were lambs and goats roaming free trying to steal frightened kids' animal feed everywhere and where I was trying to find a male goat as a mate for Molly my manager's pet rescue goat. Next through to the Dairy Farmers Working Dairy via the Woolworths Food Farm where they were out of apple slinkies and substituting them with pear slinkies however there was plenty of juice left for purchase and where I had just enough loose change for a freshly made plain pie although the pie making factory had already closed for the show,  only to find the only pies left were cheese burger pies that were a $2 special ( Is that actually a pie? I asked - yes it consisted of a rather chunky salty gamey sausage mystery meat mince that did not taste like beef, pickle, tomato sauce? and melted plastic orange cheese) which looked like a pie created from whatever they had left over. So hungry at this point in time I just scoffed it down before leaving the Woolworths Food Farm and onto the Farm Of The Future tent which was quite interesting and showcases the sciences behind farming including dung bettles and drones.

My first pet duck was uglier then this one

If Fluffy & Beaka were alive today this is what they would have looked like - just a typical pair of lovable Peking Ducks

Lucky to be able to photograph this beautiful turkey

This duck just wanted to escape

Specialty ducks on display

Next onto find the Heritage Pavillion but it was quite a walk around to get there so I stopped and watched a few horses in the horse marshalling area with their young riders practicing their dressage routines.

The Heritage Pavillion  - this is where all the trophies are kept. Winners are presented a medal to keep.

A toilet stop enroute - no toliet paper oh dear - this is why you always carry some tissues in your bag!

After viewing the Heritage Pavillion  - so this is where all the trophies are kept!!!!!

It was back to the Showbags Pavillion which was my 2nd final stop of the day before heading home. I was very disappointed that I missed out on an AG Show bag tbis year- they had completely sold out by Saturday. I buy this show bag every year to support the rural areas of Australia. I was advised that if I returned at 5 pm they were going to auction off the last 4 bags which will be put together from products left on display at the AG stand however no guarantees that I will get a Show bag for $20. Later I returned to the stand and the auction time had been crossed out to 5.20 pm now. The stand had plenty of bottles of soft drink left though for purchase.  

Most of the adult show bags had sold out before the last day of the Easter Show but if you are a kid going to the Show on the last day which is also known as Kids Day and where entry for all kids is half price, there is no shortage of animals,  rides and show bags.

I did manage to find the sold out Women's Weekly show bag  for a bargain price of $10 after scouring the entire Show Bags Pavillion over and over again. I think they were throwing into this Woman's Weekly show bag anything and everything they wanted to give away by around 4.30 pm as it resembled nothing like the original products in the show bag. I think I happened to be there to purchase the show bag at its peak - it was so heavy - pity I missed out on the limited number of cherry patterned bags they released for sale after I purchased my show bag full of goodies which was a pale blue and grey striped one. I wanted to ask to swap the bag but decided not to after I saw what was now in the same show bag - the number of products had diminished since I purchased mine eg instead of 4 tubes of flavoured baking pastes there was only 1 tube and instead of 2 full sized packets of Lindt chocolate fruit balls which retail in the supermarkets at $5 a packet already were probably reduced back to a single packet per show bag making my show bag purchased break even just with the 2 packets of chocolate!

Happy with my limit of 1 show bag purchased I made a final stop back to the Woolworths Food Dome. It was now around 5 pm and all the District Displays were being dismantled and produce sold off to the public at bargain prices starting from 3 pm on the last day of the show.

I ended up using my loose change and purchased a whole pumpkin for $1. I wanted a whole pineapple as well but it was too heavy to carry home and I didn't quite have enough spare change for it. Professional last day Easter Show shoppers bring their own shopping trolleys and are more prepared with cash!

I have uploaded photos of the district displays and it's dismantling onto Facebook already. 

Watch out for the pumpkins being thrown down below!

5.30 pm I am dead tired and it is time for me to head home by train train and bus unlike the hundreds of people queing up to enjoy the last few discounted twilight ticket hours of the last day of the Easter Show. I do not ask for a stamp to re enter the show.

Straight onto the next express train departing Olympic Station bound for Central Station via Strathfield & Redfern transferring onto a North shore train to Chatswood then a short bus ride home. 

End of rather warm but enjoyable day - work for the next 2.5 days.

Photos below

Something for everyone at the Easter Show including die hard fans of The Game of Thrones.

Showbags Hall

Entrance to The Royal Easter Show

The cutest alpacas!

knitting & crochet

gardening plants,  fruit,  vegetables & floral displays

lest we forget - even an ANZAC Day tribute with crochet poppies 

jewellery 

The arts crafts photography cake decorating sugar art and baking competition displays

Products from the USA stand - an example of what may be available at World Bazzar 

Farmyard Nursery - everyone's favourite, there were so many kids running around it was difficult to distinguish the lambs amongst the kids and whether there were more kids then kids roaming around!

The Dairy Farmers Working Dairy

The stationary stockmen

The crowds attractions & carnival alley

The makeshift shed where the 2 cute little alpacas with their handlers were

Life sized laminated displays of dinosaurs within the grounds of Jurassic Park

The District Displays before dismantling 

Workers dismantling the District Displays & selling off produce to the public at bargain prices! Watch out for those $1 pumpkins being thrown down!