back to article Too many leftover screws? Ikea website backend goes TITSUP

Swedish flat-pack furniture folk Ikea’s UK tentacle appears to be suffering a rather lengthy website backend outage stopping some customers from placing online orders. The website is currently greeting visitors with the message: "Oops! We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties and you may experience issues when …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not too many leftover screws--someone forgot to include the Allen wrench in the little packet of hardware that comes with an IKEA server!!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Should of sprung for the option for them to build it.

  2. Korev Silver badge
    Coat

    Is the server being a silly Billy?

    1. Korev Silver badge
      Coat

      Or maybe it Lacks the power to serve the site...

      1. TRT

        A process keep Bummeranging.

        1. TRT
  3. Snivelling Wretch

    > The Register suspects that either a planned update to Ikea’s website backend went horribly wrong or something else has happened.

    Can't argue with logic like that!

    In any case, I had these problems on the website at the weekend, but I noticed that although the stock check appeared to be broken on the product pages, it worked on the basket/shopping list page. However, once at the store itself, they were also having problems with some of the tills, resulting in them closing my line just as I arrived at the checkout: grrrr. Could be entirely unrelated of course, but who knows...

  4. 9Rune5
    Thumb Up

    Save your visit for the storm season

    Aggrieved Britons, deprived of the opportunity to engage in the marriage-destroying activity of assembling furniture in accordance with pictorial instructions

    AFAICT, the problem arises inside the warehouse (as per the linked article).

    The assembling bit of it all is easy enough (I say whilst nervously eying my Algot wall mounted shelves that are perhaps holding more weight than they were designed for).

    Meanwhile, back here in Sweden, IKEA has been running a month long promotion of free shipping. A welcome peacebringer for this home.

    Pro IKEA tip: Wait for a heavy winter storm. I went to my local IKEA (an hour's drive away) during a particular hard winter storm. One other car in the parking lot, and I did not spot any customer inside the warehouse (except when passing through the mirror department). It was bliss inside whilst a blizzard was raging outside. Much recommended.

    1. tiggity Silver badge

      Re: Save your visit for the storm season

      Pro IKEA Tip of mine.

      Do not visit IKEA

      Works for me

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Joke

        Re: Save your visit for the storm season

        And what happens to Sweden if IKEA goes under? You want to be responsible for the impoverishment of an entire people??

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          'what happens to Sweden if IKEA goes under?'

          They can always move from burning cars to burning stores?!

          Just kiddin! Sorry, never understood the hype. Its all crap tat...

          Or maybe the store is my area just doesn't rate vs other cities...

    2. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

      Re: Algol wall mounted shelves

      AFAIK Algol doesn't have an explicit do forever structure.

      If you had built them from Scratch however...

      https://en.scratch-wiki.info/wiki/Forever_(block)

  5. The Mole

    As other people have mentioned the site has been unstable for a while, random maintenance pages, stock check not working on the main part of the site (even though ordering apparently shows the stock). There are also issues in the store where they will tell you items are in stock, and when you get to the warehouse they don't have them, but that may just be a dodgy order system that doesn't prevent double sales..

  6. Daniel Hill

    Cheeky price rises too...

    As one of the customers who has been trying (and failing) to put in an order in since last week, I've also noticed that over the weekend, prices of some of the items in my basket have increased!

    I'd hope that when they finally resolve the issue, they drop the prices back down to last week's for a couple of days as a bit of goodwill for those who couldn't actually place an order at the lower price.

    I'd go elsewhere for what I need, but I have an IKEA gift card to use (compensation from a previous order of furniture that was badly described and not fit for its intended purpose)!

    1. cantankerous swineherd

      Re: Cheeky price rises too...

      so the price increase update is fubar?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Cheeky price rises too...

      August is catalogue change month, nothing more sinister than that.

      I am currently working for IKEA, hence AC, but they are brilliant to work for, and miles ahead of the malicious UK manufacturer I left earlier in the year.

      They know some of their systems are lacking but we are working hard to fix the problems - very refreshing.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's obvious, it's former MFI staff launching a DDOS attack.

    I personally find Ikea quite good fun, all I've got to do is nod for an hour or two and I get a hot dog and chips at the end.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      "I get a hot dog and chips at the end."

      Presumably they come from a van parked some distance away. Because you can't reasonably count your penance at Ikea being at an end until you've finally escaped from the car park. It's possible, of course, that they've improved but there's no way I'll discover that.

      Never again.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Try the vegetarian one, the mystery meat one is terrible.

  8. Chris King
    Facepalm

    Oh dear...

    They've got three copies of the Disaster Recovery Plan, and none of them match what's in the data centre !

  9. Anonymous Tribble

    The site seems to have just flat packed up.

  10. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

    Assembler

    Perhaps their web server was written in Assembler and the staff couldn't understand the Instruction Set.

  11. brym

    DevOps been horsing around with supposedly stable upgrades, thought they were off to the races, only to fall at the first hurdle.

  12. rsjaffe

    They're still decoding all the pictures in their disaster recovery plan, and checking that they have all the pieces they need.

  13. Mayday
    Joke

    Kinne and Ikea

    Sorry, I always think of this one when I hear about Ikea

    Things never sad whilst assembling Ikea

  14. Oengus

    "stretching between last Thursday (10 August) and yesterday"

    There's the problem... there is something wrong with the Swedish calendar... by my reckoning last Thursday was the 9th of August.

    1. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

      Re: there is something wrong with the Swedish calendar

      The Swedes did drag their heels somewhat badly about doing things Pope Gregory's way.

      1. Strahd Ivarius Silver badge

        Re: there is something wrong with the Swedish calendar

        are you refering to February 30th 1712?

  15. imanidiot Silver badge

    Ikea doesn't have to destroy your marriage

    I've said it before, simply don't take your girlfriend/wife/SWMBO*. I've posted this 12 step plan before:

    Step 1: Convince the girlfriend/wife/SWMBO* that going on a weekend is a bad idea and it's better to take an afternoon off when it's sunny out

    Step 2: Convince the girlfriend/wife/SWMBO* that you got this and she doesn't need to come along.

    Step 3: Use the website to locate all items and their locations at your Ikea location

    Step 4: Go to the store

    Step 5: STUDY THE MAP at the entrance. Locate where your items are and where the shortcuts are located, they're not all marked but they are all on the map. Plan a route

    Step 6: Pick up your items

    Step 7: Use the self checkout tills to minimize friendly chitchat and old folks trying to pay with haypennies

    Step 8: Load up the car and go home

    Step 9: Argue with the girlfriend/wife/SWMBO* over the stuff you "forgot" to add on the list and didn't bring

    Step 10: Piss off girlfriend/wife/SWMBO* enough that she won't try to help assemble the stuff

    Step 11: Assemble the stuff correctly, first time, without problem

    Step 12: Show new furniture to girlfriend/wife/SWMBO* and make up for arguing.

    *Strike through as appropriate.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ‘The Register suspects that either a planned update to Ikea’s website backend went horribly wrong or something else has happened.’

    There’s a good chance you’re either right about that or completely wrong.

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