Customer Accuses IKEA Hyderabad for Racism

IKEA RACISM: ‘Yeah call police if you want, we will deal.’, that is what the supervisor said when Nitin Sethi accused the IKEA staff of racism. Nitin Sethi, a member, of The Reporters' Collective, tweeted about the racism that his wife faced at the IKEA store in Hyderabad. 

The couple were shopping, and then faced with unfair treatment by the IKEA staff when they were checking out the store.

Tweet thread read

Racist treatment at @IKEAIndia store in Hyderabad. Only my wife, from Manipur got frisked for goods she bought. No one else before us. And then all supervisory staff came to defend the racism. Great show from an 'international store'. Cheers to another usual day. #racism.

— Nitin Sethi (@nit_set) August 28, 2022

Akoi Jam, wife of Nitin Sethi, retweeted and explained what transpired at the Hyderbad store. The Tweet read,

I was one of the many who bought stuffs at @IKEAIndia Hyderabad today. but i was the only one whose purchased items were checked one by one. if this is not #racism then what is it? the senior staffs there were far from helpful. does @IKEA endorse such behavior?

I was one of the many who bought stuffs at @IKEAIndia Hyderabad today. but i was the only one whose purchased items were checked one by one. if this is not #racism then what is it? the senior staffs there were far from helpful. does @IKEA endorse such behavior? https://t.co/DAeYW6hP2E

— akoijam sunita (@akoi_Jam) August 28, 2022

Mid-August, IKEA Hyderbad was fined Rs 6000 for making the customer pay for the carry bags. The complaint was taken care of by the Ranga Reddy district consumer disputes redressal commission. The complaint was filed when a customer was made to buy a carry bags which had IKEA's logo and cost Rs 20. The case was that IKEA can’t use customer money for advertising their own brand, this comes under unfair trade practices.  The commission asked the customer to be compensated by IKEA.

The compensation included, a refund of Rs 20 charged for the bag to the complainant, to further pay Rs 1000 as compensation for mental agony, and to deposit Rs 5000 in the Consumer Legal Aid Account as a token of creating awareness of The Consumer Protection Act. 

Discriminatory Behaviour by Indigo Airlines

The incidents of racism against the Indian critizen from north-eastern states have been shamefully continuous. On 27th August, Leishemba Rajkumar, Associate Editor at PTI, tweeted about facing discriminatory behaviour by Indigo airlines.

Calling out @IndiGo6E for discriminatory behavior. Matter may sound trivial over a cup of hot coffee but the issue is about how your crew treat your flyer based on his looks. Flight No: 6E184 DEL-AHMEDABAD.

— Leishemba Rajkumar (@leishembaa) August 27, 2022

What is IKEA?

IKEA is a Sweden founded, and Dutch-based multi-national company. The company sells ready to assemble furniture, kitchen appliances, home accessories, and more. 

The word IKEA is an acronym, and stands for the name of the founder Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd.

The company opened their first store in Hyderabad in 2018, then in Navi Mumbai in 2020. They opened a smaller city store in Mumbai in 2021. In 2022, the company opened a large format store in Bengaluru, taking the count to four.

The company is expanding in the Indian market, but the incidents as mentioned might not take them forward.

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