Hello,
I bought a dark brown Hemnes desk. While assembling the two drawers on the right, I immediately noticed a discrepancy between the parts and the instructions. First of all:
It’s probably an older version of the Hemnes, for which the included instructions do not fit. Since I’m quite skilled with tools (trained), it wasn’t a problem at first. So I assembled the rest to see which parts would be left over.
In the end, I assembled the drawer using my own screws and wooden dowels.
(The instructions say to hammer the pieces together with plastic dowel nails. However, the boards look slightly different and there are no holes for that at all. Instead, there are 2 dowels and 2 cam lock screws.)
The included parts obviously belong to the new version. The plastic nails are extra, but the cam lock screws are not. So I simply attached the back of the drawer with my own screws. The drawer shape remains the same, so it is overall “correctly” assembled, even if in a different way than intended:
Here you can see the discrepancy between the instructions and the actual parts (in the instructions, the boards have 3x3 holes on the inner side instead of my 2x3, as well as the intended assembly method (plastic nails), the assembly method indicated on the board itself (cam lock screws), and the reality (own screws):

The real problem only became apparent at the last step.
The drawers do not fit properly in terms of width. Although the drawers match the cabinet size (the external dimensions were logically kept the same in the new version), as soon as I attach the drawer slides it becomes clear: this can’t work.

On page 1 of the instructions, there’s a simple message in pictures: if you have questions, just call. No number is provided. I searched online and quickly realized:
Contrary to my expectations, there is no support for this kind of issue. On the phone, you only get automated responses, and I’m not keen on returning the Hemnes, especially since I work full-time during the week and don’t want to spend much time dealing with this.
Now I’m considering making my own alternative drawer slides.
A real IKEA nightmare, especially since the assembly is now taking much more time and there is no service for these cases.
Do you think simply attaching wooden rails on which the drawers rest would be practical?
Best regards,
Jurikles
PS: This is the first time something like this has happened to me. I’m genuinely shocked that IKEA leaves customers completely on their own like this (I expected a free 24-hour on-site help service). This has seriously damaged my previously good impression of the company.
PPS: The parts not fitting showed up in several other places as well. For example, the tabletop is supposed to be attached using cam lock screws and wooden dowels. But the holes in the tabletop did not match those in the cabinet body at all. Luckily, this only affected the wooden dowels, so I was able to install the tabletop using just the cam lock screws. Somehow everything is mixed up here...
I bought a dark brown Hemnes desk. While assembling the two drawers on the right, I immediately noticed a discrepancy between the parts and the instructions. First of all:
It’s probably an older version of the Hemnes, for which the included instructions do not fit. Since I’m quite skilled with tools (trained), it wasn’t a problem at first. So I assembled the rest to see which parts would be left over.
In the end, I assembled the drawer using my own screws and wooden dowels.
(The instructions say to hammer the pieces together with plastic dowel nails. However, the boards look slightly different and there are no holes for that at all. Instead, there are 2 dowels and 2 cam lock screws.)
The included parts obviously belong to the new version. The plastic nails are extra, but the cam lock screws are not. So I simply attached the back of the drawer with my own screws. The drawer shape remains the same, so it is overall “correctly” assembled, even if in a different way than intended:
Here you can see the discrepancy between the instructions and the actual parts (in the instructions, the boards have 3x3 holes on the inner side instead of my 2x3, as well as the intended assembly method (plastic nails), the assembly method indicated on the board itself (cam lock screws), and the reality (own screws):
The real problem only became apparent at the last step.
The drawers do not fit properly in terms of width. Although the drawers match the cabinet size (the external dimensions were logically kept the same in the new version), as soon as I attach the drawer slides it becomes clear: this can’t work.
On page 1 of the instructions, there’s a simple message in pictures: if you have questions, just call. No number is provided. I searched online and quickly realized:
Contrary to my expectations, there is no support for this kind of issue. On the phone, you only get automated responses, and I’m not keen on returning the Hemnes, especially since I work full-time during the week and don’t want to spend much time dealing with this.
Now I’m considering making my own alternative drawer slides.
A real IKEA nightmare, especially since the assembly is now taking much more time and there is no service for these cases.
Do you think simply attaching wooden rails on which the drawers rest would be practical?
Best regards,
Jurikles
PS: This is the first time something like this has happened to me. I’m genuinely shocked that IKEA leaves customers completely on their own like this (I expected a free 24-hour on-site help service). This has seriously damaged my previously good impression of the company.
PPS: The parts not fitting showed up in several other places as well. For example, the tabletop is supposed to be attached using cam lock screws and wooden dowels. But the holes in the tabletop did not match those in the cabinet body at all. Luckily, this only affected the wooden dowels, so I was able to install the tabletop using just the cam lock screws. Somehow everything is mixed up here...
I
IKEA-Experte29 May 2016 13:34Hello, take a look at the old installation manual. If you think the rails shown there could be the right ones, try ordering them using the specified part number.
P.S. Please always upload photos here, otherwise they will be lost after a short time.
P.S. Please always upload photos here, otherwise they will be lost after a short time.
Similar topics