17 August 2023 , 13:00
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When Marie Stent shelled out £40 for a new toilet seat, she expected it to be white. That's what she had bought from IKEA, and that's what she had expected to be contained within the packaging.
What greeted her, however, was a blue toilet seat. She wasn't happy, but having lost the receipt, there was very little Marie, from Cambridge, could really do but chalk it up to experience. It took her 18-year-old daughter Amber to help point out Marie's glaring mistake.
Taking to Twitter to share her mum's gaffe, Amber revealed all her mum had to do was peel off the blue plastic cover on the seat... The 'Ekaren' seat even came with picture instructions showing Marie how to peel the blue protective film off.
Amber, a law student at Newcastle University, wrote: "Mum bought a £40 toilet seat from Ikea, gets home and starts freaking out because it's bright blue and she's chucked away the receipt. After about 30 minutes of accepting it, she's finally got her head around the idea of having a blue toilet, until I come and read the label."
The Ekaren toilet seat (Deadline News)
Whoops - there are instructions on what to do (Deadline News)But before you chortle too loudly at Marie, plenty of other people admitted they'd made the same mistake too. One woman even admitted: "That happened to me too and to my shame I returned it." Another added: "I had the blue stuff on my cutlery drawer for 10 years before I noticed."
'I get brand new IKEA furniture thanks to a savvy hack - anyone can do it'
An ex-IKEA worker even weighed in with a story, saying: "When I worked in Ikea a guy drove back to Edinburgh from Aberdeen raging at being sold a toilet seat. Customer service couldn't calm him. I turned up, peeled the blue protective paper off the stainless steel top and he picked it up and walked away without another word."
So it's not Marie's fault at all, really. Agnieszka Lachowicz, Sales Leader for bathrooms at IKEA UK and Ireland said: “At IKEA, we wrap all toilet seats in film to prevent damages during transportation. Unfortunately, our range does not yet include beautifully bright blue toilet seats but for those looking to add a little more colour to their bathroom, the film comes free!”