What do I do if flat-pack parts are missing or damaged?

Almost every reported missing part is either still in the box or has been used in the wrong place two steps back. Genuine shortages happen, but the order matters: half an hour of looking usually beats two weeks of waiting, and knowing which parts are generic saves the wait entirely.

What you'll need

• The instruction sheet and parts list
• The model or article number from the packaging
• A tray or box lid to lay fittings out in
• Camera or phone, for photographing damage (optional)

Step by step

1. Stop building and count everything out first.Lay every fitting in groups against the parts list before assembling anything. Ten minutes here is the difference between a smooth build and a half-built carcass sitting in the room for a fortnight.
2. Search the packaging properly.Fittings are routinely taped inside a drawer, slid between two panels, tucked into a corner of the polystyrene or already pressed into a panel at the factory. Cardboard gets flattened with parts still in it.
3. Check whether the part is already fitted.Dowels, cams and shelf supports are often pre-inserted into panels. Count what is in the panels before counting what is in the bag.
4. Identify the standard parts you can just buy.Cam locks in 15mm, cam bolts, 8mm and 6mm wooden dowels, 5mm shelf pins, panel pins, plastic feet and standard 35mm cup hinges are all generic. Any hardware shop or online seller has them and they cost very little. This is far quicker than waiting for a spares parcel.
5. Identify the parts that must come from the manufacturer.Panels, doors, glass, drawer boxes, runners, handle sets and anything with a moulded profile. Most large retailers supply these free from a spare parts service, using the article number and the part number from the instruction sheet, and most do not ask for proof of purchase.
6. Photograph damage before you move it.A chipped corner, a split edge or a scratched face on the box as delivered. Photographs taken before assembly settle any question about when it happened.
7. Judge whether damage is cosmetic or structural.A chip on a rear edge that will never be seen is cosmetic — carry on. A split at a cam hole, a crushed panel edge or a damaged corner where a fixing lands is structural, and building with it produces a unit that will fail there. Order the replacement.
8. Stop rather than improvise on anything load-bearing.A missing bracket on a wall-hung unit, a missing anchor strap on a tall unit or a cracked panel at a fixing point is not a place to substitute. These are the parts that decide whether the thing falls over.
9. Keep the leftovers and the sheet.Kits usually contain spares. Bag them with the instruction sheet and the article number, taped inside the unit or in a drawer. Two years later that bag is worth an afternoon.

Tips

• Wall anchor straps are often supplied and often thrown out with the packaging because they look like an accessory. Find yours before the cardboard goes.
• Photograph the parts list and the article number on your phone at the start. Retailers' spare parts forms ask for exactly those numbers.
• If one dowel is missing from a run of six, the joint will still be located by the others — but if a cam bolt is missing, stop, because that joint has no clamping force at all.

Common mistakes

• Starting assembly before checking the parts — You find the shortage at step 14 with a half-built carcass blocking the room, and you cannot always take it back apart cleanly.
• Substituting a longer screw for a missing special fixing — Flat-pack fixing lengths are set by the board thickness. A screw a few millimetres too long comes through a visible face, and one too short holds nothing.
• Building with a panel that is split at a fixing hole — That is precisely where the load goes. It will fail there, usually once the unit is full and against a wall.

If it doesn't work

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