The Gourmet Warehouse — Attraction in Vancouver

I was very unhappy with my visit a week and a half ago, here is what I emailed the store: Hi, First I would like to start off by saying I have been buying things from your store for years. I have always loved how I have been treated there and love the option to be able to order online and pick up or do curbside shopping. Today however, I brought my sister along with me and we shopped in the store. It was not a good experience starting right away. I got to the door (I use a walker to get around) and there was a security guard (or what seemed like it) standing right in front of the door looking right at it and he did not even flinch when he saw me standing there. I had to wait for my sister to come around to open the door as it is not a very accessible store for people with mobility issues. I really can't understand why there would not be a thing on your door to enter or leave that is easier for people like me. Anyways I understand that "doorman" may not be his job description, but like I said he was staring straight at me and didn't even flinch. Ok fine I thought, I will just carry on and we will look around for the things we came here for. Next thing you know my sister and I are trying to find the thermometers and a kind lady was helping us and this grey haired man was extremely rude and was yelling at her "the best thermometer" or something like that. She tried to approach him (maybe for clarification) but he brushed right past her. Ok again, not impressed at all. Then when I got to the till he started telling me where I should put my items. I'm not sure why he was following me around or telling me where I should put my things as we were not holding up the line and I have shopped there before. Maybe instead of telling me where I should put them he should have offered like a kind gentleman would to help me if i needed help to put them on the counter? Just a thought. Anyways I am thinking he is possibly the manager so this might not even be the right person's eyes but I just want to say it has left an extremely sour taste in my mouth and I'm not sure I ever want to go back again in the store. Since when am I not a valuable customer? Did I look like a thief because I had a walker? I'm not sure I understand why I was treated like this but it is a horrible feeling. And I feel really bad that I have raved about this store to so many people and brought my sister there to check it out as I know she won't go back there again. I hope what I experienced never happens to anyone again. Deeply disappointed in today's visit. No one has emailed me back or called me. I am a regular customer there and will not...

I have shopped at the Gourmet Warehouse for years. I buy replacement parts for my french press, decorating items, cooking supplies and so forth. This time I bought a Cuisinart Air Popper. We tried it once and after placing 3 tablespoons of kernels in the popper, we found that many kernels simply blew out all over the place. We tried to throw them back in but that did not work as they kept coming at us. In the end, we got about 2/3 of the kernels popped. The kernels left either remained completely unheated but all over our counters and there were quite a few left unpopped in the popper itself. Seemed like a problem to me. When I called the Gourmet Warehouse I had to go through three individuals to try and get a refund. I was first told to email their service department to get their OK for a refund as refunds are not given for used products. It would be very hard to know the product was working oddly unless one used it. This seemed a bit of circular argument to me and I was surprised Gourmet Warehouse did not stand immediately behind their customers. I had just bought this 4 days prior and used it once. I was then given to a manager who said she completely understood but it was not within her power to give refunds. Finally she agreed to go further to office (I was not permitted to have the name of the person ultimately in charge of the refund) and that I should not come to store with the product until they verified I could have a refund. I was called by the person in charge and she told me that they sold hundreds of these with no issue. I was also told it is normal for unpopped kernels to fly out of the machine. I told her this was dangerous as they literally could fly into one's eye. Seems odd to me that this is considered normal. It was like little bullets flying through the air and some went a good distance. I was finally given a refund as they felt I was angry. They were right. This is not the way to treat customers and as far as I can see the manufacturer is not advertising honestly. I like to see fair business practices and I would not buy an electrical appliance from Gourmet Warehouse again if they make one go through hoops to get a refund. One cannot know something is not working correctly or well until one plugs it in and trys it. Sad. Otherwise they have a great selection of things for the cook. Their service is odd and not as friendly as their phone message would lead...

yesterday I bought two “USA Pans” brand loaf pans - $50 for both of them.

I took the stickers off of them when I got them home, and hand washed the pans as the instructions indicated.

Set them on the drying rack overnight, got up this morning, and they were rusted on the underneath, and rust coloured water dripping from them.

I no longer had the sticky tags that are on the pans, and my husband had thrown the garbage away - so I made a point of taking them back right away this morning with the receipt from yesterday.

Because I did not have the stickers for them, they would not refund my money. They would only exchange them out for another set.

However, before they exchanged them, they took the stickers off of the replacement ones they gave me and put them onto the ones I returned - I asked her why and she said it was to assure that THEY will be reimbursed for the bad product. I pointed out to her that she had just created a scenario where if these are bad pans, I can’t bring them back and get my money back. She didn’t care.

While I was waiting, a man beside me came in to return a nonstick pan, with the box and receipt, because his eggs stuck to it horribly. He explained it to her, and she said “you have to use oil with this pan.“ He showed her the instructions on the back of the box, and it said “little or no oil.” She then told him that he should not have used oil, and was balking at his request for a refund - he reminded her the instructions said he did not have to.

He asked to speak to the manager and was waiting his turn.

The manager was the person who took my stickers off of my new pans. I didn’t stick around long enough to see what this poor guy’s fate was with his return.

What an insane way to do business. I won’t buy any product here again that might fail due to factory issues. If these pans respond the same way to being hand washed, they will end up in the garbage, because I can’t return them - she took the stickers for the store’s...