Crate & Barrel — Attraction in Seattle

Worst customer service experience, please take your business elsewhere.

It's been a nightmare of a journey getting a couch delivered and now we're still stuck with an unsatisfactory resolution.

Couch 1: It was dropped out of the truck by the delivery men. The leg was broken when we opened it up and the rails barely worked. The delivery men told us they would send someone to fix it, but when customer service called they just wanted to swap out the couches. They said it would be much faster (a week vs 4-6 weeks), so we said yes.

Couch 2: Swapped with the first couch. Trundle closure was misaligned and has to be lifted to be full closed, and the fabric wasn't pulled enough, lots of wrinkles on the main seat before we even sat on it.

Couch 3, 4, and 5: Made them open the couches before bringing up to our condo and all had issues where we had to refuse the delivery. The delivery guys agreed and wouldn't even let us take the time to see if we could fix it. #3 had the same rail issue as couch 2, #4 had black (oil?) marks in the middle of the seat, and #5 had dirt.

Every time we were assured they would do a special inspection before sending another for delivery. These never happened. We have now had to have five working days revolve around the schedule for these deliveries. We've had to clear our living room 5 times and make extra room for the couch swap, and we've had to coordinate the delivery with our building management. "White glove delivery" has been complained every time about the weight of the couch and the process of delivering, been uncomfortably rushed, and been combative with the building management.

Now the couch is being discontinued and we're being offered a small amount to keep the damaged couch with no warranty, or we can return it. They said we'll lose the shipping cost if we return, even though they never delivered a non-damaged couch. I also bought matching pillows that were custom order and they said too bad, they won't return those.

On top of all of this, we called the store to follow up and they said since corporate had been in touch, they couldn't really help us out anymore. They really pushed us to buy through the store because they said they could help if anything came up. Apparently, I was supposed to refuse corporate calls when they followed up on the issue, and call the local store myself instead. They said since we engaged with corporate, they now can't help. They also admonished us and said how expensive it is for them to do 5 deliveries, as if we were asking for too much. They told us we had wasted our own work days by scheduling during the week, since I mentioned how they're not respecting our time. It doesn't matter when I scheduled, my work and personal time is valuable and Crate & Barrel is not taking any responsibility for wasting my time.

At this point we're deciding if we stick with the measly discount to just be done with the ordeal and live with a mediocre couch for a couple years, to just throw it out when it will undoubtedly fail due to poor craftsmanship. Our alternative option is to return and live without a couch for a few months while we sort out finding a new one and waiting for 2-4 months to get it delivered. Neither situation is great, thanks...

We visited Seattle Crate and Barrel this afternoon to purchase a cheese board. While the sales associate was super warm and helpful, our interaction with the store manager, Heather (wearing a green cardigan), was quite disappointing.

After the sales associate had opened 2 different packages with defects for us, she went to the back to try and find a product without defect. While she was in the back, Heather first came by the register where we were being helped, totally ignored us, pointed to the large opened packages on the counter and asked the other sales associate, 'What's going on here?' without greeting us. Upon seeing what was going on she quickly walked away, all without any attempt at interaction with us.

Since all the (6) cheese boards in the store had noticeable defects, such as chips at the edges, we asked the sales associate to see if we could talk to a manager and get a discount on the floor sample which while noticeably aged, had no noticeable chips. Thinking first of blaming the associate, Heather did not interact with us and instead when the associate told her about the situation she told the associate, 'Oh, well then just pick a good one.’ The sales associate explained to her that all the cheese boards in stock had some defects. Heather then decided on a different path to resolution, saying this must just be the natural characteristics of the stone and that it was a “feature” of the cheese board. We pointed out that the floor sample had yellowing and clearly showed signs of being handled by many people, suggesting it was used. When we asked about a discount on the floor sample, she coldly replied, 'No,' and gave us the impression that we should either buy these damaged or defective goods or leave the store.

This interaction left us feeling unwelcome and undervalued as customers. While we understand that everyone has bad days, her attitude was entirely adversarial, attempting to first blame the associate for not resolving the situation, then blame us for not appreciating the obviously damaged goods being sold. While in the end we totally understand not offering to sell the goods at a discount, our issue was not the result of this interaction but the impression. On interacting with Heather we debated whether we should just leave the store immediately without buying what we came for as customer satisfaction and product quality were obviously not being prioritized here, only the convenience of this floor manager.

Disappointed by the service at the Seattle location, we decided to purchase the same cheese board at the Bellevue store, where we received much better...

We ordered a dining table and made an appointment for delivery. The delivery itself takes 149+tax. They arrived today, only to find that they don't have the right screws to assemble the table. I had to call custom service afterwards and they said the warehouse is already off work and they can only contact warehouse on Monday to have the screws shipped to me. I can only schedule another assembly after that.

This is so disappointing as I've just got rid of my old dining table yesterday (so that it's easier for them to assemble the new table), and now I'm left with a bunch of pieces in my living room without a dining table, and I have no idea how much longer it will take to get things right. I've got all kinds of furniture from all types of stores, Crate & Barrel is one of the expensive brands. I can't believe they made such a mistake that could have been easily avoided (I've never seen issues like this even for items from IKEA), and this is causing customers lots of inconvenience.

UPDATES: I called and emailed Crate & Barrel the same day of delivery (Saturday) (apparently they won't do anything until I do so). In the phone call they told me the warehouse is already off-work, and they'll get this addressed and update me the first thing Monday morning. In the email they told me they'll get back to me in 1 - 2 days. And now it's Tuesday night. Nothing happened. No calls. No emails. I sent a follow-up email this morning and no response. I guess they really don't care about their customers. Maybe the experience would have been smooth if things all go well. But if they didn't bring the right pieces/screws (like what happened to...