Williams-Sonoma — Local services in Bethesda

One star is being generous for the customer service in this store. From the moment you walk in, its as if they're angry that you even showed up.

I was passing by the store on a Friday, and saw an advertisement for a Valentine's day baking kids class for the next day (Saturday). I went in, inquired, paid the $30 per kid x 2 for the class, and was told the class was the following morning at 11 am. I confirmed the time multiple times with two different sales associates. Fast forward to the next morning, I show up at 10:45 (15 minutes early) with my beaming 8 and 7 year old beaming daughters, to find out the class actually started 10 am. Quickly deduced that the sales associates from the day prior had incorrectly signed my 7 and 8 year old daughters for the Sunday adult class which started at 11 am.

Mistakes happen- I get it. My kids will get over this. At this point, the response I am expecting from Williams Sonoma is something along these lines : 'I'm so sorry ma'am, I do apologize. Let me refund your $ 60 dollars right away".

Oh no, not the case. I was informed by Travis, their General Manager, that I would have to show up for the adult class on Sunday. Um, my kids are 8 and 7, why would they want to join an adult class- not to mention we weren't free. When I said no thanks, please just refund my money, I was then informed he would have to 'check' if he could refund my $ 60 dollars. Really? For your mistake? Travis then proceeded to ignore me and continue taking care of other customers, while I waited, with my now two much less beaming and increasingly disappointed kids watching the other kids finish the class walk off with their beautiful cookies and desserts.

After being ignored for 10 minutes, I asked Stacey (literally standing next to Travis the entire time) if she could help me. Travis while taking care of other customers kept interrupting my retell of the story to Stacey with helpful interjections like 'The sales associate who signed you up yesterday is very experienced', "I'm not sure we can give her money back" and 'This weekend is so confusing because we have adult and kids classes'. Eventually, after pleading my case, Travis reluctantly agreed to refund my money. Wow- thanks Williams Sonoma. Your generosity is astounding. Not even once, did Travis apologize for the mistake on their sales associate part. Again- I understand sales associates make mistakes. But don't blame the customer for YOUR mistake. Stacey for her part- tried to be helpful. She offered some free cookies to the kids. No thanks- at that point I was beyond cookies.

Sales associates like Travis are what drives customers to shop online at Amazon. Let's see: I pay less, get things shipped to my door, if I don't like it, I put it on my front porch. All that, and no dealing with incredibly rude and condescending sales persons who act like showing up to their store is a hassle and...

Update: After filing a dispute with my credit card company, the store refunded my purchase. Unfortunate that I had to escalate this (especially since I all I wanted was to exchange the used product for a new one, understanding that this was probably an honest mistake), but I'm satisfied now that the issue has been resolved. Word to the wise to those who use cash or debit cards, you might not have been so lucky.

Original: I write this negative review reluctantly, but I feel compelled to express what I perceived as brazen and blatant disregard for my long-standing patronage of the Williams Sonoma brand by one of the managers of this store.

In early January 2014, I purchased a product at the store but when I opened the box at home later that evening not only was the product the old model but it was also used! One of the store managers, Roman, was perhaps one of the least empathetic managers I have met; he was brusque, effectively called me a liar, and refused to exchange my product for what I paid for. Even after I called the main Williams Sonoma number and explained my case (btw they agreed that the store should exchange my product, like folks who understand good customer service), he refused to exchange the defective and used product they had sold me for what I had paid for.

I have come to enjoy the Williams Sonoma brand, but I recommend avoiding this store and shopping at a different store that actually cares about customer service, especially if you ever believe you may have to...

Not surprised to see the number of one star reviews. Normally I don’t bother with reviews but this one annoyed me so much I am leaving one. Went to pick up an order and they had the wrong item. Store employee kept insisting the item was the one I ordered and I had made the mistake with the order. I kept explaining the photographs are different on the website and that their store had mislabeled items. After measuring the item and looking closely at the website the clerk finally admitted that the website had an error and beyond that she admitted that this issue had existed previously and thought it had been resolved! Well it hadn’t and I had taken the time to drive out of the way to pick up this item. I had to ask to reorder (no attempt to rectify or assist with the issue by employee). In response the employee said I had to pay for shipping if it went to my house. Meanwhile two other employees behind the counter asked the employee helping me if she needed help - almost behaving as if I was the problem which was really bizarre. Was it because I was talking a bit more loudly than a normal voice? If so that’s because this customer has a partial hearing impairment and sometimes that results in a louder voice. Adding insult to injury when I looked at the return receipt on the order they made the mistake on, the comment was I had ordered the wrong item! I did not feel this store was welcoming and customer service is extremely poor. I will not be visiting this...