west elm — Local services in Birmingham

The smaller purchases I've made at West Elm for things like hand towels or candleholders, I have been completely pleased. However, the more expensive purchases I've made, maybe four, I have not been satisfied with those purchases. For example, I bought a bedskirt which I believe was overpriced. When I received it in the mail because they don't sell these in the store, the fabric is extremely hard to get the wrinkles out. I had to send it out for dry cleaning. Even with it hung on the hanger from the dry cleaners, it still had a lot of wrinkles that seem to not want to come out. It looks decent on the bed I have it on but wrinkled. I also bought a sheet set for my queen bed, same as the skirt. It wrinkles so badly that even ironing it a couple times on both sides, I was not able to get the wrinkles out. I don't normally iron my sheets, you have to iron these because they are THAT wrinkled when coming out of the dryer. Third, I had bought a duvet cover there a while back, which I completely loved. It's great quality but the measurements for it are not correct to the down comforters out there so that it fits it correctly. The queen duvet measures 92x88; queen down comforters measure at 92x96 and 92x98. Fourth, the last purchase I made was the simple white bed frame. It took a month for it to come in the mail. When I received it, one of the parts were damaged. When I called the Summit Birmingham store to tell them about it, they asked if the piece I received could still function. When I told her yes, she made it sound like I needed to deal with it. I was not satisfied with the response at all. I purchased a whole and new bed frame, not a broken one. I called the home office, and they quickly sent me the parts I needed to replace the damaged parts. However, one of the bed rails was already chipping on the inside of it before assembled, so NOT the best quality! Not sure I would ever buy anything-bedding from this store again. Expensive purchases have...

Last September, my husband and I were thrilled at the thought of purchasing our first piece of West Elm furniture- a couch. We had researched and shopped at several different stores until we arrived at the Summit location, sat on a particular sofa, and called the couch ours. We worked with a designer in store, got the order placed early September, and were eagerly awaiting its promised delivery the beginning of October. It did not arrive until the week before Thanksgiving and the delivery day itself was an absolute nightmare. But that’s another review in and of itself.

Now the couch, which is touted online to be from a company whose slogan is “built-to-last”, is falling apart. We are not rough on furniture. I had an old ikea sofa that I used for upwards of seven years that still looks and feels brand new, yet here is a several-thousand-dollar couch ripping at the seams.

We took pictures and went back to the Summit store after seeing online that there is a warranty on most furniture for general wear and tear, and we hoped to get a new cover for the bench seat cushion that is ruined. We spoke with Elda Fitts, a general manager, and provided her with the timeline, proof of purchase, and picture evidence of the pitiful quality. There was no apology, no “let’s try to make this right”, just a “you didn’t purchase the protection plan or the deluxe fabric option”. Sorry, in my mind a $3,200 couch shouldn’t need upgraded fabric or a protection plan to last a year. She additionally informed us that there was no way for US to purchase any sort of replacement cover for the cushion either.

So, lesson learned. We will never recommend West Elm to anyone and we will never purchase...

So, I purchased $4000 of furniture online. The NEXT day I get a email AND Facebook ads showing several of the items are now on sale or further reduced. I call customer service and ask for the discounts and am told that I will have to cancel the existing order, then reorder BUT that I would then be charged more for shipping so that I wouldn't get any more savings anyway. ?? I argue the logic and get nowhere and give up. I keep getting more emails and ads showing MORE sales on the items I purchased but, let it go. The window for delivery dates comes up so I check online for delivery info." NO INFORMATION AVAILABLE FOR THIS ORDER" Call the customer service line and get the automated tracking. DEAD AIR, then hangs up. I try again, same thing. Call customer service , listen to a recording of Marla Thomas's raspy voice saying something unintelligible , finally get a rep. and they tell me that I need another department and transfer me. I listen to Marla again, then get a message that this mailbox is full and a hang up. Call customer service again, Marla's voice is really pissing me off at this point, I get through and explain the situation. Very nice woman looks up my order and tells me it will deliver on friday. Great! Take Friday off work, call to find out the delivery window, get transferred to full mailbox twice. Hang out , no delivery shows. Call again , sorry it looks like that will now be delivered on MONDAY. So, here I am on Monday on hold for a supervisor for 40 minutes so far..... Will I ever order from this company...