west elm — Local services in Charlotte

We placed our original furniture order on May 26, 2024, and over a year later, we are still dealing with unresolved issues, miscommunication, and unacceptable delays. The level of disorganization and lack of accountability has been beyond frustrating.

Here is a not-so-brief recap:

Dec 19, 2024: Our order arrived damaged. The Show Wood Chair and Couch were returned immediately. The Carlo Chair and Ottoman were reported the same day.

Brandy was assigned as our case manager. On Jan 15, 2025, I called her, and she couldn’t even see all the items in the system. She told me to call customer service. Provided the wrong phone number and I had to google the correct number. Customer service sent me right back to her. This back-and-forth wasted hours of my time.

Jan 22: I called again. I was told to expect an update by Feb 19—which never came.

Jan 31: I followed up with Brandy. She said someone named Michael at "the Hub" was handling it. I was given his number and last name (Alvarev). Neither Michael nor Brandy ever followed up.

Apr 1: After months of silence, I called again and spent over an hour on the phone with Valerie. She was the first person to take my case seriously. She discovered no order or repair case had ever been created for the DeKalb Sofa. If I hadn’t called, no one was going to inform me that we wouldn’t be receiving the couch and would not be refunded.

A refund was finally processed on Apr 3, nearly ten months after our original order.

After receiving the refund, we placed an order for a 2nd couch.

Sat, June 21st the delivery truck arrived at 10:30am and did not have our sofa and no one could provide us when we would receive one. The is the 2nd sofa to be lost in a year!

Additionally, the in-store process is unnecessarily complicated. We’ve worked with wonderful staff like Lori and Heather, but even they lack the authority to resolve simple billing issues. We paid full price upfront and had to jump through hoops for a refund that should’ve been automatically issued.

To sum it up:

They had our money for almost a year.

We never received a major piece of our order.

We received ZERO proactive communication.

We had to fight for the 1st refund that should’ve been initiated by them.

I followed up today, a week after the latest failed delivery and the couch did not pass quality inspection, has now been discontinued so it can't be remade and I'm awaiting...

The employees in the South Blvd Store couldn't have been nicer and were great to work with. The shopping experience during Covid was very good. It is a large open space, I went during a time that was slow so only one other shopper, and everyone was masked. The furniture is good quality for the price, and I like their styles. The employees in the store were extremely helpful and patient during purchases, with my follow up during the Covid delayed shipping period, and also when I had problems six months later with an electric purchase. I am very pleased with the South End staff. While I had problems with the company West Elm, they were resolved after multiple contacts with customer service.

UPDATE to review below: After contacting the company again by email and requesting review of my issue (below), I was told that the previous representatives were wrong, and that they would replace or refund my purchase of the electric chair since the chair was defective. It should not have taken so long or been so difficult to resolve for a recent purchase.

ONE STAR REVIEW: I had problems with West Elm, the company.  I bought an electric recliner six months ago. I felt comfortable buying from West Elm because I thought it had quality furniture and I thought that the company would stand behind its products. I contacted the company and was told that there was a 30 day return policy and there was nothing they could do to help.  I find it ridiculous that a company as big as West Elm doesn't stand behind it's products, and you should know that if you are doing business with West Elm. (THIS WAS RESOLVED)

The chair was delivered over 2 months after it was promised, and I had to make numerous calls to the company to find out what was going on, and try to resolve it. This was early during Covid and it was understandable to have issues with the company's delivery. Finding out status on delivery was a nightmare with the delivery date moving every two weeks with no explanation. I did get a credit from the company as an apology for the multiple follow up required and the numerous delays. Since others have had delivery issues, thought I would mention that too so you could...

Never buy from this company!!! Ordered a sofa, a coffee table, & 2 side tables back on September 2nd. They immediately charged me for the coffee table & 2 side tables. Told me they were being shipped immediately & the sofa would be delivered mid-october. Received the side tables (see more about those pieces below) but the coffee table, for which I had paid, did not arrive. I called & they said they were holding it to be delivered with the sofa. Then the sofa was delayed... coming November, then coming December, now it is January 15th & is scheduled for delivery tomorrow... but now, the coffee table is not being delivered. No one informed me but i noticed it was not included in delivery order. Called Customer service & they stated it was discovered coffe table had been damaged, so they ordered a new one, and will have to deliver it when the new one comes in!!! The coffee table I paid for 5 months ago & was being held at transit center until sofa arrived! Additionally, a little worried the quality will be poor because the side tables I did receive were basically pieces of cheap metal w/ a marble top that I had to assemble myself!!! Had I known that, I would have saved my money and gone to IKEA - that is the sort of cheap quality they were... poor instructions (English was not a first language for whomever wrote them - not that that's a bad thing but someone with better English should have proofread them so those of us who do speak English could follow them), multiple pieces, weird screws that you had to fight to get them to line up, the marble top came in a big wooden frame that took more effort to unpack than was worth it... Basically, frustrating all-aroinf! My only solace is i have 8 more rooms to fill with furniture in my new home and West Elm will not receive a penny of the rest of the money i plan to spend. I will never shop at West Elm ever again & doubt I will shop at Williams Sonoma or their other partner stores either due to this experience... do not want any of them having my hard- earned money for their cheap furniture & poor service!!! My advice is avoid West Elm at...