west elm — Local services in Costa Mesa

West Elm’s failure to provide the basic service of unused and sanitary products during a viral outbreak is disturbing, as well as their ability to provide the customer service of rectifying their unprofessionalism without further inconveniencing their customer is a complete failure.

To sum up (details further below), we ordered online for “contactless” pick up since we’re in the high risk group for Covid, had to physically go into the store anyway, wait in line, only to wait further to receive both items disgustingly used, damaged and BOTH be unsanitary floor models (the ivory rug we purchased is literally charcoal gray with dirt). They are making us drive 1.5 hours back to return to them to fix their mistake of giving us heavily used items, all while they ordered new items to be delivered under the communication that the shipping costs would be refunded, only to then be told they can’t refund them and charged our card for the additional shipping costs anyway. In order to get the overcharge resolved, we have to be even further inconvenienced to make sure we are present in the store on Greg, the regional manager’s time, not ours as the customer. We are extremely saddened at our experience and will not consider West Elm in the future due to their lack of customer service that has ended in great inconvenience, added charges and additional unnecessary health risk during a global pandemic.

My husband and I are both immunosuppressant, so we were grateful for the option of contactless pick up from West Elm. Once you arrive in the pick up area, you call their store, however they did not answer and we called on loop for twenty minutes. So we ended up physically going in, something we were uncomfortable with doing as high risk during a pandemic, and something we should’ve never done in the first place if their pick up system actually worked. Once there, they advised us to go down, wait again and someone would bring our items out. After another twenty minutes, we called and they answered and advised us they would notify their employee to bring out our items, as if it was never communicated before. We had our trunk open and instead of placing the items in our trunk, they threw the rug and the pot in front of our car and just walked away. Upon arriving home, we brought in the items only to find them both in terribly used condition. The ivory pebble rug was dark gray with hair and stains all over it and the bottom of our pot was scuffed completely, dented and dirty. We called the store and the salesperson told us they gave us the floor samples by mistake and she would order a new items for us online and have the shipping costs refunded and told us we had to drive the rug back for a refund, which at this point was frustrating because we didn’t even want the filthy rug with the endless hair and body sheddings of others in our vehicle again or drive an additional 45 minutes each way just to bring it back. To have brought both a heavily used rug and pot into our home in the middle of a pandemic as immunosuppressant people is unsettling, considering we ordered under the guise of a “contactless” service. Unfortunately, she called back to advise us that she couldn’t get the shipping refunded and they went ahead and charged our card for the full price, shipping included and that to get shipping refunded, we’d have to physically go into the store on a specific day when Greg, the regional manager is present to speak with him in person. We are out both unnecessary shipping costs, further inconvenienced and disheartened and saddened by our experience for a store of which we have always turned to for the needs...

We will never EVER order from West Elm or shop there again. We ordered an item that the website said was not available in my local store to view ahead of time. It arrived and was a nice piece of furniture but did not work in the space. We returned the desk to the WE store to be told they don't refund shipping. That seems like poor service if you cannot see/buy the item in the store, but whatever. Then I noticed that the receipt was still a few dollars off of the original payment, even after backing out shipping and handling, so I called the store. After talking with an employee I was transferred to the manager who informed me that it is my responsibility to read the terms first and to know that they tax the shipping, which is what accounts for the few dollars that the refund was off. From a customer service standpoint, you really don't get on the phone with a customer who has a concern only to tell them they should have read the fine print. I don't care if it's the consumer's responsibility or not, it's poor, and very snotty, customer service. She also said they have the desk in the store in a different color and I should have manipulated the website enough to see that a different color desk was available in store to view. What? Really?? Not only is the manager not in the right position to deal with reasonable questions and concerns, but her explanation of West Elm's policy is the consumer should read fine print AND manipulate the site to see if complimentary pieces, not the one you want, are available to see. Shipping and handling should be refunded if the item you are looking for is not available in store. That should be WE's policy. They should also work on training and development because it was a nice piece of furniture, but company policy and WE's preferred employees just ensured I will never again patronize...

Don't believe their estimated delivery date. We read reviews about it and asked the sales person if they had the dresser in stock. They said it was available and it was in their warehouse (in Fontana) 55 miles away from their Costa Mesa store. I asked again to confirm. Yep it's in their warehouse in Fontana 55 miles away and they said it would take 2 weeks. This was not Holiday season, it was almost spring! Wow! Pick up date came and went and no one called us.

Finally, it arrived in their store for pick up 4+ weeks from date of purchase without a phone call. Kicker was it came damaged! Customer service person was really nice, poor thing she must get hundreds of calls daily. We had the choice of $150 discount or wait for another one. We couldn't wait another 4 weeks for different one and chance of it getting damage again and we would have to unassemble everything and take it back to the store ourselves, so we took the discount. UGH! Not worth the discount cause damage was on top of dresser but we gave away our old dresser thinking it wouldn't take more than 3 weeks for something miles 55 miles away.

We were looking into repairing it but the top layer is laminate and not sure if it can repaired. So sad cause the design of it is beautiful.

Again kudos to customer service at their call center was very professional and nice. She felt bad she couldn't give us bigger discount for the damage when we emailed her the picture. Store salespeople were not too friendly.

Beware, they even charge you a fee to pick up from...