west elm — Local services in Hoboken

I purchased a large sectional from their store (build your own). The sales rep on the floor placed the order (and probably got a commission from it). The net price was 6K. In the months that followed, we purchased a large rug (1.5K) and multiple linens and duvets as well (~1K).

Long story short, the sectional was defective. It wasn't until the sofa had been used for some time that it became apparent. Other than this flaw, I was generally very happy with the piece. I simply asked that they attempt to repair it and make things right.

The minute that I had a problem with the sofa I went into the store to ask for help. Thus began a pathetic cycle of incompetence, ineffectiveness, and unaccountability. The store General Manager, John Castro, referred me to online customer service, claiming that there was nothing that he could do to help since it was a custom order piece (never mind the fact that the transaction took place in the store). Zero problem solving. Zero customer solution mindset. He completely passed the buck.

Online customer service was downright hostile. I fought with the person for well over 30 minutes. I finally had it escalated to a supervisor, Jennifer King-Malee. After considerable pushback and more of the same, she finally concedes and submits the item for repair. What comes next is probably the most offensive part of the entire experience: her repair team blames me for the defect, saying that I am somehow responsible for this and that they will not be able to help resolve this since it fell outside of their approved service period. But the toxic attitude and lack of awareness is what really gets me fired up. Zero customer service. I've never been treated with such a careless attitude after spending so much money at a store. It's actually rather bewildering that they care so little about trying to resolve their customer's problems.

My message to any would be customers is to steer clear. Check out their Yelp reviews and you will see that my experience is the norm, not the exception. While they may have nice furniture at an affordable price point, they have NASTY attitudes and an unforgiveable lack of training. Should you ever have a problem with your purchase, don't expect them to lift a finger or go out of their way to help you.

This is all very unfortunate because the Mrs and I had been eyeing a bedroom set and multiple additional items from there. After having such a horrible customer service experience I can safely say that we will NEVER buy another item from them.

Congratulations, West Elm. You turned a loyal customer into an irate one who is going to go out of his way never to shop...

What even was that experience actually? I',m still irritated, so here's story time. Between 3, or 4 associates, we somehow made it out alive, and made it home where discovering all our items weren't with us. Somehow we survived a botched transaction where to a vase we informed staff was not ours, acknowledged was not ours, and yet still we got charged for. You guessed it, got charged for it! Oh now to do the 'return' and new purchase was cumbersome because somehow with all that and a cart loaded with items did they forget the second lamp, the lamp that was on the cart of all our items. Yes, 3 friggin transactions. WTH? And whoever was packing our items had to be told 3 times that we had multiple items, to no ones surprise we didn't get them all. Whatever that girl with the pony tail was on, I need to know where she got that. Head in the clouds for real. After being irritated enough by this grossly incompetent experience getting your items home and not receiving the pillow insert that was paid for just really saved this experience as a core memory. Calling back in to inform the store and you'll get a highly dismissive female associate, and when you share what just happened (10 minutes prior) about the obtuse actions by their staff, they will not acknowledge your concern. They will not take accountability for anything. They will however not listen to you, and gaslight you "so you bought 5 cases but only 4 inserts" when you told them exactly what had transpired. And the only solution was "you can come back in, come back in". No, this is where you as a customer service associate gets to say "I'm sorry that happened, I can let the team know" or "we will put one aside for you, what's a good phone number and name?" The whole thing was so icky. Having to track an associate down to get them to ring up your transaction is pathetic. Just use this store to shop with your eyes, and then shop online so you can spare your time from these...

Just had the most abhorrent (lack of) customer service at this store today. We went in wanting to buy a few items that we had seen online; I approached a store associate and asked if we could be helped (to make the purchase) when she was done with her current client. After some time it seemed like she wouldn't be finishing soon, so we went up to the counter where there was no line, for assistance; the same associate passed us several times, did some work at the counter for some time, not a single time acknowledging us, never setting expectations that she was still busy with a client or would ask someone else to help us--just blatantly ignored us. After waiting over 10 minutes in front of the counter, another associate freed up, just for us to be told the item is out of stock at the store, and if we want to order to the store it would cost "less" in shipping than if we order to our home. (It's not clear to me why I would need to foot shipping to the store if it's not my fault the store is out of stock.) Couldn't help but notice how other customers were being assisted so quickly while we couldn't even get assistance when we explicitly asked for it. These guys can't even be coaxed into doing a sale let alone anything else I could possibly need. Needless to say, we walked out of the store upset and empty handed, and unsure if we will even place the online order after this borderline...