Crate & Barrel — Local services in New York

Hi, this message for store management - Jackie. Regarding your team & a completely unnecessary interaction. This store has a major customer service problem and it appears they’re very particular on who they’re kind and polite to. If you do not fit that physical type, beware

The two individuals I’m gonna refer to her, intentionally trying to hide their badges and not show their name tags, but I believe the names are Russell and Geoff. They were incredibly rude.

A simple interaction turned into having attitude yelling, all of that as if they had expected me also to have attitude.

Let me also just say, I am a actual designer and had purchased the candle given the price point from the store when you burn the candle there’s absolutely not one smell that comes out of it. It is a horrendously cheaply made candle, and I regret buying it. After only burning it for about an hour to two hours to give it the appropriate time to circulate I determined this was not the proper candle for the household and decided to bring it back. Normally I wouldn’t, but given that crate and barrel should stand behind its products. I felt very comfortable doing so.

That wasn’t the issue. I knew my rights. I know what the receipt says. I walked into the store and literally Geoff started with an attitude when I got to his counter I said I’m just returning this. He opens it. He goes. You used it with an attitude and I said yes he was. I don’t know if I can return this and then he never asked me oh, why are you looking to return it? There was no patience. It was like he was completely on guard speaking down to me and it just made me incredibly uncomfortable and confused.

He was treating me like I was trying to get one over on Crate & Barrel for $32 candle. When really I’m the one who felt bamboozled.

We then called the manager who I believe is Russell because he the first person claim he couldn’t complete it because it was used when Russell came over even then semi ass oh are you you know what? Where are you returning it? I explained I said you know that would’ve been really nice at the first person asked me that I felt very uncomfortable because nobody asked me. I was returning it and they just kind of assumed I was bringing back a used handle. Well that set off Russell and he started to get an attitude. He then said I’m just asking a question. I said I know and I’m acknowledging that your question actually reset the tone of the conversation.

Without going into too much more of this, it is incredibly disappointing to see how the team is treating certain customers in the store. I 115% felt targeted today and absolutely hate that individuals like this are in my neighborhood treating people so poorly.

Crate & Barrel needs to take a step back and have accountability with how there employees are...

All the complaints about customer service and delivery issues are absolutely true 😭🤕

TLDR; after providing COI information to multiple people at this store early on, and waiting an extra long time for delivery, the delivery team showed up without a COI which they need to get into our building. So we’re still couchless while having been charged for our full order. In the aftermath, it seems like the store is extremely disorganized and no one is taking responsibility to figure out what balls were dropped.

We had a much better experience with Raymour and Flanigan, and would recommend that store instead. Our experienced building manager agrees! Save yourself time and headache, shop somewhere else.

~

We’re furnishing our apartment and placed a large order for a couch and recliner in store after Pi, a design consultant, helped us choose items at our home. We visited multiple weekends in a row to design and finalize our order. Everything was going great and we talked to multiple associates at the store about the delivery needing a Certificate of Insurance for our building, a standard practice for NYC apartment buildings. We reminded the associates every time we visited and they said someone would make sure the COI happened. After I reminded them once again, they told us to email them a copy of the COI information so I did in store and they acknowledged receipt both in store via email.

After waiting ~an extra 2 months beyond the time they said the couch would be delivered, the delivery team arrived only for the delivery team to call us, informing us they didn’t bring a COI so they weren’t allowed into our building. We’ve sent Crate and Barrel the COI through 3 channels by now to many people; our building manager has sent the COI to Crate and Barrel too; in the aftermath we’ve called customer service and the Flatiron store.

The customer service leads at Flatiron asked again for our COI information, so I again sent a copy, even though they left a voicemail claiming “our delivery was unsuccessful due to the COI being received late.” Was it received or not?

Being blamed for the COI mishap is frustrating and just the cherry on top of an experience that has wasted ~10+ hours of our family’s time. During the exchange we have asked for reassurance that the rescheduled delivery will have a COI, and they won’t even provide that reassurance. There’s been no recognition of Crate and Barrel’s fault in what should be a standard furniture delivery.

The store itself is nice to walk around in, and the associates...

Updated Review (2025) I used to love Crate & Barrel for its quality and design leadership, but sadly both have declined. As a designer and long-time customer (and a person who actually worked there part time for short term in the past), I’ve seen major drops in product quality and care.

Recently, a Crate & Barrel candle I purchased, later broke apart after its burning time, melted over my expensive hand made rug ruining it— a serious safety hazard that could have caused a serious fire... Thankfully, it was on a metal surface. Never lived this issue with any candle in my entire life.

I’ve raised quality concerns directly to multiple leaders on multiple products, but nothing was ever taken seriously (even while working there). Instead, the company seems to be compensating for its shortcomings by offering “free design services” led by retail staff. It’s not about design or quality or service at this level—it’s only about sales so the top store leadership can make their commissions not caring about design community or clients or even the brand they represent. (we were given hard time by managers at this location when we escalated ignored concerns of bad products deliveries etc. so HQ don’t find out about shortcomings) At time of challenge or issues they are hiding, dismissive not replying calls. This is one of the reasons the design trade in NYC is pulling business away from them.

It’s disappointing to see a once-respected brand lose its integrity and ignore the people who truly care about design, quality, and safety especially in this NYC flagship store location. Store looks nice to walk around. Hopefully they’ll get back to the values they praise again and replace current sales leadership in this flagship store who treats schooled designers badly while...