west elm — Local services in Orange

West Elm & all Williams-Sonoma affiliated companies (Pottery Barn, etc) have notoriously HORRIBLE customer service that should make any customer pause before making a purchase from them. It is such a shame, because their pieces are beautiful. However, they do not stand behind their products, and you get stuck in a loop of different answers any time you try and call them to rectify the situation. It is no surprise to me that they do not have reviews on their items on their websites, because this may bring to light quality issues that they are unwilling to fix or make right. I recently ordered 4 Christmas stockings (from the same collection) that I had personalized. Every single one of them had issues -- One came completely incorrect (wrong name, font, color), the other 3 the font was not the same size across names (despite the same number of letters and no indication of this discrepancy online) and other quality issues with the embroidery itself (overlapping letters, misalignment, etc). The first CS rep I talked to was very nice, said I could refund, but told me to call back when I received the last stocking (they shipped in 2 separate orders). She said she had spoken to other people who had this issue as well. When I called back a day or so later, the CS rep I talked to said the other rep was incorrect, and because they were personalized, I could not be refunded (despite the quality issues), and could only be offered a replacement. Given the amount of issues with the 1st order, I have no confidence that the replacement will correct the issue. If that proves to be the case, I will report this as fraud to my CC company and report to the BBB for deceptive...

It's hard giving West Elm one star because the individual sales associate at this store was wonderful in helping us pick out and purchase a couch. The issue came when the corporate West Elm/customer service came into the picture.

Our couch had the legs sewn in to the wrong side of the couch so they were unable to retrieve them during delivery without ripping apart the upholstery on the bottom. Thus began a four month ordeal trying to get the correct couch legs delivered.

Three separate encounters with customer service from January to February I was told they had been ordered. At the end of February, another customer service agent told me there was no record of this occurring.

In March, a "medic team" came to look at the couch (because apparently the pictures, customer description weren't enough). It didn't help there was no clear continuity from one customer service agent to another. I had to resubmit pictures. Explain the situation over, and over, and over.

I could write a much longer, much more in depth review of my experience with West Elm, but let me summarize it for you:

Good in-store experience, but for the price of their merchandise, their customer service is inexcusable, and the worst I've ever...

Absolutely awful. Do not even kid yourself into thinking you're doing business with a normal furniture retailer. We ordered a table and bench for in-store delivery for which they (naturally) immediately took our money via credit card, then we waited three weeks as the status languished in "ordered."

Then:

Called the store, they said they'd look into it -- no response Called the store again, they said they'd look into it -- no response Sent an email to national customer service -- no response

After 32 days of these hijinks, we called the store and said never mind, cancel our order, refund our money. Their response:

Have to talk to the manager -- he'll be in in a few hours Oh, no, he won't be in today, he'll be in tomorrow Back to national customer service number -- why are you "returning"? We're not returning -- we want our money back They will refund our account -- AFTER 3-5 BUSINESS DAYS

Next stop the Better Business Bureau and possibly a stop on our credit card.

Stay away from West Elm! They'll soon be out of...