Pottery Barn — Local services in Palo Alto

Buying from Pottery Barn Expectations - Reliable and Timely Shipping of Products Reality - Worse than a TikTok Dropshipping Scam

I went to the pottery barn store on April 5th, and used their design service to place order for custom linen curtains. The "designer" was super nice, and I was given the delivery date of May 29. I left feeling great, and was looking forward to the curtains.

May 29th came and went, no sign of curtains. I called customer service - they said we have to check with the "overseas vendor" - after 3 days of my call they get back to me saying vendor hasn't started preparing my order because they didn't have material. (this was around June 10)

Then i call on June 16, a relatively nicer customer service lady picks up, and then says we cannot get any further updates from the overseas vendor, but she can help cancel my order. I agreed, hoping this will end my nightmare. She said i'll be refunded in 48 hours.

But a week goes by, and i don't get any money refunded. I call again, this time the customer service agent said that sorry we cannot cancel your order. The overseas vendor has shipped the order. But we cannot give you a tracking number till it lands in USA. I ask when was the order shipped, and why was i told i can cancel the order? The reply - oh they shipped it on June 16, the same day that you had called last time.

It is end of June, and my chances of either getting the curtains or my money back are both non-existent. There is no official channel for grievance redressal. This company is operating with un-reliable "overseas" vendors with zero control on reliability and lead times. Absolutely horrible experience. Please do not buy anything from Pottery Barn.

Note to self: should have checked google reviews before stepping into the store, this brand is on its...

Probably my most frustrating purchase and experience ever. Went to a store in Palo Alto where I was ignored for a while even though I told them I already know what I need. Just need to buy, no questions to be answered. I was told they don’t have it in store but will place the order for home delivery. $800+ for curtains for a room. Fine, I need them. After many days checking the status of my delivery, nothing. Still “preparing to ship” for over 6 days. Called CS, no help. Called the store (I was told to call with any issues), was placed on hold to get the person I placed the order with. I hang up and called again, was told she is busy with other customers and I left my phone info and was promised she’ll call me back. She never did. Called back, same day, and was told “she “ doesn’t work on Tuesdays (I was just told that she is with a customer). Someone is lying. Called back CS, again no help. Later that night the status changed to “label created”...well that was a few days ago. Still no curtains and still no call back from the store sells person....

At the end of the day, the table looks good so I guess I got what I want. However, the process has been unimpressive for a higher end store. To start I waited 90 minutes to get helped until I walked up to an employee and essentially said “I’d like to buy that table.” When I was buying the item the salesman told me while doing white glove service was an option, it was really easy to put together so I really didn’t need to do it and can have it shipped, so I let him talk me out of white glove service. While I don’t mind saving money, it would have been worth mentioning that the table came in a 115 pound box. Thankfully I’m strong enough to move it but I feel like his definition of easy was a bit unreasonable.

The item just got shipped and while overall it looks good, I saw a few problems. First, one of the washers was the wrong size so I have to wait for another one that won’t get in for 7 to 10 business days. Second, there were a few scratches on the table. Not enough to make me return it, but definitely annoying all...