west elm — Local services in Portland

My horrible experience with West Elm has compelled me to write a review here. Trust all of the negative reviews you read about this company, they don't deserve even one star. The large bookshelf I ordered was delivered to another street address, blocking the entrance to a woman's home. Her young son came out of their back door and a street over to alert me to the situation. I called their delivery service Ryder, to have it removed so that my neighbor could exit her home, and they took an agonizingly long time taking down a "case report". They promised to send someone out right away, but help never came. It started to rain and I had to run over and put a tarp on the box to keep the bookshelf inside from being damaged. Finally, after my partner arrived home from work we wrestled the huge box home coming down a steep hill to our house.

After we assembled the bookshelf, and turned it upright we noticed that four out of the five shelves were splitting along the back despite our extreme care. I called West Elm customer service to tell them of the horrible experience we were having and they offered a replacement and to comp me for the shipping service which was never provided. I accepted and waited for the replacement and for Ryder to come and remove the defective shelf. A few weeks later Ryder arrived at my actual address with another defective bookshelf. This time it was missing a leveling foot and was covered in a patchwork of mismatched veneer. Really glaring. I might add that both shelves were also completely wobbly once assembled per the instructions.

This time I called West Elm for a complete refund. They started the return process and sent Ryder to pick up the second defective bookshelf. Ryder did come and pick up the shelf and I saw the driver take pictures of the shelf and log the pickup into his mobile device. Then a week went by and I heard and saw nothing from West Elm in the form of a refund notification.

I called West Elm again, now asking where my refund was. I was told they didn't have any record of the pickup from Ryder despite me having a text confirmation from Ryder of the day and time of pickup. The representative escalated an inquiry and told me to wait for a few more days for processing. I waited until the following week and called again as I still had no refund. This time I was told that they had pickup confirmation but there was a question of the previous shipping reimbursement for non-delivery. I told the representative AGAIN what that was for and why, and was then told to wait again for a few days for processing. I did wait, then called, and this time was told that I would not receive a full refund because of the previous non-delivery reimbursement. I was told that if I had kept the defective shelf they would have honored their error, but since I was not willing to keep a defective shelf that I would only receive a partial refund, for which I am still waiting.

Seriously, just don't, find...

I wish I would have read reviews before purchasing from West Elm. We went to the West Elm Portland location and purchased the Anton 72” table and matching bench. Their crew helped my husband load it into the back of our truck. Before we made the 4hr one way drive with 3 young children, we called to make sure the table and bench were in good condition. We were assured it was. When we arrived we paid full retail price for the items and then went to the back to load them. My husband discovered they were in fact NOT in perfect condition and had scratches and a small dent in the bench. We drove a long way and decided we would still like the set but asked for a discount due to the damage. They agreed and gave us a small discount on the table only. We had bought memory foam padding ahead of time to put around it for a secure ride home. When my husband went to unload it after the trip he discovered both the table and bench had cracks and the table had major separation of the planks. The table is not usable. The glue that holds the planks together failed causing the planks to separate majorly. We contacted customer service and quality control and they said they couldn’t do anything for us because we didn’t purchase the products online. They suggested we contact the location we purchased from. The manager of the store told us that he couldn’t do anything other than give us a 20% off gift card to use at West Elm due to purchasing the product as a “final sale” item. We had no knowledge of this and were never told this would be considered a final sale item once he gave us the discount due to damage. Our receipt does not say final sale on it. He told my husband the separation was caused by “user error”. We haven’t even put the table together yet or used it. Absolute HORRIBLE customer service. We will never shop at West Elm or any of their sister stores again. Terrible customer service blaming the customer for their lack of quality in their products. I have told many people of my experience and have realized many have said they also have had terrible luck with West Elm. Now we are out $1500 and have an unusable table and a bench that will most likely cut my children if...

Wow. West Elm knocked it out of the park! And it's a brand new, 2 week old store! In the coolest part of Portland, Maine! How could this be anything but great?! IT. WAS. GREAT. READ ON, FRIEND....

West Elm, Portland has OUTSTANDING CUSTOMER SERVICE: I did NOT experience what other reviewers did: this was really good.

Ample and helpful staff (Sunday morning, very busy Portland tourist time).

I immediately found a very professional, knowledgeable, and patient (!) design and sales person, NIKA.

DESIGN PROFESSIONALS My needs were specific- must buy sofa today-but Nika expertly guided me through options, sizes, materials and other options I hadn't considered, such as "How will it handle dog hair?" "Is it sleep-able?" , "Is the color too 'flat' or will it have dimension?" She told me that pet hair was easily vacuum-able and two fit well. We agreed that the HENRY 86' with Worn Velvet, Light Taupe would match my dimensions, yellow Labrador retriever and lifestyle.

-Nika was a delight. Personable and commanded respect and rapport immediately. Ask for her if you go in, please. Really nice.

Store and staff (Nika, included) supported the WHOLE PORTLAND EXPERIENCE and ETHOS. I'm from Portland but live away now. The store and Nika engendered the UNDERSTATED and SIMPLE CHIC of both West Elm and Portland, in a way that promoted both sales and the "user experience".

This was NO-PRESSURE, FUN, INFORMATIVE and PRODUCTIVE.

PRICE and QUALITY: Really good balance. I needed a solid couch...and dining table and accessories! I wanted to balance that with economy without an "assemble yourself" and "particle board" level. we're grown ups, for goodness sake. And I have a Labrador who is sometimes wet and usually shedding. So this was A PERFECT BALANCE.

UPSHOT: Fun, Cool, Good value, professionals who help in actual helpful ways... and you move forward in your furniture and home furnishings hunt.

** Welcome to PORTLAND,...