Pottery Barn — Local services in San Diego

I went into the La Jolla, California store today to exchange a soap dispenser I had gifted my son and daughter-in-law a year ago. The lady recognized me immediately and greeted me with a standard hello. I presented her with my situation of desiring only an exchange for an item, I noticed was currently "on sale" for $9. I told the lady, Elizabeth, that the item was very obvious defective..and needs replacing with another. She declared immediately, the store policy she could not honor that, but it had to be within 30 days. I replied, that was ludicrous, as Nordstrom would immediately replace, no questions asked. The soap dispenser was obviously painted on silver top, and all color had disintegrated to the yellow plastic beneath. It was really outrageous this ladies attitude and rudeness. This is the first time in all the years, I have been treated as such..and once I stated I would be forced to report PB to Yelp, she declared I can't believe a loyal, regular customer would do such a thing..my response was", that is the very reason I would do so"! Amazing!

I felt like never returning, yet my son compelled me to write you call store manager and report on all sites. I phoned the manager, Rodrequez..and although he stated that is the policy, said he'd recommend I come in and show the manager my product. Not exactly happy with his response, as well, but i will do so, only because I am a very principled individual and feel I was very mistreated by staff. The policy to all your employees should be as all ethical stores.."the customer is always right". The woman, Elizabeth, should have immediately referred me to the on-duty manager, to address the issue.

I am very disappointed in a company I have promoted for many years and loved all their products. I would hope your customer service department and managerial staff will be informed to change this policy, to reflect the proper treatment in wavering situations of defective items. A thirty-day limit is ridiculous..and so ridged a policy to lose loads of...

I don’t normally leave reviews but I am so disappointed in the level of service from this specific location I feel it is important for to share. I called the UTC store today to check the status on an order I made a month or two ago. The gentleman I spoke with informed me it was delayed and it was on back order. I was never notified and had I not called I wouldn’t have even known. I was frustrated because we specifically picked this item based on the availability. What was equally frustrating was that we were working with a designer and thought someone would notify us if there is a delay. When I voiced this to the gentleman, he said, that they don’t do that and it would have to be from “corporate”. As a Pottery Barn customer…I expected an email or something and blaming “corporate” to me is just a failure in service. You represent the company and as a customer it doesn’t matter to me who should contact us but someone should. He seemed frustrated and had a total lack of empathy. It’s sad because I went to the “brick and mortar” store because we wanted to work with the designers and have a more personal level of service than ordering online.

Things only got worse from here. This associate put me on hold and when the next person picked up they had no idea what was going on. It seemed like this guy just passed the buck. Then the second person put me on hold again and a third person came in the phone.

A women who apparently is a manager came on the phone. She was honestly no better and it’s clear to me why brick and mortar stores are closing. Don’t waste your time at this store. I would never buy from them again. So sad to see customer service levels like this from a...

We were drawn in by the beautiful photos online and decided to invest in a sectional sofa, paying nearly $5,000. It was on display and even appears at their Google Maps cover photo. Unfortunately, the reality has been deeply disappointing.

Within just a few weeks of very light use, the sofa began to sag, wrinkle, and develop deep crevices—making it look years older than it is. After three months of back-and-forth with customer support, we were told the issue was due to underfilled cushions. They replaced them, but the problem actually worsened.

The most glaring issue is a clear design flaw: when you sit on one end, you sink deeply while the other end lifts. Sitting in the middle creates a V-shape. This isn’t just uncomfortable—it’s unacceptable for a premium product.

To make matters worse, when I asked about switching to a two-cushion design rather than a large bench cushion to fix the issue, I was told that would be considered a completely different product and I’d have to pay again. Their final response? “It is what it is.”

Frankly, I’m shocked this level of quality and service is acceptable from a brand once known for excellence. At this price point, customers deserve better. I strongly recommend looking elsewhere. See the photos for yourself—this is not what you expect from a...