Williams-Sonoma — Local services in Santa Monica

I honestly don’t understand how stores like this justify hiring people who both don’t know their own product, or are so completely spaced out that when you ask them a direct question they fumble around for three minutes without actually answering your question.

The store used to be my favorite, everybody seemed to really enjoy what they were doing, and everybody in the store knew their own products, and where to find them.

Went on the Black Friday and there was hardly anybody in the store - but about 12 staff people with very little to do.

They had two young men who were staffing the cash register, who clearly knew nothing about the products, so I was referred to a large, attractive, black woman who was wearing a red cap, and had very little to share in terms of the cooking ware, which is among the most expensive in the country. They make all different levels of high end cookware, and yet she was struggling to answer questions.

At one point then I asked her if she could just give me a moment to find some thing in my wallet, and she said oh sure, take your time, and then completely disappeared, I wondered around for three minutes, trying to find her, and then had to pick up the conversation with someone else.

They have a few sales people over the age of 60. sweet women who remind you of your idealized, Midwestern aunt, and unfortunately, had a lot of trouble answering questions. So again, I’m not sure what value they are, even if they’re sweet, because we literally stood there for 10 minutes discussing whether or not, they had some thing that would keep the carbonation in an open bottle of sparkling water. Do you think Williams-Sonoma would have the answer for that, but no, she just sort of meandered around, looking for things, talking to herself, and it was a tremendous waste of time.

The manager was on a phone call with someone having to do with needing to replace their charger for their hot pot. She didn’t wish to help me with a simple question and referred me to one of the men. Again, these with a gentleman who had no training in products, so I’m not sure why on earth she was referring me to them – I’m sure the manager she knew that they really couldn’t be of help.

The stores, a lovely presentation, but they seem to be out of a great deal, and “no idea” if things were going further sale, or what Availability there might be for certain products online.

Seems like the store spending an awful lot of money on people who really are just happy to throw on the apron and wander around for 6 to 8 hours being a very little use.

Definitely wouldn’t recommend driving over there....

If you want the most discriminated and inadequate customer service this is your store. Let me explain I made a purchase at your William Sonoma in Pasadena customer service was phenomenal, Patty and Vince do a wonderful job. Fell in love with a product not enough in store, so they went looking at other stores and they suggested Santa Monica and The Grove store to complete a set. Patty at the Pasadena store suggested she could call the other stores to see if they had them in stock so they could put them on hold. She did as so and I had a home run when it came to the William Sonoma located at The Grove which was 30 mins away and when I got there I picked up three more pieces but it still didn't complete my set, so I called the Santa Monica store and see if they had the remaining pieces to complete my set. I spoke with a lady regarding this set and she said yes we have them in stock I had asked if she could put these three pieces on hold and that would be marvelous cause then I could complete a set of 8 so I left her my name and told her I would be coming the next day. The next day before I left I called about the three pieces I put on hold prior, I spoke with Kelly and she said that there was nothing on hold, she wouldn't even let me explain and I asked to speak to a manager and she stated there was no manager in site. So I had suggested if I could give her the skew number on the items I had on hold and she straight out told me that she didn't even need it because they had none, and how is that when she didn't even get the name of the item. Now if this is the customer service your looking for Santa Monica...

I had an incredibly frustrating experience with this store. I was gifted a coffee machine that turned out to be defective. When I called the store, the representative assured me that they could locate my purchase in their system using the date and price, and that I would be able to return it. However, when I brought the machine to the store to return it, I was met with an incredibly rude woman who suddenly claimed they couldn’t provide proof of purchase and refused to process the return. The person who gifted me the machine wasn’t given a gift receipt from the store and the only proof of purchase that they could provide was a credit card statement.

It’s appalling that their system could “find” my purchase over the phone but conveniently failed to do so in person. This feels like a deliberate attempt to avoid taking responsibility for a defective product.

Right off the bat, the staff were rude upon learning that we were there to process a return rather than buy something. If you do decide to shop here, make sure that you ask for a receipt or whatever they consider sufficient proof of purchase. Or be prepared to contact your credit card company to do a...