Crate & Barrel — Local services in Walnut Creek

We really love all of the kitchenware at Crate & Barrel. Last week, we made a big purchase for a $400 coffee maker.

This week, we went back and bought over $550 worth of kitchenware.

However, the customer service is truly lacking.

The first time we were at C&B, we barely said, “Oh, excuse me” and the customer service rep said, “I’m already helping someone” and walked away. Ok, ouch. Who hurt you?

Today, I thought, ok, we’re going to be pleasant, friendly, not bother any of the associates (we really hate inconveniencing people). One of the girls on the floor kindly brought all of our goods to the front. I gather that this is their attempt at a “white glove” service but to also encourage us to buy more.

Once we got to the front, Sarah, the cashier, already seemed annoyed that we had so much to pay for, as well as having to individually wrap 12 glasses. We patiently waited, said our please & thank yous. We wanted to split our payment (one was a $200 gift card and the rest on credit card). Sarah mumbled her instructions when my partner asked what to do, he could barely hear her, so he made a couple of mistakes on the touch screen. At one point, she asked for “4 digit number…” and he wasn’t sure which number she was referring to, so he was a bit confused. I kid you not — this woman — who otherwise looked pleasant, against my better judgment — rolled her eyes at him, took the card, and proceeded to just do it all herself.

At one point, she asked us to just wander around while she finished wrapping stuff up. Ok? Thanks? We’ll just awkwardly stand 5 feet away from where we were at while we process this “delightful” experience.

Sorry, but — what did we do to you? Was my cologne offensive? Did I have a giant zit on my face? Was I wearing an ugly outfit? lol.

It really isn’t that serious, ma’am. Save your bad attitude for a customer who deserves it. Just do your job as kindly as you can. I work with teenagers, I get it, but the sheer attitude and general under-the-skin tension from all of the employees at this place makes me wonder if they’re being treated well by their employers. I don’t roll my eyes or act annoyed with my students everytime they make a mistake or need something.

I’m tempted to apply for a position myself so I can get a sense for why there’s so much tension and unkindness. Like why is every staff member so miserable? It doesn’t make sense. It truly must be because of management. Stop making your employees miserable, and they’ll stop making us, your paying customers, miserable.

It sucks because we really love this store. But maybe we’ll just order online from now on, or go to Pottery...

C&B has reliably nice furniture for its price point, but I just had the most disappointing customer service experience here today at the new location. Not sure if it’s inexperienced employees or holiday stress, but all 3 employees we interacted were condescending and unhelpful.

I came in to seek help with a personalization order (Christmas stockings) that was really sloppy and a gift card issue - both of which the manager claimed they couldn’t resolve in-store and told me to call customer service. When we’ve had similar issues at Pottery Barn or West Elm, store associates either resolved right away or would expedite our issue to customer service themselves. This manager just gave me the customer service number on a post-it note!

Stocking issue - When I tried to get help with the Christmas stockings, the first employee I went to, Ken, condescendingly told me I had ordered it wrong and that I didn’t select the right option. I went to another employee for help after I double checked online and confirmed the info Ken gave me was flat-out wrong. The second employee went back and forth with me for a bit before pulling a manager over. The manager Daniel then came by, took out his little ruler to check the measurements, and confirmed the embroidery sizing on the stockings was inconsistent. He then said he couldn’t do anything and we needed to call customer service instead.

Gift card issue - I couldn’t see the scratch off pin # on the back of a gift card so I couldn’t use it for online purchases. I decided to go into the store for help because that’s where the gift card was issued to us. The manager was able to tell us how much was on the card and said we could use it in-store since it would swipe. We select an item to purchase and, lo and behold, the card doesn’t work at the register. He then tells us to call customer service online because “they can look this up faster than we can.”

I’m really looking forward to wasting time on the phone because the store was unable (or unwilling??) to go beyond trying to blame us for these issues. My husband and I left in utter disbelief at the unapologetic tone of our entire interaction here. They treated us like we were out to scam them over some non-refundable personalized Christmas stockings.

Go here for simple returns or curbside pickup only because the staff doesn’t seem able or willing to do anything else...

Never buying furniture from them again. The products are insanely expensive for what’s on the market at that quality. We purchased dining chairs. We find out that they would not even arrive assembled despite the high price ($200+!!!!). To assemble meant an additional price of $400!!!!! These are just regular dining chairs for a regular dining table. And they do it through a 3rd party company! The most unreasonable assembly price I have ever seen. Basically they overcharge for everything and then look for ways to absolve theirselves of any accountability. In addition to the assembly charge was an additional $250 shipping fee! That’s a total of $600+ for just “white glove” delivery. :0000000000000000000000000000000 I have never seen that before - ever! Not at any other furniture store!!!To top it off, none of the associates helping us, even the more senior, knew what they were doing. They kept contradicting one another and didn’t hear it. They were misinformed of everything even the credit card financing terms. If I wasn’t there to help my parents with communication, they would’ve walked away with a lot of unhappy surprises. The associates kept making mistakes. The whole process took an hour and a half with them just trying to confirm with one another, not even bothering to call corporate to help them. No one wanted to acknowledge that they weren’t trained properly. I wanted my parents to go elsewhere and cancel the purchase and close the credit card right then and there, but they were in love with the chairs and had too much patience. I’m just crossing my fingers everything turns out ok for them. Very much just an insensible retail shop that’s trying to fill shoes greater than it can handle. If we went to Room & Board, we’d get high qaulity, white glove delivery from their own company for less than $200, and no diy required. The store manager was supposed to call us the next day to ensure everything went smoothly. Haven’t heard from anyone and corporate customer service is difficult to reach. I’ll never recommend this company to anyone. Just a bunch of speedy retail workers looking to thoughtlessly accomplish sales goals with very...