Pottery Barn — Local services in Walnut Creek

If I could give negative stars for the customer service, I would. I recently got married and we are a young couple who registered at both Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn. We received thousands of dollars in gifts and had some double purchases.

First time we went to return/exchange some items, I had a couple items without receipts. I thought this would be okay since the items are on my registry. The employee, in a very irritated tone, said they cannot return items without a gift receipt. Okay that is fine if their system does not allow it. I tracked down my receipt and went back to return my items. The employee rushed through my return and did not ask me if I wanted returned to original form of payment or as a gift card. She returned the money back to the gift giver's credit card. She then immediately blamed me for not saying it was a gift and had no sympathy for the mistake that was made. I had assumed the receipt was a gift receipt and it has a note from the gift giver. She offered to call corporate to see if they could reverse the payment and acted like having to call was a huge inconvenience. I said thank you that would be great. She then said I doubt they can do anything about it.

I also heard the employee next to her ask the customer she was helping if she wanted her return back on the original form of payment or a gift card. I brought that up and the other employee said the customer said it was a gift.

I called Pottery Barn customer service and told them about my experience. She apologized on the employee's behalf and confirmed they should be asking how the customer wants the money returned to them. It also shows in their system two different names, the gift giver and the registry name so she definitely should have asked how I wanted it returned.

I have been in customer service a long time and appreciate good customer service. I understand people make mistakes but the fact that she immediately blamed me and had no sympathy, was horrible customer service.

I was so excited to receive all my gifts from Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma but this customer service has turned me off from ever buying...

I was treated very badly at this store. They couldn't find my order for pickup, because it was saved by my first name and not first and last. I had the order number and email but they wouldn't look at that, they just kept saying they go by name only, not by order number. They finally found it and saw it was saved by my first name, not my last. The lady proceeded to tell me it was my fault for my last name not being entered in when I made the order, but I did put my first and last name in. I never said anything about fault or blame to her, but she felt the need blame me. I didn't care that they couldn't find my order, what I cared about is how I was being treated. In the process of them finding it I was treated with a lot of condescension and rudeness, as if I had done something wrong because they couldn't find my order. I was talked down to and just treated with negative energy, despite me not getting upset and being very patient with everyone. I didn't complain once and yet the tone they were speaking to me with was very rude and disrespectful tone, as if I was a huge problem for them, not letting me talk, cutting me off. I will never come back to this store, horrible experience. It's hard enough to get to walnut creek and to park, then to spend $100 on a single basket to be talked to with such contempt really ruined my morning....

Very rude customer service at this location unfortunately, and incompetent.I asked if they have an item in stock and the salesperson said I dont know. I asked her can you check and she said that it might be somewhere in the front. I had to go there and see everywhere in case to find the item and the saleperson was just staying there in register and nothing doing. Thats the worst incompetent staff. I have just question in what criteria they been hired? Be the most incompetent ?! Also another day during the call, the representative asked how to pronounce my last name. I explained that it was too long to go into, and I requested that we skip that part. However, the representative continued to insist on pronouncing my name, repeatedly saying it incorrectly. To make matters worse, they then made exaggerated sounds, almost as if mocking the pronunciation, which felt disrespectful and unprofessional.

As a customer, I felt dismissed and disrespected, especially after I clearly expressed my preference. I understand that mispronunciations happen, but continuing to insist on it after being asked to skip, and making fun of the situation, was uncalled for. I hope Pottery Barn takes customer feedback seriously and addresses this behavior to ensure more respectful and professional interactions...