West Elm
reviews and complaints

I called customer service on November 24, 2023, and a woman called Nancy, in Colorado, offered, what they call an appeasement reward of $200.00 in the form of a gift card since the company does not have a price adjustment policy.

When I called today to find out about the status of that offer I was told that the offer had been cancelled.

Of the four individuals I contacted through Customer Service, one was incompetent and could not tell me what was going on, one was just plain rude and disrespectful and hung up on me, and the other was very kind and helpful and decided to open a case with the ID [protected].

A frustrating, disappointing experience.

I ordered a Sofa on September 2. After a month on Sept 30 the sofa arrived slashed all through the bottom. I asked for replacement, was denied with a complwtw diaregard for coatumer service and complete disrespect. I have been calling Since I finally was able to make your comoany take the sofa away and my money is nowhere tk be seen. Every sngle time I call something different is told and incorrcet information. Again with disrespect and worst service. Last time I called an older gentleman informed me that in 24 -48 hrs my refund would be back. Still waiting. Before him I spoke to JoAnna Wooten and a man named Malik that both of them made up new information treated me like crap and did not help me, treated me like they were doing me a favor and raised their voices and tone with me. I want my refund for order [protected]

Caroline Hayes

293 Pitt Circle Fate Texas 75189

I purchased a couch for my daughter back in July in the Emeryville, CA store. I was double charged for the purchase, as evidenced by my credit card statement. After spending several hours on the phone with the store AND customer service, I was told my bank charged me twice and I would have to fight with them about it! HAVE YOU EVER HEARD SUCH NONSENSE IN YOUR LIFE? Dan, the customer service supervisor (who wouldn't get on the phone with me or give me his contact info) was the most unprofessional, ignorant person I have ever encountered. I have since spoken to my credit card company who has opened an investigation, not only to dispute the charge obviously, but to look to the business practices of West Elm, as it is clear to them 2 transaction numbers for 1 purchase is common with employees/companies stealing customer CC information.

It is not surprising that your customer service rating EVERYWHERE on the internet is not above a 10%!

My Letter the CEO...

Dear CEO of West Elm,

As CEO of a large retailer, I imagine you are not intimately aware of the actual customer experience. Considering my experience, you must not be.

I would like to enlighten you to the travails of my order, one that as I share with friends, I am learning is not an unusual experience for West Elm.

I placed my order (# [protected]) on March 15, 2023, for a rental property I own in Colorado. The item is an upholstered daybed with matching slipcover for the mattress. I paid for "white glove delivery".

The process of order has gone as follows:

March: Ordered

June: Delivery Scheduled and Delivery Driver, incorrectly, reported that I did not pay for assembly delivery. The Driver left the daybed unassembled.

June: I called customer service to receive credit for the delivery service I paid for and was not provided. I was refunded $150.

June: I paid an employee from our building to assemble and discovered that the Mattress Slipcover was not delivered with the bed.

July: I began multiple phone calls over many hours with Customer Service to resolve the issue of the missing slipcover.

July: I "jumped through every hoop" customer service asked of me to continue the process toward receiving a slipcover

August: I continue to call for resolution. Ultimately, the resolution determined was to send me a "replacement" daybed. May I reiterate: To send me an entire, $1,500, bed, in order for me to get a slipcover.

August: I received an email telling me it will be between November and December before I will get my slipcover (and replacement bed that I do not need) for an order I placed in March

While customer service individuals have been kind and made every effort they have at their ability, it is beyond ridiculous that this is the only solution they have at their resources and that it is, nearly, impossible to speak to a "supervisor" of customer service. It may be impossible. I am waiting as I write and have been waiting for 35 minutes now.

Therefore, I write to you, Ms. Kornbluth. I grew up in a luxury retailer family, Neiman Marcus. Back in the day, the executives would have wanted to know this kind of insanity of the systems in place.

After 45 minutes, I have now hung up with customer service with the following resolution:

I can not speak directly to a customer service supervisor.

I can cancel my "order" (for the replacement daybed to arrive sometime in November or December)

I can accept "compensation", but the compensation cannot be discussed until after I accept delivery of the replacement order.

The item is custom ordered, so it is not possible to get it sooner.

I have kept the process in place, because I need the slipcover! I cannot have one made, I do not have the fabric.

I ask you, if the item is custom ordered, why can't a single slipcover be custom ordered and sent to the customer? By all accounts of the ramifications of this experience to the customer, it would have, likely, cost the company far less to contact the manufacturer for a slipcover or purchased a few yards of the fabric and hired someone to make a slipcover and walk away with a satisfied and grateful customer.

The system in place does not have any semblance of customer service and appears to be so far inside a box that it is impossible for a human, who can think outside the box, to have the latitude or encouragement to think outside the box of the system.

Therefore, I ask you, has West Elm (William Sonoma) gotten too large for Management to make logical decisions?

Sincerely,

Lisa Browning

Dallas, Texas

July 30th when I placed an online order at west elm.com ordered a sofa that said “ estimated delivery sept 11th-25th “ so I placed the order through affirm. 2 days later I checked the status because I haven’t been able to get west elm to respond, and came across the tracking info again it said “ estimated delivery NOVEMBER 24th-DEC 14th”.. yeah that’s not gonna happen so I wanted to reach out to see if I can find another option or change my order or possibly cancel.. I’ve sent numerous emails, called customer service and can’t get anyone to answer. I also ordered some leather swatches and that was over 2 weeks ago and I checked status and they haven’t even been shipped yet… that’s crazy. And unacceptable. Need this resolved today or I will have to move on to my next step of the process and resolve it myself. Thank you

They sent me a defective item and I can't return it. It didn't even work at all. Then they ignore my emails and send me automated messages to purchase the same item. I have been their customer for many years, and I've never had issues like this before. What is happening to this company? I suspect they won't be around much longer. I'm going to stop using their credit card.

Shelf with damages was delivered in February. Four delivery attempts for a replacement shelf were unsuccessful and we have yet to receive the right shelf.

First time a diagnostic guy came and said the case boards are too short. Second time, delivery was scheduled and the delivery guy came to only pick up, not to deliver. Third time, the wrong item was attempted to deliver. Forth time, again delivery guy only came to pick up and not deliver.

West Elm customer services is obnoxious and rude on the phone, unable for 5 months now to rectify the problem, refuses to discuss compensation until the process is finalized which it is not, due to them being unable to deliver the shelf correctly. Countless hours in the hotline, had to empty shelf three times, had to stay home from work, with no success so far.

No ability to escalate the complaint to anyone, they seem completely disinterested in sorting out the issue.

This is the letter I sent them:

Hello,

I recently purchased a rug from West Elm. It was delivered in November of last year. As we just recently moved into our house, we only put it down into our living room about 3 weeks ago. Unfortunately, it has started to come undone already and shedding. Attached are a few photos as examples, but there are more than 25 spots like this throughout the rug with new ones popping up every day as we walk on it. These didn't exit before.

I called West Elm customer service hoping to find a solution as this is not the quality I am used to from West Elm and its sister brands. Over the years we have spent a significant amount with West Elm, William Sonoma, a Crate and Barrel, including others...and this was a disappointing experience. I expected your customer rep to attempt to resolve the issue and stand behind your quality. Instead, she told me that there is only a 30-day return policy and that there was nothing she can do, backed by her manager. She would not allow me to speak to anyone else. She then put me on hold indefinitely as a way to hang up on me as I refused to accept her answer. A $800 rug should not be falling apart in 3 weeks or even months. It should last years. If it doesn't, the product is faulty, and your customers should not have to pay for it.

Charisse was her name and the call took place on Monday May 29th in the morning EST.

I am writing with the hope that you will understand, agree, and make this right.

Thank you in advance.

Ivona Kopanja & Alexander Falto

[protected]

Ordered a couch November 2022 in the showroom. Online it states that the couch is Made in Ukraine. How is this possible?

I was told delivery would be March 2023. Nothing. I called them twice and customer service can’t even tell me where the couch is! There’s no information, just a vendor number which I was told they can’t give out.

No couch, no delivery, no information for me. Waiting 4 plus months. Nothing.

Hello-

I am a trade member and order tons of stuff for clients and for my stagign company. I have been back and forth with westelm for over 6 months now regarding a table and bench that arrived in the wrong finish. I scheduled a replacement in the correct finish, waited 4 months, called back when there was zero follow up, just to be told that that item has actually been discontinued. ZERO FOLLOW UP. so then i scheduled a return of the table and bench and ZERO follow up was made by scheduling to schedule a pick up date.. I ordered a new table and bench to replace the one that was supposed to be picked up, and then had to call AGAIN for 2 hours and try to get them to pickup the table and bench we'd been waiting to be returned when the new table and bench arrived (from westelm, so should be easy, you'd think.) They arrived with new table and bench and then said there was no order for a return pickup, so then i had to call AGAGIN for 2 hours and explain again what i had 2 months earlier. THey finally took the old table and bench. 2 months went by and zero refund for the returned table and bench. I had now called every week and been told that a replacmeent was in the system, in which i had to explain over and over that they were out of stock and we already ordered replacmenets that were instock and they had already arrived! i was then told that it was input into the system wrong so waited 2 hours for them to override the replacment and show a return. 2 more weeks went by and no refund. called back again for 2 hours and no one seemed to know what the hell was going on. so then i was told that a check would be mailed out for the refund... 2 weeks went by and no check. so i called back again today and it was still showing that it was just a return scheduled... so then i waited 2 hours to be told that checks actually had not been sent out, but that they would be now again in 10 business days. If i dont recieve a check in 10 business days, now 3 months after the table and bench had been picked up by west elm, that i would need to call back AGAIN. no one could give me an email or supervisor or anyone to follow up with and just told me someone would follow up with me in 11 days. NO ONE has EVER followed up regarding and purchase, return, to schedule delivery of any item ive puirchased in the last 3 years from pottery barn or westelm. this is absolutely ridiculous. no discount, gift card, nothing was offered to make the sitguation better... and i have zero faitht that ill actually receive the $2,000 that im owed for the return. I will NEVER purchase from williams sonoma again due to how difficult and impossible it is to exchangem ereturn oer even just get my refund back. horrible! no other vendor is this impossible to deal with and its such a waste of 2 hours evwery single time i call to have whoever i talk to input things into system wrong, get nothing accomplished, have to explain everything a billion times and now to not even be able to retrieve money that is owed to me... so bad.

Order Number: [protected]
Order Date: June 28, 2022

On June 28, 2022, I placed an order for Harley Floor Planter. Order Number: [protected]. Since June 22, 2022, the order status has been updating itself with the estimated delivery time for the following week. I have tried contacting your customer service by email but have not received any response. Your representatives at a store could not provide an update either. Could you please advise if I am going to receive the planter, or should I give up and cancel the order?

You can reach me at [protected]@gmail.com or [protected].
Thank you,
Svetlana