Williams-Sonoma

Williams-Sonoma is an overpriced, over rated specialty home furnishings retailer who only cares about their billion dollars plus bottom line! They don't care about their customers' safety nor does it stand behind its corporate values of the 'customer means everything' especially when you get mugged in their store! I was in Williams-Sonoma Highland Park, IL store location over the busy holidays.

My purse was stolen right off of me in their store! I was violated and very emotionally distressed! I told one of the women behind the counter what had happened, all she did was say she was sorry and continued to ring up sales! They never called the police. I had to ask to use their phone (mine was stolen in my purse) to call the police. The customers were more concerned and more compassionate than the Williams-Sonoma employees. You would think they would have some sort of protocol in place for safety and incidents like mine.

When the police officer came, the employees kept on ringing up sales and really didn't care to help me or the police officer in his investigation. The police office was surprised and noted there were no security cameras in the store. I contacted Williams-Sonoma corporate office. No one called me or tried to contact me. I had to call the district manager to get a call from their Williams-Sonoma legal department, who appeared to be concerned and needed my help getting information, the police report, etc.

I am not an attorney nor was I represented by one, but I trusted them to help me and provide some sort of concession. Well, they didn't! After putting me off for weeks during their investigation, I was told that they were sorry but Williams-Sonoma is not liable. This is not about whether I have any legal standing or not in this case. It's about how Williams-Sonoma treats their customers after an incident like mine and how it is handled within their company, that matters in the court of public opinion. It is not right that I get mugged by someone in one of their stores and then I suffer further abuse from corporate and its legal department . To be dismissed without any concession from Williams-Sonoma shows lack of compassion for its customers. This is how they answer the needs of their customers that mean everything?

WSH entered contract with me on 3rd of December and cancelled order on December 28 without my knowledge or without notifying me. I believe they are in Breach of Contract. I also consider their sales practices 'suspect', as they tried to convince me to purchase other product after cancelling my sale. I believe WSH sales practices are damaging other customers as well.

I purchased several expensive items from Williams-Sonoma Home within the last 3 years. Several items specifically the standing wall mirror (over 1K), has a number of defects. I also purchased the Mason Desk (over 1k). That too has a number of defects. I spent over $800 on a glass table that was hardly ever used, but I needed to throw it out due to a crack. When I called the company, they said because it had been 2 years (when the defects started to show), there was nothing they could do. I was single at the time and traveling a lot. The items didn't get a whole lot of use to begin with.

I went to return a gift in exchange for an item that cost $116.00 more than the original purchase. The clerk took the gift item with receipt and started the transaction. She said that she had to take the amount of money spent on the gift that was shown on the receipt ($131.00) and create a gift card. The item we wanted to exchange it for was not available in the store, so she preceded to place online for delivery to my address. I agreed. She then took the gift card ($131.00) and put the card number in to apply to the payment and I gave her my debit card in good faith to make up the difference ($116.00). The transaction was completed and she handed me my receipt for the new item.

The next morning, I went online to check my bank account for activity and I saw that Williams-Sonoma had taken $246.00 out of my checking account. So now, I have paid the full amount for the item that we had exchanged the gift for and there was no mention of the $131.00 that was too have been applied to the new purchase. Now, I had an extra $131.00 removed from my account without permission. I called the store and they told me to call their main Customer Service number somewhere in the US. I did so and I was told that was company policy to have the company collect the full purchase price of the item until the gift card gets cleared.

I explained that the gift card was just a transaction the clerk initiated to transfer the funds to the online purchase. Those monies have already been collected by Williams-Sonoma when the original item was purchased. So now, I am left with $131.00 less in my account and hopefully, no checks will bounce because of this. When I called back to the store and spoke with the supervisor, she explained to me that she did not know that was the policy. I only authorized $116.00 to be used for the upgrade purchase, not a whole $246.00. I am sure that the mess will eventually get straightened out, but I will no longer do business with Williams-Sonoma.

We had made a purchase from a Williams-Sonoma store using my debit Visa card. We came to visit family in Pennsylvania and the gift we had purchased was the wrong item that they wanted. So my boyfriend went to the Ross Park mall to return the items. The associate named Liz refused to do the return because it was on my debit card and I was not in the store. She claimed that I had to be present. It is a pin based debit card and he is an authorized user on my account. She said she is allowed as manager to make her own rules.

Williams-Sonoma return policy states that returns will go back in the form of original payment. This is awful behavior by this associate and I want as a consumer to have action taken. She called security and had my boyfriend escorted from the store. There is no reason that I needed to be present! I made the purchase and simply asked him to return it for me. By no means should he have treated like this, it is appalling! I gave him my card to do a simple return of this gift. What if it were a gift we had received from someone? Is this the behavior we would have put wedding guests through for a simple return? I would appreciate it if someone would follow up with me on this matter.

My wife and I purchased an expensive (roughly $100) cutting board from Williams Sonoma several years ago (not more than 4). Its attraction was the perimeter routing designed to contain drippings. The cutting board cracked without cause the first year, but we continued to use it.

When we took it out of the china cabinet for Thanksgiving this year, the separation in the crack was over a 1/4" which made it unusable. We contacted Williams Sonoma which responded with a boilerplate message saying they could do nothing and telling us that we "are more than welcome to photocopy any future purchases for our own personal records."

I placed an order for a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer on December 12 at williams-sonoma.com. The advertised special was 299.00 with a 50.00 gift card. Received order confirmation on 12/12. However, checking back today, this order has been canceled because the item is permanently out of stock. Going back to the web site and searching for the item, it is still available for order for the regular price of 399.00.

Obviously they do not want to honor the order for the sale price and lied about being out of stock. Lied about the item not being reordered. Two attempts to be transferred to a supervisor resulting in being on hold for over 30 minutes. Sent two emails and am awaiting a response as promised.

I purchase a lot online, and have been in situations where the customers web page allowed something to be sold at a sale price after exceeding the offer rules, but has honored the sale price since the customer's web site allowed it. This is not my problem. Once for a 1000 dollar High Definition TV. Significantly more cost impact to the retailer than a 100 dollar sale on a mixer.

Williams-Sonoma will not get my money ever again. I see how they value their customer. I was not going to make a big deal about this until I saw the number of complaints about them as a retailer.

I received a Taylor Bed in late 2007 - it was broken when we received it. I called Williams Sonoma several times - finally got a Furniture Medic out to my house in NOV 2008! The furniture medic was an excellent worker and did her best to fix the problem. Her report, of which I have a copy, states that the bed is a manufacturer defect! I have been calling Williams Sonoma at LEAST once a week since then trying to get the Furniture Medic back.

Now, WS Customer service said that there are no further actions that can be taken on my bed. The reason was the Furniture medic report said there was no manufacturer defect. I have a copy of the report stating the EXACT opposite! I have in writing from the Customer Service rep from WS that they do not have access to this report - so how can the Furniture Medic report be the reason why they can no longer help me?

I have caught Williams Sonoma customer service Representatives in a web of lies, and it is very disappointing! I just want my bed fixed so I don't lie at night at a 30 degree angle! If I didn't have a Tempurpedic mattress, I wuold fall off the bed! The Corporate Values posted on the Williams Sonoma website states that We are here to please our customers - without them nothing else matters. I sent copies and screenshots of the Corporate Values to Williams Sonoma Customer Service to remind them that they are supposed to exist and not be ignored. The customer service rep can't even really help me - or Nancy seemed like she would have.

I am not well rested as I should be - I am almost falling off my bed since NOV 2008! Why can't they just fix the bed or give me a new one? ZERO to poor customer service!

As per a new company roll-out of policy this week, Pottery Barn has told suspected Ebayers that shop their retail outlets in more than 7 States that they are no longer allowed to shop in their stores. Claiming an existing we do not sell to reseller policy has always been in place, but NEVER enforced, they met the suspected customers at the door without so much as a letter from Williams Sonoma Corporate to detail the reasons and persons under the ban.

Ebayers spend an excess of $20 million dollars per year in these overstocked outlet stores, and pay the full price that is on the ticketed merchandise, not getting any special favors. Paying the same price as every other customer that walks through their door. Also, these same people have been following additional management self imposed rules (that varied from store to store- manager to manager), although there was this existing no-reseller policy regarding them. There were limits of 6 per sku, time limitations for shopping, and a no return policy for anything purchased. Isn't that contradictory to why they are stating they can no longer shop in the stores now? It sounds to me as if there were some managers that simply could not manage high volume buyers.

Williams Sonoma posted a loss in their last fiscal quarter, how will they explain to their shareholders cutting loose $20 mill+ in business from under 100 customers, without a plan to recover it? And why now? What has changed in their overlooking their existing policy? Also, they do actually sell to resellers, as they have a practice set up to not only sell to Interior Decorators, but they give them a 10% discount as well. When asked, a member of their legal department stated Interior Decorators are a legitimate business. Since when is selling hundreds of thousands of dollars of product through Ebay not a legitimate business? Do they assume we do not pay taxs or something? That could not be further from the truth. Many Ebay powersellers have 100% legitimate businesses set up and operate like every other business. Is it the name Ebay? Then someone should let Williams Sonoma know that Ebay is THE LARGEST online source of purchases, outperforming the next top 5 online retailers added all together. Williams Sonoma is nowhere near the top of that list.

In my opinion, Williams Sonoma has created a lose/lose situation for themselves, outing a huge market for their outlet items and creating a problem for their already overstuffed stores. If they think it will not effect them, lets see how their outlets are doing in 6 months to a year. $20 million is a lot of merchandise to not be purchased.

My complaint is several fold against Williams Sonoma.

1. Receipts fade after approxamately 6-months.

2. Difficult returning defective merchandise, despite the fact that they tell the consumer when they make the purchase otherwise.

3. Managers are inconsistant with their exchange/return policy.

We purchased a common item at Williams Sonoma in late 2004. The item was the Professional 6qt. mixer Kitchen Aid unit in Imperial Black, Sku#3848843 for $369.95.

We had admired the unit in their shelf for sometime and ultimately decided to buy the item. What compelled us to buy it from Williams Sonoma was the flexible return policy that the sales representative explained when we were making our buying decision. We were told by a Williams Sonoma representative If for any reason you are not satisfied with the Kitchen Aid mixer, simply return it with or without the receipt, with or without the box and we will exchange it at any time. The representative went on to assert, We have a very flexible return policy.

On December 24 2005, we suspected the unit to be defective. We were concerned because we had used the unit less than a handfull of times and the unit was in like new condition and extreemly clean with no wear at all.

On December 27, 2005 we contacted the

Danbury, CT store #812 and explained that we believed the unit to be defective, at which point the representative instructed us to bring it in. We brought the unit in and were met with complete resistance discourtesy by two managers Mr. Ed Haddad and a manager by the first name of Mary Lee.

We explained that we bought the unit from Wiliams Sonoma and believed it to be defective. We were instructed to bring it in for an exchange, etc. Rather than take it back with ease, we were met with complete resistance and excuses.

1.We were told that they never sold the unit

2. We were told that without the receipt that they don't have to take it back.

3. We were told that the sku# was not in their system.

In return we explained again and again that it was indeed purchased at Williams Sonoma. We explained that when we purchased the unit that we were also sold on their flexible return policy. We asked them to look up our name in their system and they refused. We tried to demonstrate that the unit was in like new condition with no wear and in a box. Fed up with Manager's Mr. Hadadd and Mary Lee's excuses, shenanigans and difficult style we left the store completely dissatisfied and angry after close to 30-minutes of resistance.

We immediate contacted the West Farms Mall store in West Hartford, CT (Store#839). Gave the manager the model number and explained the circumstances that we believed the unit to be defective. The manager replied that she knows the unit well and encouraged us to return it with or without the box or receipt for an exchange. Her service was consistant with the service which we were given when we purchased the unit in late 2004. Well the nightmare continues as we had to drive 60-miles in bumper to bumper traffic in some parts turning a 40-minute drive into close to a 90-minute drive. When we finally arrived to the store, we were finally given an exchange. Our evening had been ruined, we wasted time, gas and energy traveling to another Williams Sonoma store to resolve a customer service issue, which should have and would have had the management, Mr. Haddad and Mary Lee in the Danbury, CT been professional and competent.

I asked the following questions to the District Manager Mary Calder-Ricci during our telephone conversation several days later when I expressed my dismay.

1. Why is it that not one, but two managers in your Danbury,CT store failed to recognize as common of a piece of merchandise as a Kitchen Aid Mixer with specific model number information, while the manager in the West Farms Mall store, the manager immediately recognized it? The WestFarms Store (#839) manager was able to immediately identify the merchandise by entering the sku number.

2. Why did the Danbury, CT managers fail to extend and honor their return policy that is so often recited when a consumer makes a purchase. No hassle return policy, as the West Farms Mall manager to.

After we explained to the Manager at the West Farms Mall William Sonoma, she indicated that they get several complaints from this store. More over, she handed us a copy of the return policy, which states, Merchandise returned without the original purchase receipt, including Gift Registry returns, will be exchanged or refunded at the current selling price in the form of a merchandise credit.

District Manager, Mary Calder Ricci, concluded that our time was not of value and that she condoned the incompetence of Danbury, CT managers Mr. Ed Haddad and Mary Lee when she left us a voice mail asserting that she would not give us a gift card as a token of the inconvenience, resistance and discourtesy that we sustained. She further asserted that Williams Sonoma resolved the matter by exchanging the merchandise.

In closing, District Manager Mary Calder Ricci in our opinion is the foundation of the incompetence in the Danbury, CT store as she has demonstrated to her managers that she condones their incompetence, lack or willingness to follow company policy and approves in managers wasting Williams Sonoma customers time by leading them on a Wild Goose Chase from store to store to resolve a problem.

I HAVE BEEN PURCHASING KITCHENAID MIXERS FOR ALL OF MY FRIENDS CHILDREN FOR WEDDING GIFTS, BOUGHT THEM FOR MY FIVE GIRLS, HAVE THREE OF MY OWN. THIS LAST MACHINE I PURCHASED FOR ;MYSELF AND ONE DAUGHTER WAS THE 400 WATT ARTISIAN. IT MAKES THE WORST WHIRLLING NOISE. WE CANNOT STAND TO USE THE MACHINE. HERS IS AS BAD. I CALLED WILLIAM SONOMA. THEY TOLD ME THAT IS THE NATURE OF THE MACHINE.

My husband and I registered at Williams Sonoma for our wedding. The day before our reception, my mother in law went in to purchase something off of our registry. She was unable to locate either mine or my husband's names. The sales people had entered in both of our names incorrectly into the computer.

The night of the reception we found that numerous guests had gone in to the store trying to purchase something and were turned away - wouldn't someone think to check in to things when the same couple was repeatedly asked for? When I called the store to find out what happened, nothing was done. I wrote three letters to the manager and her supervisors, again, nothing was done. Not even a note of apology for the inconvenience caused.