ANSWER: When Williams Sonoma store clerk orders the toaster on your behalf, accepts your gift cards as payment ( paid in full) then William Sonoma:

*FAILS to DELIVER the toaster;
*FAILS to NOTIFY that there is delay;
*FAILS (Customer Service at 1-877-625) promises to resolve after your first 4 phone calls;
*FAILS to SEND GIFT CARD REFUND AFTER THE 4TH CALL when customer canceled order;
*FAILS to notify customer of ANY refund issue even when customer explicitly told Customer Service to call you immediately if there was a delay or issue with the refund (Customer Sevice typed my phone number and instructions in their notes. They do take notes.);
*FAILS to deliver gift card refund 3 weeks later thereby causing customer to call CUSTOMER SERVICE again and ask, "Where is the refund?"
*FAILS (Customer service) to produce an explanation for the delay or non-refund.
FAILS to provide 'customer service' to resolve internally but then instructs customer to physically go to the store across town to resolve -- customer service uncaring about the cost, time and burden upon the customer;
*FAILS: (Customer Service) places blame on customer for not keeping gift card (2) that were zeroed-out and retained by store clerk -- "Why didn't you keep the cards? Answer: The clerk placed the order used the cards. They were then zero balance. Asked if we wanted them. No. She threw them out. That is typical of any gift card payment. Why keep if no balance remaining?";
*FAILS to issue the refund or the damn toaster after the customer drives to the store as instructed by Customer Service ("Yes, they will be able to issue you the gift card refund.")
*FAILS at store by you guessed it, calling Customer Service and stating another case number has been issued! (What good does this do? Two other case numbers FAILED to yield any results or communication. The case numbers have become meaningless in the world of Williams Sonoma.)
*FAILS to resolve refund or provide the toaster as the Manager is out until tomorrow -- sorry.

I simply wanted a toaster. ALL I recieved was FAILURE, EXCUSES FOR MY $222.55 PAYMENT and NO REFUND. None of this review was necessary if Williams Sonoma would have just fulfilled their side of the financial transaction (i.e. Provide the product).

ANSWER: This $222.55 BREVILLE, DIE CAST TOASER, 4 SLICE TOASTER MODEL #BTA840XL is no longer just a toaster -- It represents WILLIAMS SONOMA FAILURE from top to the bottom.

I did not say Williams-Sonoma steals your money. They are just borrowing it until you give up.

LESSON LEARNED:
1. If you still wanted to purchase an item from W.S., pay for it at the store and physcally walk out with the product.
2. DO NOT ORDER OR HAVE A CLERK ORDER FOR IT TO BE DELIVERED. AGAIN, PAY AND WALK OUT THE STORE WITH PRODUCT IN HAND.
3. CUSTOMER SERVICE IS ANYTHING BUT CUSTOMER SERVICE. -- unhelpful, no follow-through, no communications, customer has to lead the conversation and no accountability -- they seem to take notes only.

LOOKING FOR A RESOLUTION DAMN FAST BY TOMORROW BECAUSE THIS TOASTER IS MORPHING INTO A BIGGER ISSUE!

Next Day: Sam, the Manager, did not offer a refund or the toaster that we paid for. Rather, he wanted to give us lesson on why we were wrong because of a glitch in the system and they did not take our money. Thank you Sam for revealing how dumb we are: our gift cards with the money on it was not money? We go in person tomorrow to talk to Sam -- see what he has to say in person.

The Williams Sonoma store is located here (suggest you avoid it):
4240 Summit Plaza Dr
Mall St Matthews
Louisville, KY *******

This entire chain of companies are connected together. They DROPSHIP everything! This is why nothing is in stock and everything Is back ordered! STOP SPENDING MONEY WITH THIS company thinking your getting high end or classy items! Your fooling yourself and Williams Sonoma don't care about it's customers or their employees! This company has several lawsuits from the way it treats it's employees to the false advertising they send to the customers! All of their sales are lies! Nothing is discounted! Amazon and Walmart has the same products for a better price and quality. Williams Sonoma has only one goal and that is to take the customers money and keep it as long as possible. They treat their employees like trash! Stop calling to place over the phone orders! The phone agents don't get compensated for placing sales orders over the phone! Stop thinking that this company cares about you, they don't! None of their brands offer free shipping NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU SPEND! YES, THEIR DELIVERY FEES ARE RIDICULOUS AND UN NECESSARY! THEY DO NOT WAIVE FEES OR SHIPPING COST! When you provide your CSR reviews AND YOU GIVE NEGATIVE feedback. It only affects the person who took your call. This is Williams Sonoma way of NOT PAYING THE EMPLOYEE THE BONUSES they promised upon hiring! If you as a customer say you had a bad experience with your delivery or receiving your order WILLIAMS SONOMA BLAMES THE PHONE REP and takes no accountability for it's ORGANIZATIONAL Operation issues! Williams Sonoma is falling apart and all the other brands connected with it. There are customers who have placed orders 1-2 years ago and have not received their products and Williams Sonoma still has the customers money! They will double charge you and you will see unnecessary charges on your credit card statement. This is why Laura Alber can lie and claim the company has a Billion in sales! YOU AS A CUSTOMER are being lied to and your money is all this company wants! The store associates LIE about everything to get you to keep your defective product. If you go in store and return an item YOU WONT GET YOUR MONEY BACK THEY WILL ONLY OFFER YOU A MERCHANDISE CARD TO KEEP SPENDING MONEY With THE COMPANY! WILLIAMS SONOMA TELLS ITS EMPLOYEES NOT TO REFUND ANYTHING UNLESS THE ITEM IS BROKEN OR DEFECTIVE AND TO PROVIDE STORE CREDIT BEFORE PROVIDING A REFUND TO ANYONE! Someone needs to investigate this company and it's predatory practices against it's employees and the customers! This company is a fluke waiting to be exposed! They treat their employees like trash and the customers as well! FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE CONSUMER FINANCE PROTECTION BUREAU AND THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION regarding this company. THIS COMPANY IS TRASH! EVERY REVIEW THAT A CUSTOMER WRITES IS PLACED ON THE PHONE AGENT! NO MATTER WHAT THE ISSUE IS THE COMPANY BLAMES THE PHONE REPRESENTATIVE FOR EVERY PROBLEM. YOU NEVER RECEIVED YOUR DELIVERY, WELL ITS THE PHONE AGENTS PROBLEM. SO YOUR ITEM ARRIVED BROKEN, THEY BLAME THE PHONE AGENT! OH YOU NEVER RECEIVED YOUR ITEM, ITS STILL THE PHONE AGENTS PROBLEM. THIS IS Their WAY TO NOT PAY THE EMPLOYEE THEIR PERFORMANCE BONUS Because THE NEGATIVE Review THE CUSTOMER WRITES ON AFFECTS THE CSR NOT THE COMPANY!

Listen to how WS treats their seasonal employees — they release them with a month left on their contracts. Shameful.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/rmblnp/williamssonoma_fires_scores_of_seasonal_remote/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

They advertised a Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer, Stainless Steel for $299.95. I place and order and paid for it. This was on April 5th 2021. I was informed that the product would ship end of April. As the shipment date approached I got an email saying that the shipment would be May25-29. I sent them an email and got excuses. I got an email says that they would compensate me for the delay. Now I get another email that the shipment will be Ju11-June15. I also asked then if I could pick up the item at their local store. They refused to let me do this. I also see that they have now raised the price to $350. This looks like a bait ans switch scam. I will never buy anything from this store. I used to love shopping there. Buyer beware

***********Email correspondence with Williams Sonoma**********
Thank you for contacting Williams Sonoma regarding order number **************. My name is LaShaunda A. It's my pleasure to be assisting you today. Thank you for letting us know you would like to keep the order and wait for the delivery. We are happy to discuss compensation once the item has been delivered as mentions by the previous rep. Regrettably, we are unable to discuss compensation prior to any issues relating to the order being resolved in full, as we aim to take all events into consideration when discussing compensation with our customers. Your estimated delivery date is 5/27 - 5/31/21. Again we appreciate your patience. Once you receive this item, reply back to this email and we can discuss the comp at that time.

Thank you again, and please feel free to contact us with any other questions.

Warm regards,
Lashanda A.
Customer Service
Williams Sonoma

----- Original Message -----
From: *******@mdabreu.com
Date: April 24,2021 12:02 PM
To: 'Williams-Sonoma Customer Service' <*******@williams-sonoma.com>
Subject: {EXT} RE: OPL/ **************
Hello,
Please do not cancel my order. I want the Breville Oven Air Fryer. I was under the impression that my credit card had already been charged. Please go ahead with the charges. I am interested in your thoughts on the compensation. I am a customer of Williams Sonoma and I enjoy shopping there.
Thanks for your reply and I am waiting for the arrival of the appliance. Please do keep me posted on the progress. Thanks Again.
Manuel

From: Williams-Sonoma Customer Service <*******@williams-sonoma.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 24,2021 6:14 AM
To: *******@MDABREU.COM
Subject: RE: OPL/ **************

Hello,
Thank you for contacting Williams Sonoma regarding order **************.
I reviewed your order and researched the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer, Stainless Steel (*******) today. I found that the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer, Stainless Steel (*******) is currently on backorder. Our records reflect that we are expecting the air fryer to arrive back in stock on 05/24/2021. Once the shipment arrives, it will go through a quality control inspection. If there are no issues with the items, our warehouse will start to fill orders, starting with back orders.
Upon successful delivery of the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer, Stainless Steel (*******), I am happy to discuss issuing compensation for the delay in shipment.
At this phase of your order, we have yet to process and charge you. I understand if this date has become unacceptable to your needs, you will not be charged if you decide to cancel the item from the order. Simply respond to this email confirming the action.
We appreciate all of your patience, please feel free to contact us with any other questions.
Warm regards,
Maia R.
Customer Service
Williams Sonoma

----- Original Message -----
From: Aicheh Bachkhaz <*******@wsgc.com>
Date: April 24,2021 7:09 AM
To: customerservicews ws <*******@WSGC.com>
Subject: OPL/ **************
***ERT Associate*** Please create a new email and respond to the customer via the email address on the order. This came through as feedback on our site from order tracking. Here is their message received 04/23/2021:

Comments: Bought the appliance on April 2nd. Promised a delivery end of April, now the delivery has been moved to end if May. Why do you sell products that you do not have in your inventory?

Order: **************

Ordered one of the ovens and received no confirmation, so ordered a second. The product went on sale cheaper, called to get the cheaper price, and a credit applied and was told that could not be done even though I had not received the merchandise. No one does this, everyone honors cheaper prices especially when the merchandise has not been received most would honor it up to 30 days after purchase. So canceled one of the ovens, not shipped yet, and returned the other when received. A credit was not applied for 3 weeks after you all received the merchandise back and I had to call to get the credit "pushed through" they said. Ordered 2 more ovens at the reduced price, waited for the backorder again. Received both ovens and my daughter took hers to her place, out of town and it was dented in 3 places. Returned this oven for a replacement. Was told they would expedite the shipment of the replacement that day then got the return and instructions and it said a replacement would not happen until the oven was received by you all. So completely lied to. Even after the oven was received on April 12th no movement on sending out the replacement. I have called back 4 times for an update each time people telling me they got the replacement order prioritized with expedited shipment only for nothing to happen. Called yesterday and the lady said it should go out today and I should get an update. It had been sitting there with an April 29th - May 3rd delivery date. After I got off the phone with her and she said her manager put me at the top of the list the confirmation moved back my delivery date to May 11th, so not sooner but later, reallly? I called back today to get an update and the guy said there was nothing that could be done. I asked to speak with a manager of which he would not transfer me. He finally told me there should be stock on April 29th and I said then I should be able to get it by Monday, May 3rd. Then he said well it needs to be inspected and tested to make sure it is not damaged and is working correctly, really, this obviously was not done on the other one. And that could take a while to do so I would not receive it until May 11th. I told him this was unacceptable to put my order back the way it was yesterday because that order would be received by May 3rd at the latest. I then asked to pick one up at a local store and he said he could not call the store to arrange that, said they could not call the store.

And the items I have purchased are $350 each, so not small amounts.

I will absolutely never shop at Williams Sonoma ever again, and neither should you, if you value being treated how a decades-long paying customer deserves to be treated.

I received a house warming gift of a dining room table, that was absolutely falsely represented on the website. Unfortunately I was not at home the day it was delivered so I was unable to refuse the delivery, which I would have, given its state. The table looks like it was made of linoleum or plastic, and not wood as the website suggested. Further, the website also falsely represented the table as a wood color when it was in fact grey--completely different.

All this would have been acceptable had a return been an option on a gift I did not choose, but clearly I am here writing this review, so that was not the case. I spent 3 hours on the phone with 3 different customer service representatives today who did not represent customer service in any sense of the word.

The first representative refused to return the order, explaining it was a final sale item. I explained I would gladly accept store credit, given it was a gift, and she plainly refused. I asked politely to speak with someone in her management since I understand she didn't come up with this policy, and she put me on hold. FOR 40 MINUTES and then hung up. I called a second time.

The second service representative, Jessica, spent the majority of our phone call arguing with me about the company's policies. I explained to her that I was not there to argue with her company's policies, but to reach a reasonable compromise, given that, after all, this was a gift that I had not selected for myself. She repeatedly drilled the same lines she had already said to me in an increasingly hostile voice and refused to connect me to a manager. I explained that the table was a gift and the table was not my choice. She refused to believe me, indicating that there was no proof since the table wasn't on a gift registry. (Who creates a registry for a new house?) I explained that you could see the billing name and address was clearly different from the mailing name and address, proving it was a gift, and that I had the receipt if she couldn't see that in the Williams Sonoma database. Finally, after explaining for what felt like the 3rd time that I was not here to argue with Williams Sonoma, but in fact to continue using their products, she "connected me to her management" which then resulted in a dead line again. I then called a third time.

I begged the third representative not to hang up on me and to please put me through to her management so I didn't have to explain for a third time the same situation that Williams Sonoma customer service representatives are clearly not authorized to handle. Naturally, she refused and insisted I relay her story. I explained I had already been put through this twice and would rather not waste another hour. She instead pointed out I'd already wasted 5 minutes of her life, and I better get talking because she wouldn't put me through to her manager until I relayed the circumstances to her. (Try 2 hours of my own life, but that's clearly not of concern at Williams Sonoma.) Finally after relaying the circumstances to her, she told me in fact her manager wasn't even in the office on a Sunday, and wouldn't be back until Tuesday. She said she'd "submit it in the system." Wish she had told me this beforehand and I would have asked to be circuited to a representative whose manager was actually in the office, but my time's not valuable to Williams Sonoma so I really shouldn't be surprised at this point. As I expected, she had the same answer as the previous two representatives--that she was not authorized to return the table which was gifted to me. She did agree to return the six chairs gifted to me, but said I would have to call the scheduling services myself to organize it... cherry on top of great customer service. (Why wouldn't they call the customer instead of forcing the customer through ridiculous wait-times and unhelpful representatives, yet again?)

Overall, I am incredibly disappointed, given my history with Williams Sonoma. I used them as my wedding registry 5 years ago and have spent years as a loyal customer, overall spending tens of thousand of dollars there, and they were unwilling to compromise on just a couple thousand of that (which they wouldn't have lost anyway in an exchange or store credit). It's terrible to argue with a place I've put so much faith in my entire life. I would have loved to continue the tradition with our new home, but needless to say, I will never be able to move forward with them again. Especially with Williams Sonoma Home. Given that they have few to no physical locations, you would think their business model relies on ensuring a positive customer service experience from their online customers--presumably their primary source of revenue--and therefore that they would value them more, but I assure you this is not the case.

Now, I will either be stuck with a table that I hate or forced to sell it online somewhere and hope someone will be able to transport it themselves. I strongly advise against putting yourself in the position of being a Williams Sonoma customer. I certainly will never victimize myself to their abhorrent customer service practices ever again.

Sales clerks are very helpful and know their products. This was at Green Hills Mall in Nashville TN