Recently, I placed 15 orders (on sale items), at Williams Sonoma, and every single item was cancelled, 63 items in total cancelled, out of stock they said, and never will have again.
At first they only cancelled a few items, and placed everything else on backorder, 4 months out. I asked them if they were going to cancel anymore, and that, I would like to know because they were holding up a lot of my money. And within a day or so, cancellations started filling up my email. I dont understand why they had them on backorder if they knew they would never have them in stock... very strange.
I spent days planning and ordering and just like that, all 15 orders cancelled.
They reimbursed me in gift cards, I was sent about 50 gift cards that I could only use at their stores.
I didnt get all my money back and I'm stuck with hundreds of dollars in gift cards. The gift cards they sent were in random amounts, and only about 3 of them matched the orders. I have absolutely no way of figuring out which order I was shorted on, It's a nightmare. I called Williams Sonoma customer service and they said they would get back to me. It has been 3 weeks and I haven't heard anything. Lesson learned.
Dont shop there if you want to stay happy.
I am beyond shocked! I ordered a lampshade ($79) from Pottery Barn (owned by William Sonoma), which turned out to be too large. I contacted PB and was told the procedure for returning. I returned it as instructed, called a week later, was told it had been received and I would now receive a full refund.
Two weeks later I receive a credit for less than 1/2 the total cost. Immediately called and was told that I had had to pay a $40 return fee, taxes on the return fee, and taxes again on the item. THIS is addition to $17.95 initial shipping fee. When I very loudly complained the rude customer service rep told me I was the FIRST PERSON THAT HAD EVER COMPLAINED! BULL!... I have now posted to every site I can to NOT order from William Sonoma, (owner of PB). Major ripoff!... More reason to order from AMAZON!
I ordered a $400 dehydrator from William-sonoma. It arrived broken. I called customer service and they said: no problem, send it back and we will send you a new one. That was two months ago (I sent the defective one back the same day I called). I kept calling WS to check on when my new dehydrator would arrive and they kept changing the dates. Meanwhile, all the fruits and veggies I planned to preserve from my garden went to waste. Finally, I called again the other day and they said my order had been canceled because they are no longer going to sell that product. No one emailed me or told me, even though I had been calling almost daily to check. The salt in the wound here, other than being led on for months, was that they kept emailing me ads with the same product they said they discontinued saying, "This dehydrator has your name on it." I left a bad review on their website that was tasteful and fair, and they removed it because it wasn't positive. Apparently, they remove all bad reviews from their site. Trust me when I say, DO NOT shop at William-sonoma.
After putting some outdoor furniture items into my cart, I left it until I received an email from WS asking me to complete my order. I then went back to my cart and tried to delete all the items. This the site would not let me do. So I sent an email notifying WS that I didn't want the items. Nevertheless the next day I received tracking numbers for TWO separate orders of the same items. When I called WS the representative, Chelsea, admitted that the site was what she called "sticky" when it came to removing items from a cart, but denied that the unexecuted order would be sent to the customer. She then said that she could reverse one but not both of the identical orders. Why only one she did not explain. The one she couldn't/wouldn't reverse I could return but would be liable for shipping costs. With respect to items "sticking" in your cart notwithstanding your efforts to remove them, Chelsea said they'd been working on this issue for some time. I don't believe they are working very hard. This is not a difficult issue to solve. It's a bug that works in their favor so they have no incentive to solve it. I would not visit the site again, even briefly.
I love Williams-Sonoma's products and am a sucker for their holiday dinnerware. I finally decided to pick up their 'Twas The Night dinner plates/salad plates collection along with the red tartan tablecloth. It was so beautifully displayed in their store, and I wanted to create a similar ambiance for our family Christmas dinner. I ordered everything online and they promised me delivery by Dec 22 which I know was cutting it close but that's what they promised. The salad plates and table cloth were delivered on time. On Christmas eve, Williams Sonoma refunded my Amex for the dinner plates. In a panicked mode, I went online to discover the dinner plates were listed as no longer available. I called 2 local stores of which the closer one only had limited plates. The farther one 15 miles away had the plates so I paid over the phone and picked up in person on Christmas eve. I was flabbergasted that the large store had plenty of dinner plates left so I couldn't understand why did they cancel my order instead of shipping from that store. As if I wasn't already busy enough, I had to spend 2 hours of my Christmas eve just to complete the dinner set for an important meal in the year. For that, I give Williams-Sonoma a MEH rating for terrible and stressful online shopping experience. Otherwise, I love their beautifully hand crafted products.
I said in my review of in June, 2021 that that was the last and final time I will ever order anything from Williams-Sonoma; because they take your charge information and then let you know that the item is back-ordered days or weeks later!
And then you are forbidden from returning or canceling the purchase they lied to you about...
On 11/13/22, I ordered an All-Clad pan to add to my set, now they are telling me I will receive it on 12/13/22 - 12/16/22... I REALLY MEAN IT THIS TIME... THIS IS IT! NEVER AGAIN! I don't have a photo of the merchandise to upload because I HAVEN'T RECEIVED IT YET!
I purchased a personalized apron on December 1st as a Christmas gift, was given an expected delivery date of December 11th-16th, but on the 17th of December I received an email stating that the item was cancelled because it was out of stock. I am astounded and extremely disappointed that it would take that many days for them to figure out they didn't have stock and to notify me, leaving me in a bind for Christmas! I called and spoke to a customer service rep and she helped me place another order, but I have little faith that the item will arrive in time for Christmas (if at all). On top of that I tried to place a review of the item but WS would not allow my review. According to their email my review did not meet their guidelines? I reviewed their guidelines and there was nothing that would preclude it from being published, my guess is they censor negative reviews. Doesn't that completely defeat the purpose of reviews? When you shop at WS you pay a little more, which I'm happy to do for quality products and great services... this is unacceptable - they've lost another customer!
I purchased a gift for a couple with a Williams-Sonoma wedding registry. They live in Minneapolis. I live in Chicago. I am not going to their wedding. The purchase was sent to me.
I called Williams-Sonoma's "customer service" line 6 different times of day in 3 days to get this corrected. Each time I got a message that they had extraordinary number of people on the line. I waited and waited and waited. To no avail. A recorded message said to go to their website and file my concern via email.
I did that. They promised response in 48 hours. It has now been 10 days. Nothing.
Finally I called at 7 am and actually reached a very nice human being who said he would send me labels to resend the gift (two large, heavy boxes) via UPS. I just had to get it to a UPS office. I explained I am 71 years old and that isn't going to happen. I requested a supervisor.
The nice man said no one was available, but that someone would call me within 12 hours. Guess what? Nothing. Today I am going to find a way to get those boxes back to a local Williams-Sonoma store and return them.
I will buy another gift for the couple from another store.
And I will never - NEVER - shop at W-S again.And I am a foodie who cooks and has had a food blog.
Hello Gail,
Thank you for your message. I do so apologize, this is not the experience we want our customers to have.
I have sent you a private message.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Alison
Williams-Sonoma Social Media Team
They sent out an email blast with the subject line reading Good news! KitchenAid(R) Artisan Design Series Blossom Stand Mixer is now on sale for a limited time!
The body of the email featured a photograph of the Blossom Stand Mixer with this caption below it:
KitchenAid(R) Artisan Design Series Blossom Stand Mixer >
Our Price: $349.95 Sugg. Price: $699.95
When you clicked on the link to order it, it came up at $599. I called their customer service number and was helped a nice customer service agent how helped me place the order and told me I'd get a refund for the difference. She also told me I wasn't the only person who called about this. I completed my purchase and picked the item up the next day. This was November 8.
I checked my credit card statement today to see if the refund had come through, and it hadn't. I called W-S customer service back to check on the status and was told that an email went out from W-S on November 9 to all customers who purchased the mixer saying the price was a mistake and they were not going to honor it. I never received the email. I received lots of other emails asking me to spend my money at W-S.
I think this us crappy customer service to not honor their email.
I ordered online [no easy feat!] and ultimately did so while a manager of the local store was on the phone with me. I then received 7 emails of which 6 were cancellations. The last email gave a reason: the item was no longer available at the store I had been using in spite of the fact that the manager had set aside the order, which was in stock, for me. I then had to phone the 1-855 number and after a hold of 40 minutes, spoke to Jackie who said the order could not go through as the inventory on the main computer system showed it was out of stock and she could not do anything about it. While on the phone with her, I used my cellphone to call the store and spoke to another manager who not only was not helpful and wouldn't or couldn't update the computer system but contradicted the other manager with whom I had dealt insisting that there was no curbside pickup which the other manager said more than once would be arranged once the order went through on the system. Due to lockdown, the store will be closed for a month starting in two days. As I'm an immunocompromised senior, I am not going into the store which is in the busiest mall in Canada. So, after two wasted hours and WS incompetence and lousy customer relations, I won't get the order.
I am not sure why they are marketed to be a great business but I regret having them on my registry. When setting up the site, it is a mess to work with. In doing our registry, guests were able to order items multiple times even when it was already purchased. Since multiple items were purchased of the same item (when we only requested one), we would ask for a return and get a gift card of the amount sent to us. On one return, they returned it back to the original SENDER OF THE GIFT. I am not sure in what kind of world would one send it back to the original sender ON A WEDDING REGISTRY. Common sense dictates that you should default it to the owner of the registry as it is rude to return the gift. We now had to have a conversation with some guests about why a refund was charged because of again the aforementioned multiple items.
They refused to remedy the situation by even offering us a gift card for their mistake and even had the audacity to ask "would you like us to request the sender to buy it again"? They have absolutely no class.
I ordered a turkey from W-S 3 weeks before Christmas. I had 12 people coming for dinner and received an email confirmation for 12/23. No Turkey. I got a call late (around 8:30) on the 23rd letting me know they had lost my turkey and did not know where it was. Actually they said it was UPS's fault but that they could no longer guarantee my delivery. I live on Martha's Vineyard. Finding a turkey for that many the day before Christmas was NOT going to happen. Anyway, they called me 10 mins later to say they thought they had found my turkey and that they were 99% sure it would arrive before noon on the 24th... NO TURKEY! Also, they close at noon on the 24th through the 26th so there was no one to answer my calls. Christmas comes and goes... no turkey. I defrosted some leftovers for my guests and we had some good sides!. Of course I am expecting to hear from this company with some sort of excuse AND an apology. SILENCE. They have not reached out at all, and I have called 3 times to complain. I want a written apology from this company and there needs to be some accountability.
So far there are 12 very underwhelmed people who are clear on the Williams Sonoma lack of service and reliability, and I will be sharing this story with anyone who will listen.
Just send me an apology people!
I am a former employee of WS. During the interview phase, I was guaranteed the hours I was asking for. Shortly after starting I had proven my Sales record was solid, but conversely my hours per week rapidly diminished. My customer reviews were excellent, but I quickly saw employees climbing in hours, and not me. Shortly into my employment they brought in a new General Manager. In who recognizably started setting employee hours based on favoritism and not productivity. Although I was gaining recognition by the customers I was not liked personally by the GM, and my hours were brought down to one day a week. While less productive employees had 5 days a week. When I went up the chain of command to address this matter no manager took accountability. They were not an equitable company to work for, and based their decisions on popularity as a opposed to productivity. I do not suggesst WS should be a place to work if are looking for a career as opposed to just a job. Its Just a popularity contest, and no recognition is givin based on Merritt.
I made an online purchase of 559 dlls plus tax 605 dlls., but we didn't like the product (nespresso machine) I sended the machine back, package as well and not used, for a refund. I called to the customer service after I notice that, the machine didn't appear as returned on the status (they didn't processed my return as well) now my return is on my account for 575 dlls THEY TAKE 30 DLLS and they don't have an answer, why they didn't refunded me the full amount of that puchase?
I used to buy household goods from WS and WSHome fairly often, and I thought they were a reliable company. But a couple weeks ago I ordered a small appliance for Christmas delivery, and it didn't show up in time. Not a huge deal, but I just tracked the order and found out that the projected delivery date is eight weeks from the order date! And no one at WS informed me of the delay. When I made the purchase it was listed as I stock and available to ship. That is not the way to treat customers if you want them to come back again, WS!
(Just found out that item was still on backorder, and the delivery date was pushed back even further than the projected delivery window mentioned above, so I phoned WS and canceled the order. The galling thing is that I found this out only by checking tracking on my order. Williams Sonoma did not notify me of the change, again. Terrible way to do business! The current predicted delivery window not guaranteed, mind you was approaching 12 weeks from date of order.)
I Ordered direct from the W-S site 12/10 their "Tour de France Gift Crate" for a holiday present for friends in Florida. Long story short: Somehow sent out with Wrong address (house number one digit off). Supposedly delivered via UPS per confirm email from W-S.NO SUCH ADDRESS EXISTS. Recipient Never received. No return. No notification of problem delivering.
12/23 Customer Service at W-S at my urging re sent from same "third party vendor" with the supposed correct address which I supplied and READ TWICE OVER THE PHONE to the W-S customer service rep. Once again email notified me that UPS had package BUT with the same WRONG address. Finally my recipient reached UPS local in Florida and flagged the tracking number to them, and AGAIN corrected the address. Concurrently UPS sent me directly a request to review an if necessary change the address...which i did immediately.
Tracking then said "out for delivery" but due to change of address might be a delay. Scheduled for delivery now on 12/30. An hour later i received an email from W-S that it was delivered to the proper address 12/29.
Countless hours on the phone, on UPS tracking, on UPS site.
BOTTOM LINE: HORRIBLY HANDLED and totally unacceptable. I will not EVER do business with Williams-Sonoma. And I'd urge others to tread cautiously if you do.
I ordered a coffee maker on December 11 and it said the delivery date was estimated at December 14. I could have purchased the same brewer from Amazon and other sites but WS had the best delivery date and we needed it asap due to our coffee maker breaking.
On December 15th I called to inquire where was my order. The ONLY thing their rep could tell me was that the new estimated delivery date is December 20th! That is one week later. She said it was "in process" which is the same thing their website said and she could not confirm if it was even shipped yet. She couldn't even tell me if I cancelled the order if it would be cancelled. I understand it is the holidays and that the original date was estimated. But waiting AT LEAST a week beyond the promised date is terrible service and frankly, illegal as it is bait and switch by their advertising a false delivery date to help get business over your competitors. A good company who has customers in mind would have, at a minimum, notified me of the delay. Customer service.
Hello Mike,
Thank you for message. I'm sorry that your new coffee make arrived later than expected.
I have sent you a private message. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Alison
Williams-Sonoma Social Media Team
I ordered an Italian pasta crate as a Christmas gift on 12/18. Their site said delivery 12/29 which would be late for Christmas but I apologized to my daughter in law and explained it. On the 29th, there still was no update on shipping, so I called customer service. I was told it was a problem with the vendor and at that point they couldn't even cancel my order. I was told they had been having problems with their tracking. Then probably trying to make me feel better they told me they had other problems with vendors and customers that ordered Christmas dinners for 12 didn't get their meals because of a shortage of mashed potatoes, so their Christmas dinners were ruined. I was told that they would give my name and number to the vendor and they would contact me. I was later told that this would never actually happen. I told them that the vendor wasn't the one that had my money for several weeks, Williams-Sonoma did, with no product to show for it and also if they had just let me know that the crate wouldn't be available, I would have had time to get her something else. I asked to speak to a manager. After a long wait, the manager came on what sounded like a cell phone because it kept breaking up. Probably to get me off the line, she told me that she was able to see tracking and that it actually would be delivered that day. It did not arrive. A couple days later the website said it would arrive 1/4/24. It did not. I called again, spoke to a very pleasant representative. They did end up refunding my money. But that did not help the fact that my daughter-in-law didn't get a Christmas gift. There was no other compensation offered. All they had to do was be truthful that the item wasn't available by the date. Poor communication and several lies. Will not be ordering anything from them again.
On December 18th I pruchased a Nespresso Creatista for my daughter for Christmas. I accidentally ordered stainless instead of seaglass. The item was on sale for Christmas. My daughter opened it up and it was the wrong color. William Sonoma will not exhange it for the original price. We have to return it and buy it at full price. And it was a Christmas gift. I have talked to customer service and they say that is the policy. They even said the customer was wrong! I have been waiting for another call for 3 days and have not heard from them. For such a big company this is bad policy. I am returning a new unused Christmas gift and they will not send me another at this price. I have reached out to Breville also. Read their customer service reviews. They are awful.
ESTIMATED DELIVERY:
Thursday
Dec
22
To
Friday
Dec
23
Delivered by package carrier.
TRACK THIS DELIVERY
Nespresso Creatista Plus by Breville
#*******
QTY: 1
$487.95
I ordered a Breville Breadmaker (approx 320.00) on 09/13/2020 and yesterday I noticed that the it still stated it was preparing to ship. Called Customer Service and the Automated machine stated it would arrive today 9/17/2020, which I wanted confirmation. Talked to a lovely person and she was going to send an email to the shipping dept re this as it had not been pulled as yet. She did state that they took the money from my Credit Card and there was plenty in stock. I called today to find out what was happening and now the automated machine stated that it would be delivered on 01/01/2020 which is strange as that was nine months ago. Talked to Renee after waiting for her for about 3/4 of an hour to come to the phone, she was rude and nasty straight up. I was trying to explain to her what expired and she kept talking over me and then stated she would hang up if I kept talking as I asked to speak to her. She stated that the money was on hold which it was not, that it would be there by the 21st (estimated delivery was between 17 and 21st). They she stated it would arrive tomorrow (9/18/2020) or on 09/19/2020. Asked her for the UPS shipping details and she hung up. I didnt mind waiting to the 21st to receive but I hate to be lied to and hate to be abused by a so called supervisor. Cancelled the order and will never shop at illiam Sonoma again
Answer: Scam, questionable business tactics which are reported to the Better Business Bureau and American Express. Failure of customer service to respond within 72 hours as promised.
Answer: Because they are scamming to show higher sales numbers. Their systems can't even handle an address change ( when my order was delayed 5 months I needed the address changed due to a move).
Williams-Sonoma has a rating of 1.5 stars from 226 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with Williams-Sonoma most frequently mention customer service, credit card and delivery date. Williams-Sonoma ranks 294th among Kitchen sites.
Hello Ms. S.
Thank you for your post. This is not the experience we want our customers to have.
I have sent you a private message and look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Alison
Williams-Sonoma Social Media Team