West Elm

I bought a lamp and returned it the next day, but I didn’t get a full refund on my credit card. I only got a merchandise credit for a $ 200 floor lamp. I’ll NEVER buy from West Elm again.

On New Year’s Day, we walked into West Elm on the Upper West Side to browse dining room tables, and purchased one. We were given a four hour window of delivery for January 10^th. After waiting the four hours, no table, we called the store, only to be told that whoever set up the delivery didn’t know what they were doing, because they can only give three hour windows, and ours was actually set up for 12−3pm, and not 10am-​2pm, as we were told in the store. Turns out we were waiting for nothing, because they HAD LEFT THE TABLE OFF OF THE TRUCK COMPLETELY. To make matters worse, we were expecting company that evening, and had no table to eat at.
So their customer service did their best to make it right: they knocked the delivery charge off, offered to deliver it again, and assemble it for free. Unfortunately we couldn’t have it come for another two weekends, because we were busy the following weekend. So we had it scheduled for re-​delivery on Saturday 1÷23÷16.
Now, I don’t blame West Elm for this, but of course 1÷23÷16 was the day of the huge snowstorm and our delivery had to be rescheduled for the following weekend. Which brings us to the present day.
Today, West Elm delivered a table to our apartment, unfortunately it wasn’t the table we ordered. We ordered the SMALL version of the table, and they delivered the LARGE version of the table.
I wasn’t going to resort to complaining about this on Unilocal,until the store’s rep tried telling my husband that we DID in fact receive the small table. Which is just insulting! We are talking the difference of nearly three feet in length. So here we are, on 1÷30÷16, still waiting for a table we purchased on 1÷1÷16, with three Saturdays wasted, and a huge table in our apartment blocking everything.
They have offered to come back this afternoon to pick up the table, so we will devote another block of time to waiting. The table we actually ordered is now backordered till 2÷9÷16, so who knows when we will get it.
If we ever purchase from West Elm again, it will most likely be from the website directly. Though, I’m not sure we will — this table is beautiful, but it has scratches all over it and it’s brand new.
Sigh…
UPDATE: 1÷30÷16 — the delivery driver just called to ask if we could bring the table downstairs, since he doesn’t think he can leave his vehicle. This is a 72″ long LARGE table, and he wants us to bring it down five flights of stairs… West Elm: I know you use a separate delivery service, but this reflects VERY poorly on your company. Short answer: no, we will not bring the table that was delivered to us in error downstairs. The saga continues…

Disorganized and a terrible shopping experience. It’s too bad it is so hard to buy anything in this store because a lot of it looks appealing. But today I went in for some very specific items I saw online which were also on display on the floor but when I asked if they could check stock they had an employee physically check the stock room! Of course they had none of my items. Apparently no inventory control on their computers. They ordered things for me on line with no delivery charge, which is nice, but maybe they should be an online catalog only business.

West Elm has extremely cheap furniture with expensive pricing and horrible delivery.
My husband and I ordered a Henry couch, that needed to be special ordered as the fabric was not in stock. After MONTHS OF BACK AND FORTH. We ordered it probably around Oct of 2012, it came in Feb of 2012… FEB! To summarize, it had nothing to do with us and everything to do with their subpar logistics system. We received calls saying it was coming when it was not coming.
When we received, it was uncomfortable and we ended up selling it on Craigslist and buying something from Raymour and Flanigan.
We didn’t learn our lesson as we ordered a white bed frame on Dec of 2012. It was installed and delivered to our apt in a timely manner and was fine for a while. We moved in 2014 and ever since moving to our new apartment the entire frame has basically fallen apart. It is so cheaply made it cannot be moved and then reassembled. The parts that hold up the slats for the platform bed are collapsing, there is nothing we can do except get rid of it. Sounds like Ikea doesn’t it?
i’m reading these reviews and I can’t believe they haven’t cleaned up their act, our experience was years ago and they still have the same exact problems.
Never again. I mean never again. If you need furniture your better off going to be a real furniture store.

Horrible experience every time I make a purchase from them. I can’t do it anymore. Would rate 0 stars if I could.
Most recently, I had a question about a chair at this location and asked the nearest associate I could find. She was just standing there looking around, not doing anything and acted like I had interrupted her. Come to find out, she was a manager!
After all of the awful experiences I’ve had over the last 3 years with my orders getting randomly canceled (and not being notified of it, but yet they still charged me!), screwed up and having to deal with the incompetent customer service /​billing associates for West Elm for days on end until I finally get someone who 1. Actually has empathy for a situation their company caused and 2. can «somewhat» help, this experience was the last straw. I have never had an associate act like I was bugging them by asking a simple question about a chair… let alone a manager! Plus the other associates I spoke with were clueless and had attitudes. Clearly, nobody enjoys working at this location.
Additionally, they charge outrageous surcharge fees and shipping compared to their competitors. (Shipping, surcharge for a $ 900 order of one chair and a side table was $ 1,000!!! In the store… I don’t think so!!! But the associate ringing me up told me it was correct. I canceled and left.)
I love some of their furniture, but if you can’t run a customer-​focused business and you’re overcharging for shipping and adding unnecessary «surcharge» fees to online orders then you’re going to lose a lot of customers… which judging by the amount of stars you have says that’s happening.

The worst customer service of ANY store ANY company I have ever dealt with. They duplicate orders and you can call 50 times to cancel… they never do. I finally put my credit card charge in dispute.
Be prepared to call customer service multiple times on hold for 20 minutes or more «to try» and get mistakes corrected… but they never get corrected. Do not buy furniture from West Elm !

THE NIGHTMARE STORIES ARE TRUE! I recently ordered the Hamilton brown leather sectional. The color on the floor and online were different and the salesperson said the floor model was just «worn down» and I should expect the color online. Delivery came on time but upon assembly, the couch and the chaise were completely different colors! (See posted photo)
They said this happens 1 in 10 couches ordered! Apparently, each part comes from different sources so high chance they won’t match. For a reputable company, those statistics are horrible! That’s way too high for something so blatantly wrong to happen!
They said they would bring in a couple more sets for me to inspect before they delivered it. Great. Went in and all 3 sets again didn’t match!!! Ridiculous.
It’s been a month long process and they did refund me, but when I asked about trying to get a matching set again, they said they weren’t going to be able to do it. The company doesn’t have matching sets??? Or they’re just too lazy to pursue it further… Has anyone out there actually gotten what the company advertised?
I’ll be pursuing this at a higher level because I just think this is completely irresponsible. Not to mention, lots of bumps along the road including the credit card that I opened! Sigh… I really wanted to love this store.
So beware! This goes true for anything you order that has two parts to it!!! Make sure it’s coming from the same source. If it’s not, you aren’t going to get a matching color set!
#westelm #westemfail

very unpleasant experience. very irresponsible customer service. Several reasons:
First, actually «out of stock» but indicated «in stock» online. I ordered two lamps online. The webpage indicated they were in stock. But more than a week later, I got an email saying that they were actually out of stock, so the delivery date had to be a couple of weeks later than it originally indicated.
Second, a light bulb is defective. So, after waiting for much longer than they originally told me, the lamps finally came. However, I still cannot use them because one of the light bulbs does not work. (I can use one of them, but they are a pair and I really want to use both of them!)
Third, the worst part is — the customer service just emails me back and forth, doing nothing on their side to actually mail me a new bulb.
—The first email: After I notified them of the problem with the defective bulb with my purchase order (the item list was included) attached in my email, they responded by asking which bulb. Really?! The two lamps I bought were clearly written in the purchase order, and they are identical lamps. You cannot figure out what the light bulb is?!
— In the second email and third email, they advised me to go to a store to have it replaced. But I bought online, and I want the replacement also be mailed to me! They told me going to the store is the fastest way to get the new one. They also suggested me to call the store first to make sure the store has the bulb is stock.
— messy service on telephone. Although I was reluctant, I called the store in Upper West in NYC (because I really want to use the lamp!) Someone picked up the phone. After I told her that I need to confirm whether an item is in stock, she said she would get someone else to answer the phone. Then, I was just put on hold with all the noise in the background in the store. It even does not sound a store more like a warehouse or a factory. After waiting for 6 minutes listening to that noise, I just hang up.
—I emailed the customer service again after the phone call, I only got an auto response thanking me for reaching out to them.
So, at the time I am writing, I still don’t have the bulb. I am thinking of ordering one on Amazon. The shipping fee is higher than the price of the bulb, though.
PS. Updates: a couple of weeks later since my original review, I decided to add one more star back, as they shipped me a replacement without any additional charge.

This place is the absolute worst customer service. Their phone customer service will give you 10 different answers over 10 phone calls for the same question. I will never set foot in or order online from West Elm ever again

I was concerned about ordering delivery because of all of the bad reviews. In my case, the delivery guys came right on time (they had a four hour window and, because of building requirements, I put a note in asking that they come within a one hour window – they came three minutes after the one hour window and well within their allotted time). They were friendly and helpful. I ordered from the – super cheap – furniture flea (floor model) section in the back of the store, and they noted a lose bolt on my coffee table and tried to help fix (I didn’t have quite the right screwdriver but at least know how to fix now and the table is sturdy even with the loose bolt).
When I was at the store originally, the guys in the furniture flea section were nice and happy to please. There were miscommunications and general confusions at the register – about thirty minutes after I left the store I had to run back because I was told my order wasn’t valid and the rug I’d 98% purchased (the cashier told me I just needed to call to okay the delivery window) had been sold out from under me and that couldn’t be fixed on the phone, but I was the one who had bought it out from under me… Ordering, in total, took about 2 hours and was more stressful than it needed to be.
In any case, the furniture is beautiful and I’m happy to have it in my home.

FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, DO NOT ORDER FURNITURE FROM THIS STORE.
WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE EXPERIENCED IN MY 52 YEARS ON EARTH.
This is a long story, so I wanted to be very succinct in my first two sentences. When I was still living in NYC I wandered into West Elm on June 26, 2015 and saw a nice-​looking headboard and bed frame. (I had not read any Unilocal reviews of the store. Mistake.) I was going to be moving to Washington D.C. in a couple of months. So I ordered both with a saleswoman at the store. The headboard was custom, so they estimated it would take about 8 weeks to be shipped to me in D.C. Then, after the order printed out, I noticed that the bed frame was scheduled to be delivered the next week. When I wouldn’t have moved yet. I pointed that out to the saleswoman and asked her to cancel it so I could reorder it when it was closer to the move date. To my shock, she said «well I don’t know if I can cancel it.» WHAT? She had placed the order literally 2 minutes before. She said it was some third party service that did the delivery so she would have to wait until the order showed up on their system. Fine, I said, then please cancel the bed frame tomorrow or the next day, whenever it shows up on their system. Okay, she said. I made sure she had my phone number and asked her to call me if there was any problem with the cancellation.
On June 30, I got an email announcing that the bed frame was shipping that day to my future address in D.C. Where I hadn’t moved yet. WHAT? And of course this announcement came the day before I was about to leave the country on a trip. So I phoned the West Elm store and asked for the saleswoman. She wasn’t in. I asked for a manager. The guy who answered the phone said he could help me and asked what it was about. I told him that I had cancelled an order and somehow the saleswoman had not performed the cancellation with the result that the bed frame was about to ship to an apartment where my lease hadn’t even started. He spent the next 5 – 10 minutes excusing the saleswoman and telling me that she «did everything right.» Seriously! I said, she didn’t cancel the order and she didn’t call me to say there was a problem, so how is it that she did everything right? I don’t know if this salesguy/​faux manager was her special friend or what, but he didn’t show any concern about the problem compared to his desire to get her off the hook. Then he told me that the West Elm store couldn’t help me with canceling the shipping. What? But that he would call someone at headquarters to call me about it. So I was even more unhappy when I got off the phone with this guy than when I had called.
The next day, as I was in a cab going to the airport, a woman called and said she was calling about a purchase I had made at Willams-​Sonoma. I was confused. I said did she mean a purchase I had made at West Elm? «They’re the same thing», she replied snottily. Then she proceeded to tell me the same stuff that the West Elm salesman/​faux manager had said yesterday about how hard it was for them to get in touch with the third party delivery service, and that she would try but the delivery might not be able to be stopped. Like the salesman/​faux manager, her attitude was that dealing with my silly problem was a hassle for her.
The next day, I got an email announcing that the bed frame had been delivered to my non-​dwelling place. From Germany, I had to call my future apartment building and beg them to hold onto it for me while I tried to get West Elm to fix the situation. Fortunately, they were nice and found a place to stash it for me. I never heard from the Williams Sonoma woman again after that one call.
So: another round of phone calls to get someone to pick up the bed frame and refund the money. The West Elm store where this debacle began was useless and just referred me to various customer service numbers. These numbers led to a bewildering maze of Williams-​Sonoma-​affiliated companies. Sometimes the line was answered by someone saying ‘Pottery Barn Kids”, sometimes «Williams Sonoma». Then I’d have to re-​explain the problem. No one would come get the bed frame. So finally I got a friend to pick it up from the apartment building and mail it back.
It’s not over yet: now comes the headboard part. When the delivery period came and I called the West Elm store to see where it was, they said, oh it’s due to be delivered next week, you probably just missed the phone message about it! Right, silly me, I missed the call. There had been no call. When I reached one of the 800 numbers for furniture customer service, they told me the headboard was still being manufactured. I cancelled it. I have called that number 4 times to get my refund issued. Each time they apologize and say that the refund will be issued. It is now November 11, 2015, and I still don’t have a refund and I am still dealing with this awful company. DO NOT END UP LIKE ME!

Average customer experience. Everything is over priced.

DO NOT purchase anything from West Elm! The customer service is awful!
I went to the store to order my furniture. They ordered me a cushion for bench when the bench is no longer available. So I have a bench cushion without a bench.
Also, I had a sofa from them and it’s really uncomfortable. I purchased the sofa in the store as well. But they ordered it for me online in the store, which means I can’t just go to the store to tell them I want to return the sofa. I need to call customer service online.
The whole order is fucked up and the whole thing is so complicated to deal with!!!
I will never shop at west elm ever again!!!
Horrible experience ever!!!

I should have heeded the bad reviews. While their furniture is beautiful, the delivery end of things needs a lot of work! I waited 10 weeks for a couch, only to have to spend 90 minutes on hold (after 2 dropped calls) to figure out when it can be delivered. I have my fingers crossed that tomorrow when the couch arrives, it is as described.
There have been two bright spots in the shopping experience, however. The woman at the store who helped me pick out the couch was fantastic! Really patient, informative and gracious. Also, Charles, the last customer service rep I spoke to on the phone, ensured that I got my couch delivered promptly.
In the battle of mid-​priced modern furniture stores, I would say that Cb2 wins hands down. Great furniture and great customer service. West Elm is missing the latter element.

So West Elm, I am impressed!
I went to the store about 3 weeks ago and purchased the cutest mid century modern end table (which is all the rage on decorating blogs). The associate who helped me was great, the piece was well made and easy to put together but alas just too small for my living room. I called and was told I have 30 days to return but I couldn’t find the email receipt they sent me and I threw out the box. After a quick call to the store — they resent the receipt, and tell me not to worry about the box. I returned it today, 28 days later, as I was out of town for business. They took it back, no hassle, no problems. That’s what good customer service is all about, and why stores like West Elm have loyal customers.

After reading all the horrible reviews I feel much better giving this store 1 star. I found a couple of mugs that I wanted to purchase. I walked over to the cashier. And there were 2 guys hanging around. One was speaking to another person and one was at a computer. So my fiancée and I waited and waited and waited. One of the guys leisurely walked over to tell me that a cashier would be with me shortly. Then he walked back and continued his conversation. So, we waited and waited and waited. When I asked him how long he looked as if I was disturbing him. When we put our mugs on the counter that leave he sarcastically said «have a nice day sir». How the hell does one have a nice day if an lazy loser like that just ruined your nice day?
Avoid this place. Read the other reviews and go anywhere else.

West Elm sells gorgeous, well-​made furniture at reasonable prices — so lovely that there must be a catch right? Yup, the catch is that if you buy a couch or a sofa seat from this store you better be prepared to sit on the floor of your empty living room, because it will never arrive.
I am in the midst of moving to a new home in New Jersey and decided to upgrade our living room. So I went online to the West Elm website. I ordered two Book Nook Armchairs and an accompanying sofa (color Eucalyptus Weave, cost $ 296 for each chair; Item No 703 4643) and I was told by the operator on the phone that the chairs would ship in «1 to 3 weeks.» This is an order that I placed in the last week of August.
First week of September, expecting my new furniture to arrive shortly, I sold my current living room furniture on Craigslist. I also ordered a new carpet to match the color of my new furniture from West Elm and paid to have a painting which also matched the hue, framed at a fancy framing shop. By now I am living in a house with no living room furniture, minus a lovely carpet and framed painting in the exact color of the furniture I am expecting to receive shortly.
Then on Labor Day weekend I called again to see when it would arrive — by now I am in week 2, of what they had promised would be a «1−3 week» shipping window.
To my frustration the operator tells me that the sofa chairs are out of stock and that I can only have one now and not two (how lame will that look)? And that it will ship Sept 20. So alright — it’s not the end of the world, we decide to wait.
Today on Sept 11, I called again to make sure the Sept 20 date is set. Now to my horror the operator says that the furniture I ordered is out of stock and that the vendor «may be ready to ship it in DECEMBER.» So basically I am looking at 3 months living in an empty living room. My old furniture has been sold on Craigslist and so I now have nothing.
When I protest, he says I can choose another chair online. I go on their website where every item has «1 to 3 weeks» listed as the shipping window. But when the supervisor checks it turns out that all those items too (meaning pretty much the whole store when it comes to sofas and couches and love seats) are on back order and I can expect a «minimum of 10 – 12 weeks.» For the record I spoke to supervisor «Mike» Employee ID 7 082 011, who kept on saying very nicely that he understand where I am coming from and feels my frustration.
Don’t order from West Elm unless you subscribe to the Minimalist philosophy of Interior Design — your living space will literately be empty for months on end as you wait for West Elm to figure out Business 101: How to ship orders to your customers in a reasonable amount of time.

One of the absolute worst shopping experiences ever. Went in to order fabric by the yard for a reupholstery project I’m working on. The first ASS-​ociate had no idea they even sold fabric by the yard and had someone else help me. The second ASS-​ociate was way more knowledgeable and showed me a couple of sofas in the sample fabrics I was most interested in. But still, he was very DRY and looked as if he hated his job. After contemplating and walking around a bit, I sat down to observe how the store functioned and noticed most employees doing absolutely nothing besides walking around trying to look busy. Finally, when I was ready to place my order the first ASS-​ociate who knew absolutely nothing calls someone else to help me yet again. The woman who came over to help me was nice, however, she didn’t know a damn thing about selling upholstery fabric. So much for the whole «design center.» She actually thought ONLY 3 yards of fabric would be enough to reupholster an entire sofa! WTF? LMFAO what type of idiots did they hire for that location. Anyhoo, after finding out the fabric would take 4 – 6 weeks to ship. I moseyed right out the door and punched it to the fabric district in Chinatown.
Oh, and, just a helpful tip, you can get VERY similar home furnishings (style & quality, if not better) from World Market & Urban Outfitters for a fraction of the prices. West Elm is very low quality furniture (engineered wood crap). If it were not for the Williams-​Sonoma branding, west elm would be a basic ikea like store.

Four stars for the associate who helped me and two stars for West Elm’s terrible availability and ridiculous order times and shipping costs. I highly recommend going to the store because orders placed in store have higher priority (according to a sales associate I spoke with) plus you can get free design tips. I worked with Kevin and as soon as I showed him pics of my apartment he immediately knew exactly the pieces I would need. Unfortunately the sofa I wanted would take too long to deliver so I had to forego that as well as other furniture I liked (sorry but I can’t wait 2 months until I get furniture)! Plus the shipping and delivery charges are so high an additional $ 130+ at least depending on the availability. Kevin was great though he definitely advised me on what I should buy at west elm versus other stores.
Also push for a 15% discount on everything you buy especially if you just moved. It’s critical you get a great sales associate because some associates (uhm Chelsea location snobs) will tell you that you need to bring in a code while other sales associate can just give you that new mover discount. Love their stuff hate their crazy fees and order times so shop with caution.

I was tired from a log day of exploring Brooklyn, had a cup of Starbucks tea in my hand, and just got done in Central Park… West Elm was the perfect place to relax. Quite literally by testing out new couches. I’m shopping for a couch and looked at this massive store when I visited NYC to see what I liked.
I’d been looking online so it was really nice to see all the produce in store. I didn’t buy anything, however, it was extremely helpful to check out all the stuff I saw when shopping online. This place is massive compared what I’m used to. It has a plentiful amount of furniture to choose from and tons of great stuff. I think the product is pretty great for the most part. It’s in-​between ikea and pottery barn focusing on urban/​modern style. It’s not that great of a price but sometimes you want what you want…