west elm

Had an in home consultation today at 5pm. I came home early from work to be ready. I waited 20 mins and nothing. I called to store to ask what happened. They placed me on hold. When someone came back to the phone, they just said how can I help you, after I had explained what happened to the person before. The person on the phone was the designer that was supposed to show up. No apologies or acknowledgment for wasting my time, just excuses about how the appointment notification came in on her day off. This appointment was booked a week in advance. Extremely unprofessional and terrible customer service. I liked some of the pieces and wanted help deciding which to buy. Thank you for helping me decide I should buy from a different retailer.

We purchased the pierce and ward bed and it arrived without all of the parts, so we were advised to send it back and they would re-ship it. We waited another week and it arrived again with the same parts missing. We will not be shopping from here again, especially given this price point, they are far too disorganized.

From the moment we made contact, the male associate who identified himself as an assistant manager approached the interaction with an aggressive and condescending demeanor. The tone was unnecessarily hostile from the outset, which immediately set the experience on the wrong footing. As a female of color, I found the way I was spoken to particularly uncomfortable. At the same time, as a young professional who has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars furnishing projects through this specific West Elm location over the years, I expect to be treated with basic dignity and respect. That standard was not met during this interaction. During the return, the associate was willing to accept several items without their original packaging, yet refused to accept the pillow inserts solely because they were no longer in the plastic wrap, even though they were unused and in perfect condition. The inconsistency in how the policy was applied made the situation even more frustrating. If packaging requirements are strict, they should be clearly communicated at the time of purchase and applied consistently. That was not the case here. Experiences like this make it difficult to want to continue doing business with this location. Customer service, professionalism, and basic respect should matter more than a piece of plastic packaging. If you must go into the store, absolutely avoid the white male associate here. All of the other individuals we’ve previously interacted with are absolutely lovely humans, he is a really unfortunate representation of an otherwise absolutely pleasant place.

The associate who placed my order was misleading about the delivery timeframe. I was told most of my items would arrive within the week because they were in stock and ready to be shipped—and they are—but they're holding onto all of my items until the single made-to-order item is ready. Not only was I not informed about this, but I double checked before placing the order how the delivery would work. I was told there would be two batches. When the first delivery window elapsed and I called, I was informed that they can't do a "split delivery" because of a "30 day" policy that was NOT communicated to me. The only reason I am not canceling my order is because it would be more hassle for me. Will not be ordering from West Elm again.