West Elm

I want to keep this short because of how much time has already been lost because of this. I ordered a $ 2000 sofa on 8÷9÷15 to be delivered (was told 10 – 15 business days). Was never contacted, I called and was told that both pieces were in stock at the Franklin warehouse and was transferred to the furniture delivery department. The rep there told me that the guy I spoke to was wrong, they only had one piece out of two. She scheduled the delivery for the ⁹⁄₁₀ for me, stating that it couldn’t be scheduled unless it was in stock and it would be in stock by then. On ⁹⁄₉ after I made arrangements to be home for the delivery, I was called by another rep to state that they had «my two pieces» but they were the wrong pieces (hence the quotation marks). He told me I could have the new delivery scheduled for ⁹⁄₁₈. With a vacation planned from ⁹⁄₁₃ — 9/​20, he assured me he could confirm this before the 13^th and I gave him authority to have my parents proxy for me to receive the sofa (including giving out their phone numbers). I was promised that if I didn’t get a call I would get an email before my vacation. That didn’t happen. I called them today and none of this was in my file. I was told the same thing I was told the first time it was cancelled, my couch was not in Franklin or the NJ facility, and the best they could do was have someone call me after three days.
4 hours on the phone with West Elm, three departments that have limited access to each others notes. How can furniture delivery and logistics have no clear form of communication? Three strikes, and I cancelled the order.
tl;dr waited 7 weeks for a delivery of a stock color couch, cancelled after each department told me different information 5 different times, with two cancelled deliveries.
edit: The day after I cancelled the order, I received an automated email stating the sofa was ready for delivery. «Great!» I thought. Maybe there would be some redemption. I called support only to spend another 50 mins on the phone to have to be told that I would have to wait until November 4^th. No way they could expedite me after all I went through.
There is a happy ending to this story, although it has nothing to do with West Elm. We ended up going to Boston Interiors in Stoughton on Saturday 9/​26, and getting an AMAZING deal on a sofa delivered to us FOUR DAYS LATER.
DO NOT BUY FURNITURE FROM WEST ELM. Beyond terrible logistics, they have no ability to reconcile their errors and all they do is apologize off of a script.
Edit #2: 10÷1− West Elm calls to schedule my delivery. I cancelled this order 10 days ago, was fully refunded, and now they are trying to deliver. YOU HAD ONE JOB! LOL at this point it’s just hijinks.

We have ordered two sets of items from West Elm since October 2015: a set of six chairs and a desk. When we went in to their Fenway store in Boston to place the order for the chairs, we were asked by a sales staff member what she had to do to get rid of us after we had finalized the transaction. At first, I made nothing of the comment and brushed it off; however, it lingered in my mind for days after. I called West Elm and mentioned the situation to them. To their credit, they immediately issued us a credit for 10% of the value of the transaction. Impressed by this, we proceeded to order a desk. Three weeks after the intended delivery date we called to find out why the desk had not been delivered only to find out that the order had been cancelled because the item was allegedly no longer available. We immediately checked the website and found that this was not true. We had to re-​order the item — @ full price so we could be reimbursed later on because had purchased it a significantly lower price on sale — and wait another month before it was delivered.
The reason I write this review is because I believe it is important to alert consumers to the remarkably poor level of customer service and sales training that exists at West Elm for both its store and call center staff. I would not receive the same level of treatment from Restoration Hardware or Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams. After this experience, I would not order again from West Elm and understand the importance of customer service to the seamlessness of the transaction.

I didn’t end up buying from the store directly, so this should be taken as a more general review of West Elm.
First, I find it unhelpful (bordering on suspicious), that there are no reviews of their furniture posted online.
Also, when you contact customer service by e-​mail, they claim to respond to most requests within 24 hours. However, I have NEVER received a reply of any kind from West Elm customer service… other than the automated one claiming they typically reply within 24 hours.
Wait…that’s not true. ONCE I received a reply. I was considering buying a bed and had a rather simple question: does the frame require a box spring? They claimed this information was unavailable and forwarded my question to the «Support Department»…who never got back to me.
(Of course, it’s also possible to just call them… in theory. But every time I’ve tried, there is an automated message warning that they are experiencing abnormally high call volumes and wait times. Mmkay.)
Added bonus: their «overnight» shipping takes 5 days. Yep! On the site and confirmation e-​mails you might see «estimated delivery: tomorrow», but the fine print is that this expedited method of shipping may take 3 days… and doesn’t include Saturday or Sunday. So you pay through the nose for what is essentially standard shipping.

The service here was fine for me. Straightforward transaction for the purchase. My husband and I bought a sofa and was given a platform bed from a friend. This review is about the quality overall. Ever notice how the West Elm website doesn’t have reviews of their furniture? That’s because the furniture is CRAP.
I ordered a custom fabric on the sofa and waited 8 weeks for delivery. The wrong color was delivered and I waited another 8 weeks for a replacement sofa. Sofa cushions started collapsing within 1 week of use. Sofa was not as comfortable as the one in the store. My old sofa from Circle Furniture was 10 years old and looked and felt new when I got rid of it. I wanted an updated style and thought I would go with West Elm. West Elm is about the same quality as Ikea, and believe me, I have had an Ikea sofa. After having this sofa for a year, we got rid of it and bought a better quality sofa from Crate and Barrel. We spent $ 200 more on the Crate and Barrel sofa, and it is worth it. West Elm is not cheap, but their quality is.
Here’s another example. We ended up not using the bed that our friend gave us, and my husband cut up the frame to burn in our fire pit. He cut into the frame only to find out that ²⁄₃ of the bed frame was constructed of styrofoam with a wood veneer overlay! A thousand dollar bed that is made of styrofoam?! Stay away from this brand!

Wow, as I looked through these reviews I can say that I am not surprised. West Elm is a great store but the sales reps/​management at this location do not reflect this same sensibility.
They are rude, condescending, and not helpful at all. They reflect pretentiousness and I am sure west elm corporate will not be pleased with this. Save you time/​energy; order the items online. Don’t bother going in here expecting a good experience.

I love this west elm branch! We purchased a table and when we got home and spend the package, we found it was damaged. They let us exchange it with no trouble. I don’t know why people complain, I found the staff to be very professional and helpful.

Bad customer service. The sales reps were so unhelpful, and unresponsive. It took me a while, and a lot of prodding to get the sales reps to pay any attention to us, even though we were buying the big ticket items in the store– not that that matters– customer service should be same for all, but there was just no response until I went and asked. And then too the sales rep didn’t stand up until I asked leading questions. VERY disappointed– staff needs training.
Plus they need to validate parking. Least they can do to people who buy in store.

I really like West Elm products, and have a full West Elm bedroom set, which I love. It’s modern looking without being flimsy. Since I’m moving into a new place, I’ve been looking for a new sofa and coffee table. I have stopped by the West Elm store twice in the past week, and had extremely poor customer service on both occasions. On the first occasion, I was really just browsing, but I spent a good 20 minutes in the store (which was almost completely empty.) Despite multiple salespeople, not ONE person made eye contact or an effort to engage me or asked if they could help with anything.
I came back today with specific questions and requesting a fabric sample. Again, browsed for fifteen minutes and no one approached me, so I went to the front counter and asked for assistance. There were three associates at the front counter, and not a single customer in line, but they were all scurrying around on their head sets and acted like they were too busy to be bothered. They called another associate on the floor to assist me. I am hoping, for his sake, that it was his first day on the floor, because he knew nothing about any of the products and couldn’t answer a single question. It was a total deer-​in-​headlights look as I showed him pictures from the West Elm website on my iPhone. They didn’t have the fabric sample I requested, didn’t offer an apology, and made no effort to try to answer my questions or help me find what I was looking for.
I understand it’s a retail job and not the sales associate’s hopes and dreams; I worked in retail once, too. But a wise person once told me, «Be the task great or small, do it right or not at all.» In this case, the sales associates made no effort to hide their genuine disinterest in helping me.
I decided to take my business elsewhere.

The reason this place gets 2 stars is because the quality of the stuff is pretty good. Don’t get me wrong… it’s not Pottery Barn or anything like that but it will do.
The reason this place gets two stars is because:
1) Some people that work there come off unhelpful, disengaged, and generally unpleasant. It’s like they put these three characteristics in their help wanted ads. Or maybe it’s nepotism and they all come from the same pretentious gene pool. And as other people have noted, it’s not like the place is packed. Mind you that’s «some» not «all» of the people that work there.
2) They have the worst price checking system I have ever seen. A lot of things don’t have labels. It’s almost like a flea market where they have to check with someone else to find out the price. It’s comical. Actually it’s almost comical because now I have to return something because they had to go to the back of the store to get what I wanted because they couldn’t find the price, label, whatever. Unfortunately they only got the color right.
3) Parking is a hassle. Not really a reason to dislike the place compared to anywhere else in Boston but… eh. I needed a 3^rd reason.

I went in here a number of months ago because for some inexplicable reason West Elm sells Chile Crunch (a life altering condiment). I found the Chile Crunch, but the registers were abandoned. I wandered the store for 20 minutes desperately searching for someone to take my money, to no avail. I finally just left. I thought about just taking the Chile crunch with me, but decided that as tasty as it is, it wasn’t worth the larceny. I was finally in the neighborhood again and I went back to the store, only to learn someone had made the decision not to stock chile crunch at this location anymore. Boo!

If I could give them a zero I would.
We ordered a sofa two months ago. It came damaged in several ways.
We’re still waiting for repairs and replacement.
Not a single customer service rep has been helpful or truthful.
Totally incompetant.
Stay away, stay far away

Oof. Love West Elm’s products, but will never, ever shop in this store again. First of all, the whole store concept is totally useless if you’re looking for something specific. Everything is set up in these «tableaus» — little scenes from dining rooms, living rooms etc. It’s nice to see what stuff looks like in a room and all, but if I came in for cocktail glasses, I just want to be able to go to a section that has ALL of your cocktail glasses in one place, rather than having to wander around the store looking for all the different scenes they might possibly be in. It took me a solid 15 – 20 minutes to find the specific glasses I’d come in for. And if you’re going to insist on setting your store up like this, you at least better have damn good customer service. This store has anything but. There were a lot of employees working the day I was there, and I was in the store for a good 30 minutes, and not a single one greeted me or even seemed to recognize that there were customers in the store. Finally, I managed to flag down a (very snooty) guy to help me look for a lamp I wanted in a particular color, and he was totally disengaged and literally walked away from me mid-​sentence. Plus, they all wear these stupid headsets that make them seem really snooty and mean that half the time they’re chatting away on the headsets, looking like they’re talking to themselves, instead of helping customers.. What’s so wrong about a person on the sales floor walking back to the stock area to check for a product instead of having to call on a little headset and then stand around staring blankly at you for 5 minutes while some mysterious person searches for it in the back? From now on, if I need anything from West Elm, I’ll be ordering it online.

I’m giving West Elm two stars for their customer service. Love their design aesthetic, and products always seem to be decent quality — We’ve purchased several items from here. The service always stinks. They don’t go out of their way to help you, as they do at Crate and Barrel and other home stores in this category. I’ve walked in and never been greeted here. Isn’t that part of the ⁵⁄₁₀ rule of retail?
The last time I came in looking for a duvet cover in a different color, the girl who «helped» me (and I use that term loosely) didn’t seem to know that there even was different color available (on their website it’s clear) and didn’t really care to help me locate the item in the store, if they had it. When I asked if it could be ordered through the store from HQ and picked up in store, she gave me a blank «no». I find that really hard to believe.
Anyway, please work on your customer service West Elm, your prices aren’t cheap and I expect more.

There are some nice items here, most at reasonable prices but the customer service is nonexistent. I prefer C&B or P1 to WE. :-)

My mom and I were there buying me new plates (on sale!). We both loved everything in the store. My mom is a tough critic because she is a designer but she just kept walking around saying, «look at this» and «look at that.» ALSO, the employee helping us (I think his name is Ben) was incredible. He was super patient, polite, knowledgeable, and really went above and beyond juggling our many ADD demands with ease. Very professional, indeed! He gets an A+.

Hands down the worst customer service I have ever received. Never have I been treated with more disregard and insult than at this store. My recommendation to shoppers is to stay online or go to the West Elm Burlington store.

I love West Elm and love the catalog. However, the customer service at this particular store is way below par.
When buying something over the phone to pick up, I was told that they could hold it for «24 hours»? WHAT?! I just bought the damn thing. You can’t hold it longer than that?
When I went into the store, and looked at some curtains, I wanted to purchase the one that was on display and was told «You can’t take that b/​c that is what we use for display.» Um, do you want to sell things here? I am willing to purchase it, let me buy it.
Next time, I’m going to suck it up and pay for shipping to avoid their controlling ways.

I like the simplicity and clean lines in their designs but definitely don’t appreciate their prices. I think some of their linens, pillows, and other accessories are better constructed than Ikea products but their furniture is definitely on par with Ikea. I bought a set of plates on sale and with a gift certificate. The polish is already completely scratched just from a butter knife. I have never had that happen with a set of plates before… including the ones I bought from a dollar store.
If you want better construction than Ikea but something similar design-​wise, BoConcept in Cambridge is a better alternative. Also, very pricey but sales do come up.

Here’s my experience from points Sitting on the Sofa in Their Show Room to Sitting on the Sofa in my Living Room:
The place is snobby. It’s clean, it’s chic, it’s well-​lit. It’s snobby. It will never be redeemed from snobdom unless the store moves its location to some hipster’s basement in Cambridge, and no one wants corporate furniture there, so we’re stuck in snobtopia for now.
I learned more about when Bart was going to take his break and when Ashley was going to get her latte from Morebucks than I did about the furniture. The retail staff is hovering for the shark attack on Buffy and Muffy — OH BUT WAIT YOU WANT TO BUY SOMETHING?! Then they’re your bff and all ogling your baby and your pocketbook and your talent for breathing.
With the recession-​happy sales going on, we did manage to get a phenomenal deal on a couch here. None of the retail staffers could agree on exactly the dimensions of the couch, or whether or not they had any more in stock in the back.
The delivery of the couch, however, was dreamy. It arrived within a week, the deliver people were flexible and even called twenty minutes before they were en route. They popped that couch up a bounding flight of stairs like buttahhhhh and were polite, cordial, and efficient.
We’re living happily ever after on our new sofa, and glad we didn’t let a few ugly step sister retail peeps spoil our destiny.

Their stuff looks better in a catalogue than in real life. I’ve ordered quite a few items from their catalogue (mostly knick knacks…) over the years and have been a huge fan of their design concepts since they first got started.
GF and I visited the store in Boston this past weekend… I must say, the quality of their products seem to have gone downhill. I would even venture to say that the quality is wrose than IKEAS but at 2X the price.
Still like their design, too bad the quality doesn’t measure up. I’d rather pay a little more and buy from DWR or Room & Board.