One of the worst and most time consuming ordering mishaps I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing.
I sent a copy of this complaint to West Elm customerservice@westelm.com back on 11/27/2017 but no one had the decency to call me back, so I figured Yelp was a good option to be heard.
Went into the West Elm Hoboken on 11/5/17. Wanted to purchase one expandable dining table and a bench. Ended up mistakingly being charged for (3) tables and (2) benches. Needless to say, I was on the phone a lot with West Elm and my credit card company.
The Hoboken West Elm computer system was intermittent when we first went to the store on the last day of the 15% sale on 11/5/17 so we left and the manager had an associate call me back to place our order. The associate was ill-equipped to take a phone order, placing me on hold numerous times without warning. I voiced my frustration with him and decided it better for the manager to call me back. When the manager finally did call me back I told the manager the associate took all our order info and I was afraid of being double billed. The manager assured me that was not an issue and then proceeded to ordered us (1) table and (1) bench...or so I thought.
We called the store a few weeks later to inquire about the bench, since the manager told us it would take 4 weeks for the bench to be delivered to the store, and we were told the bench had arrived. After going to the store and bringing the bench home I came to realize it was the floor model! We were never told it was the floor model and we were being charged full retail price. When I got home and realized the bait and switch I called and asked "why would I pay full price for a floor model" the person on the phone tried saying we knew it was a floor model. "No, we ordered a new one and were waiting for it to arrive". I then had to make a return trip to the store to return the item. They tried to offer me a discount, but it was only a $40 difference with the 20% sale currently active at the store. So the price was not worth the visible damage on the item. Also, I was told the floor model was our best bet since the bench was backordered until the spring. That detail was never communicated to me when we ordered the item, I was told four weeks back in November. So, we decided not to buy the bench at all.
The correct table did arrive to our home, but it was a bit of a hassle to arrange with the delivery company due to the numerous duplicated orders.
Once the dust settled and my amex statement arrived we were shocked to see we were charged more than $2,700 for duplicate items that never arrived. Oh, the reason we were unaware of these additional items....the associate or manager spelled my email name wrong on the duplicate orders, and the items sat dormant at the shipping facility. The table should have only cost about $900.
Eventually I had the overages credited back to my Amex, but not after a very lengthy detective mission which unveiled the numerous and incorrect duplicate orders.
Wish that was the end, but it wasn't. In February of 2019 I received a West Elm charge on my credit card for $1,280. Seeing how I never shopped with them again, I knew this was going to be another issue. I called customer service at West Elm and was told part of my old order was in some sort of loop where the charge would magically reappear because it wasn't coded/cleared properly. The nice customer service person on the phone credited back the charges to my Amex, but again another hour on the phone.
But wait there is more....after these charges were credited back to my amex I received a gift card from West Elm for about $381. A strange amount, but I figured they were trying to make amends. Wrong! After a few weeks I went to the store to use the gift card and it was declined. The nice sales woman called customer service for me and customer service said, "the customer was already credited the amount back to their credit card". Seeing how the gift card and the amex overcharge of $1,280 didn't even closely line up, my only reaction was WHAT?!
My first set of phone conversations to figure out this mishap totaled two hrs, after which time it became apparent we were being double and triple billed for the wrong table, the correct table and a bench. Then all the subsequent calls were probably another 3 hours. So, it took me 5 hours to straighten everything out. read more