Williams Sonoma Reviews 

I just got off a 15 minute phone call to do a return. This is absolutely ridiculous. In addition the customer service agent Chad made it seem like I was an inconvenience.
I am the customer who received a broken product but I am an inconvenience!?!

After this experience I will not be purchasing from this company again. It’s too bad because I really like the products from this store.

This was terrible service!!

I used to LOVE Williams-Sonoma when it was Chuck Williams' company. It was stellar, and I started outfitting my kitchen in the 80s with copper cookware and high end, quality product.

As Chuck's influence on the company declined as he aged, it was taken over by people who really don't understand the business or their customers, and the quality product was still there, but also "filler" product Chuck would never have had in his store, and higher end expensive ridiculous product was added as well -- over the top stuff for the Kardashian wannabes, when Chuck had real quality products at prices only slightly more than elsewhere (because of the quality) and stuff you wouldn't find elsewhere.

Well all that's changed, and the company is now in some ways worse than Amazon.

The reason I'm writing today is I took the time to write a very thoughtful and fair review of the brand new Fellow Aiden coffee maker (which I returned after just nine days). It doesn't live up to its promise, and even my carafe didn't keep coffee hot for more than 20 minutes. I even put that I was looking forward to Fellow's NEXT iteration of the product as they improved it. It wasn't a slam piece at all. It's a product I WANTED to like. I thought it was going to be a Moccamaster killer. But it was overhyped and didn't do anything it tried well.

So what did Williams-Sonoma do after I took the time to write my review? They rejected it, and they didn't tell me on what grounds, and they didn't provide a way to contact them to complain.

What's this suggest to me? The reviews on their site are hyper-inflated to show off and bump up the score with any good reviews, while bad reviews are simply ignored, making all products on the site look pretty damned well reviewed (much better than they actually are), when in reality this isn't the case.

My impression is that Williams-Sonoma is now run by a bunch of corporate business men for whom Williams-Sonoma is just another source of income in a package of companies they deal with, and who don't understand the product, don't understand their customers, don't care, and are simply involved to get what they can out of the business.

It's sad, becuase for literally decades I would have given Williams-Sonoma five stars and more. They also bent over backward in the past if there was any kind of issue.

I'm not surprised to see they're losing their multilevel flagship store in San Francisco's Union Square. They deserve to. It's now Chuck's stuff that never wears out (nor goes out of style) and a bunch of tacky holiday stuff filler products and lower end goods and store brand low-quality filler products now.

While I've never personally had a bad experience in a Williams-Sonoma store (their staff has always been stellar to me), the people running the company (and being highly overpaid for it) need to find something else to do with their dubious "talents."

Williams-Sonoma was always my go to before Sur la Table, Crate & Barrel, and so on, but they lost me as a customer today when I realized how their rating system is rigged to show almost only good reviews and to reject bad reviews without cause or explanation.

UPDATE:

I have Mauviel copper cookware in my kitchen, but I recently put a small kitchen upstairs and am outfitting it with All-Clad D3 stainless in case I want to do induction. I only need about five pans, but when it came to the saute pan everywhere I checked said it wasn't available or had a ship date in February. Williams-Sonoma's site promised between January 22-24 so I ordered it through them.

There was NO MOVEMENT AT ALL, and on January 23 I got a notice saying it hadn't shipped and NOW wasn't expected util March 29, 2025 -- essentially nine weeks later.

I called to cancel the order and was told by Williams-Sonoma's phone person that they would "put in a request to cancel" with All-Clad, who was direct shipping the product (Williams-Sonoma never actually even had it in their possession to sell), but that cancellation wasn't guaranteed.

Really? Because All-Clad's site was very clear about not having in stock when I ordered, and Williams-Sonoma's site was the one that promised delivery that same month.

Anyway, it may or may not be canceled, but my life's on hold until these people figure out what they're doing, and I'm potentially having to wait two more months and one more week or longer for receipt of an item I've already tried to cancel, and that I will THEN have to return to Williams-Sonoma either by requesting a UPS sticker or driving it to their nearest store an hour away and returning it there.

If you want your life and money potentially tied up like this, by all means, order from Williams-Sonoma, who now seems to almost exclusively sell things they don't actually even have to sell.

Terrible customer service. I used them because I have in the past. I ordered a gift for my partners birthday, and I was sent the wrong item. When I called customer service they said I would need to ship the item I didn’t order back and they would have to receive the item before they could rightly send my coffee grinder. The gift didn’t get here in time for my partners birthday. Won’t be using Williams Sonoma again.

WS used to be my go-to place to shop for gifts. However, the customer service has slipped so much that I won't be going back. I paid a lot for shipping and received a damaged item. When I reported the issue, I was told I would need to return the item before receiving a replacement. This was a problem because the item was meant to be a last-minute gift, so I paid for expensive shipping. That's the policy the customer service representative told me. That's fine - there are plenty of other places to shop. Sorry!!!

I ordered an 8x10 rug online from Pottery Barn, which is owned by William Sonoma and paid an extra $279 for white glove delivery. I had to cancel the order before it was delivered. When the credit did not appear on my card, I called to inquire. I was told that I would have to pay the $279 delivery fee for the undelivered rug. Their reason: They had already shipped the rug to their delivery center. Yes, they charged me for their delivery to their delivery center. Did they use white-glove service! What pettiness! They ended by saying they would send a gift card for $279 instead of refunding my money. Since I will NEVER do business with William Sonoma or any of its subsidiaries, I will gift the card to charity - if it ever arrives.

If I could give zero starts I would.

I placed a order March 2023 for a significantly discounted product. Was charged almost immediately and received shipping notification a couple days later. Seemed pretty straight forward until I never received the product. I had since reached out to customer service (via email), only to find out they no longer monitor their emails (maybe don't advertise this then in the contact page)? No worries, I called their customer service instead. I was communicated that the product discount was due to price error and since the product has shipped, they are unable to issue me a refund or cancel the order. Instead, they indicated when the product arrives, I will be requested to pay for the intended price of the product (literally 10x the price I paid). At that point, I can also process a return and get a refund. I was irked at the time but understood that the product was shipped and could see their point. Paying the price difference felt extreme but I could also see reason. ANYWAYS, it's now been over 1 year and I have attempted to contact the company multiple times to get an update or resolution but alas, still unresolved. Anyways, I am sure in person/in-stores they may be wayyyy better to deal with. Just sharing my experience in that I wouldn't order from them ever again.

Purchased a gift hand washing set for a client, I have seen previous bottles, these were tiny, what I would equate to tester samples. Almost $75.00 for a "deluxe" hand washing set, only to discover nothing delux about it with leaky 3-4 ounce bottles. Very embarrassing!

Avoid this company at all costs! I ordered from them and received a completely incorrect order - a single $5 food item instead of the 7 expensive items I paid for. To add to this, they require me to waste my time and money returning this paltry item just to get a refund (if they even send me the refund). It took 1.5 hours to reach this absurd "solution". Their business practices are utterly shameful and exploitative - steer clear of them! Also unethical.

Love this store.

I would give WS a zero or negative rating, if I could. I bought an Instant Pot on their website on July 4, 2024 and the delivery date was supposed to be between 15 and 16 of July. Turns out I only received the item 10 days after, on July 24th. Since it took WS over 10 days from the promised delivery date to fulfil their commitment I intended to start a return. That's when the problems started...
WS's website states that items can be returned within 30 days from delivery, but that some items aren't eligible. There's no clarity on which ones and why (the Instant Pot certainly wasn't on the list).But according to their website the item wasn't eligible for returns. Why? No explanation...
I called customer service the same day, July 24th, and WS's representative agreed with the return, given they failed to deliver on time. I asked to return the item at their store, but she said I could only return via UPS or USPS. I picked UPS, got a return label the same day and delivered it the UPS the next day, July 25th.
I got the refund yesterday, 30 dollars short of the price I paid. I called WS again a few moments ago (Aug. 1st) and the answer was that they don't cover shipping expenses! So, they have a defective logistics that only delivers your item almost 2 weeks after the promised delivery date, make returns as difficult as possible, don't allow you to return the item a physical store and charge you for that? That's insane!
It was my first and will be my last interaction with that store. Don't recommend...

We purchased a Breville Espresso coffee maker- $599 from WS. After reading all the instructions, we couldn’t get the machine to produce enough coffee to make one cup. It leaked out about 2 tablespoons max. We decided with this amount of trouble, it went back in the box and returned to WS. WS policy states within 30 days of purchase including a receipt for a refund or store credit. We complied and returned as stated. We were told by the store manager that they won’t take it back because it isn’t “New.” I guess attempting to make one cup of espresso from a new machine constitutes “Used.” He gave me the Breville customer service phone number and blew me off. I’ve been shopping at WS for over 40 years, this was the last visit to WS.

I bought something showed up damaged and replaced takes a month to comes in.
Customer agents no clue what to do 4 agents I talked to and one sounds like he just got out of jail. Never do business again with this company.
Supervisor took 45 mins and was useless. For charging high prices I expected better.
I went to crate in barrel more expensive for the same item by 200 but better service and my product arrived in 2 days instead of a month.

I would like to start by saying we love the honeycomb tea set, but the issue we had was that we ordered it on Dec. 25th and got it near the end of April. That was okay, not ideal, but we were informed ahead of time by the shipping info that it would take several months.

That's not the issue though, the set came damaged, some of the gold decals wore off because everything was packed in nothing but cardboard. No tissue paper, no bubble wrap, just coarse cardboard. We were willing to work with the set we had, dinged up as it was, but there were damaged pieces we wanted to replace. When going to the store they informed us corporate couldn't take just one or two pieces to be replaced, they needed the entire set!

The common practice is apparently selling the entire set, sending it the cheapest way possible, and hope the customers don't have the time to keep sending it back. And if they do, the customer just has to hope they get an entirely new set without any damage!

Big thanks to the local WS employes for being such a big help. They were able to hold the first tea set while we waited for the second one to come in the mail. We then could bring it in and exchange for the pieces we wanted that weren't broken.

***But getting the second set was just as bad as the first.***

We took the original broken set to WS same day we got it, ordered a new set the same day, and they said it would take over a month to get the replacement set. (Started process at the end of April and wouldn't get the sent until the beginning of June).

Well, we followed the order online for a bit, the package saying it'll arrive between June 5-7th. Nothing. Updated the next week to a later date. This happened three times, the tracking information saying it wasn't even being prepared and that we wouldn't get it until mid July. When we called the WS store they were confused because they saw the individual pieces going out on other people's purchases, but not our order. They said they would work it out and call us back.

Something must have been messed up on corporate's end. Either they were waiting for the set that was being held at WS, or that they just dropped the ball, because the next morning everything was going out priority. Shipped that Friday and scheduled to arrive on the following Tuesday.

It was all still packaged in nothing but cardboard. More chips, breaks, cracks, and worn off gold than the last set, but at least we could go and exchange for the pieces we wanted at the store. Again, can't express how much I appreciate the actual store and it's employees. They were kind, caring and considerate. As always, the retailers are the true heros.

So, in short, amazing tea set and amazing in store service, but WS on the corporate level leaves much to be desired. Six and a half months for two damaged tea sets should tell you exactly the kind of headache you're in for when you purchase this product.

I couldn't agree more with the other posters. This company has taken a total nosedive. The dried wreath arrived in a crushed box, extremely difficult to remove, and it was a mess. There wasn't even a loop to hang it off a hanger. TONS of stuff fell all over the place on the floor. DRIED is a complete understatement. Lackluster color and general condition of the box and yellowed tape on the back leads me to believe it was jammed in some storehouse for a long time. I won't even go through a return process, as I know it would involve some BS lengthy ordeal. I work and I don't have time to re-box a mess, show "proof," return, or whatever else they say. I won't order from WS again...a real shame. They once were a quality company.

OK so I have been shopping at WS since the early 90s. This is before high end products and merchandise were made in China. Merchandise was made in great countries by artisans and long standing generational brands. The golden age of patronizing WS. I had it pretty good. When the 2000s started, they opened their website. GREAT customer service - top notch. Professionals, smooth and easy transactions, no stress, kind and considerate people, and beautifully and safely packaged merchandise. Was a dream. Then about 2021 or so, online customer service dropped to the level of horrible!! A "new" type took over all customer service and when you talk to one of them now, it is out and out ghetto thug treatment!! You get crappy packaging with things broken or bent in the box - when call customer service, they LIE. "Oh we cannot refund unless top management approval". Oh your case will take up to 45 days." "Oh, we cannot handle that". BULL!!!!!!!!!!! In all the years I shopped at WS and online before this thug take over of CS, it was a dream. Refunds, replacements, bonus cards were given on a dime!! No questions, no "approval", no putting things in the computer wrong, no pass the buck, nothing. I got the Sprengela Cookies and the cookies took 3 weeks to get to me and the cookies were loose in an open bag!! No sealed bag! Cookies are rancid and smell bad. And guess what, crappy customer service. I ordered the Petit Flours - after 3 weeks, still no tracking number. Will not give me a refund. Same thing happened to the high end MacKenzie Childs company. they have lost a huge customer base due to the ghetto thug or just nonexistent customer service. Stealing money hand over foot to sabotage customer help. It is DISGUSTING. Well WS, you will loose too!!!!!!!!! As long as there is the thug behavior, you will loose!!

Bought the "Marble & Metal Accent Table" for $500, which is claimed to be Carrera marble. It sat in the corner of my bedroom for 5 months. I don't think I even put a glass on it. Then one day I noticed pieces of the "marble" separating and falling off, revealing the plaster cast on the inside of the fake marble. I called, said they couldn't help, sent me to the retail store who also couldn't help, called again and they utlimately offered me a "15% discount on the same product." Like I'm going to buy this again. It's not real marble. So they lied and cheated me.

I ordered a gift from Williams Sonoma for a bridal shower I am attending in August. I definitely entered my address for delivery as I planned to wrap and take the gift with me. Just saw that it was shipped to the bride but has not yet been delivered. I had hoped that as the sender, WS could pause or cancel the shipping order, but apparently not. Basically, I got a "too bad, sorry" response. Will NOT be ordering from them again! I'm mad and disappointed that I will be walking into a shower empty handed.

I recently ordered 2 gift hampers from Williams Sonoma. The one arrived early and was perfect. The second arrived on time BUT by then tbe produce was hot and the receivers didn’t want to take a chance eating it. It was beautifully presented but hot. They discarded it and thanked me without telling me until a day later what had really happened. When I contacted WS they asked for a photo? Huh? The parcel wasn’t damaged just hot who would think of taking a photo? To show what exactly? They of course refused to replace or refund.

I received a gift card from my employer as a bonus. I tried ordering 3 times. Each time my order was cancelled. The gift card amount was $500. I decided to see of i ordered 1 product at a time if my order would go through. The first order was under $200. It was shipped. The second order was for over $300. I paid the majority with the gift card and the rest with apple pay. They held my order for verification. On top the prices being ridiculous, its a chore to order from this company. I’m not sure how they’re still in business. You can buy everything they sell for less anywhere online. Their cookbook prices are asinine. It’s a shame I got the gift card for this instead of somewhere else. I didnt even feel right spending the gift card on these outlandishly priced items. I dont recommend for anyone to spend any money with this company. I only did because I had a gift card and had no choice.

I purchased from Williams Sonoma because the All-Clad items that I ordered were in stock with an acceptable ship date. Now the ship date has been moved back twice - on multiple items. Why? You either have the inventory or you don't. It seems like there's some deception going on here.

These items were for my daughter who was moving away for the summer. She's been gone a week now and the items are still not here. Now I need to ship them to her or just abort using the new cookware this year. NOT GOOD!!!!!!!!!

I'll order elsewhere next time.