West Elm

I really like what this store has to offer but the customer service I experienced today was horrendous. A lamp I wanted was on the shelf and I told the girl I would like to purchase it. She checked the inventory in the computer which showed they had several in stock and then went to the basement to get it. She was gone for about ten minutes and returned telling me that they didn’t have it. She said she couldn’t sell me the floor model because they still had the item in the warehouse and that their inventory must have been «off». Not once did she suggest or offer that they order in the item I wanted. I have no idea why she was unable to sell me the model I wanted off the floor since the warehouse is in California apparently. She basically just shrugged her shoulders and suggest I check at West Elm Market (I already knew they didn’t carry this item as I had research it online).
So instead of securing a sale by offering to order the item for me the clerk just let me walk out feeling frustrated and disappointed.
West Elm, I think you need to tighten up your hiring process and get some people who have customer service skills.

My rating is based solely on the fact that the couch I ordered will have taken double the time I was told it would be when I ordered it. I was told 4 weeks when it was purchased and that was almost 7 weeks ago now. The delivery company is also so backed up that they now have my couch and can’t deliver it until the end of next week. I would never have bought this couch if I knew it would take this long, and will never buy anything from this business again unless they do something to change the incredibly slow and (inaccurate) delivery times.
On a positive note, the woman who helped me on the phone was very helpful and apologetic when I called for information about the delivery.

The prices are outrageous. I went in here to simply get a comforter to sleep on… it nearly ran me 100 Dollars. I used it for a month and then returned it before the 30 days was up. went to the states and for about 10 times the quality and only 10 dollars I got a real comforter. this place is just to fool the pinky lifters and the wine sippers. You see them trolling south Granville at nearly all hours window shopping. sick.

I am loving the coffee table and rug we purchased here a month ago. The gentleman that helped us was incredibly helpful. They carry beautiful mid century modern pieces and accessories. This is the one and only home/​furniture store my husband actually enjoys tagging along with me, and to me that says a lot. They always have new and exciting things each time I visit and I’m looking forward to my next trip to the store.

Went in wanting to spend money wandered around for 20 minutes hoping one of the 10 employees working would stop looking at their feet and ask me if I needed help. Walked out and went to a competitor. Can’t see how this place makes money if nobody is interested in selling anything. Brutal service!

I love mid century furniture so West Elm is one of my go to shops when furnishing my place. I bought my awesome bed and nightstand from a knowledgeable and very helpful clerk last December and it arrived and assembled on the day they promised. I even bought a laundry hamper and some hipster kitchen accessories for my new home at the West Elm Market next to the furniture store. Today, I came back to look at a bistro table and chairs (due to their dining sale) and my experience was not as good. The sales clerk was not as helpful and knowledgeable. She spent almost 20 mins looking for the bistro mid century table I wanted but when I asked about the price, she didn’t even know that vital piece of information and assumed that it wasn’t part of the sale as it was «bistro size». How crazy is that! She tried to pressure-​sales me by telling me they only have 1 in inventory and she doesn’t know when the next order is coming. (My bed was ordered from SanFran so I know they can order stock from the US although it will take time.) Although I liked the table and could’ve been convinved to pay the somewhat pricey sales tag, I bid her adieu and moved on.
I may still come back to West Elm or at least browse their website but I’ll think twice before buying anything here.

I am new to Unilocal review and after seeing other’s posts about West Elm store, I felt better — my frustration seems to be shared by others. I ordered a carpet pad on back order in June this year and now it’s September. Not only I still don’t have the pad, I also can’t say I’ve had the most pleasant conversation with some store clerks. They seemed pretty arrogant and not single one offered any explanation to me about the delay. What is going on with this store?

Consistently terrible customer service and extremely unknowledgeable sales staff on their product. They should pay attention to their sister store William Sonoma and learn how it’s done. The manager Tiffany needs to learn how to speak with customers as she is incredibly unpolished.

This is a review about dealing with purchases from West Elm in Canada — it is possible that the process would be better in the States.
About four months ago my partner and I started looking for some new small furnishings and décor for our home. In the past I have purchased such stuff from Ikea, but as I have gotten older, I have become increasingly disinterested with the quality and selection from Ikea, and thought — hey, I’m an adult — why don’t I try buying something nicer and more expensive elsewhere. Which led us to West Elm. After spending many hours browsing their website, we selected a fairly large number of things that we wanted to purchase — rugs, lamps, curtains and rods, to name a few.
The West Elm Canadian website allows you to place orders online, but we soon discovered that most of what we wanted to buy would not ship to Canada, or if it did would cost a fortune in duties and additional taxes, and perhaps take six weeks to arrive. So instead we would have to visit their store to make the purchases. OK, fine, a little annoying, but whatever… Website is definitely among the worst retail websites I have used, but I was still prepared to purchase the stuff I wanted.
So next up was the store visit. My partner had the lucky task of doing this, and she spent a good 3 hours there on a Sunday working through the list of items we wanted to purchase. By the end of it, she discovered that many of the things that we picked out on the Canadian website would not even ship to the store in Canada. In one case, the in-​store website showed a rug we wanted to purchase was available to be shipped from their warehouse in LA, but the clerk said that we would never get it up here, basically, the US side of the store wouldn’t bother to ship it. OK… then why bother to show that it even exists?
After many hours of working through the list of items, my partner was then directed to the back alley to load up what stuff they actually had in stock (only about half of what we wanted). The people who loaded her car were rude and very disrespectful to the products. At one point, a guy dropped a lamp, but managed to prevent it from hitting the ground by pinching it with his knee against the bumper of her car. When she got home we discovered that the lamp shade had been badly dented and needed to be returned.
During that same visit, my partner ordered a number of other items that needed to be shipped in from the States, with an estimated delivery time of 3 – 5 weeks. As I write this review, it is now more than four months after we purchased the items, and I have never even received a call back from the store to explain why it is taking so long or to give me a new estimated time for delivery.
One final note, the actual product quality really is no better than Ikea. I was very disappointed with the quality of the curtains and curtain rods, and I actually returned all the curtains because the ones from Ikea are much nicer and a quarter of the cost. The Ikea curtain rods are nicer too, but I couldn’t return these because they became a little scuffed as I was trying to install them into the terrible wall clip design.
My final synopsis is that I have never been more frustrated or disappointed with a retailer than West Elm. Their products look good from far, but are far from good. Taking a look around their showroom I quickly realized that most of the stuff is really crap — poor design and poor quality and overpriced. The decorative display behind their checkout counter is awful too. The staff have no idea what is available in the store itself, or what they can get in, and definitely don’t rely on picking stuff off their website because most of it you won’t be able to get into Canada. The people who work in the storeroom are rude and disrespectful, and the people who work up front are basically clueless. If I could give no stars, I would. I will never purchase from West Elm again.
One last note — beware, the entire block of stores on Granville is owned by the same US company — Sonoma /​West Elm /​Pottery Barn. I’m sure that any one of these retailers is just as bad as the others.
And even one more final note — I recently purchased a couch from Crate and Barrel and my experience there was the complete opposite of West Elm — the salesperson took me around and showed me a whole bunch of furniture, listing the pros and cons of each, and helping me find the right one to suit my needs. The quality of the couch I think is exceptional, it is made in Canada, and none of the material used contains any VOC. It is comfortable, priced well, and looks great. He even helped me locate a type of glider chair that I was looking for, from a different retailer. Crate and Barrel is a million times better than West Elm.

Love the furniture, love the concept, especially the neutral whites and food furniture pieces that with the right cuts can be timeless. Prices are a bit high, even for the quality of pieces. I was just browsing for starters, therefore, the customer service was neither here nor there, luck warm to be honest.

Where do I start with this place? Bottom line: Yes, they have lovely furniture. Downside: The service here is absurd beyond words.
Let’s start here… We ordered a sofa and chair in November 2014 for our new home. They said delivery to their shop would be January. It is now mid-​March 2015. I am writing this as I sit here waiting for the delivery, which they said would be today, which is late and will probably not come, wasting another 6 hours of my day (and that’s just today).
Since January, we’ve been told «it’ll be in on Tuesday,» «it’ll be in on Friday,» «it’ll be in on Wednesday»… they would say they’ll call back and do not call back. It went on for weeks on end, and on the last one we even booked a van, which we had to cancel at our own expense because West Elm told us last second (when WE called to confirm — we had to already knowing their incompetence) that it’s STILL not in.
So the other day I called and demanded that they pay for the shipping because we were beyond fed up. It was pre-​arranged for a 4-​hour window today. It is now way past that window. In all likelihood, our items are still sitting in the West Elm sweatshop in China.
These people took 100% of our money for these items back in November and simply stopped caring. I questioned in the beginning why they would not take 50% deposit and receive 50% upon delivery, but it’s their ridiculous store policy to take all 100%. Obviously we were too trusting of this place. So basically, for almost the past half year, they’ve had $ 1500 of our hard earned money and all of our items hostage. Even scammers on Craigslist aren’t this absurd.
Heed my advice, my fellow Vancouverites, and stay away from this place. Stay far away. Don’t end up in the same situation as we are in.
(Update: West Elm did end up delivering the sofa, but did not deliver the chair. So we got ½ our order delivered nearly 6 months later, so the saga continues)…

Nice things. I would never have them order something, but a little sumpin’ sumpin’ to spruce décor, sure.
Why 2 stars. I took my few items, little things up to the counter, a full pillow, with a lovely hummingbird on it. (I still love it today) this was a bit ago. I cannot remember exactly but $ 45 – 50? I was already «thinking» about it. should I, shouldn’t I… cushions and pillow décor EVERYWHERE are far to expensive for what they are if you ask me. Anywaaay… I decide to purchase it. The cashier starts to take the pillow OUT of the Hummingbird case? I said, what are you doing? She said, «Oh you want the pillow?» That is extra. WHAT?
I paid the extra… so now my pillow was ohhh $ 75. Again, it’s gorgeous, I love it, but I should have gone to Dressew Supply on Hastings and got a pillow insert for $ 10 cuz this one is NOT holding up at $ 25 or whatever it was… but really? THAT’s false presentation and marketing. So ADVICE… lay a whole bunch of the cases empty in a linen presentation and a SAMPLE above, stack undressed pillow inserts out… price them, we’re adults, we can figure it out… without this sort of trickery. bleckgh, bad taste in my mouth. I enjoyed the pretty things in the store and online, I follow on Pinterest, but haven’t been back because of that. *shrug*

I don’t typically write reviews, but I felt compelled to write this one because my experience at West Elm was so contrary to what I’ve read here.
I’d been searching for a new set of dining chairs for months, and I discovered West Elm’s Crest Bentwood chairs one day when I happened to walk into the store with some girlfriends. I was pretty dismayed when I went online and found the reviews of West Elm Vancouver to be so consistently poor with regards to furniture items that had to be ordered in from their California warehouse. At the time, it scared me away from pursuing the chairs any further.
A month or two later, I still hadn’t found another set of dining chairs that I liked quite as much. I visited the West Elm website again on a whim and saw that they were doing a 20% off sale, so I decided to take a risk and go for it! The staff in the store were very friendly and told me they had to order the chairs in, which would take between 3 – 5 weeks.
After reading so many negative reviews, I steeled myself for a potentially bad experience. I just hoped that by the end of the process, by whatever means, I would have the four chairs I ordered undamaged and in my apartment.
At 5 weeks and 2 days, I got a call from the store informing me that my chairs had arrived at the store and were available for pickup at any time. The next day, my boyfriend and I drove up to the back of the store to get them. A part of me was still expecting something to go wrong, but the store employee who helped us at the backdoor was really nice and very professional.
The packaging the chairs came in was too big to fit into our sedan, so he helped us take the chairs out of their boxes and loaded them into the car. When the last chair wouldn’t fit, he disassembled it for us so we could fit it into the trunk and gave us an Allen key so we could put it back together when we got home.
I’m honestly still a little in disbelief that my experience with West Elm went so smoothly, but I now have my beautiful dining chairs (all in pristine condition) sitting in my apartment. I don’t mean to discredit the negative reviews that were written here by other users (and there are enough of them that I’m sure they do have some merit) but I did want to share my experience so that other users will know that it *is* possible to have a decent experience at West Elm Vancouver.

I’ve developed a love/​hate relationship with West Elm. I can say I genuinely love their bedding, vases, rugs, and other décor accessories, and the quality on these items is pretty good. However, the quality of their actual furniture is very poor for the price point, and their customer service (if you order in a piece of furniture) is pretty abysmal. I bought a side table here for $ 350, I was never called when it came in and finally called to check in on it to find it had been sitting in their storage area for 2 weeks. When I went to put it together, some of the pieces of the metal frame were bent so it would not go together correctly. Luckily I was able to fix this with a hammer and some major elbow grease, because I was not looking forward to re-​packaging and returning to the store. Overall the quality felt like Target but it had a CB2 price tag. I will likely continue to buy home accessories here, but I won’t be purchasing any major furniture items again.

I love this store, but why I give 2 star?
REASON:
Canada Website Page and Store Items different with USA.
So you look the items from USA page and take a long flight from west to east shopping, and Westelm in Canada-​Vancouver DID NOT CARRY IT…
WHAT a SHAME.
Waste time for looking the idea products online. And if you order from USA and need pay tax and shipping fee and waiting it for arrive. BUT I already take a 9 hour trip to here,!@#$%^&*

This review is solely based on my experience with the store and does not reflect on my experience dealing with the associates, who have been friendly.
Although I love West Elm product, my first ordering process through them has been disappointing. I ordered a rug on July 1 and was quoted 2 – 3 weeks. I called on the 3^rd week mark and was told another 7 – 10 days. So that time passed when I called again and no update was given. I went into the store the week after and was told it would likely be here by the end of August (note: 2 months has now passed) and that they will «probably» call me when it arrives into the store. I was told the excuse that ‘we have a new warehouse and they are giving us the wrong lead times.’ The company needs to get their shit together. West Elm pieces look great, but be prepared that you may have to wait way longer than originally quoted.

I really wanted to like this place. They have neat stuff at a decent price. We need more selection in this country.
Found a bed frame on their website, went to the store that day to get it. Was told it was discontinued, unavailable online and that they’d check by radio whether they had a different frame in the basement. Waited 30 minutes. Was finally told they had it and I could pick it up that day — but they wouldn’t have the slats for it this year.
So I went online and ordered the one I’d wanted in the first place. It came in three separate daytime deliveries. The first piece was covered in thick furry black and fluorescent yellow mould and bright yellow mould dust. Disgusting and a health hazard. My new condo still smells like mould.
Tweeted about it, got a response from the social media lead with the Williams Sonoma Group in an hour. Two days later they told me to throw it out and that they’d refund the $ 89 delivery fee and get me a new one in two weeks. I don’t know yet if I’ll keep it when it gets here.
West Elm Market, on the other hand, is fantastic. Great staff. Have been there a bunch and haven’t had a problem. Hard to believe it’s part of the same company.

I have never been so thoroughly disappointed in a company. I want to give no stars.
This store is essentially a «Canadian Showroom» for an American store. When you buy items and they aren’t in store (which is pretty much ALWAYS), they literally order it online and get it shipped up from California.
Twice we have received broken items from West Elm. Once it was something that was actually in stock — a media cabinet. We dropped a good chunk of change and were happy to get it home and set it up. Unbeknownst to us, the media cabinet was broken, missing the bottom frame and almost completely falling apart. These are the things that shipping and receiving need to be on top of. What kind of company is this? How can you get away with selling completely broken pieces of expensive furniture?
When we called to see what was up and potentially order another one — they did a typical apology and said they would order us a new one. They said they would give us a ring when it was in the store. Weeks later we still hadn’t heard anything. When my fiancé called back, they said they were really sorry, but the item was «indefinitely backordered». Yup — thanks for that phone call!
So after around a month of having a giant, broken media cabinet in our small townhouse, we lugged it back into Vancouver. A good drive from our suburban home. We went in to return it and tried to see if they would give us any additional compensation for their poor (and lackthereof) customer service. Again, we were let down. Not at all the kind of customer service you’d expect when spending almost $ 900.
At this point we had given up on the media cabinet and I found a really nice coffee table I liked. Do you think they had it in store? Heck no. Hoping we wouldn’t have a repeat and partially against our better judgement, we ordered the table. Just when I was starting to think, «Is it really taking this long?» I came home and our beautiful coffee table was here. Don’t be fooled by the pseudo happy ending.
My fiancé remarked about their incredibly poor packaging. He said it looked like the US store just put the pieces back into the original box and didn’t bother to pad or protect it for its journey to Canada. There was literally one piece of 1 inch styrofoam and a couple pieces of squishy plastic. Do you think it was even wrapped around the $ 600 table? Of course not. It’s West Elm, they don’t GAF.
At first glance we didn’t see it. Yet, as soon as I opened the blinds to let some sunlight in — it was glaring at me. This gigantic, 6 inch long crack in the wood surface and halfway down the side. I was livid.
Now having been fooled twice — this is the end of my relationship with West Elm.
Word to the wise — pay, take and leave. Never order.
Here are a couple of good links I found:

I guess we all have different shopping styles because the same Unilocal complaints are the ones that I’m so happy about. When I shop, I hate being followed or hovered around — I want to be left alone so I don’t feel pressured. If I want help, I’ll go hunt it down.
I was welcomed within 2 minutes of coming into the store. I told the lady that I didn’t need help and she said to come find her if/​when I did. Thank you for not hovering!
When I found what I wanted and went to ask about a different size, she went and found one for me and asked if I needed any other help and I said no.
Got some really nice bedding that I’m so excited about that I went home, washed it, and tucked myself in… during the day.
Found what I wanted, got what I wanted, paid and left. No complaints from me!

They have almost everything for your home. We’ve been looking everywhere for some furniture and I think we finally found the place. Staff is friendly and attentive without being OVERBEARING. We were uncertain about what colour to order and the manager was fantastic and gave us some swatches to take home before to ensure the colour would match.
Check this place out, it’s fantastic, whether you are browsing or buying.