Williams-Sonoma

Bought a popcorn machine for Christmas for my son. It didn’t work. Went to store to exchange and even though I was the only one in line and there were 3 workers nearby-​1 of them acknowledged me saying «I’ll be with you in one second» while she put away stuff from a shipment of hand towels (excuse me, unpacking and stocking your shelves can be done when there are no customers needing help) then a 2^nd one said she’d help but then got distracted by a new customer walking into the store! The 3^rd worker just walked away. Finally the 2^nd worker helped me-​but it took her forever as she was new and had to wait for the manager to help her with every part of the exchange — yet the manager kept leaving and the worker had to keep going after her.
So/​I get home and open the newly exchanged popcorn machine only to find that it was a USED machine and was DIRTY with popcorn kernels! I was appalled!
So off I go again this time to return. And the sales people were just the same and didn’t seem at all surprised with the idea of selling me a used machine!
Forget Williams Sonoma on Bev Drive. I will shop at Sur La Table from now on!

Bought some LeCreuset everybody in there has great hospitality offering you samples and friendly about it. Lady could not answer questions we had about LeCreuset ware sent a guy over Ian was super helpful and friendly.

After getting married earlier this month, my partner and I came home to a pile of duplicate gifts from our Williams-​Sonoma registry. It turns out our wedding registry was only updated three times, so our guests unknowingly kept buying the same plates and bowls for us, which totally defeats the purpose of a registry.
Williams-​Sonoma representatives both online and in this store said we could either return all these duplicate gifts for hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise credit or return all the gifts to our guests. It’s been a massive inconvenience during what’s supposed to be one of the happiest times of our lives. We’re now saddled with hundreds of dollars of unwanted Williams-​Sonoma credit.
The representative in the store assisted me the best she could given the problem, but the issue stretches beyond the Beverly Hills store location, straight to the top of the Williams-​Sonoma corporation. If our registry had been properly maintained, those guests who unwittingly purchased duplicate presents for us could have instead contributed to our honeymoon or charity fund.
The craziest thing is that all the Williams-​Sonoma reps said they knew about the issue. If we had been informed there was a problem, we would have been more vigilant about our registry. Actually, we probably would have just registered elsewhere, which is likely why they didn’t say anything. Anyway, I just hope that others do not fall victim to the same trap!

Bought a 4000 $ table, after 4 weeks still no delivery but someone scheduled delivery today and now some rude woman at customer service informs me that there is no delivery. Scheduled my week around this and at the end had to be called names among other things when tried to figure out what happen with this delivery. I love the BH store but this experience soured it for good. At the end it’s always the same. The sales people will tell you everything to get their commission after that your on your own.
UPDATE
After I don’t know how many phone calls the very capable manager of the BH store found our order and has it delivered today. I believe his name is Ian
The man is a saint.

This Williams-​Sonoma is consistently understaffed. I have been there multiple times, and have had to wait several minutes to get customer assistance. I have gotten much better service and Sur La Table and will probably take my money there next time.

I love visiting this store, especially near the holiday time to pick up some handy gifts for friends and family. They feature a wide array of home and kitchen goods at varying prices, so it’s always possible to find something for anyone you have in mind. This location is great, since it is conveniently located right next to a parking structure, and the staff here are friendly and helpful.
It can get a little chaotic when there are so many people doing their holiday shopping at the same time, but they are equipped with just the right amount of staff so I felt like I never had to wait too long if I needed anything. Some sales associates will even take you around the store to make sure that you get a chance to look at everything you would want to get for whomever you have in mind.
My favorite things they sell here are during the holiday times, including the Peppermint Bark, ginger crisps, and hot chocolate. If you come at the right time, some holiday items may even be on sale, which is even better. This is also a fun store to walk into, even if you are browsing. Everything is kept nice and neat too, so it’s never too hard to wander in and find exactly what you may be looking for.

I’ve always enjoyed visiting Williams-​Sonoma. They always have the kitchen essentials as well as innovative kitchen gadgets. The customer service is great, and the staff is always willing to help out and explain anything.
Williams-​Sonoma also offers free samples of drinks and treats that you can also buy right in the store. Cooking classes are also available throughout the year — sometimes with famous chefs come to teach!

We dropped by on a whim to exchange some goodies and spent almost an hour with their knife specialist, Robert. What an amazingly knowledgable, amiable and non-​pushy guy.
We continually harangued him with questions, but he was so patient and honest in his recommendations. What an asset to the WS team, so thanks Robert for such a great experience. We love our knives! :)

I kinda love it here. This is not a discount store, that is for sure. However, if you want to find top quality cookware, cutlery, small brand name appliances, cookbooks, etc. THIS is the place. I will often walk into the store with no particular «need» — and walk out with more than a few new kitchen items. The service is really great — I have never had an unpleasant experience here. Bring money… and open your mind, as you will find new creative ways to serve your guests!

This place has everything you need for all you food lovers. It is expensive, but you get a high quality product in return. I recommend going here if you are a serious cook in need of supplies.

Sherman Oaks. Live 1 mile away. The salesman Dennis had such an attitude about retrieving the Registry List I went home not buying what the bride had listed on her register. Never had a problem with the other William Sonoma’s.

While walking around Beverly Hills just trying to kill a little time before our dinner at Jose Andres’ The Bazaar (a few miles away), we sauntered into this Williams-​Sonoma. I actually had a gift card that I kept meaning to use… but just hadn’t. We walked in, and of course, I immediately migrated over to the kitchen tools… one can never have enough of those, right? I found 2 things that I just «had to have.» One is a strawberry slicer, and the other is a gadget to keep avocados fresh (green looking) for longer (allegedly). The jury’s out on that one, but I have faith it’ll work… just because nothing else does. Strawberry slicer… any kind of slicing or chopping gadget that I can use to cut down on the amount of times I have to deal with it, well, I’m there. I’ll let you know how they work, but I am excited about both. The one unfortunate part to this is that for just those 2 items, it cost me $ 24. (***shaking head, rolling eyes***)… but if they both work well, I won’t care. I guess I really don’t care since a gift card paid for them.
This particular store seems much larger than the average mall store. Is that accurate, or has it just been too long since I’ve been there? It just seemed like there was far more merchandise to look at.

Today we encountered not one but two excellent sales people at Williams-​Sonoma.
The first was the Nespresso rep who was very informative, answering numerous questions about this popular coffee brewing system. This was a very welcome change from the last time I set foot in this department. I’m sorry but I didn’t get her name.
The second sales person’s name was Michelle. We had been trying to decide on a birthday gift for a good friend. There was an item we were considering but we had some lingering questions. She approached us and seemed genuinely interested in helping us solve our issues. With her help we ended making a decision that we were extremely happy with. You know that feeling you get when you buy something as a gift and you can’t wait to give it to the person you bought it for? That’s exactly how we felt. To top it off Michelle noticed the Snoopy t-​shirt I was wearing and suggested we go across the street to Mouche Gallery and check out the works by Tom Everhart. I’ll cover that in another review.

W.S. I love you.
Sure things may be a bit pricier than other kitchen-​goods shop but the store carries its reputation in its name.
* YES — Offers array of reputable kitchen brands as well as their own name brand
* YES — Offers espresso makers, waffle /​ebelskiver makers, blenders, etc etc.
* YES — Great serveware, drinkware, flatware, etc.
* YES — The lotion/​soap line they carry smells diviiiine
* YES — Friendly service, even in the midst of the common holiday shopping madness
* WOA:
— Free one-​hour lots in Beverly Hills or street metered parking
— Great complimentary wrapping service (during Christmas)

Shelly (clerk) was the reason for this 1-​star review. She went out of her way to make returning an item difficult and was only interested in making sure that W.S. got every monetary advantage from the transaction.
Shelly: «You can’t return this because it’s a catalog item.»
Us: «But you sell it here in your store.»
Shelly: «It doesn’t matter. We have to mail you a gift card for the difference.»
Us: «We were hoping to get this all done today.»
Shelly: «Your gift card should arrive in about 15 days.»
And even worse, when she realized that the item we were returning was actually not the correct model (a slightly more expensive model was shipped to us by mistake) she took the item back without our permission (basically stealing our property) and said she had to return it, even though it was technically our property at that point, regardless of W.S.‘s mistake. She should’ve given us the chance to leave with our property, not reclaim it self-​righteously on behalf of a corporation.
Lastly, unrelated but shocking… Shelly accused two total strangers (that both happened to be Asian) of trying to «cheat the system» by splitting up to use two of the same coupons in a single visit, incorrectly assuming they were together based on their race. It was a disgusting display of distrust and unfounded paranoia — Incredibly unprofessional and racist!
Clearly Williams Sonoma is more concerned about making sure employees like Shelly put profit before people, even when they are at fault or have misled customers with complicated promotions and bureaucratic processes that ensure their customers are exploited at every turn.
Thanks for literally nothing Shelly.

As a cook and someone who values quality above all else I use to love Williams Sonoma… but of late they seem to have joined the «made-​in-​china» conga line causing me to look elsewhere for my kitchenware.
On a recent trip to this WS, I found myself looking at toasters for my wedding registry. Can you believe that WS carried not a single toaster that wasn’t made in China? While I understand it might be difficult to find an American toaster, how about a Japanese or Korean one? Worse still, unlike other high-​end home goods stores (like Crate & Barrel), WS doesn’t publish country of origin on their price tags or displays. This forces you, the customer to open boxes and look on display bottoms to figure out where things are made.
As sad as it is for me to say (this use to be my favorite kitchen store): If you care about quality and keeping low cost Chinese junk out of your kitchen… beware of WS. If made in China doesn’t bother you, well, buy your Chinese products somewhere like Bed Bath and Beyond and for 10−20% less.

I could live here. This is one of my all-​time favorite WS locations. I love that they have a parking deck next door. I love that they offer different tiers of cooking classes (free and paid). I love that they always have free samples of espresso. I love the guest services events, like book signings and product demonstrations.
I setup my wedding registry here, and I love the gifts I’ve received. They have such a wide array of items in store that I got to scan quite a bit, from knives to pots and pans to various electrics (plus, the scanning is the fun part, anyway). The products are of excellent quality, and most of them come with very reasonable warranties. They even tricked me into signing up for their credit card because you get points for every purchase off your registry.
Well, the credit card is completely separate from the store, and it’s very inconvenient. You can’t check or pay your balance in store. You can’t apply your points to your purchase; instead, you have to call the cc company and request that they send you a gift card for the nearest dollar amount in increments of $ 25. Also, if you return an item from your registry that was purchased through «the catalog,» they will not give you in-​store credit. Instead, they send off a request for you to receive a gift card with merchandise credit through snail mail! So odd. If I could do it over again, I’d probably register with Sur La Table instead.
As for the cooking classes, I’ve only had the opportunity to take one of the free «techniques» classes given every Sunday afternoon, and it was mediocre. I called in advance to register for the class (called Weeknight barbecue), but it didn’t matter because it wasn’t full and people walking through the store were able to walk up and join. The instructor talked about the WS products and proceeded to cook grilled chicken tacos and stuffed hamburgers with a beer-​cheddar fondue. After taking notes (and watching a few cooking blunders here and there by the instructor), each member of the class (and anyone standing around) got one bite of a rather dry chicken taco and one bite of a stuffed burger with fondue. I sat through an hour of class to get the same bite as the random shoppers. Oh well.
Anyway, the espresso machines are beautiful, and I will definitely get one when I have a nice big kitchen with lots of counter space. I love the WS brand baking products. The cookbooks are great! I recently got a cookbook autographed by Michael Voltaggio in-​store. That day, they were also giving out various free samples of food prepared by a friend of Voltaggio’s whose hot sauce are sold in-​store at WS. There always seems to be some fun activity going on in the store when we drop by, and I love that. I also really love that the employees are very knowledgeable about the products and willing to tailor their recommendations to our particular needs.

Proper Red Wine Glasses — Part II
Just as I was detailing the specifics of my quest to Williams-Sonoma’s charming associate, Tani my phone rang.
«Never mind, I found the ‘right kind’ hidden in the bar.»
«You no longer wish me to pursue a replacement purchase?»
«Yes, that’s correct.»
COOL! Permission to shop for ME!
Well, the lovely Tani gave me a guided tour of all things on sale here in kitchen heaven. Interestingly, I already own a lot of these coveted books, tools and gadgets so I moved on to services and classes.
Knife sharpening? Yes, of course. The first knife is FREE and it doesn’t matter where it was purchased BUT it better not be ceramic, damaged or serrated. Additional knives meeting said criteria are $ 5 per.
Classes? I still need to take knife skills. Yes, it’s offered! Then Tani told me about all the other in-​store culinary events, some free, some fee for service BUT I would have to get on the mailing list. NO problem, I’m «in»!
At the cashwrap, as I was providing my data, an unbelievable sense of body-​in-​alignment harmony came over me. I looked down. I was standing, no make that floating, as each and every customer does, on the Wellness Mat®
. Smart marketing of an incredible product now at the top of my well-​distributed wish list; hint, hint, you know who you are…

«If I had all the money in the world…»
I might come here and deck out my kitchen! Williams-​Sonoma has some of the greatest, upscale kitchen accoutrements you could ask for. Great kitchen eye candy.
I do find some of their selections a little strange — if you buy from this store, surely you don’t need to buy a mac and cheese starter?

Decided I had to get more into my vegan diet. Need a mixer and a seed grinder. Called to see if they carry the Vitamix Pro 500. They do. Hopped in my ride, parked in the 2-​hr free parking lot right next door, sauntered up to the counter. Erin was right there (she was the one on the phone), my mixer was all set to go, paid and outta there.
It’s usually $ 700 but they had it on sale for $ 599. It’s worth it – blows all other mixers away and lasts forever. Has a large container so you can just mix all kinda things. Getting ready to make a cauliflower-​carrot-​leek-​spinach soup with chopped cashews.
If you gotta do business in Bev Hills, getting in and out by 11 is the way to go!