Williams-Sonoma

This review is specifically for the employee Sheryl (not sure if thats how she spells) shes an older blonde woman. I went in there and she asked me if i needed help and i did, helped me find what i needed and then proceeded to follow me around. She snatched the item out of my hand which I’m not sure if she was just trying to be helpful but it came off as her thinking i was going to steal something. I didn’t even want to continue shopping because of her but i needed to get a present for my mom so i ended up getting the item. The women who rung me up was very nice but the rest of the experience wasn’t what would you would expect from shopping at Williams Sonoma in Corte madera.

Great merchandise. Great merchandising. I was so offended by a sales clerk. Kristine. She was completely suspicious that I was out to steal a paring knife. Then when I asked to see another brand. She directed me to a set of steak knives.

First off, I tried to write a review for the Breville toaster oven on Williams Sonoma’s website, but because it was negative, it would not post– SO beware reading the online reviews of a product– they apparently only let you see the positive ones. My Breville oven that I bought there stopped working. We called WS and was told they could not (would not) help. We called Breville, and was told that for $ 120.00 we could send our oven to them to be repaired. Seriously? I think WS can afford to stand by their products– and Breville can do the same. Shame on them both.

We went to this store yesterday, I was looking to buy some Le Creuset cookware. First of all, the service was extremely slow, but I was still patient as the saleslady seemed nice. They could not find a new boxed set of the cookware I had liked, and the only piece left was the one on display. The saleslady said that her Supervisor would give me a discount for it as it’s the display set. When I reached the checkout line, I waited for at least 10 mins before their Supervisor could attend to me. She didn’t say a word to me, instead turned to the people who had just arrived behind me and apologized to them about the wait! She was not at all polite when she spoke to me. When I asked about the discount, she talked to me in an extremely rude and condescending manner. I would have bought the piece even without the discount (which their saleslady had told me about in the first place), but her attitude was SO BAD that I decided not to buy it. And then, she kept apologizing to the people behind me. The way she spoke told me that she doesn’t find me ‘worthy enough’ to be in that store. It was quite obvious what was going on. Indians Beware!
I will never be shopping at this store again.

As always, William Sonoma, graciousness and quality. Made even more special tonight by Tyler Florence signing his new cookbook. What a nice guy, bought two copies. Hooray for us.

Had a terrible experience this month. The lady who waited on me could not answer
my question about returning a food product. First… food? No then yes then with
receipt only and 30 days. Totally condescending. She was SO rude. Then the
other 2 women working there start bickering. I just wanted to get out of there.
Done with this store forever. Sur la table is my new store. They are friendly and
helpful.
The last few times I have been in here have been horrible. Rude ladies, can’t find
anyone to help me and the list goes on.

The team at this location is amazing. One of the managers, Alex, is absolutely fantastic! Very professional, friendly, and knowledgeable. If anyone needed to buy kitchen products I would send them to him. He put me at ease during my shopping experience. What ever retailers he ever decides to work for would be lucky to have him. The store is organized and has several different sample machines to see how easy they are to use and what is produced.

Over the years I have spent just slightly South of a billion dollars at WS. Now they have snotty attitude, tight warranty and exchange policies. I won’t be darkening their door again. Try Sur La Table, restaurant suppliers or Amazon.

Do not purchase the $ 350 toaster. It didn’t toast. I tried to return it They said I could purchase a new one for $ 350 and they would give me a credit of $ 99 toward it. I asked to speak to the manager. Alex obviously heard the problem and tried to hide. He finally came over 10 minutes later and did not help me.
To compare I purchased a expensive rice cooler from sur la table it stopped working after about 3 years. I went to purchase another. When I mentioned to the sales lady that I needed another she said, «we have a lifetime guarantee on ALL of our appliances.»
I returned it. No hassle. My advice is buy at sur la table. I will never shop in Williams of sonoma again

staff here are awesome. I always end up buying MORE than I intend too!!! haa. They’re very attentive, not pushy and always guide me in the right direction. THanks!

Harris at Williams Sonoma is BY FAR the most helpful, knowledgeable employee at Williams Sonoma. He managed to locate all the pieces of copper cookware I wanted to buy, both in the store and online and stuck with me through a complex order. He waived shipping fees for the items that had to be ordered online, and I received them very quickly! Thanks Harris! He even cooks and can give you input on which pans are best to use for what, and how to clean and maintain them.

Looks great, but the service is slow, understaffed and pretty condescending or dismissive of men and our questions. Then waste 15 minutes of my time without updates to tell me they don’t have the item. What good is your computer if you don’t use it, and instead check the store room like it 1950? Like all great stores, this one has become too corporate/​chain to be any good anymore. Sad. This is why people shop online.

Horrible experience here. I had to return wedding gifts and was in there for over an HOUR, literally, while someone w/​o training tried to return them and exchange them for other items, no one helped her, the manager eventually appologized, but they screwed it up so many times, at one point I left so my husband could finish, and he left and they had given us a lower value for the return item than the person actually paid on line. At that point even the manager who was super uninterested in helping TRIED to help. At the end we left with $ 35 owed to us b/​c we couldnt be there any longer — because they applied our registry «discount» to the returned items too — she said next time we should do a return, then a new purchase, not an exchange. Unbelievable. Am telling my friends not to register here.

Went back to get that item I wanted but they had moved it. Not a soul in site to ask if we needed help. We finally had to corner little guy who was pretending to be busy looking at the whoopee pie cake pans (which god forgive me I bought)
They let the ‘back’ workers know we needed it brought up to the front (heavy item but spouse could carry it)
We waited and waited. They just when I tell my spouse lets leave they come up with item not before we reminded sales rep we were still waiting and guess what? They forgot to put the request in. Niiice.
Anyhow we got my items which I love love love but I dont like that store .
BTW we saw the snooty older lady that works there talking with a customer and this was overheard:
Customer: Oh you can just tell me where it is
Snooty lady” No, I need to take you there.“
Walks away in a queenly fashion while customer follows meekly behind.
In the words of Edna Monsoon” You’re just just a shop girl you know, you can drop the atitude.“
Pluses
Good variety of specilaty items and common items
Nice big store
clean brighlty lit store
offers classes throughout the month (they have a stove they use for cooking demos)
Minuses
Poor customer service
aisles are a little crowded
prices are higher then your average bear

Awful awful experience.
Received and then needed to return some bridal registry gifts. For three of the items, they could not immediately provide a merchandise credit, but printed out a receipt and said that the merch credits would be sent to us.
6 weeks later, they hadn’t arrived, so I called the customer service number at the top of the page, which it says to do if you haven’t received the credit in 14 days. They told me that the store had entered in a field incorrectly and that they couldn’t change it, I would have to call the store.
So I call the store, explain what I need, and am put on hold. After waiting 10 minutes, I call back, say that I’d been waiting 10 minutes on hold so I called back, and was told that the store was busy and that they’d call me back. I told them that wasn’t ok because I was calling them after they’d made a mistake and CS told me to call them. I gave him all the information, and he said he would have to call CS and then call me back.
30 minutes later, he calls back. Says it’s all fixed. Gives me the amounts, and they’re wrong — the price I’m being credited is less than the price on the receipt. I share that he says with a very annoyed tone that he can’t see what I have, he can’t see what «her screen» is so he can’t do anything. Tells me to call CS.
At this point, it’s the principle. I’m pissed off, but the way I’m being shuttled around is not ok. So I call CS. I explain that I’m frustrated because I’ve now spent over an hour of my Saturday afternoon trying to fix an issue created because their store messed up, but I never lost my temper, raised my voice, or swore — I was polite and firm for the entire call. She keeps insisting that she doesn’t know why I was «informed» (and I keep telling her «it’s on the receipt I’m looking at; this isn’t just my recollection of a conversation») the «incorrect» price, but there’s nothing she can do. Finally she says she’s going to put me on hold and talk to a supervisor. 30 seconds of hold music then nothing. Yep, she hung up on me.
I’m done spending my time with them. I’m going to share my experience with others on Unilocal,and encourage you to register at Macys or Crate and Barrel (we had a great experience with the Macys registry), use up my merch credits and then never set foot in another Williams Sonoma store.
The crazy thing? The total price differential was $ 10. For $ 10 they lost a customer and received a one star review on Unilocal

Today I was in the Corte Madera store and will never go back. After selecting a decanter that was marked for $ 65 dollars we went to the counter to pay and it rang up at $ 99. When we questioned the lady at the register she said it was $ 99 dollars. We explained that it is displayed at another price. Out of nowhere another employee of theirs, a young guy who was helping with a cooking demonstration, came and grabbed the decanter and said «if you don’t want to pay the $ 99 dollars then don’t buy it.» We explained to him that it’s advertised in the store at another price and he said «o’well it’s $ 99.»
My husband and I were shocked by how rude he was being. Other customers were starting to argue with him on our behalf! Being pregnant we decided that the stress that this guy was causing was not worth it. We decided to not purchase the other items we picked out as well and left. We went home and purchased the items we wanted from a competitor online. It’s really a shame that their employees treat customers this way. No customer should leave a store fighting back tears.
They also had a cooking demonstration today… Sunday…3^rd one before Christmas! Your couldn’t access a good amount of items in the store because their were chairs spread out for people to sit in blocking the shelves and displays. I guess the person who planned that one didn’t think about how busy and chaotic that would be for customers.

How can any foodie who cooks not like Williams-​Sonoma?
It’s located in the open mall in Corte Madera. Went in to oogle and drool at the cooking paraphernalia. I felt inspired after cooking my first recipe out of Julia Child’s «Mastering the Art of French Cooking», her famed boeuf (beef) bourguignon. Next, will be her soupe a l’oignon (onion soup). No, I have no plans to be like that woman in the movie, «Julie and Julia» who tries to cook thru the whole book in one year and blogs about it. I don’t need the craziness of living like that. Amen.
I ended up walking out with a couple of sale items and not pots nor pans. Not even a new pair of their heavy duty, ultra thick oven mitts which are wonderful.
Found a jar of gourmet Haleakala red salt on sale. You can sprinkle on butter before you use it on bread or season your food with it. And I love their hot chocolate mix, full of Guittard chocolate shavings, the last can also on sale. Yum! And, bottles of winter forest hand lotion (peppermint and chestnut too) was more than ½ off, great for moisturing those abused hands of mine subjected to harsh detergents from cleaning up mixing bowls, plates and cooking utensils used during cooking. It smells great, like evergreen and being out in the woods.
Julia Child, you’d be proud of me. Merci!

A stand out location where you’ll actually recognize staff from visit-​to-​visit. Even seasonal staff still has more knowledge base than that of other retailers. This location was our wedding registry site. Any issues we had were always in dealing with another store. Unlike many locations, you can find a number of items that may typically only be found online. So if you spot something online that you need last minute, doesn’t hurt to call up this location.

I love it here! Ask for help and learn how to use everything.
They’ll offer you food and drinks and friendly conversation.
Yay for cooks everywhere!

Ok — so I might be a little biased on this one, but free snacks while shopping. Whoot!
There is always something going on the cooks top for sampling, so just casually breeze in, walk around, and within minutes you are sure to be offered some Grapefruit Sangria Sparkler, or a mini Ham & Cheese Panini, or a small cup of Minestrone.
And while you are in there, check out the selection of fine foods, cake mixes, olive oils and balsamics.
Be the home chef you’ve always wanted to be.