Williams Sonoma

As unique or nice as an item is here, it will be equally as expensive. I understand paying premium price for premium items, but this place has some questionable items that would only be worth taking a chance on only if it were on sale. Don’t get me wrong. I like W-​S, and ever since I was a kid I was taught that this is one of the best places to get gifts for those whose main interests are of the culinary sort, and that having been said, their items are highly overpriced and cashing in solely on name recognition and not a firm history of quality.

The sad tale of the Christmas Gift… FROM HELL. Or Williams-​Sonoma. In this case, about the same thing. I get a Philips Air Fryer for Christmas. It had to be bought through their web store because they don’t carry the large black ones in their retail stores. Just white. Why? Dunno. Anyway, they should be reasonably quiet, and mine sounded like the clanking fan blade on a 2008 Honda Civic. I called Philips. The operator, listening to the noise, diagnosed the problem: It’s defective. Surprise. «Where did you buy it?» «Why, Williams-​Sonoma» «OH, just take it into them and they’ll exchange it for you. And thus began my descent into their sloppy bureaucratic underworld. I took the unit into the store. The store staff are generally pretty nice and pleasant. The gentleman took the return for the catalog store and told me that they would ship out a replacement 7 – 10 days. I could have bought one on the post-​Christmas sale for 50% off, but I did the exchange because it was supposed to be quick. So I waited. And waited. It never came. We called the catalog people. They claimed they refunded my money. I went to the store. The nice assistant manager looked it up again, and it shows as a replace, not refund. He calls them. They show it as a replace, but they never shipped it. Why? They don’t know. So they gave me a $ 25 credit for the trouble, and said they would send out another one. 8 – 15 days. So I waited. And waited. And this one never came either. We went to the store and met one of the assistant managers who is probably better suited to teach public school 8^th grade than run a store. She was not happy and friendly. She was a little put out that she had to deal with a «catalog» issue. My wife got fed up with her attitude and now asked to refund on the unit. Except that I wanted the unit. So I went back to the store and spoke to the 8^th grade teacher. Two minutes and I realize she’s going to be no help. «Call the catalog store» she said, brushing me off, which, if this was an outlet store, I would be okay with, but this is WILLIAMS-​SONOMA, where you pay premium prices for the friendly service and outreach. I called the catalog store. I got a very officious woman who sounded like her last job might have been the DMV. She wants to send me another unit now at another 8 – 15 days. I say NO WAY. I ask to be put on with a supervisor. She makes me wait 20 minutes. I wait. He got on and was nice, and apologetic, and offered to 2 day the shipment and give me a little more off for the trouble. Ok. Great. So I wait. And wait. And it shows up as a three-​day shipment, but it shows up. When I open the box, it’s weird. The unit has been tilted sideways to fit in the box, which isn’t a good idea. I pull it out. And I did a double-​take: IT’S MY OLD, BROKEN UNIT!!! I accidentally nicked the box with the tape gun in a particular way that made a small puncture in it. It was there on the box I opened it. I plugged it in: 747 clanking full throttle mess! I put it back in the box. I returned it to the Boca store. I WILL NEVER BUY from W-​S catalog again. Ever. What incompetents. And the store is unable to do ZERO to do what they should do, which is act as the customer’s advocate IF THEY AREN’T ALLOWED TO SELL CERTAIN STYLES OR COLORS. Infuriating! I got my money back and ordered it off of
for more $$, but at least I’ll get it, it will be in one piece, and I’ll be able to USE IT.

I love Williams Sonoma in general, don’t get me wrong. But I had to take off a star for this location’s customer service because there is never anyone available to help you. And the other star for the «techniques class» because it was rather silly. No techniques were taught. Nothing was really «cooked» because it was pretty much all pre-​made from the kits they sell in the store and we didn’t even witness that being prepared because it was done prior to the class time. So calling this any type of cooking class is an outright lie. If you want a bite or two of so-​so free food and a 10% discount, then yes, sure, go to these. But don’t expect to learn anything. Otherwise, this store stocks some pretty awesome kitchen equipment that I can take home and do some real cooking with (from scratch, not with pre-​fab kits). What seems most absurd is that anyone who is going to invest this kind of money on fancy kitchen gear should be a somewhat accomplished cook — right? Why such an insulting cooking demo?

I love williams & Sonoma, however I really don’t like this particular store. Service is really poor and manager Goldman created a disaster when I needed to return something. I understand mistakes happen but rather than fix it the manager said «please don’t contact corporate because it will screw-​up our store rating.» I will give other locations my business instead.

I used to be a frequent customer at the Miami (Lincoln road location) and am appalled by how poorly I got treated in this store. Rudest employees and worst customer service I’ve ever dealt with. No one wanted to help me to start. When I asked for help she corrected me on what the name of the item was while she scoffed at me. They made me wait in a line that made no sense far away from the register. I got cut by other customers, I told the employee that they cut me off and she said «oh that’s not good» and then walked away clearly not giving a hoot. Was so mad when I left, when I got in the car and explained what happened to my boyfriend I started crying… because it was THAT bad. Won’t be coming back to this location EVER again. I wanted to buy more stuff and left because I couldn’t stand being demeaned any longer. To top it off when I got my item home it had a big chip in it!!!

I love this store. It always smells delicious. Lovely kitchen items and great occasional clearance stuff you may not truly need but are so cool you buy it anyways.

I have been to this location quite a few times, mainly just to pick up coffee and other small items. Went in today to purchase a juicer, and another bad experience. The staff and management is horrible here. There is always someone working the register that was quite possibly hired earlier that day. When they mess up while checking me out the manager has to come finish the job, then looks at me with an attitude and acts as if I did something wrong… Have yet to meet a friendly employee, and since there will not be a next time, guess I never will!!!

Huge fan of the eclectic and — somewhat pricey — gear, gadgets and gourmand goodies. We’ve made substantial «investments» here over the years (pricy coffee/​cappucino/​espresso machines, pots/​pans/​specialty grilles, etc.) — and while there are certainly more affordable and competitive products out there… sometimes you just have to splurge!
We’ve never been disappointed s WS’s stuff is built to last.
Highly recommended. Great staff. Friendly. Knowledgeable.

I really loathe registering. Give me one of those zapping registry guns in the Bloomingdale’s shoe department and I’d have a registry full of shoes in no time, but put me in the home section and I have absolutely no idea what to do with it. Or better yet what any pot and pan is for…
Williams Sonoma was my third registry stop for the day (I’m also registered at Bloomingdale’s and Neimans if you’re just dying to buy us a gift :)). I walked into this particular Williams Sonoma (located in the Town Center Mall) with a mission… to be finished registering within 20 minutes. And thanks to the gentleman helping me out here (I believe his name was Chris) I accomplished my mission… finally a little bit of help in the registry world!
And thanks to Williams Sonoma I now know the difference between a blender and a Cuisinart as well as the best pots/​pans to buy. And who knew buying the perfect knives were so difficult? Now if only my friend Chris from WS would come over and whip up a delicious meal in my lovely new pots and pans…