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It Must be Nice to be Williams Sonoma.

August 28th, 2023 by Kenneth Abrahams

Rarely, in this blog do I refer to an organization or company by name. Often it is “this company or that company” but not today. Here is my sad tale of woe. Bear with me because this goes back to Christmas 2022.

To be fair, I am not easy to buy gifts for. If I truly want something, I usually go buy it myself, yes this frustrates family and friends. As I get older it just gets worse. In the last 5 years we have rented 3 or 4 dumpsters and filled them, purging our house, shed and garage of things that have accumulated over the past 3 plus decades of living here. So, acquiring more stuff is simply not on my list of 10 things I need to do before I die. That being said, during the holidays and on birthdays people give gifts and they want those gifts to be appreciated.

As some of you may know, I have a few, okay more than a few, items of apparel that are orange so that is often a favorite gift to me from people. Along with the 3 dumpsters, I have also donated 6–10 bags of clothes to charity, so I don’t need more shirts, hats, jackets, socks, or fleece pullovers. One thing that I love are kitchen gadgets and tools. Knowing this, one of my sons went to Williams-Sonoma to buy me a knife. It is a beautiful Japanese knife manufactured by Shun. If you are a fan of fine cutlery you know that for years Germany controlled the market for high end knives. Over the last few decades, Japanese knives are grabbing a larger piece of that pie. Their steel has greatly improved, they take and hold an edge very well. They are also beautifully designed often using Damascus steel which creates a striking pattern on the blade. Unfortunately, the only knife that the store he went to had, that he liked, was a bread knife. His thought was that if I didn’t want that knife, I could return it for something that I would use instead. Hard to fault him for his logic.

Two things that the store personnel neglected to tell him was that the store in the Natick Mall, where he purchased the knife, was closing shortly after the New Year, and they have a very hard and fast return or refund policy of 30 days, regardless of the time of year. Clearly, I wasn’t there when he made the purchase, so you may be asking yourselves how I know that they didn’t tell him these very important tidbits of info. Believe it or not but, I too, made purchases right around the same time in that very same store and didn’t receive that information either. When I was in the store, I was struck by the lack of inventory that they had. Yes, it was right before Christmas, but the shelves and display cases seemed especially bare.

As I mentioned, the knife was beautiful, but I already have a bread knife. If you ever come to our house, you will see that I own a lot of knives, and things like Chef’s knives and paring knives I have multiples of. Bread knives are something that I don’t use very often so one of those is enough. A few weeks after Christmas, I went to Williams-Sonoma to exchange it but again found that there was even less stock on hand. Had I known that the clock was ticking on the return/refund period, I would have just asked for a refund or merchandise credit. Unfortunately, I did not. Several weeks after that, we walked by their location in Natick and it was closed, not for the day but permanently. Not thinking about it, the bread knife was left in a back bedroom until I had time to deal with it. A few months ago, was one of my rare trips to the office and after doing some research I realized that on my way home, I was going to pass by another Williams-Sonoma location. Put the knife in the car and after the office visit, I headed to the store. When I went in a salesperson greeted me and I explained I had received the knife as a gift and already had a bread knife and didn’t need a second one. She took the gift receipt and looked it up in the computer and then her whole demeanor changed. This was purchased 6 months ago, and our return/refund policy is 30 days. I explained that I wasn’t looking for a refund just a credit to a different product. Sadly, there were no exceptions. Patiently, I explained that the store had closed, and I didn’t get this way often. Sorry, no exceptions. Her manager was standing a few feet away and she glanced in his direction, he never looked at me just simply shook his head. To add insult to injury she cheerfully handed me back the knife and exclaimed that I was the proud owner of a beautiful bread knife.

As has been the case in the past off to Twitter (now X) I went. Mentioned Williams-Sonoma in a less than flattering tweet and got an immediate reply to DM (direct message) them. Of course, I did. They simply reiterated their policy NO EXCEPTIONS. When I told my wife about the frustrations of my day, she made it her mission to fix the little problem. We were heading to North Carolina in a few days and there were several of their stores between the airport and the city our son lived in. We stopped at a few of them with receipts and without receipts but had no luck. In one store, the manager agreed that the policy was stupid but that they were not allowed to override it.

This story has been retold several times and when I finish it people are amazed at the rigidity and poor customer service of the store. Of course, they regale me with stories of returns that went much more successfully at other stores. Home Depot taking back an item almost 2 years old, wearing clothing to an event and keeping the tags on then returning it for a full refund. Bringing a defective item to a retailer a year after purchase and receiving a new version of that item no questions asked. We bought several appliances from a local retailer, Yale Appliance, and had an issue with our stove. While the technician was here to fix the problem, he noticed a few other issues with the stove and that it was nearing the end of the warranty period, so he put in a work order to cover the additional problems so it wouldn’t cost us a penny. Now that is great customer service.

In thinking about this whole debacle and the way that Williams-Sonoma treats customers, I drew some comparisons between our business and theirs. We both sell to the public and offer items that are not unique to our brand. As technology and buying habits change, we are both (although differently) to some degree at the mercy of Amazon, Etsy, and other online sites that offer similar products or services at a lower price point than we do. While we were trying to return the knife, I thought maybe I could return it to Amazon. No such luck but saw the same knife I had in my possession was a whopping $40 or 20% less on Amazon. That I believe is where the comparison ends. We see the people that do business with us as clients. They are under our care and protection. Our hope is that we form lasting relationships that build trust and loyalty over time. Clearly, Williams-Sonoma just wants customers as a transactional relationship. Get them in, grab their money and get them out again. We empower our staff to make decisions on the spot, in real time, or after an event to ensure that our clients are happy with the service provided.

It must be nice to be Williams-Sonoma. They are not the cheapest in terms of price. When it comes to returns and refunds, they have a strict and short window to return and refund items. Locations seem to be closing so there are less stores to go into. Staff members hands are tied when it comes to helping customers and no exceptions can be made without corporate input. Perhaps, they haven’t looked at the landscape of brick-and-mortar locations. Once giants of the retail world like Sears, Circuit City, Kmart, and JC Penny have either closed up shop or been drastically downsized. Amazon continues to grow at an alarming rate, but undaunted Williams-Sonoma will continue to do business as usual. It must be nice to be Williams-Sonoma.

About the Author

Ken Abrahams is the proud owner of a very nice bread knife that is still sitting in the back bedroom of his house. It is just waiting for the perfect re-gifting opportunity or to go to eBay. He is also the VP for Client Relations for FUN Enterprises, Inc. a job he loves and takes seriously.

To find out more about the company go to our website www.funent.com you can also go to this link to sign up for our newsletter which comes out about 6 times a year    https://funent.com/subscribe-to-the-funny-pages/.  Our newsletter will tell you more about the company and the products and services we offer as well as some games, things to do, and the occasional cooking tip.