[shel]

Hello Shel,

Thank you for contacting Williams-Sonoma.


Please know Williams-Sonoma strives to offer quality merchandise and service to our customers. When it is brought to our attention that we have not met our customers' expectations, it is disheartening to us.
As the customer's use of a knife may not be covered by the store's insurance, this policy may be set by the individual store.

When customers share their comments with us they are forwarded to the appropriate department for later review, so that new ideas and programs can be implemented if necessary. Unfortunately, our Corporate Departments are unable to reply directly regarding each individual submission.

We truly appreciate the time you took to share your experience with us.


If we may be of any further assistance, please contact us via email. Alternately, you may contact our Customer Service Department directly at 1(800) 541-1262 from 7:00am to 11:00pm (CST), seven days a week.

Kind regards,

Stefan Hone
Williams-Sonoma
Customer Service




--- Original Message ---
From: SCB
Received: 6/28/08 7:53:29 PM CDT
To: feedback@williams-sonoma.com
Subject: Feedback: Other

Name: SCB
Email: xxxxxxxxxxxx
Zip: 94707

Message Text:
I was in your Emeryville, California store and received poor service and
was treated rudely. The clerk wouldn't let me try a couple of knives I was
interested in. When I asked to hold the knives and try them on a cutting
board to see how they felt and if I'd like them, I was told that couldn't
be done because then the knives would be "used." I thought the knives the
clerk showed me were demonstration knives. Shame on you for not allowing a
customer to try a product in the store, especially a knife. As any cook
knows, knives are a very personal kitchen tool, and having a knife that's
comfortable to use and handle can make the difference between a good, safe
cooking and preperation experience and a poor one.

Shel

[KYHeirloomer]

Shel,

That line about insurance is a new one. They never said that to me. So you got more response than I did from corporate.

But, as you'll see in my next post, it also runs counter to what a district manager had to say.

[KYHeirloomer]

Just an update on the Williams-Sonoma situation.

Apparently, any complaint filed with corporate is automatically forwarded to the appropriate district office.

A good thing, as the corporate customer service people are the next best thing to useless. I don’t begin to understand why they don’t just say that, instead of sending all the BS messages.

At any rate, I received an email from Lisa Arnold, the Midwest District Manager, who, among other things, said she’d like to discuss the problem. After a bit of phone tag we finally connected.

She was very sweet; very personable. In fact, in addition to the problem, we had a nice talk about food and cooking in general, and exchanged a few recipes.

She apologized profusely for the problem, thanked me for bringing it to their attention, and told me she’s spoken to “her team” in Lexington, to assure it wouldn’t happen again.

She also pointed out that W-S’s policy is to allow customers to handle the display knives, and that most of their stores actually have a pull-out cutting board for that purpose. The Lexington store lacks such a board because it’s old, and smaller than most. But that the clerk should have taken me somewhere in the store where I could have handled the knives properly.

She did not address the clerk’s stupid comment that I couldn’t play with the knives on a board because they would then be used knives. Obviously, the clerk made that up out of whole cloth for whatever reason.

She also indicated that at the next corporate meeting, in July, she would be talking to the appropriate people about making both the web page and the corporate customer service people a little more customer responsive.

Finally, she said, she hoped I wouldn’t let this experience sour me, and that I would give them another chance.

On my end, I pointed out that she was the only person in the W-S hierarchy who seemed to care, one way or the other. And I thanked her for her concern and for following-up. But that given the overall experience I’d had at both the retail and corporate ends, and given the store’s location, it was doubtful I would ever enter it again.

And that was that. Very friendly. And I certainly appreciate her follow up, even though there was no direct resolution of my problem. But maybe some good will come out of it, so that other customers don’t go through what I did.

[shel]

This morning I received a reply from the GM at the local Williams-Sonoma. Here it is:


Mr. Belinkoff,

I apologize for any inconvenience we caused your shopping experience at our store. Requesting to use the knives in our cutlery case is an unusual request, but one we should have at least attempted to accomidate you with. We would like to invite you back to fulfill your request. If you would like to contact me personally, I can even set up an appointment. We can offer as much assistace you would like.

Also, you are always welcome to take any of our products home, try them, and return them; if you are not completely satisfied with their performance.

We truly do want to have you back at our store; and hope we can make and continue to make your next visit a satisfying one.

Sincerely,
Alex Niehaus
General Manager Williams Sonoma Bay Street
510-658-6358

shel