life and puppies

As you know, Dear Reader, I spent a lot of time recently agonizing over the Great Sideboard Debate of 2015. While real issues plague the world, and the great state of Wisconsin continues to crumble, I thought I could do some good by brightening my dining room and bringing some control to the chaos of the house. While I valued all of the other opinions I got, I went with my gut and chose the Modern Buffet from West Elm in white. Unlike many of the other pieces I had debated buying, I had had been able to see the WE piece in person. But, if I’m honest, that’s not really what did it. I just found it swoon-worthy. I liked the nod to mid-century, but the white added the modern effect I wanted. And because I had some reward dollars, I figured I could bite the bullet on the delivery cost. It was in the mid-to-high range compared to the cost of the others I was considering, but I didn’t want to buy another ho-hum piece just to save money because I knew I’d end up selling it in a couple of years and buying something else, ultimately spending more. So, the Modern Buffet won out. And, I honestly love it.

It’s got a great amount of storage while also being smaller than our last piece that was there (which took up too much room), it’s as sleek in person as it looks in the pictures and it’s simple. It’s probably not the highest quality, as I’ve noticed I sometimes have trouble getting the drawers to be flush when closed. But, it’s pretty. So. Pretty.

But then I noticed a funny thing. West Elm has now discounted the piece $240 from when I bought it a short three months ago. Two. Hundred. Forty. Dollars. That’s a lot of dollars. So, I contacted them to see what they may offer to do. I asked for a price adjustment or a discount or something. I honestly didn’t expect a lot, but I thought they might toss a coupon at me because, frankly, really?! That’s a pretty significant cut to a piece that people so recently forked over a lot for. Anyway, the first message I received was, “Nope. We don’t do that.” Or something along those lines. I wasn’t surprised, but I said that I was disappointed. In my first email, I’d sent a link to my blog and Instagram to show how into the piece I’d been. In this second email I said that I’d put their response up on the blog. I know that this wasn’t exactly a terrifying threat, but I like to blog about customer service, so I thought, why not just tell them? Well! I then got a response back that said that while they could no longer give me a price adjustment, they could send me a merchandise card for the difference. Darn it if that didn’t just sound like the bees’ knees! Suddenly I felt like I was dealing with Crate and Barrel!* I got so excited.

And then today? I open up my email and there is a great big, “J to the K” staring at me. This is what it says,

Hello Kate,

Thank you for contacting west elm.

It is always difficult when we must tell our customers we aren’t able to fulfill an offer another associate has offered. However, in this instance, we must. Our sales price adjustments cannot be extended beyond orders having been placed 30 days previously or orders that have already shipped. Unfortunately, as your order had been placed over 90 days ago, we are not able to honor a sales price adjustment. I sincerely apologize for the incorrect information previously offered and any inconvenience this may have caused.

If we may be of any further assistance, please contact us via email.  Alternatively, you may contact our Customer Service Department directly at 1(866) 937-8356 from 5:00am to 9:00pm (PST) Monday-Friday or 6:00am to 6:00pm (PST) Saturday-Sunday.

Kind regards,

Xxxx Xxxx

west elm

Customer Service

I have decided to redact this poor customer service rep’s name because I realize it is not her fault (I don’t think) that she doesn’t get to work for Crate and Barrel or Minted or Glasses.com or any of the other amazing companies out there that are killing it with their treatment of the consumer. But, WHAT?!?!? First, the second woman did not say she was giving a price adjustment. In fact, she specifically said she couldn’t do that, but she could do something else. But this email sure makes it sound like nothing else will be done. Second, argh.

No, yes, no.

I still love the sideboard, but this is just annoying.

UPDATE: And after much emailing back and forth in which I expressed my disappointment over WE not following through, they have agreed (for the moment) to send me an $80.20 gift card (how they arrived at that number, I have no idea). So, we’ll see what tomorrow’s email says.

*Crate and Barrel recently price-matched something that was selling for less on Amazon and it really couldn’t have been easier to have them do it. I mean, I suppose it took a little time on the phone, but the woman was super nice and the whole process was dreamy. C&B forever!