Brian R.
Yelp
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 8th 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 8th 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 Amazon.com for more $$, but at least I'll get it, it will be in one piece, and I'll be able to USE IT.