apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I had a similar experience with getting 2 hooks about 6 weeks ago. It took forever even though the store was empty. The sales person complained to me that the hooks were poorly organized -- like it was my fault for asking for hooks he couldn't find. When the hooks finally appeared, it took 10 more minutes to check out while the sales people chatted about some other sale that they had made earlier in the day. I wanted to walk out, but after investing that much time (plus web research prior to going!) I was not leaving without my hooks.

I also occasionally shop at the RH in the Roosevelt Mall on LI and their service is not much better for small items. I noticed that they are more attentive to people looking for big ticket furniture etc.

RH - seems like I browse there a lot but never am convinced enough to buy anything. Then again, their style is a little too traditional and folksy for me

RH is one of my favorite stores but I must admit I've noticed a decline recently in their products ( more junkey gift items than what I'm actually there for! ) and in their customer service in general. All the people working there seem to be too busy and too important to help customers. If they're not helping customers what are they busy doing is my question? I bought some lampshades there recently and the whole experience was just ridiculous ( but I LOVE my lampshades )

Haven't been in RH for a few years and I was quite surprised when I visited a few weeks ago at the sheer lack of customer service. Though there were no other customers in sight, I kept getting referred to another salesperson for assistance and finally was assisted (an overstatement) by a woman who was so incompetent, I just gave up and left. (But not before this woman glanced at my toes inquired whether I'd recently had toe surgery--???!!! Lady, they're called wrinkles. You know, the ones that form from um, walking?)

MB

I had a similar experience there a few months ago, shopping for a lamp. First I browsed shades with the help of one clerk on the floor who was in contact with another clerk in the store room who was bringing out the styles I wanted to see. When I had selected what I wanted, I had to deal with a totally different clerk upstairs who was in radio contect with the initial clerk calling in my order over the phone. It took so long and was so involved, I nearly gave up and left before paying for the thing.

To be fair, the lamp arrived sooner than expected and picking it up was a breeze. Next time, I'll order online.

"resto" is VERY cult-like.
i work for a company (that will remain nameless) that hired a former big-wig from their company to turn ours around. she left after a year-long stint here, but managed to turn our own kind company into something equally clique-ish. it's become like high school all over again - who is a part of her cool crowd, and who just doesn't cut it.
i imagine working for them as a "lowly" customer service rep was horrendous.
AND, i know just what you mean - we had a similar experience shopping for 4 shelf brackets this weekend ... 15 minutes of walkie-talking to realize the brackets were nowhere to be found.
funny that their product has seemed to go downhill, but their prices keep sky-rocketing ...

This is a plug for the Container Store, esp. vis-a-vis your RH experience.

I was looking for shelving and hooks a couple of weeks back and was blown away by their customer service. The sales staffers were attentive, kind and knowledgable but not in a fake/zombie kinda way (like, for instance, Starbucks folks can be). And they sure had lots of hooks! If I were considering a housewares/storage need and RH had what I wanted, I'd check to see if the CS didn't have something comparable (since RH prices seem preternaturally high, I don't shop there much, anyway). The Container Store delivered a genuinely pleasant retail experience.

[I have no affiliation with CS except as a recent and very impressed customer.]

I was at an RH, all I wanted was one single drawer pull, no one else was in the store and there were two clerks and a manager working.

I asked the manager for help, she told me someone would be right with me, 5 minutes later another couple was waiting looking for knobs, I asked the same woman again and again she told me to wait.

I left.

only one clerk was busy (on the phone) so I can't imagine what was so important in an empty store that actual customers fell second to.

I too had a ridiculously long wait at a RH in PA last year. At the time I was heavily, and I mean heavily pregnant. I eventually just sat down on one of their very comfy couches to wait and when an assistant came to ask me if I needed help I told them I was being helped but it had been a while so I'd decided to rest my weary legs. Several assisatnts later the item was eventually tracked down in the backroom and as I was paying they did apologise and even told me if I came back in a few weeks with my receipt they'd give me a discount on the two bathroom sconces I'd just bought since they were about to have their annual lighting sale. I went back and got my discount!

I used to be the hugest RH fan ... in fact, an ex-boyfriend and I actually bonded over realizing we had a mutual love of the place - and although the traditional style doesn't generally fit into my own decor, I've always bought lots of knobs, hardware and most of my year's Christmas and birthday gifts there.

No more.

After a half hour waiting for a gift I was buying (a picnic basket for my parents), when it came time to ring me up, the clerk ran my debit card and without running it twice (standard procedure, isn't it?) she very rudely (and loudly) announced that my credit card was over its limit... for all to hear. Since I knew it was impossible that a $60 basket was breaking my $3,500 account balance, I asked her to please try it again. She replied, "if you have a problem with it, you can call your bank."

I asked to talk to the manager, which took another 15 minutes of waiting. While I WAS waiting, the same thing happened to another customer. (With the exact same rude handling by the cashier.) Turns out, their credit card/debit card system was down. Instead of apologizing for what she'd said and done (and for the fact that the service was down in the first place), the cashier announced that I needed to go get some cash and come back to buy the basket.

I never did see the manager, and my parents got a gift from Pottery Barn.

this consumer complaint was just posted yesterday

http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/consumer-alert/17000-in-damages-after-restoration-hardware-candleholder-melts-209447.php

it's about a Restoration Hardware candle holder that caused $17,000 in damages - but you can be the judge of it since the owner DID leave the flame unattended...

I'd be wary of ordering online, too. Earlier this summer I tried to order a chair from the RH website. The order was seemingly processed, but after weeks of waiting, no chair. When I called to inquire, I was told the chair style has been discontinued. I was miffed that I'd wasted time waiting, and no one had ever bothered to call or e-mail me.

i like their stocking stuffers and think their sheets are comfy. i've never asked for assistance as I'd rather just find things on my own.

I recently had a disconcerting experience at the Restoration Hardware in Westport, Connecticut (admittedly a town with way too much retail attitude). When I went to the counter to pay for items, I was chastized for taking merchandise (towels) from the vast array of... merchandise. It wasn't a store display - it was their inventory of bathroom towels, etc. The staff person was sufficiently rude and abrupt to cause me to think, "Wait... I'm the customer, I'm planning to pay for this, and I'm considering walking out and leaving several hundred dollars worth of merchandise on your counter to be reshelved." I doubt these problems are unique to RH; there seems to be a sense of confusion about the whole dynamic of the retail transaction.

Since retail personnel seem to behave as if they're on Broadway, perhaps giving the store manager top billing and posting her/his name at the front door might at least give customers either a fighting chance or a name to hurl with expletives attached. If an actor can bomb on Broadway, why not let a store manager take a few critical arrows as well? Will the manager of the RH in question step forth and take an ill-deserved bow?

this is why i shop at gracious home.

I had two similar experiences. On Oct. 7 I went into the restoration hardware store get a bridal shower gift. I waited for 25 minutes until someone could print out the registry list (they only had ONE sales associate working). After this, it took 35 minutes, for the sales associate to have the ONE inventory employee to search for it, and eventually return with the wrong lamp. After another 15 minutes, I said, can you just order it an rush to me? He said, no problem. I informed him the shower is October 28th and he said he would order the lamp, and remove it from the registry. Lo and behold, he never removed it from the registry, so it is still shown as unpurchased. But more importantly, he neglected to tell me it was backordered until mid january!
Realizing I hadn't received it yet, I called this week, only to learn of the backorder situation. Customer service tracked down the same lamp for me in Louisiana and the store had me pay for 2nd day air, so that I would get it today (thursday 10/26) in time for Saturday's shower. I called yesterday to get the tracking number, and was informed that they ACCIDENTALLY sent the lamp out ground, and I will now be receiving it Monday-- AFTER the shower.
I called customer service, who while they were looking into this issue for me, brought up the fact that another order i had placed through them online was ACCIDENTALLY cancelled on their end of the system, so it had to be regenerated and i would not be receiving that for about 7 business days.
I cannot express how unhappy I am with this level of service. I have now experienced MAJOR problems through both the retail and online stores. Their proposed solution is to simply send me a small gift card. Sadly, this will not help my lamp arrive any sooner for Saturday's shower and now necessitates me running out and getting a 2nd rate gift. UGH!

I have had similar annoying experiences at RH over the past year. We recently bought a tall cartwright linen cabinet, the matching over the toilet cabinet, and a chatham mirror. All three items came in at different times over the past year after being backordered of course, and all three were broken! we had to return the items and wait again while the replacements were on backorder. since these were three separate orders , we just can't believe were are so unlucky as to have had this happen three times. I think something is wrong with their system, more items should be in stock and they need to be packed or shipped more carefully.

Sounds as if RH needs a rebrand and an attitude adjustment to boot. Yikes! I have to wonder, aside from the horrible service that you all have experience there, do stores totally lose their minds when "The Holidays" hit, or what?? I notice it thing with RH, as they stock up on a bunch of holiday JUNK, and it pains my heart to say this, but it even happens at my beloved Container Store! Ack!

Come holiday time, the center of the store turns into Winter Wonderland, which is great with all the gorgeous (and pricy) wrapping papers, gift bags, etc. but it also has a TON of silly crap that totally flies in the face of the whole Container Store brand! They load up on clutter and call it "stocking stuffers". It bums me out and you KNOW how much I hate calling out one of my favorite retailers like that because their product lines and service are excellent! But if you're listening, Container Store... please 86 the cluttery holiday gift thing! Ack!
~Monica

Blogging about a bad experience, to me, being in the furniture retail business, is more time consuming than the actual experience itself and everyone piping in? Just waisted energy: complaining.

I work retail...and no....complaining is not in vain. Blogging about is not in vain either.
Best yet....voting with your pocket book. I have walked more than my share of purchases because of bad service. It's not worth the grief, time, or money, to suffer poor service when there are way too many others waiting for your sale.
The bad attitude you talk about at Restoration? The clique....the cult? They all stem from the William Sonoma/Pottery Barn brain set that the CEO and upper management come from.
(I won't shop there either)

P.S. RH has been in deep financial doo-doo for quite some time. Do you wonder why?

Used to LOVE RH, now it makes me sad.
1. in store customer service for small items=terrible (small items that are difficult to shop for online so you have to go to store- unfortunately they are difiicult to find at other sources too.)
2. scale. apparently targeting the mc mansion set, their pieces have all grown to ridiculous gargantuan proportion.
3. after 2 terrible online orders i swore them off, but couldn't help ordering some lamps during sale.
**the lamps were of horrible quality- glass but interior clouded with wierd crystallization- uncleanable AND they sent me the wrong shade (way too big)

i'm done. whatever "uniqueness" within the chain market they had is dead.

Retail is hell and the wages are so low you hardly want to get out of bed to go to work. Understand that the average clerk in RH (and Whole Foods, Pottery Barn, etc) make about 9.00 an hour. So little money with no vested interest in either the company, nor their jobs, means poor service. The problem doesn't lie with just the clerks. Upper management and the executive staff have a hand in it, too. Low wages (lower payroll brings bigger bonus') means bottom of the barrel hiring pool, a lack of commitment, and thus: poor customer service.

Vote with your wallets. Maybe the message will start to sink in.

I'm glad to hear this was not only me. I returned a horrendously overpriced Scrabble game my dad bought me as a gift (he didn't see it, but ordered it from the catalog, and was disappointed in the quality). They wouldn't credit his card because it was a catalog purchase returned in the store. So, they issued me a gift certificate by mail. I eventually went to the store to buy a floor lamp. I had a horrible time getting help. Then, when I did get "help," I finally decided on a lamp. I waited forever (something like 45 minutes or more) out on the loading dock for someone to bring it to me as the mall security guard kept driving by. I finally got the lamp and drove home. As it turns out, this was the wrong lamp. I drove back out to the mall and returned it. I was lucky and got someone who credited my credit card instead of issuing another gift certificate. anyway, needless to say, I haven't been back...

In a word: Kennedyhardware.com

This "mom & pop" family store in the mid-west beats out RH hands down. More friendly than you will ever get in the mall! And their product gets sent out ASAP.
You'll find your pulls, hinges and real old time stuff here, it's great!
Once I found that they carried the real stuff that RH copies, I was in heaven, and haven't entered RH since.

The absolute worst customer experience ever has been with RH, and eight months later it is still going on. To keep it short (so I don't end up blowing my brains out) ordered a sofa in August 2006, manufacturer went bankrupt, no one told me, lost order, found order, 5 month delay in delivery, sofa arrives with missing part (the clip to keep a sectional attached), sent an third-party company to assess, RH claims they didn't file paperwork (when they did, because someone from RH called me to tell me they did) and thus the part never got ordered. I personally hope RH goes bankrupt and that the leaders of this inept, detached company are jobless. Sadly, so will many worker bees, but my god how bad can a company be before someone at the top listens to the complaints?

As a customer service rep, part of the reason that customer service is too poor in today's retail is simply that the people whose job it is to help the customer of their company is met with nothing but complaints yelling and aggravation from customers who expect everything to happen instantly and want everything for free. Try for once not complaining or yelling at the poor person on the other end of the phone who is trying to eek out a living while putting themselves through school and was just unlucky enough to get your call. Realize that the LARGE majority of stores out there are doing their best to get you your stuff as quickly as possible. And for heavens sake, remember that the company isn't doing this for their health, so donÂ’t complain about the shipping charges just because you donÂ’t like them.

You people are unbelievable.

Something's wrong with our system eh? I think something's wrong with the fact that you people probably never worked in a warehouse and never will. Items get damaged ALL of the time in ANY retailer ANYWHERE: Best Buy, Circut City, Pottery Barn, William Sonoma, anywhere! The employees at the store get treated like crap all the time by prissy stuck up individuals who have all the money in the world to shell out while the employees make next to nothing. I hope all of your items arrive broken for the next 20 years to teach you all a lesson, and hope that you start to have patience and understanding for the people that help you. You think not shopping with Restoration Hardware is going to do anything?
I zone out at the customers that start to complain and it just makes me not want to help them more. Cry me a river! I've had one customer to date actually suggest to me his own shipping and distribution company instead of the current ones we use because of his experience. He received help and his issue was eventually resolved, but he actually made a proper suggestion, and I directed him to corporate because I thought it was a decent request. If he thinks that his company can do better, I say let him try and when he fails, he can be to blame and feel like a moron for trying to step up to a position where everyone can't be happy. There's always going to be problems, there's always going to be issues. Learn to accept the fact that stuff happens and instead of crying like you're being singled out, and accept the fact that you've been a victim of circumstance and bad luck.

I am in the middle of a nightmare with RH's customer service. Ordered the Lancaster couch in the supposed "stocked" color/fabric and two months later still no couch. shockingly poor customer service, unresponsive, clueless people on the phone with no information and they seem encouraged to lie & mislead about expected dates, etc. Four different people on 4 different calls said they would call back the next day with more info. They seem to have no insight into vendors/delivery times, and are very misleading about everything. Very, very frustrating. I was intending to buy matching pieces and other things from RH, but now won't and am strongly considering canceling the couch in a few days if i don't hear it is on its way.

meant to say "said they would call back and NEVER DID" in the post above.

I have to say I am very pleased to find this little beef session on RH. I worked for RH back when its founder was still at the helm. Store management was the, evidently omnipresent, twenty-thirty something clique then and I didn't last long, but the hardware was better and came with all those strange hole spacings you find on older pieces of furniture, the lighting and the furniture were made in America and the store sold a library of restoration products and books on everything from old house construction to how to grow a potager ... the store was very much about restoring and decorating older homes and educating consumers. The company was small, its business equipment antiquated, but it had a bright future, or so it seemed. Somewhere between then and my return the founder disappeared and a former CEO of W&S/PotteryBarn/C&B had become Resto's. I had returned as a part timer after being encouraged by an elder employee who didn't last the year as it turned out, few do. In five years I survived about 5 sets of twenty-thirty something gangstalking hens and roosters and their pecking cliques while in spite of my Ivy education and 6 figure student loan debt my part time wage never nudged over the $8.90 mark, the reviews I was given would have rated somewhere around a D no matter how poorly or well I performed, Very insulting and condescending to a former A student who in spite of it all worked very hard to put the idiots behind and the store mission forward and never once was voted title Real Hero. It occurred to me at one point that I was having to sign a good deal of intimidating legalese for an employee whose earnings were slightly above minimum wage. I even served an entire winter of all "on-call" shifts and no real ones while management scheduled themselves. The company is now gone private and our altered division now seeks to strip me further certain liberties I accepted as compensation for tolerating bad pay, ill treatment and NO future. More and more junk from China came rolling off the pallets, the American lighting manufacturer became history and certain pieces of furniture, even pieces the "American made" furniture ... made or assembled in the third world returning under the "Resto" label rendering manufactures invisible. The hardware has been size standardized, the restoration products all come in slick resto packaging, the library went missing and all those fabulous Iron urns and garden embellishments became things of the past. Outside of a slightly expanding pallet of colors and fabrics I sense that dumbing down the masses rather than educating them, became the objective. So much for the distinguishing marks of the enterprise. It had been rumored that they were threatening to take all of that Christmas junk away, but they came forward with more and more of it ... due to consumer complaints? Is there a holiday consumer out there who gets a basket shoved in the face upon entering lacking savvy to the expectation that it is to be filled up to the anticipated 3 to 500 dollar capacity, that secret shoppers are employed to ensure that baskets get shoved in faces to the tune of an obnoxious who, who and you? and that this is considered to be customer service? Devoid of the mission I think my 6 figure education had better move on to a place where it would be appreciated, if such a place exists in today's economy. If there is, I doubt it will be in retail. Antiquated cash registers remain the same as a decade ago though computer terminals have appeared in place of phoning an order to a real human being along with the advent of the nowhere zone called the SOC, uh which is not the catalog, has no location and no phone number, and accomplished little regarding too many numbers to identify one piece, depending on the source or having a sale by one source and not by another so that finding a price could be a thesis.

D. Lawless Hardware is another small operation from the midwest. Isn't it weird how little guys that nobody knows about can offer cheaper prices and better service than the big guys that offer neither? How'd they get there in the first place?

Don't order furniture from RestorationHardware.com if you actually want your furniture to arrive - or for customer service reps to tell you the truth. Over three months ago, we ordered two Lancaster sofas. In the meantime, though they say they won't charge your credit card until shipment, our card has been overcharged and we've made dozens of calls and website inquiries about getting credits and/or updated delivery dates. The reps seem to be trained to lie to customers that, a) the furniture "is on the truck will be delivered within a couple days," b) the credit will be posted "within a few business days" and c) I'll "follow up with you by phone tomorrow." Avoid this company unless you're a masochist.

I am 2 months into a horrible experience with RH.com. I ordered items online during the bath sale but when the backordered items shipped, I was charged the non-sale price, despite what my order confirmation had said. I called customer service and they said they would credit my card. 1 month and numerous calls later, I still haven't received the credit. In addition I return items on another order totally $1k and again, no credit processed. I am disputing with credit card now. I think the quality is good for the price, but I think the company lacks controls, has issues with inventory management/ordering systems and needs a major overhaul. For a different order I placed online the email confirmation came with the wrong prices and it took an hour on the phone with customer service to point out that the math on the email wasn't even correct. Looks like they were just bought out by some investment cap firms so maybe they'll switch things around. .

I have other outstanding orders with them that are scheduled for delivery this Saturday. My expectations are so low I'll be surpised if I even get all the items, let alone undamaged.

I advise anyone to not order items online until they get their act together, unless you're prepared to be overcharged, unable to get refunds, spend 6 hours on the phone with customer service, and get damaged items sent to you.

I probably should have searched out this thread BEFORE ordering lampshades online just moments ago. Whoops.

Fingers crossed that it all works out.

I order a Lancaster couch and chairs online 8 days ago. I'm enjoying the couch, beautiful and undamaged, as I write this comment.

Two days after I ordered online, I got a confirmation email (which didn't say much). Two days later, I got a call from the delivery company. Two (business) days later, they delivered. I'm 1 1/2 hours outside of NYC.

Maybe they got their acts together :)