- Report: #1189138
Complaint Review: Wesl -
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Wesl
USA
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Williams-Sonoma , Inc./West elm West elm Internet purchase fraud San Francisco Nationwide
After being a Pottery Barn/West Elm customer for over 10 years I was surprised yesterday with a disclaimer that a retailer can change their prices after an order is placed. I opened my email yesterday morning and found a message from west elm with an offer for 15% off on sofas. I clicked at the offer, connected to their site and found really great prices on 3 pieces (see first image below). The order was concluded with an order number and even estimated delivery date. Yesterday evening I got another message saying that there was an error on their system and the prices had to be updated (second image). My order went from just over $1,300 to $3,700! But as a consolation prize they also sent me another message with a 20% off on my next purchase. I immediately contacted the company and asked that they cancelled the $3,700 order and honor my original order. The response came today, a phone call saying that west elm would not honor the price of my original order, but would credit my card for the full $3,700 amount. I asked how could this be appropriate business practice and the answer was since they have a disclaimer saying that prices can be changed even after an order is placed, then it's ok. The whole thing was such a scheme that the company even changed one of their item number on the "updated" order! Imagine if a customer walks into a store makes a purchase and then after leaving the store an employee comes after the customer and asks that he/she pays more for the product since there was a mistake in their system and the paid price at the register was incorrect. Isn't that absurd? That's the situation I encountered at west elm, after "leaving" their store someone came running after me saying that I needed to pay more money if I wanted to keep my order. Also, is it legal to charge someone's credit card for an amount that was not authorized by the account holder? At the end of this disrespectful customer service, I walked out with no financial loss since the order was cancelled, but I'm filling this compliant to alert that internet purchases should be treated the same way as a physical in-store purchase. Once the client orders and the company issues an order number, the price on that transaction must be honored!
