West Elm Reviews 1,472

If you are looking for a $1,300 decorative paperweight that doubles as a safety hazard, then by all means, buy a West Elm recliner. If you actually expect a piece of furniture to last longer than a pair of sneakers, look elsewhere.

I invested $1,300 into this chair, expecting "West Elm quality." What I got was a structural disaster. Within five years, this "premium" piece of furniture literally started shedding hardware. Screws have fallen out of the internal frame. I don’t even know where they came from because the build quality is such a labyrinth of cheap shortcuts.

The current state of this $1,300 investment:

Mechanical Failure: The recliner portion refuses to go all the way back in. It hangs out like a broken limb, ruining the aesthetic and the function.

Aural Torture: It squeaks so loudly when you sit down that it sounds like a rusted gate in a windstorm. There is zero "luxury" left in this experience.

Zero Durability: For this price point, five years should be the "break-in" period, not the "total collapse" period.

The most insulting part? West Elm’s customer service. I contacted them to see if they would stand behind their expensive product, and the response was a resounding "not our problem." They have zero interest in accountability once they have your credit card number.

They don't stand behind their products because they know exactly what they’re selling: high-priced fast-furniture dressed up in a fancy catalog. Save your money and your sanity. Buy from a company that actually values its customers and understands the basic principles of furniture engineering. West Elm is a total letdown.

West Elm did not follow through. Couch was delayed over 2 months and then it did not fit in my apartment, which I had communicated was on the fifth floor multiple times. The agents showed up unaware of the fifth floor and gave up quickly. No refund. No follow up from customer service even though they said they would. Terrible. Don’t shop here or at any affiliated company.

Shelf. Made in china. Expensive floating kind. Paid a professional $100 to put it up with their anchors. Fell off wall, ripping the wall in the process.

West elm refuse to solve it.

Misleading stock photo color

I bought a quilt from West Elm because I fell in love with the color. The color was called Aegean and in the several stock photos, it looked like a light greyish blue, that reminded me of the ocean. When I received it, the quilt was a medium greyish/green. While I understand shades may differ a bit from stock photos and reality, this is RIDICULOUS. The problem isn't color accuracy on my monitor either as I use a $1,200 OLED monitor as well as a $1300 phone. Why is West Elm altering the color so much in stock photos? I do not like the color I received but it's way too much trouble to lug this huge quilt to return. I expect this from some generic quilt on Amazon, not a $250 quilt.

This will be my last purchase from West Elm, I feel completely scammed.

Product took over three weeks to come, when it did we realized we bought wrong items because the picture were misleading (we wanted stools, but the product we order by mistake were just the cushions. The main pictures of the product in their website were stools). We tried asking for a return on their customer service online and could not get to speak to a human. When we called their phone asking for help they said they couldn’t help.

Their products are way overpriced.

Honestly, I used to like West Elm - had a nice sofa I purchased from there about 10 years ago, and some nice knick knacks here and there (candles, etc.), however I've just moved to a new home and had to purchase a new bed and a new sofa.

I placed my order in November 2025, and the estimated delivery window for my bed was between January 22-Feb 5. It's now March 5, and I have yet to receive my order. I have called around 8 times, and spoken to multiple customer service representatives who have each given a different explanation of where my item is, and invariably telling me it will be arriving to the delivery warehouse in 2 weeks (though it never does). More than half of the customer service agents have been appallingly rude, it legitimately threw me off the first time one of them spoke to me with such an attitude, as I'm a generally respectful person and certainly wouldn't speak to a customer (or anyone!) in that tone. I've called again today and again been told my bed is 2 weeks away from being delivered to the warehouse despite the fact that I called 2 weeks ago and 2 weeks before that to be told the same thing. If this does miraculously happen, my bed will be arriving to the warehouse roughly 2 months after the delivery window (though I won't be holding my breath for that).

I was looking to purchase a patio dining and lounge set from them as the warmer weather approaches but I will be taking my business elsewhere to a company that actually respects the time of their customers, tries to be helpful and rectify situations where things have gone wrong, and actually treats them with dignity.

This is the first time I have ever left a review on TrustPilot (or anywhere) but feel so strongly about my dissatisfaction in their service that I felt I must, because it truly has been an unacceptably horrendous experience.

Buyer beware: The Hamilton Ottoman from West Elm is advertised with photos of a smaller rectangular ottoman that is not actually sold. The only option available is a large square ottoman, which looks completely different from what is shown in the images. The specifications do not clearly explain this discrepancy, so buyers reasonably assume they are purchasing what is pictured. Because many furniture items are final sale, you can easily end up stuck with a very expensive piece that doesn’t work in your space. Customer service refused to acknowledge the misleading photos or offer any resolution.

I ordered couch cushion covers accidentally. I thought I purchased the couch. The covers were $1000?!?! I realized my mistake 2 days after ordering. Spoke to 4 different customer service members who told me I should hear back with a cancellation confirmation within 48 hours. Never heard back and they ended up shipping out the product. So now I am stuck with $1000 covers. Back on hold to talk to yet another person.

Wish it could be zero stars. Outdoor furniture fell apart within a year and they said it needed to be covered to protect it from the elements. What’s the point of outdoor furniture if it can’t survive outside. Customer service was rude. Had to throw out the dining table and chairs and buy a different brand.

All of the low reviews speak volumes here!!! The Quality of the wooden furniture is terrible, after approximately 6 months had large wooden crack appeared on the grain of wooden dining bench. The bench had been used a handful of times around the holidays. The reply from west elm customers services was that it was “wear and tear” . Disgusting customer service and terrible quality for a $4k dining set! Don’t take the risk with west elm furniture!

I have had the worst customer service imaginable with this company! I ordered a light back in Oct 2025. It said shipping was a few weeks. Once I paid, shipping got updated to Feb 2026! I waited and called and they said tokeep waiting. Called again and they said part of the light (the pendant/shade) was shipped to the store back in November and didn't I receive a call. No i didn't. I've now called about 6 times, been put on hold repeatedly (over 2 hours of my time) and had to explain the situation multiple times to different associates. They all sound very confused and tell me something different and not a single one has actually helped get me the light or offered a refund! I'm beyond annoyed and can't believe they've kept our money for this expensive light since the fall and have done nothing to help remedy the issue.

They. Are. Horrific. The customer service person actually yelled at me (Joanna -the manager) they are so concerned about getting items back before they send you a replacement , they must be going bankrupt. Not worth the items at all.

I had $160 in key rewards that expired on 2/24. I had been trying to figure out if I wanted to purchase from west elm or another store and decided on west elm. But this morning when I logged into my account those key rewards were missing. I contacted customer service and they told me that they expired at 2:43 am on 2/24. I explained that 2:43 am is not expiring on 2/24. Nowhere was a time listed on the rewards page. They said they would reach out to key rewards to inquire whether they could reinstate them do the day so I could buy what I intended but I have not heard back. Unbelievable!

Worst customer service and poor craftsmanship. Don’t waste your money on this manufacture’s
Furniture

I purchased a secondhand West Elm Rhea pendant Lamp recently, that was missing a crucial component. I contacted West Elm Tottenham Court Road branch on the off chance they had a spare. The store staff were incredibly helpful and hunted down and ordered a replacement for me. Amazing customer service!

Following up on my previous review of West Elm because the situation has now become unacceptable.

Faulty items were collected on 28 January. It is now 23 February and we still have not received our refund.

When we chased this, we were told the items were still in their “system” and needed to be marked as returned. No tracking was ever provided to us, yet we are expected to wait while they sort out their own internal processes.

We were then told it would take up to three working days just for someone to “look into it.” After weeks of delays, that was the final straw.

We have now opened a dispute with our bank to recover our money.

West Elm responded publicly on Trustpilot saying our refund would be processed promptly upon receipt of goods. That has not happened.

Avoid.

Everything that could go wrong went wrong.
Customer service is terrible

I called to see if I could cancel or return a rug while it was still in their warehouse. Customer service gives à big song and dance about how nothing can be done once an order is transmitted. I know for a fact that's not true. So now I am responsible for returning à 18 pound rug even though I tried to initiate the return before it shipped. The deliberate helplessness and ignorance in an attempt to keep customer money is infuriating. I will never order from this customer unfriendly company again. I deleted every item I saved on my account and I am done.

My rug has been shedding for almost a year. It fills my vacuum every time and little threads are everywhere. I was told it would stop shedding after a couple months. I like how it looks but not worth it.

I purchased six Lalia dining chairs from West Elm for our first home. It's just the two of us in a childless household, so the chairs are only used occasionally, but we decided to splurge and spend $1800 on a set that would last a long time. However, that's not the case. These chairs are falling apart. The screws keep falling out, and I have had to glue them back in. I've experienced this before, so I didn't say anything at the time. Recently, I noticed several chairs have cracks in the backrests. One is so badly cracked that I'm afraid a guest might sit on it and cause it to break. I contacted customer service via chat, and all I received was an apology and no solution. I then called and spoke with a very nice gentleman who was talking to me through someone else. The person on the other line said they couldn't do anything because it had been over a year. I received them two weeks ago, so it’s been a year and two weeks, and I still have no resolution. While the representatives I spoke to were polite, their policies are unreasonable when chairs start falling apart just from sitting there.