Elizabeth sent a message to Laura J. Alber Director, President, and CEO, Williams-Sonoma – email address that said:
Dear Ms. Alber,
My name is Elizabeth and I recently placed a very large furniture order for my new home. I have always been a huge fan of PB products and designs but have never had my own house to decorate. I am a public schools teacher in New York and my husband is a concierge. We have two small children under three. I am writing to you because after much research and budgeting I was unable to buy PB furniture. However in September I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a wonderful sale that allowed me to purchase my dream PB living room. We have yet to finish construction on our home, however one small piece, the ottoman, was delivered. To my shock and dismay the fabric and color were completely wrong. I panicked and went back carefully rereading my original email confirmation to find that the mistake had been made during the order. I placed the order online myself, however I spoke with both telephone and store representatives before deciding on the fabric best for my family and decor. My entire house is white and gray and decided to go with the organic gray twill. What was sent to me was the stone linen. I know that you have a very strict policy about returning custom items and I understand that completely. I am writing to you today in hopes that you will understand that what has happened was a terrible mistake and not purposefully done. I know that exceptions to the rules are not common, but at this point I am about to receive thousands of dollars in furniture that will not match my home. After spending more than two hours on the phone with representatives they offered me replacement covers for 30% off totaling almost another two thousand dollars. While extremely generous, there is no possible way that my family and I would ever be able to afford that. I am asking from the bottom of my heart for some lenience in your policy and to have an even exchange for the new covers. I have been in contact with a lovely representative, Kenya, who promised to reach out to her supervisor to see if there was anyway they could help me. I am a good person and a very hard working mom, I have been waiting a long time to own my own home and decorate with your beautiful furniture. I would appreciate any and all the help you can offer us.
Thank you so much for your time and consideration,
Elizabeth
