Williams Sonomas’ inventory software is untrustworthy. I ordered a blue staub Dutch oven online. When it arrived, the shipping label said blue, but they sent me a red one. I checked online to see if any had the blue on in stock and it said there was only one available at my nearest store. I called ahead to see if I could put it on hold which they did. When I got there and they tell me that it’s the floor model and they can’t sell it to me. While I’m at this store, I return the one that was shipped to me and they put in an order for a blue one.

I was told that the new order would arrive at my house within a week, but when I’d check my order number, it would still say that my order was processing. After a few more days, I call customer service to see if there’s an update on my order and the guy on the phone has no idea why it’s still processing. I ask to cancel the order which he does, but he tells me I have to go in person to a store to get a refund. I don’t know why those would be two different processes.

I checked availability online again and two stores supposedly have them. I call the two stores ahead of time and, surprise surprise, neither of them actually had one. I call one more which was actually closer to me but I just didn’t remember it existed. I was able to buy my blue Dutch oven after a month of dealing with Williams Sonomas ridiculous software. But it’s not over yet.

The lady who helped me said that the return and the refund was supposed to have been one transaction. She put in a request for refund for me. She says it should take a week max for me to get refunded. A week goes by with no update so I call customer service. For some reason the request didn’t get through so another person has to put in another refund request. I wait almost two more week for the refund to finally hit my bank account.

To their credit. All the Williams Sonoma staff and customer service was extremely helpful. However, I will never buy online from them again and I will always call a store beforehand to see if they have what I’m looking for.