You should not ask them to design for something purchased elsewhere.

You can forget it. : ) Especially with a sale of 600.00 plus or minus. In fact you can FORGET it unless you are spending beaucoups $$$$ with them, in which case you can STILL forget it, unless you want a house full of Pottery Barn. They are salespeople. Nothing more, nothing less, it is what they are paid to do, "Design" (free) is the hook to fill your home.. As are all furniture store designers, btw. Apologies upfront, but if they were other, they'd be designing on their own......with wide and varied resources. : )

That ...is just TRUTH.

Hire a independent designer for a couple of hours, then no pressure to buy the store.

Thank you! Makes sense.

I just had a Pottery Barn designer come out to our house to help with our family room and informal dining (great room concept) and she was not helpful at all during her time here...I asked her if we should do 2 sofas or a sectional and her response was, "OH, you can do either, your space will fit either". I asked if we should do a round or rectangular dining table and her response was, "oh, either shape will work, it's whatever you prefer"...she did measure our spaces and then wanted us to schedule to meet at the store later in the week to go over our options but we ended up canceling because she wasn't helpful and it turned out we didn't like the Pottery Barn options anyway.

It's not worth either of your time if you're just buying a coffee table.

Waste of time, they don't return calls, try to reschedule, and are rude. go to Walter E Smith, so much better!

Agree and disagree. Store employees are there to sell and they know their products if you like an item from PB and the sales person having them out to see your space MAY provide you with ideas you might not have thought of. This also applies to Walter E Smith and Ethan Allen. I had good service from PB for a guest room, same when I ordered a custom piece from EA and although I was going to buy a home full of furniture when I had a salesperson out from WES I did not buy a thing as salesperson was unable to put measurements to paper or keep a scheduled appointment.

Took a day off from work to meet with the PB rep in Chicago, they tried to cancel 2 hours before appt because they double booked appt time slot. I insisted and they sent out Paul who afterwards emailed a sketch that was way off in measurements, didnt have room openings or windows just a rough drawing. So dissapointed. Too bad too...... WS ended up with a 5K order from us

Whether or not these particular PB designers are any good, if you want to have them come into your home and give you ideas, make it clear up front that you just want the coffee table. Maybe you'll get a negative response, maybe a positive one. Just let them know before they invest the time. Remember, they're probably on commission so whatever time they spend on you, they could be spending on someone who's interested in buying more than you are. Just because they may be bad designers doesn't mean you should take advantage of them.

Last time I spoke with my local pottery barn store manager they do not work on commissions, but the stores as a whole count on sales to meet goals and stay relevant. Not all experiences information will be good, but many here who have paid professional interior designers who have also been unhappy. Imo the key is to be as informed a buyer as possible do some leg work, know your room sizes, budget and what quality you are willing or not to pay for. As for giving WS your purchase dollars instead they are different divisions of the same company; WS,PB,WE and rejuvenation.

I think this is the same dilemma people face when dealing with big box kitchen designers. It's the luck of the draw.

Not PB specific, but I do remember briefly working with a designer at Ethan Allen:

In urgent need of a pair of armchairs, I went in with my color chips and existing swatches, quickly selected a frame, and asked for help choosing fabric for custom upholstery. I told her I was on a tight timeframe, had my checkbook, and fully intended to order that same day, and the faster the better. The only constraints were to coordinate with the color samples I had brought and be durable for family living.

She wanted to do a floor plan and I was open to that. As soon as she got my room dimensions, she whipped together a ridiculous plan that ended up filling more than 50% of the floor space with consoles, benches, ottomans, settees, tables...... I barely could even have walked through the room she drew up, let alone lived in it with comfort. It did seem as if the prime or only goal was maximum furniture stuffage in an existing space. The price tag was......oh I don't remember, north of $20k or so. And I still didn't have any fabric recommendations for my chairs!

I have also had better luck, both at Ethan Allen and also at independent furniture stores, for actual useful design advice and assistance. I'd still try again, but one needs to be able to tell whether one is getting useful advice and turn off the process if not.

Sorry Diane. To my knowledge and google WS is not part of the PB Family.

Williams Sonoma acquired Pottery Barn in 1986. Pottery Barn is WS family : )

oh yeah i try to make them come out. after I spent about $8000 with designer at the store, they don't come out ever. i wanted to get some more help to pick out extra detail decor and curtains and what not, at the store the designer was oh just email me of txt me i'll com out any time to finish your house decorated. but nope. i tried two different store for them to come out to my place. they never even call me back. after i read the review here yeah probably better that they didn't come out. it's just bs service that they pretend to have but never works.

I think Linda C may have been referencing Walter E Smith, a Chicago area chain. She mentioned it in previous post. FWIW, I too have had very positive experiences with them over the years.

You can go to Wms. Sonoma's site to see the links to PB, PB Kids, PB Apartment, PB Teen, West Elm, Rejuvination, Mark and Graham...

Yes, Walter E Smith. So professional and quality was superb!!!

I had someone come out and she was great! They were super respectful, gave me lots of options. They showed me examples of what they thought would look good where. I went into the store and we shopped around some more. There was no pressure. They even recommended other places I could get similar items. They offered to ship to the store so I didn't have to pay. There was no timeline and it was bought as I could (which was super helpful). I bought a coffee table, entry table and a couch from them. I'm about to go back around again with them.

I've tried a few times in the past to use -the first time I cancelled as the designer seemed so deflated by this not being a huge project. I just used them now during this virtual time and another designer was very good at design and came up with some great things. However, the pressure was there -sale ends today -or one ends tomorrow. To spend $4K with no mention of doing swatches for a custom ottoman and a huge rug just seems odd to me. I emailed her back mentioning that I need samples first and she vanished. I also wanted help with curtains and accessories and mentioned a few times but it was not acknowledged. I get the impression they are trying to go for the largest things they can get and don't want to get bogged down into the details that aren't going to bring in as much money. I must add that I don't think it is the designers personally -I get the vibe this is the direction from up above. All have been very talented....

This was several years ago but experience with them was great. The PB store is over an hour away from my home and Sarah, my designer told me they would come out and help me pick out a paint color if that was all I wanted. She did work up a plan, and I could embrace or reject as much or little as I wanted she wasn’t pushy about it at all. She did work with items I already had as I like an eclectic/collected look. Our budget was tight, and I was honest with her about that, so she called me when things went on sale and even set some items aside for me. So I wonder to a certain extent if it’s the luck of the draw. She was conscientious, and respectful and made the experience wonderful.

Recently I tried the use of the chat option on their website. I sent the designer a picture of the room she made some suggestions on options, complemented me on the room, thanked me and said it was a pleasure working with me.

I scheduled an appointment online with one of their designers out of their San Ramon, CA store selecting a time slot that was open. Within an hour I received an "update" that my appointment had been changed to the day after the date I selected. No one called or asked, they just unceremoniously changed it on me. Ok, whatever, the new time didn't really work for me, but I changed my work schedule around to accommodate them. Just five minutes before the appointment I get a call from the designer that she couldn't meet after all and could I please send some pictures and measurements anyway and she would get started when she could. It has been a week. Crickets. No response, no follow up. Awful.

I found their service a farce. The fresno store is less than helpful. Repeatedly asked for help and end the end I was ignored.

I had a designer come out and measure, and do a 3-D picture of the room. I followed up and asked for their product ideas and floorplan, but was advised I needed to make a purchase first before they would provide that information.. So not only is it not free, but how am I supposed to know what to purchase without knowing the plan..