‘Costco would never!’: Dallas woman gets $500 Williams Sonoma-exclusive Le Creuset Dutch oven with lifetime warranty. Then it cracks
“Williams Sonoma basically just stole $500 from me, and their response is, ‘oh, well,’” said Tammy, a homemaker with more than 77,000 followers on TikTok.
How did they steal her money? She says they didn’t honor their return policy at first, despite their exclusive Honeycomb Le Creuset Dutch oven breaking in Tammy’s kitchen.
In a video with more than 894,000 views, Tammy explained her recent debacle with Williams Sonoma and Le Creuset. She posted a seven-part TikTok series explaining how the Dutch oven, which she said was supposed to be an heirloom piece she would pass on to her daughters, developed a crack in the enamel after only six months of use.
What happened with her Le Creuset?
“So about six months into using this, which is this month, I noticed that the enamel has started to crack,” she reiterated. She reached out to Williams Sonoma as soon as she noticed the issue. A damaged Dutch oven can cause food contamination with continued use, and the crack essentially renders it unusable.
Williams Sonoma told her she needed to reach out to Le Creuset instead. She emailed the company with all her product information, and a representative agreed that the Dutch oven needed replacement. However, they offered her a replacement that wasn’t from the Williams Sonoma-exclusive Honeycomb collection.
“This is the design I picked. This is the pattern I picked. I have purchased multiple pieces of the Honeycomb collection to [have throughout] my entire kitchen… My kitchen is centered around this pot. That’s what I want,” she said in her video.
Le Creuset could not accommodate her, offering a $350 replacement rather than giving her the same $500 Dutch oven she purchased.
A circus of follow-ups
She reached out to Williams Sonoma again and was told they couldn’t replace the pot. Tammy also contacted the company’s CEO, COO, and corporate customer service, all of whom redirected her once again to Le Creuset.
She finished her Aug. 26 video saying, “Consider this your warning. Don’t purchase anything exclusive from Williams and Sonoma, like [the] Le Creuset Dutch Oven, because they’re refusing to replace [the Honeycomb Dutch oven]. They’re refusing to honor the warranty. Honestly, when you spend $500 on something, you expect it to last a lot longer than six months… I don’t want a lesser value downgrade from the one that I [picked].”
@thefoxypineapple Hey @Williams Sonoma, I spent $500 on your exclusive Honeycomb Le Creuset Dutch oven. It’s defective after six months of use, and you’re telling me I cannot get this exact same item under warranty? That doesn’t seem right at all. #williamssonoma #consumerrights #customerservice #makeitright #lecreuset ♬ original sound – Tammy
An update
On Aug. 27, Tammy updated her audience regarding her Williams Sonoma-exclusive Honeycomb Le Creuset Dutch oven.
Based on the comments from her Aug. 26 video, Tammy decided to call some stores. She had been brushed off by everyone she reached out to before, so she called 13 stores in her area. All of them said Le Creuset needed to replace it with the exact same item.
One of the managers at a store in Southlake, Texas, Jennifer, finally agreed to give her a return for the item. An hour later, she received a call from an unfamiliar number. When she listened to the voicemail, she discovered that Williams Sonoma corporate had reached out to her.
A corporate representative told her they would send a new Dutch oven in the mail within a week. By Aug. 30, she received a replacement Dutch oven.
She also received a matching SMEG toaster from the company as an apology for all the trouble, an update she shared with her audience on Sept. 19.
Why not order a new one?
Many commenters wondered why Tammy wouldn’t give up on the warranty after calling 13 stores, emailing multiple representatives, and fighting to get the Dutch oven she ordered.
One commenter wrote, “If you can afford a $500 [Dutch] oven in this economy [then I don’t care].”
She explained in her TikTok series that it wasn’t about the price, but about what the company promised her and how much she uses the items. For her, a Le Creuset pot is an investment and an infrequent purchase that should last a lifetime.
“I use my pots more than I use my car,” she said. As a day-to-day item that she uses frequently, she expects high quality, especially when putting $500 into it.
Other commenters called her difficult for expecting either company to replace the pot, but Tammy told her audience she wasn’t being a “Karen” or a hater. “I actually read the fine print,” she added.
Williams Sonoma or Le Creuset — who’s to blame?
Many viewers criticized Williams Sonoma’s customer service, especially since the company was the one with the exclusive print. By that measure, they said it was the company’s responsibility to replace the special-edition Dutch oven.
“The audacity of Williams Sonoma. The comment about how ‘Costco would never’ is what made me realize that it absolutely was [the company’s] responsibility to make it right… They made the sale and they refused to do the right thing (until you went [to go] viral). Lack of customer service killed… so many big brands,” one commenter wrote.
Despite getting her replacement Dutch oven, Tammy said she shouldn’t have had to go through so much trouble, especially considering the lifetime warranty. “I’m glad that both companies offered to replace [it] with the exact same thing,” she said. “I should not have had to make multiple phone calls and emails and be told no as many times as I was.”
The Mary Sue has reached out to Williams Sonoma, Le Creuset, and Tammy for comment.
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