Complaints

This profile includes complaints for The Smithsonian Institution's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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The Smithsonian Institution has 15 locations, listed below.

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  The Smithsonian Institution

  600 Maryland Ave SW Ste 6001 Washington, DC 20024-2520

• 

  The Smithsonian Institution

  PO Box 23182 Washington, DC 20026-3182

• 

  The Smithsonian Institution

  1100 Jefferson Drive, S.W. Washington, DC 20560-0001

• 

  Smithsonian Institution

  PO Box 62060 Tampa, FL 33662

• 

  Smithsonian

  8779 Greenwood Pl Savage, MD 20763

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/07/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I placed an online order (*******) with Smithsonian online after finding their Children's Rocket Scientist Hoodie in a catalog. The order was placed on 15 October 2022 and purchased as a birthday gift for my son. I ordered a size 10, the largest size available. The total cost was $58.95 ($50 for the item and $8.95 for shipping). The item arrived in good condition and was gifted in early November. Unfortunately, the item was too small for my son. Given that there were no larger sizes, I emailed the company on 6 November 2022 requesting return instructions. I received a reply the next day and was instructed to send the item back to their warehouse. No pre-paid label was provided. I packed and returned the item via USPS and mailed it to: SI eCom Returns, **********************************************************************. I paid for the return shipping and the USPS shows the package arrived on 21 November (USPS tracking: **********************). In their original response, the company stated it would take up to 14 days to process the return. Today is 2 February 2023 and I have emailed numerous times, called and spoken with representatives, always to be told the warehouse is behind processing returns and they will try to get to it soon. The last time I called, I was told it was unknown when they would process my return and that I would receive a paper check in the mail as opposed to the promised credit card refund when they finally get around to processing the return. I would just like my money back for this purchase. I am out the cost of the item and the shipping back. All I receive are platitudes when I call or email and never any action or attempt to make this right.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/10/2023

  
  I want to apologize for the issues with your order. We've been experiencing extremely high demand this year, and your return experience and interactions with customer care were   
  not representative of the kind of service we strive to offer. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and for sharing the details with us so we are able to make improvements.
  
  We identified that a systems issue delayed the processing of your return, and have refunded the full cost of your order. 
  A credit for $ 58.95 , covering both merchandise and shipping & handling, was posted to your original form of payment ***** card ) on 3/10/23. 
  
  Thank you for your patience and understanding, and for being a Smithsonian Store customer. 
  Every purchase you make contributes to this incredible Institution and its mission,  and were grateful for your support. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/12/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/11/2022

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I signed up for a free museum day through the Smithsonian website by providing my email address about 4 weeks ago. Ever since then, I've been inundated with marketing mails from Smithsonian Magazine. I've clicked on the unsubscribe button many times and it doesn't stop the emails. I even emailed customer service directly and got a poorly worded response from the customer service rep which did nothing to resolve my complaint. I'm still getting marketing emails from the Smithsonian Magazine.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/17/2022

  Thank you for letting us know. We seem to have pinpointed the problem that was affecting some of our readers and believe to have fixed the issue as of October 12, 2022. We apologize for any inconvenience or annoyance it has caused you.
  

  We have taken the additional step in asking our online team to manually remove your email from the list, which they tell us has happened, so you shouldn't get any additional Daily Newsletters emails from us after today.

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/21/2022

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *******************