I like makeup and skincare. Sephora is the Mecca for beauty. Therefore, it follows that I should adore Sephora with all my heart. However, their customer service just flushed away any last remaining bits of loyalty I’ve had for them.
It started with the August sale they had. I, being the junkie that I am, purchased products for 20% off. Score! Buuuut, when my package arrived, it was all sorts of wrong. It was filled with all the things I didn’t order. Boo. I called one of my girlfriends up with the disappointing news. “Strange,” she said. “I got a box full of the wrong product just a month ago from them.” She then went on to tell me that they tried to make her pay for the return shipping and actually getting the stuff she ordered was a pain. So painful, that it put her off ordering from Sephora again.
I figured it couldn’t be that hard to fix the situation right? I contacted their customer service letting them know I had received the wrong package. No problem, they said. Please return the items with the shipping labels you can find through the website and the proper products will be mailed.
Sweeeeet. Easy peasy. I filled out the return form asking for the correct products and mailed it off. Then I received an email from Sephora, a few days ago, saying that they had gotten my return and that they would be refunding my money. Say what?! I never asked for a refund. Furthermore, ordering the stuff again wouldn’t allow me to have the 20% I originally enjoyed. So I wrote them:
And this was the response I got:
Don’t you love how they don’t address the fact that I never wanted a refund? They just insist they’ve already done what they were supposed to? Then they give me 100 points in the beauty bank to use on their rewards bazaar which has gone so far downhill that I don’t even bother with it anymore, which is why I HAVE 2,360 points. Clearly I’m not using them. So, I got blunt with my next email.
And God bless them, they responded, but it seems like they play hot potato because Denae didn’t write me this time.
This time Nicky lets me know that what’s done is done. That I’m going to have to do MORE work to get my items at the discount, which, I’m sorry, feels lazy. Really Sephora? It’s beyond your power to recharge me the $67 dollars and send me the right items? THEN, you remind me to spend more at the store that can’t even deliver the correct items and read a return receipt properly? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I got peeved and may have ranted but I really *tried* to do it politely (I failed).
Nicky passed the ball to Tiffany.
I finally took to the chat as Tiffany suggested. I asked why they didn’t send the correct items immediately. If the policy was to instantly refund a mailed-in item, why did they even bother with the return receipts asking why the box was sent back? If the policy was instant refund, why didn’t they make that policy clearer? Ashton (the latest to catch the hot potato) didn’t provide any answers and told me to call Sephora after she repeated what Tiffany, Denae, and Nicki had said earlier. I said no, I was tired of being handed off and there was no way in hell I was playing the “Please hold, caller” game. I also reiterated that reordering the products was bogus because I bought them during a 20% off sale. I could tell Ashton was annoyed when she finally asked if I wanted the order replaced. Of course it would cost me a few dollars more than the original order (SERIOUSLY?) but she could do it. Um Yeah. That. Was. the. POINT. So I paid $70 instead of $67. Christ.
This leads me to believe three things about Sephora customer service. 1. Always revert to refunds and beauty points for the rewards bazaar. Nothing else. Keep to the script and keep trying to sell instead of help your customer. Ignore what the customer actually wants instead of fixing the problem. 2. They had the ability to fulfill my order the whole time and chose not to until I got pushy. I have zero doubts that calling would’ve only put me on an hours long waiting list or worse, a representative spewing forth the same garbage as the email and chat assistants did. 3. Sephora showed me they do not value their customers. I’ve spent loads at Sephora (not something to brag about, I know), and they still punished me even though they sent me the wrong order. They did this by a.) not giving me the original price (I know, $2-$3, but it’s the principle, okay?!) and b.) not even trying to fix the mistake properly.
Now time for an awkward segue so we can get into that horrific rewards bazaar. The one where they drop new items Tuesday and Thursday in supremely limited quantities. The ones where you apparently can’t have a job for because you have to squat on Sephora to grab them. My coworker has been raging because she added the $100 gift card reward to her cart while purchasing another product. She paid and got the confirmation for her order!… But later, Sephora said the $100 gift card was out of stock. My coworker wrote them asking how that could be… IT WAS AN E-GIFT CARD FROM SEPHORA AND THEY SAID THERE WEREN’T ENOUGH. They could only give limited awards and they ran out before they could process her order. Um, what? How often do you do this Sephora, because, I’m pretty sure you have E-GIFT CARDS IN UNLIMITED AMOUNTS OF STOCK. Furthermore, you shouldn’t accept the reward at the bazaar and send the confirmation if you have no intention of following through. My coworker clearly spent plenty of money at Sephora to garner earning the reward but, as I said earlier, Sephora chose to not value their customer.
I’m over Sephora. Three women screwed over in the course of three months? That ratio is a little too much for me. The idea of ordering more from them literally gives me hives.
Photo by Boxed Water Is Better on Unsplash
Wow! I cannot believe you had to go through all of that! That makes me definitely not want to order from them. I’ve heard other horror stories about them, too. There’s a store in our local mall that I refuse to go in any more because the employees are so rude and refuse to help you. The store is always so nasty, apparently they never clean up any of the sample makeup that is all over the walls and mirrors.
OMG, that store sounds like a nightmare! I wouldn’t even want to work in that environment!
It’s disappointing because they used to have fantastic customer service and it has gone downhill fast. Others have apparently been less than thrilled with their treatment of customers. I will definitely be looking elsewhere to satisfy my beauty needs. God forbid they send the wrong package again!
Don’t get me started with them. I became rogue at the beginning of this year and one of the perks was 2 day shipping. They decided to switch things up and then we were taken down to 3 day shipping. Which I don’t care too much about except for the fact that I just made a $120 purchase (which qualifies for free shipping anyways) and was told it would take a week and a whole day to ship! I emailed them and instead of solving the current problem they decided that it would be easier to pay for 1 day shipping for my next purchase… how about paying for one day shipping now!!!? I need it now not later🙄🙄🙄 currently still waiting for my package. Anyways, I’m kind of over Sephora online. I rather go in store from now on. If not, I guess I don’t need it.
http://www.mondayswithsharon.com 💖
Their customer service is so lazy! Why would they do that?! It’s literally solving the problem you *dont* have to give you one day shipping a different time. I bet they also reminded you to shop more so you could qualify for rouge again too. 🙄
I had forgotten about it until you mentioned it, but I had a girlfriend last year who made an order during the sale event last November. She bought the subscription to the flash shipping and they told her that her order would arrive in a week because they had to cater to the rouge crowd first…. why sell a service that you can’t actually deliver on?
I think Sephora is a little too comfortable being the giant in the beauty industry. Honestly, Ulta has more deals, and the Dermstore offered a *better* discount that didn’t only apply to people who spent tons. So, not shopping at Sephora online isn’t going to be that difficult for me!
Yes they did and now it’s non stop through the emails. And wow that’s awful, that’s one of the things I don’t do through them because I have heard of similar stories. People order with flash shipping and get their packages waaayy later. The only reason I even bother with Sephora anymore is because, unfortunately, some products I can only purchase through them. If it wasn’t for those products I would continue my love affair solely with Ulta. I’m sorry you had to go through this with them though💔
http://www.mondayswithsharon.com 💖
I have to agree about certain products. Otherwise? I’m definitely going somewhere else for my “one-stop shop”
Seems like their procedure isn’t well thought out. Sephora differs from country to country: I haven’t had terrible customer service, but their online store sometimes puts products on sale that are of stock BEFORE, during, and after said sale (what’s the point??). And if any of the items of your order is out of stock, they cancel the whole order, instead of refunding you for just that one item. But I have noticed they are making an effort to improve, at least here in Portugal…
I think you hit the nail on the head: it’s not well thought out at all. It almost felt more about selling and moving on than actually looking at the problem and fixing it. It’s disappointing.
And it would kill me to see on sale items out of stock. And I would rage-mail customer service if they cancelled my order over one missed item. I’d be so irritated!
That’s awesome that they are trying to improve though. I’d like to see that over here!
Yikes! It’s ridiculous how wrong they get it time and time again – they’re too lazy. They just use a template that somewhat fits. A template they think somewhat fits. Because they didn’t read your initial email properly. And it doesn’t help when you deal with different people. They know it’s OK to send half-arsed replies because the customer will eventually call, and someone else will then apologise 10 times and offer another 100 points (because that what’s done is done).
Or the customer doesn’t call – but they won’t care if they lose a few customers… as long as 95% of customers (or whatever their target is) are happy, they just label the unhappy ones “detractors”, and they’re done with it.
It’s quite a shame that their customer service has gone so faaar down the drain. When they care more about their bottom line then the customers who spend their money there, then they are prioritizing the wrong things. It’ll be the death of them if they don’t get it together. Especially if there sending the wrong packages regularly :/