Sunday, August 25, 2013

Sephora Customer Service - Or Lack There Of - RANT!

Yay! I made VIB for the year! And it may be the last time I go to Sephora because of it! I swear every single time I think the Sephora shopping experience can not get any worse, they prove me wrong. 

 
Let me start with what happened last year when I hit VIB. I was told "congrats! you made VIB. But we don't have any more welcome kits so next time you are in just ask for one!". Great. Next time I'm in, I was told that I should have gotten it when I qualified. I told them what I was told, they basically did everything but call me a liar and they grudgingly gave me a new silver VIB card and they refused to give me the 10% off coupon or the makeover certificate I would not have used anyways. I was livid. It was offensive and totally put me off shopping there. Last year I hit VIB status in February or March. This year, August. What does that tell you about my shopping habits at Sephora? Talk about losing business.

So, what happens THIS year? I go in a few weeks ago. I KNOW I am only $74 dollars away from VIB, so when I am in and spend more than that, I ask the cashier. "Doesn't this make me VIB for the next year?". She looks, says yes. Continues to wrap up my purchase. I ask if I get the VIB kit and she says "we have none". I ask how I am going to get my new card and whatnot. She half throws a silver card at me, and says heres a card. I was SOOOO mad I literally called the VIB hotline while walking through the mall minutes later. They say that basically they can't do anything and they will have someone call me. I hear nothing. I wait a week.

At the end of the week I call the store and ask to speak to a manager. I tell her the story. She says that the story is very weird because they have lots of kits, and have not been out of them at any point in the recent past. WHAT? I want to know at that point exactly what it is that the Sephora employees have with me? Really? A customer that doesn't ask for help, that picks what she wants, and pays them lots of $$ each year. I dont get it. She says she can see who the cashier is by looking at the receipt but that I need to bring in the receipt. I say I will, but can I give her the employee code now so she can deal with the employee asap. No. She doesnt want it until I get in. I don't really think she believed my story of what happened to be honest.

I go in, and ask to speak to the manager and ask for her by name. She isn't in. They call a department manager over and I tell her what happened. I tell her I have both the receipt AND the email that came right after my purchase congratulating me for hitting VIB. I start to get them out of my purse and she stops me. She apologizes over and over and says she doesn't need to see the receipt and she believes me. I say to her "but the manager said by looking at the receipt you can see who the employee was who rang me up". She says its unnecessary and it doesn't matter who did it. She proceeds to get my VIB kit set up and she also gives me the little VIB bonus that was going on at the time. The bag of samples you got for making purchase starting that morning.

Ok, this department manager was very nice. She was apologetic and tried to make things right. Except she didn't even care who it was that couldn't be bothered to give me the kit in the first place. So the employee wasn't ever even DEALT with. So NOTHING happens to the associate and it can just keep happening. That pisses me off almost more than the situation in the first place. That and Sephora customer service couldn't even be bothered to call me back as promised to deal with the issue.

And is it ANY wonder I shop more and more at the Shoppers Drug Marts and The Bay locations in my city? Do you think Sephora cares? If I lived in a normal city that had ANY other options for a lot of the brands Sephora carries I'd NEVER shop there anymore. As it is I shop there now as little as humanly possible. And guess what? The Bay now carries Illamasqua! And Shoppers Drug Mart now carries Nails Inc. Stores that understand customer service, appreciate customer loyalty and understand its importance and don't have insulting customer perks such as a deluxe sample for spending $100. You know what? When I shop at a department store (here or in the USA) and make a purchase, they USUALLY give me sample of something. And they have gifts with purchase that are much better. Why is it I should shop at Sephora? Let me know if you have an answer, cause I sure DONT!







7 comments:

  1. Ugh. I've never shopped at Sephora but I've heard such awful stories about them, it doesn't make me eager to go there.

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  2. Customer service is SO important. I work in make-up retail (on a counter) and sometimes you do get some INCREDIBLY rude customers that make you want to cry, but I still make sure I'm polite to them because it's my job (unless someone starts swearing at me....then the gloves are off! lol!) Even when you're having a crappy time (I suffer with depression so I know a crappy time!), it's in your job description to give good customer service. It makes me so mad when anyone gets bad service. Your experience sounds so terrible and I would do the same as you and stop shopping there (plus tell all my friends so they stopped shopping there too! What's the saying? Give bad service and that customer tells 3 people, give good service and you're lucky if they tell one person!) xxx

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  3. I am having problems too... last time i went to sephora i had 15$ more to get VIB. Bought a product of 35 so this basically should have made me VIB? However, i returned a gift of about 90$. A gift that was purchased by someone else, those products weren't in my file as bought by me...so what they do is deduct the 90$ of my total amount spent by now and and the SA tells me my return doesn't make me VIB and i should spend 70 more...i didn't buy those products so why are you taking them out of the money i have spent?!? I could maybe understand if they deducted some points...but not the money spent on products you can clearly see in my account...I am so upset...i called customer service and the gave 200 points as an excuse...i don't need the points that have almost no value...i want my account to show exactly what i've spent...:((

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  4. Ugh I am having the same problems as you. I just sent them an email, so thanks for reminding me. Havent got the VIB kit despite being made it in May, didnt get the 3x the points when I was shopping there on the 16th. Pretty displeased with Sephora right now. Think I'll just go to shoppers/other online retailers from now on!

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  5. I didn't even know the silver card existed. Sephora just mailed the 10% off card, the makeup in-store certificate card, but no VIB card. When I called customer service they said they can't replace it but...I didn't lose it. You can't lose something you never had!

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  6. Sorry you had such a horrendous experience. I have never had one that awful in Sephora, but I have never looked forward to shopping there. The loud music, the sometimes snobby and usually less than helpful associates(I look for the beauty reps when I am shopping there- they really know their stuff!), the obnoxious lighting... Beauty dollars can be spent in a lot of places now, including online, and if they want our loyalty, they will need to do more to inspire it.

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  7. hehe first world problems.....go get your head checked

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