Creating a blog just to slander a company's name seems a little excessive, doesn't it? I have gotten to the point where it seems like the only thing to get SOMEONE's attention.
I have always been a frequent shopper at Sephora. I usually don't have a problem with spending money if the products are of good quality. Of course I have the Beauty Insider's card, which always motivated me to spend probably more than I needed to. I mean, if you can get deluxe sized samples from racking up points, why wouldn't you?
For those of you who are not familiar with Sephora's Beauty Insider dealio it's a pretty simple concept. Spend some money, get some points. For every $1 spent = 1 point earned (before tax). Now the lowest amount of points you can spend is 100, but the samples are pretty shitty in stores. The 500 reward ones are where it's at. (Samples are usually mascaras, lotions, eye pencils.. etc.. )
Another thing with being a Beauty Insider, you get frequent updates sent to your email. It's basically a flyer just telling you what's happening online and in stores, much like any other business. With these emails it always comes up stating your point balance as of that date. This is where it all went wrong.
I check my emails in the morning, usually right when I wake up, to see what's going on in the world of retail and coupons. Ahh, and there's Sephora's. Now usually after about two weeks I clear out my inbox just so it's easier to track things, sadly, I had recently done this, so my evidence of previous point balances is gone. Quickly I scan the flyer and something catches my eye.. A nice big 500 reward that's calling my name. I know I have about 480ish points so I am overly excited and planning to make my way to Sephora in the next few days. HOWEVER, as I scroll up on my lovely iPhone, I see it. 96 points as of 25/1/12... WAIT A SECOND. I was probably a little too panicked over the issue, but I am a girl, and I do love make-up.
Plus I kind of felt like I lost almost $400 dollars of my hard earned cash from my less than perfect part-time job.
I made my way to Sephora's website hoping that it was just a bug on my email. Nope. My point balance reads 96 still. What in the heck!!!! Dazed and confused (ha) I email customer service pleading my case and end it with a :) and a thank you! Two minutes later I get an auto-reply saying thank you for what ever and someone will respond within 48 hours, cool! I had a question with Urban Decay's site and a wonderful gentleman got back to me and answered within 24 hours, so I was foolishly expecting the same service with Sephora. Ha ha ha..
Two weeks go by, still no answer. I shoot off another email, pretty much saying the same thing blah blah thanks a lot etc etc. A week passes, still no answer. Hmm. I reply to the second automated message and just a pop out a reminder, hey I'm still here still no answer kinda deal. A week after THAT I get an email saying they are behind with answering due to overwhelming questions etc and that I am a "valid customer". -_______-
So I call. I am told that they will look into it and get back to me via email. Shockingly, nothing. I call again and same story, I say okay sure. It is now MAY, four months later, and nothing.
I am officially never walking into a Sephora ever again or shopping online. This is the worst experience I have ever had with a company, and frankly is just unacceptable to me. I am trying to spread the word so others know it is not just them who are being treated poorly!! I have read MULTIPLE reviews complaining about this exact issue and am disgusted.
Honestly, if they had just given me an answer, it wouldn't have been this big of an issue. I mean, if I lost all those points it would suck, (which I did lose them all, regardless) but being ignored is just rude. I just wanted SOME acknowledgement and felt like I got none.
Similar stories? I feel like companies that do this should be exposed. Maybe then they will really appreciate their customers and try to improve on themselves. Again, I was never reached by anyone, and THIS is my issue. It's a different story if someone at least contacted me, but they did not, and this is the result ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
