Extraordinary Rewards Experience

[BeautyInsiderBT]

Hi Everyone,

We wanted to take a moment to let you know that we are hearing your feedback regarding today’s Extraordinary Rewards experience. If we haven’t been able to respond to you personally yet, please know that we have read your feedback and definitely understand your frustration. The rewards sold out much quicker than we anticipated, so we were unable to send out the planned email or post to our social channels. We’re sorry if you missed out on these exciting rewards. The response has been overwhelming and we are happy to announce that there will be more extraordinary rewards coming this year.

If you have specific questions or need assistance, please PM a moderator for help. We appreciate your understanding and value the helpful feedback you’ve provided here on BeautyTalk.

[Anonymous]

How did you know about the event beforehand? I only learned it was happening when I got the email at 12pm that day... Did some people get emails in advance and thus knew to stay up late?

[lovelornunicorn]

I didn't even get ANY email about the extraordinary rewards and if I hadn't checked the boards I would not even have known about it.

Terribly disappointed.

[shirleylin88]

I stayed up all night/day starting at 12am PST 5/05 - I am disappointed with the fact that even though I did stay up many of the perks never showed, for example the UD vault and three of the 1k perks. So even for the people that did stay up we didn't get to see all the perks because the site was so glitchy- I never received the email about the extraordinary awards so I think in general it's an unfair system that some people will get emails and others don't (this applies to Sephora Rouge emails in general). No, it's not going into my spam I just only get some emails and not the others.

I just don't understand how sending emails can't be uniform, maybe for the next rewards event emails can be sent in waves based on rewards Tier (VIB Rouge, VIB, BI) and sent to all VIB-Rougers at the same time. This will ensure that the whole process is fair and thus the blame can't be put on anyone but ourselves. 

[remr001]

Hmmm then I guess there's something wrong with my email subscription too. What bs!

[Panda168]

I am extremely upset I didn't even have an opportunity to try to snag one of the "extraordinary rewards". I didn't receive any information at all other than what I've seen on here, which provided no dates or times. I wake up at 4:30am PST every morning and clearly that was not early enough. What gives? Why, at this point, should anyone continue to spend money with Sephora when other companies offer the same products, price match and offer better GWP. Last year I qualified for Rouge in January and this year it took me longer because I've been spending elsewhere. It sucks because Sephora has so many great qualities, but chooses to brush aside a large number of customers.

[sonofmanjesus]

The problem is that they don't do better the next time. Each seems to be disastrous in it's own way.I think they crossed the line with the fact that right here on bt we were told there is plenty to go around when it is very obvious that there was not even a sufficient amount to last an hour other than a t-shirt and a cookbook perk. I have not spent any money at Sephora on items I could get elsewhere. I only buy the bite limited release items and KVD items. Nobody in their right mind could even begin to understand the TOS as described. Basically they can do what ever they want with out repercussions and that is unacceptable.  I feel they have violated every single person's trust by pulling what they pulled and then to only offer the extra points as a consolidation prize to only certain people that complained is wrong. If you cannot/ will not give them to everyone don't give them out at all. ( not that we have anything to spend them on anyways.) I would gladly take all of my business to the other store that gives us monies off if they carried the Luxury products as well at least online. I appreciate brands specific to Sephora such as KVD and MUFE however, there are other comparable products I can buy elsewhere. As far as the VIBR goes, nobody has seen anything extra special or freebies just because. We don't even rate getting a better discount, earlier access or even any special rewards just for us anymore. Last year we had several Rouge only codes, this year there has maybe been one. I think they need to hire marketing people that have REAL LIFE experience and not just a piece of paper that says they can market, because obviously they cannot.  

[ChristalM]

WOW!

[sawst14]

I sent an email yesterday complaining about the same things everyone already mentioned. I listed in detail why I was upset such as that I never got an email or any notice before this surprise release at 4 am (it's hard to keep my job to pay for items at Sephora if I don't sleep and instead stalk your website every 5 minutes). I got a reply this morning saying "I'm sorry you couldn't take advantage of our extraordinary reward program" and basically sorry for the inconvenience. I think not being able to take "advantage" would be a more appropriate way of describing not being able to use a coupon before it expired. Why is it that so many people are saying that they were given 500 points for the inconvenience? I guess my inconvenience isn't as important. Heaven forbid Sephora even apologize fairly.

[anaa]

Same scenario here.  In my case I think it's due to the low amount I have been spending at Sephora over the past 2 years.  They aren't interested in appeasing me.  I wrote back and told them I thought the cut and paste email was lame, haven't heard back.

[fatimamummy]

I wonder may be they are offering the apology points after observing How many points that specific customer has (May be 5000 & up) and were they actually unable to redeem any of these special perks. That's just my thought I might be totally wrong and points are given out based on the CS rep you are dealing with.

[sawst14]

I am working on 3000 points but I really don't think there is any reason to what they are doing right now. 

[Tamara76]

I was not offered any points and they didn't even ask for my info when I called, so they had no idea how many points I had or which rewards I redeemed, if any.... 😞

That being said, I didn't ask for any points, I just calmly provided my feedback and gave my recommendation for future events.  The CS was extremely professional and apologetic. She told me they were even confused about when the rewards would go live.

I just think it's kind of crummy that different people were given points for their inconvenience at varying levels, while others were not offered anything.

[chocopudding]

Honestly, I don't think Sephora is going to change. They didn't fix any of the issues from previous years, they're stripping away all of the perks that, once upon a time, was given only to Rouges and now they are giving them to VIBs. (I really think they are going to drop this tier, if not end of this year, by next year). They can still survive as a business without giving us ANY of the perks, just because they've already established themselves as a beauty icon in North America.

Money speaks louder than words, so if you feel strongly about Sephora's business models, it's time to shop elsewhere. I know there are some brands that are only available here, so continue to shop for those if you need them, but there are many, many retailers out there that CAN and WILL provide better service.

[Anonymous]

I agree! Put your money where your mouth is BT. That's why my status dropped to a regular beauty insider. I take all my business pretty much to the department stores and Ulta. The only business Sephora receives from me on occasion is for their exclusive lines. I totally agree that people will complain and complain but continue to spend a lot of money there. I got tired of all the drama a long time ago and found other companies practices more respectful and appreciative to it's clientele so I went to support them instead. If you want to make a difference it starts with you. Don't feed corporate greed!

[misscg]

Yup my spending here has gone down maybe 10-15% since I got fed up in March over something....o he rouge program. Still made rouge through 2016 😣 but I'm going to challenge myself to not shop here unless it's really exclusive. I'll admit I ordered for The Blend trial kit since I googled and couldn't find it anywhere else. Hmmm I have an idea 😆 look out for a new thread lol

[Panda168]

Me too.. I can only get Bite Beauty here as of now...

[etscore1]

I really hope that those clamoring loudest will actually put their money where their mouth is and shop elsewhere. If for no other reason than to give their complaints some credibility. I don't really blame Sephora at this point for calling customer's bluffs. All the shouting and threatening almost always subsides in a matter of days and things go back to normal, so it's not exactly surprising that Sephora opts to weather the storm, knowing that it will, as it always has, blown over with no real impact or consequences.

[sonofmanjesus]

My spending has reduced drastically at Sephora this year. This time last year I was rouge twice over. Now I just made VIB. That says a lot. My spending overall has increased just not here.

[kica]

I think you are absolutely correct. They are sitting there reading all of this outrage and saying to themselves blah, blah, blah...see you on your lunch hour.

[chocopudding]

I totally agree! Unless their sales are impacted, there's no reason for them to change!

I will admit I will succumb to promos with mini perfumes. 😉 otherwise, it's the Bay and Murale for meeeee

[bratknits]

I'm down on my spending for the year over 50% and I plan on 75% to 90% by end of year.  Sort of a fun challenge really.