Unused gift card says 0 balance

[Kattt6]

Hello, my friend got me a $50 gift card for my birthday and I went ahead to apply it in the checkout and it says the gift card value is $0.00. I have never used this gift card before. Can someone help? 

[Maddie12278]

This happened to me also. I received a $25 gift card on Easter and I didnt even take it out of the packaging until April 14th. I tried to use it online at checkout and it told me it had a balance of $0.00 I am wondering how this is possible because the seal covering the number and pin was still intact when it was bought. 

[LaurieBT]

Hi @Maddie12278,

I'm sorry about this! I'll send you a message shortly.

Best regards,

Laurie 

[dd38]

This exact same thing is happening to me and I'm so frustrated!!

I was given two $25 gift cards, which I tried to use this weekend at a store and was told they have $0 balance, which is not possible because we pealed the seal off right there at checkout. I assumed it was the employee's error, so I came home to try it on the Sephora website and I'm getting the same error message.

These gift cards were purchased at Albertsons one month ago, in March. I called the Sephora customer service line and received absolutely no help from the agent. I was told "it's not our responsibility to fix" and that I should try contacting Albertsons, but they'd probably send me back to them. She then told me to dispute the credit card charge. Like what?? Yeah, I'm gonna send my 70 year old mother on a wild goose chase trying to get this fixed??

I'm so frustrated by this response from Sephora. If this is a known issue, you need to fix it immediately. If these cards are easily scammable, then Sephora needs to change their gift card process. I can't believe this was the customer service response. What a ridiculous runaround.

[Esther256]

Same thing happened to me! So upsetting 😞 I just received a $50 gift card for Easter and saved it to use at the Sephora sale. I go to check out at the store and they tell me my card has $0 and to call the number on the card to have it refunded. I then proceed to call the number and they tell me they can't do anything about it. What a scam!

[keelybt]

@Esther256 I will send you a PM

[Wongmommy]

I got a gift card $100 from work. I went into Sephora and they scratched off the back in store and told me my balance was zero. This seems to be a thing after reading all of the comments on here. I’m super sad about this. 

[scfitzo]

I had the same thing. Got a card as a gift and says zero balance. 

[DaneeBT]

Hi @scfitzo I'm so sorry to hear that! I will send you a PM.

[keelybt]

@Wongmommy I'm sorry to hear that! I will send you a PM. 

[ellakastan]

same thing happened to me. just got a gift card last week for my birthday and i was waiting to use it for the sephora sale. 125 dollars gone. this is absurd!!!!

[DaneeBT]

Hi @ellakastan I'm sorry to hear about this! I will send you a PM.

[GraceBrowne]

I had the same thing happen to me. I received two giftcards from birthday, one for $100 and one for $50. Both were purchased from the same store and the balance says zero for both when I try to apply them to an order. I have not used either of them. I even called for the balance, and it still zero.

[LaurieBT]

Hi @GraceBrowne,

I'm sorry to hear this! I'll send you a message.

Best,

Laurie 

[DiiGood]

This just happened to my daughter. We got her a $25 GC at Albertsons for Easter and just tried to use it. Says $0. How do we get our money back?!?!?

[Missydean45]

This is still happening.  My husband purchased a $150 Sephora gift card from Albertsons in January, 2024.  I just went to use it at the Sephora store and the balance was 0.  The store clerk apologized, said this has been happening a lot and there was nothing she could do.  She gave me Sephora customer service number.  I went home and called and was told that they could do nothing since it was purchased at Albertsons.  She wouldn't look up when the card was used either.  She told me I would have to look it up online.  I tried to look it up online and the Sephora website said there was an error with the number.  I called Sephora again and read the number to Customer Service.  She looked up the card and said there were three transactions online line to Sephora 5 days after the card was purchased.  I asked if there was any other identifying information to see who used the card (name, address, state, etc), so said it doesn't have that information and there was nothing else she could do.  Sephora has been incredibly unhelpful in this situation.  They have our money and don't really care that we have been cheated out of it.  Both calls to customer service have been so unhelpful. There is absolutely NO attempt from Sephora to help the customer resolve this issue, compensate the customer, or even acknowledge that it should be investigated. It seems like this is continuing to happen and there is no attempt to solve the issue.  We will never purchase a Sephora gift card again with this lack of customer support.

[lala64]

I'm not sure of your timeline, but the same thing happened to me in March 2024. I was given a $150.00 card, tried to use it and no money on the card. Called Sephora who pretty much told me, "Sorry, we treat cards like cash, we can't do anything". So we were all victimized twice; once by the scammer and second by Sephora. I will never, ever shop Sephora again for their lack of support or resolution 

[DaneeBT]

@Missydean45 I'm so sorry to hear about this. I will send you a PM.

[Missydean45]

I just filed a claim with the Federal Trade Commission.  

[DiiGood]

Same! They were no help at all. Their system is clearly hacked and they aren't doing anything about it. Hope someone files a class action. 

[AngeeK]

So, is this still happening? My aunt just

gave me $100 gift card and when I went to apply it to my order it said $0 balance. Can someone please help?