Sephora Rouge - What a JOKE

[scarlett88]

I have been a Rouge member for five years. And I have to say, I am underwhelmed with this program. Aside from expedited shipping, there is no benefit to being Rouge. 

And the rewards bazaar. That is an insult. You offer these "experiential" rewards and only people that have nothing to do but surf your site 24/7 can get them. I mean, really? I have to work in order to spend money. And I spend a LOT with Sephora. My points are practically useless. The rewards are meh. At least offer a $ off like Ulta. Even branded sites like Tarte.com, Smashbox.com and UrbanDecay.com do this. 

I really hope Sephora's customer care and retention departments take note. 

[k617]

@itscarin I agree it's possible to be pressured. Sure, we're all responsible for our own actions but people might cave because of anxiety issues, their personality, their current state of mind/emotion, etc. Doesn't mean it's the sales associate's fault--but just because YOU (general you) can resist the pressure, doesn't mean everyone can.

I know people who are so afraid of confrontation, they'll do anything to avoid it, even if it means paying $200 for a foundation. Yes, they're responsible for caving in, but at the same time, they can't help it. Anything is better than the alternative.

Last year there was a story about a lady who was "pressured" into spending $10k+ at a beauty/cosmetics store in a Canadian airport... the sales associate wouldn't leave her alone and rather than firmly telling him no, she handed over her credit card so she could catch her flight. Then she went to a news channel and complained about it.

Do I think she was stupid to hand over her credit card? Yes. Could I have resisted that sales associate and told him to back off? Probably. But I don't expect everyone to have that same ability.

Here's an excerpt from the news article:

Spoiler

Prior to a recent flight, Carol-Ann Villeneuve was making her way towards airport security when a salesman with Elements Spa Boutique called out to her.

“He says come, come sit down I'll give you a sample for your eyes,” recalls Villeneuve of the cosmetics sales pitch. “I'll apply and I’ll show you how good they are.”

“He says $3,300,” said  Villeneuve. “I said ‘Oh my god no. That’s too expensive’. He says ‘Yes you can do it’, the usual thing, you know, that I owe it to myself.”

Villeneuve says the employee would not back down. Fearing she would miss her flight, she handed the salesman her credit card.

The sales pitch continued and Villeneuve says the employee asked for her boarding pass to convince her that she had more time. At the end of her 40 minute experience with the Elements Spa Boutique staff member, Villeneuve’s final bill was staggering.

“$10,291,” said Villeneuve, a total she says she continues to feel terrible about. “Why wasn’t I strong enough to get up and leave?”

[Zvezdochka]

@itscarin To me it comes down to personal responsibility. You make a decision to do/buy something or not. If one is so easily influenced by others opinions, than it’s something they should work on if it bothers them or not if they are fine with that. I don’t see how your friend’s background is relevant here. It is probably more about ones personality type. You can have three PhDs and still be easily swayed by the opinion of others because of your own insecurities, constant desire to please people, be accepted, appear “nice” or whatever it is. Simply put: if somebody tells you to jump off a 15 story building, would you do it? Probably not. Same here, you make your own decisions, nobody else is making them for you. But your decisions have consequences. Simply because one is not happy with such consequences does not mean it absolves him/her of responsibility for the choices he/she made. Constantly blaming other people for anything that goes wrong in our lives, takes away our ability to learn from the situation and do better next time. 

[k617]

Comparing buying a $200 foundation to jumping off a 15 story building is pretty extreme...but I digress...

[Zvezdochka]

@k617 Of course it’s not the same: I don’t believe that actually needed clarification but given the way discussion is going...common sense be gone. We literally used the verb “pressure” here to describe the situations where people bought something because they are incapable of simply saying “no” or at times simply regretting their own impulse buy but taking 0 responsibility for it. 

[chall]

You're going overboard in your reaction to the idea that people are swayed by pressure from sales associates. Of course they are - the entire advertising industry plays on that human tendency. It would be a very abnormal person who didn't care at all what other people thought of them or who never doubted they were right. The world isn't as black and white as you seem to perceive it, and despite your repeated lip service to the value of differing opinions, your replies suggest you have very little tolerance for the perspectives of others. 

[sabrinas]

@Zvezdochka Just curious, why do you not think Ulta's system is better? You're the first person I've heard who doesn't agree with that.

They have easy-to-accumulate points which give you $$ back.  I got $125 back after using various points multipliers where I didn't have to spend more than $200 to get those points!

[Zvezdochka]

I think the reason you did not hear that much is because most of the customers who are happy with Sephora just don’t see the point of discussing other retailers. It’s pretty awesome that Sephora is so generous with allowing all that talk about Ulta. The thing is nomatter how much a person whines that other retailer is better such person is still on Sephora’s website trying to make a purchase or/and convince (lol) Sephora to offer more benefits. 

To answer your question: Ulta does have a nice rewards $ system (even though I seriously doubt that every other customer spends $200 and gets $125 off every other purchase as Ulta would go bankrupt by now from the business point of view). But everything else is messy (for me): I much prefer variety and quality of GWPs from Sephora; goody bags that Ulta offers don’t live up to my expectation (those are not the level of brands I’m interested in); choice of samples is worse as well (I got five orders with no samples (happens to all retailers), and it took forever to get a very disappointing resolution); a lot of brands that I’m interested in, Ulta does not carry or carries a very limited range; shopping in store was always a disappointment for me, be it the feel of the store (to me Ulta is the Walmart of Beaty retailers) or CS; finally I love that there are so many Sephora stores around the world. 

It all comes down to personal preference: I don’t care that much about $6 off but I do care about finding my products when I’m working in Europe for example. To be frank i don’t understand why some people continue to complaint and bring up Ulta. If you like it more, shop there. It’s such a non issue to waiste your time and emotions. I tried Ulta around the holidays, I didn’t like it, I moved on. Everybody is different. It’s all good. 

[Tarabotti]

I think it all depends on what you want. I'm not interested in Sephoras rewards so that aspect of the program doesn't bother me. Sephora has a lot of physical stores in my city as well.

Ulta's reward system is pretty good, allowing you to gain money to use as a percentage off. Their GWP's always have some ridiculous buy in ($60/ $75 for a bag full of little samples?) and some samples get recycled in different bags.It's nice to get samples but after a while it adds up to too many bags and samples. The beauty breaks are nice but most of their 20% coupons can't be used for what Ulta terms prestigious makeup (which is almost 80% of their store). There are only a handful of Ulta stores in my area and their customer service is hit or miss. When I go in store, I never get free samples and have to beg for my GWP's. They forgot my free sampler in my last order as well.

If you feel that you get better service elsewhere, by all means shop at those places. I'm not emotionally tied to any store, I shop where I can get the best value for my dollar

[glideron1022]

I agree Ulta is better!  And I get my orders from them faster too, plus nothing gets cancelled from my Ulta orders!!

[Anonymous]

Thank you ladies for your honest reviews. My 14 year old is Sephora obsessed and I had the intention of buying pretty much her entire Christmas here - until I had a question and had the worst customer service I've ever experienced!

[adorabella]

I think a lot of us feel similarly.   I think I've been Rouge since 2010.

After the Epic Rewards debacle a couple years ago, and subsequent underwhelming rewards, I began shopping more at Ulta, brand websites (e.g., MUFE), Birchbox, Yesstyle, and even QVC, upon occasion.  I go where I can get a good deal, because the value of Sephora rewards isn't particularly compelling.

I love that Ulta gives 5x points for Ultamate members, and that they offer 20% off for both drug store and prestige brands several times a year.  I much prefer the cash rewards because I actually use them. That, and their gift bags are incomparably better and more valuable than those that Sephora offers.  Ulta has actual sales on different brands throughout the year as well.

There are still some brands that I prefer at Sephora that I can't get cheaper elsewhere, are offered in gift sets, or where the shipping speed is advantageous.  Sephora is a business, of course, and isn't required to offer anything, but they do so at their detriment if they want to be competitive.

[Anonymous]

The rewards never being available is honestly the biggest annoyance. Like everyone is saying, most of us work all day and don’t have time to troll the website to get the good items right when they’re stocked. I hardly ever get really good rewards and yet here I am still selling my soul to Sephora for the love of makeup lol

[Pinklips101]

Oh my goodness I agree with you, I never get the samples I chose and when I call customer service, they say there is nothing they can do. basically the samples have no value. it's so irritating because sometimes I make a purchase just for the sample. I really like Macy's they offer great gift with purchases from lancome and clinique.

[Anonymous]

Even when you can sit on the site exactly when rewards come out you often can't get them anyways. From what I've read the site glitches and the rewards can't even be obtained at release sometimes!

[Maria88]

Yep. I've been a Rouge since day one and I think the program is meh. I too have started shopping elsewhere. The only things I get here are the limited edition or exclusive items. Or if i need something quick.

[PickyPlease]

Mmmhm, this holiday season I've avoided Sephora and shopped at Ulta, Nordstrom, Urban Decay, and Lord & Taylor, for items Sephora also sells. Because even UD has a cashback system. And from Nordstrom I've gotten two huge sample bags I would have to spend at least 4000 Sephora points to get. Which is 1:1 to $4000. 

And! I actually changed gift ideas to avoid shopping at Sephora. The value of a point system helps so much during the holidays. The only thing keeping me around here is Bite Beauty, but I intentionally found dupes in Bobbi Brown and Lipstick Queen (I've never previously bought these brands before) because it's not like Bite Beauty is a drugstore price and I get better bonuses elsewhere for similar cost.

[domis]

Agreed!! I've been rouge for years. The one time I tried to use the benefit for a makeover I couldn't get a slot for an appointment. The rewards bazar is infuriating. I see my points (which basically count up my dollars spent for me) growing and growing and any 'reward' that is of any quality or actually seems like a reward is sold out before I even see it launch. I'm starting to purchase directly from the brands sites or department stores more and more as their rewards and incentives are better.

[lmi82]

Yup! 

There's even another thread just like this one showing on the main feed!

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Rouge/DEAR-SEPHORA-ROUGE-MEMBER-BENEFITS-AND-OFFERS-ARE-NOT-MEETING...

And you commented on it yesterday! Woza!

If you use the search bar, you'll find even more Rouge complaint threads!

Fascinating!

[sadgyal3000]

yess been Rouge since 2015 but no motivation to try again after my status ends next year

[gonerogue]

@lmi82 🔥🔥🔥