Gift Card received for Christmas comes back with "Invalid" error message upon entering

[Kendra80]

Hello Customer Service team,

I just tried to use a gift card I received today for the Christmas holiday, and I received an error message saying that it's invalid. I tried entering the number manually, multiple times, and cross checked to make sure I have all the digits right and I was not successful. 

Looking through the threads, it appears that this is a pretty common issue, and I'd appreciate an Associate getting back to me when offices reopen to share the resolution. I have a screen grab of the error message that shows I have entered everything in correctly, and I've asked the gift giver if they still have the original receipt (just waiting to hear back).

Thank you!

[Kendra80]

Hi all,

For anyone who may have encountered something similar and may be wondering what came of this, I thought I'd share an update. As I was sharing via private message a pic of the GC number with LaurieBT in Customer Service, who was super responsive and helpful by the way, I noticed on the enlarged image that there was a small dash next to a 1 which to naked eyes looked like a 4. I tried once more using the 1 and it was valid.

If you get the same error, I recommend taking a pic of the card number and zooming in!

Happy New Year, everyone!

[Kendra80]

And adding to this one more time while feeling a bit silly - what looked like a perfect little dash making the 1 look like a 4 was just a bit of the scratch stuff not quite scratched off. So, definitely check for blemishes or scratch a bit more! What are the odds that would align so perfectly?

[LaurieBT]

@Kendra80, I'm sorry to hear this! I'm happy to take a look in more detail. It looks like your private messages are turned off, and you can adjust your preferences in your Community settings (on the browser only, not the app). If you would like to send me a private message with the gift card details, I'll look into this.

Alternatively, for immediate assistance, you may contact our live chat at https://www.sephora.com/beauty/contact-us or call 1-877-SEPHORA (1-877-737-4672). If the chat is unavailable, please keep the page open until the next agent becomes available. Thank you!

[Kendra80]

Thank you so much for your quick reply, Laurie! I've enabled the private messages now, and I have a copy of the receipt which I can share.

I'll send you the details through private message when I get a chance tonight so you'll have the details for when you're online next. Just wanted to acknowledge receipt of your message first before I get tied up. I appreciate your help in looking into this!