Hello. I’m writing in hopes of finding the correct department or contact person who can help provide a satisfactory resolution to a big issue I’m having with Sephora. Last night, I spent hours shopping on the Sephora app looking for the perfect products for my intended purchase. I had an account credit of 44.17 (from a return that was past the time period for a refund to card) So, I had a leftover acct credit of 44.17 and added a $25.00 Sephora gift card to my Sephora acct on January 7. I filled my cart with all my goodies and went to check out on the app. My plan was to use my acct credit, gift card, and the remaining balance on my Afterpay card. Afterpay declined the purchase due to their policy of no other payment methods on Afterpay purchases. So I then emptied part of my cart to purchase 1 order using my credit and gift card and had to change my payment method. I discovered that my gift card balance completely disappeared as I went to check out. Then I had to remove more stuff to cover the acct credit. My plan after using the acct credit and gift card balance was so purchase the rest of my cart using Afterpay. When I realized my gift card balance was showing 0.00, I searched all over the app hoping to find answers of what happened. It literally just disappeared. I decided to hold off of my remaining purchase until customer service would be open to speak to a live person.
I talked to 4 reps today. Apparently Sephora doesn’t hold a gift card balance as a payment method like all of the other online stores and apps i use such as Amazon, target, Starbucks, etc. ?? Well, that’s what I was told and I had no idea… but that still doesn’t answer where my $25 balance went and not one person I spoke to was able to provide me with that answer. We just ended up talking in circles because instead of trying to actually help me, they were insistent on reading the exact same script about sephora policy regarding gift cards. One rep I spoke to told me that I should have kept the receipt (um.. it was a gift so I don’t have a receipt ) and that I should have kept the card or taken a photo of it.
Do people really do that? Because I certainly don’t. In this digital age, I load all of my gifted cards onto my apps immediately and then they balances just stay there until I’m ready to use them. Then I throw away the cards. When I am ready to purchase at store of choice, I even have the option on those apps to decide my payment method. I can choose to use my gift card balance or I can make the purchase with my credit or debit cards I have on file with each app. Somehow during the attempted transaction of using multiple payment methods, my gift card disappeared.
When I called today, I was pretty much met with no help and a hard no. 2 of the reps were really sweet and tried to help.. but hands were tied and I got apologies and unfortunatelys, and no resolutions they all just kept repeating themselves about the policy while trying to just get me off their line. One rep I spoke to, Mike, maybe a SUP? He basically told me that Sephora used to have a gift card balances as a payment option but then the company changed it to secure customers accounts and prevent fraud and unauthorized users and hackers from spending customer acct gift cards.
That makes no sense. None at all. Reason being, I have my credit cards on my Sephora acct that IF an unauthorized person were to access, they could easily go on a shopping spree and use my points to buy all the Drunk Elephants and drain my acct. So no, I do not accept his reasoning or excuse of why I can’t add my gift card to be held on my Sephora acct.
My very last phone call was with a nice young lady who seemed like she wanted to help, but she was obviously guided by her leadership to read the same policy script over and over and stick to a hard no because the previous reps gave me the same hard no… they all said there was absolutely nothing they could do to help me. Nothing at all.
So here I am. Reaching out and trying to find the department or person who can help me. I know for a fact that there is something that can be done. There is ALWAYS something that can be done. Whether it be more research on my acct to find out WHY my gift card balance disappeared and trying to find some kind of resolution for the situation. This is a Sephora error, not a customer error. I certainly did not spend one single cent on that gift card and I even saw it taken off the balance due when I tried to pay the remaining balance off with my Afterpay. And then my gift card balance was gone. Does Sephora have a team to send trouble tickets for web and app issues? Is customer satisfaction (within reason of course) the goal at the end of the day? Is it Sephora policy to treat each escalation the exact same for every Sephora customer without consideration for the circumstances? I work in customer service for a cell phone company. I am a CSR rep who actually attempts to help the customers who come on my line. Not every person hangs up satisfied, but absolutely make sure I do everything and anything I can to help, I treat each phone call with the care and service for that specific customer based on their needs and circumstances. If they are not satisfied, I always make sure that they understand the whys and what the next steps are.
I asked the last rep I spoke with for a phone number, email, address, fax number… anything to point me in the direction of customer relations and complaints. She refused, denied, and said my only option was to be sent to the survey voicemail and leave a message. So here I am, playing detective, and combing through google, and Facebook, and TikTok.. actually all the social media to try to find help with my specific situation. So many people may receive emails from me that are not intended for them because.. none of the reps were willing to help me.
As I mentioned earlier, I know in customer service, something can always be done. Whether it be resolving the where did my gift card funds disappear to mystery or crediting my account. That was actually what I asked for on my last call to Sephora customer service today. For a $25 acct credit. I have been shopping with Sephora for many many many many years and I have never once asked or felt entitled to an acct credit. However, today, I strongly feel like what happened to my missing gift card money was 100% a Sephora company error due to app or software or database issues.
A satisfactory resolution for me would be a $25 acct credit because after talking to several reps and reading the sephora community page on the website. Apparently, missing gift card funds are a hot topic with the Sephora community. I feel like Sephora STOLE $25 from me. At this point in my complaint, it’s more about the principle of it all and leaving each csr conversation feeling like they think I’m scamming the company. For $25 dollars. All I know is that I have spent waaaaay too much time and energy on this today. I really hope I reach the right person and this all gets resolved and I get my gift card balance back. That’s all I wanted from the beginning. Instead I was treated like I was a nuisance instead of the loyal Sephora customer I have been for as long as I was old enough to spend my whole paychecks on as many Drunk Elephants I could afford. Lol.
If you got to the end of this, thank you for taking the time to hear my perspective. I know this was long and slightly rambly but I really need this to be resolved. It’s not like it’s my last $25 or the lippies and free drunk elephant sample in my cart will change my life forever. If this happened to me, then it probably happens to other customers. What if it was $100 dollar gift card balance or more and their ONLY present they received on Christmas?! That would be devastating.
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