Gift card scam

[Beth110]

Hello everybody,

I wanted to let you all know that although Sephora continues to encourage customers to purchase their gift cards at third party retailers (like CVS, Safeway, etc) they are also aware of a major scam that siphons the funds from the gift card before the recipient has a chance to use gift card.  Sephora, unlike other retailers that offer access to their gift cards through third parties, offers no customer protection nor offers any support to unsuspecting customers against these scams.  I purchased Sephora gift cards for Holiday gifts.  When the gift card recipients went to Sephora to use card they were told there was a $0 balance and they were treated like they were the scammers.

Beware. 

[nals17]

This happened to my daughter too.  She received a $50 gift card for her birthday from a friend that purchased it at CVS. When she brought it to the cashier with her purchase at Sephora she was told that there was a $0 balance.  We called customer support, who said there was nothing they could do.  Very disappointing.  I will never buy a Sephora gift card again and will tell my friends and my daughter's friends the same.

[Kmclla]

It’s totally normal for retailers to not offer support for fraudulent gift cards purchased at third party retailers. You said other retailers do I would love if you would name some? Honestly just would like to check them out.

ive worked at tons of places and its always been that way. You paid a third party, it is the third parties issue. You have to take your issue to the store you bought it from as it is an issue either with how they store and audit their gift cards, how they train their staff to inspect gift cards and inform customers about keeping the activation receipt with the gift card, and even possible their staffs own theft. Gift card scams are common everywhere, always keep the activation receipt and give it WITH the gift card in case of issues.

[anniewhoz]

Yep, just happened to me too! Customer service reps do what they can, but ultimately Sephora doesn’t give a rip. I’m going to file a complaint with the FTC because there are tons of stories of this online, specifically Sephora.

[Annie1223948723]

Yes, this happened to me as well. My mom bought a gift card from Sephora at Kohls for my birthday and when I went to spend it it had $0. My mom went back to complain and they could see that it was spent before it made it to me, but they didn't do anything to help and my mom lost her money. I DO NOT recommend buying gift cards from Sephora. The person working at Sephora was sympathetic but was not surprised when I went to check my balance and found it had $0, sounds like it's a widespread issue, specifically with Sephora. 

[LaurieBT]

Hi @Annie1223948723,

I'm sorry to hear this! It looks like your private messages are turned off. You may send me a private message with more details, and I'll be happy to look into this further. Alternatively, 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.

Best regards,

Laurie