Long Overdue Return Ban And Retail Equation Discussion

[GASarah]

Based on the increased number of posts from long time customers sharing their similar experiences of being blindsided with a year-long ban on all returns and exchanges, it appears to me that this Is becoming much more frequent issue. Which is only made worse by Sephora continued lack of transparency regarding almost every aspect of the changes and consequences experienced by your customers as a result of allowing the Retail Equation, a third-party to totally manage a substantial part of what has been the model for a Sephora retail shopping experience. 

With that in mind, I am writing with a simple request that a Sephora representative can provide clarity on what the actual new guidelines penalty structure and just a general overall description of what exactly I can do as a customer to make sure I’m never in a position where I feel ambushed with a year-long ban through no fault of my own. Personally I haven’t received any warnings or had any returns declined and would like to keep it that way, but in order to do so there’s got to be at least a basic understanding of how to prevent this...

Would one of the moderators please provide either provide the written guidelines or outline of what Sephora’s new return policy is or a link where customers can access that information?

I understand that customers may not be the only ones who have not been given all the facts but please do NOT reply if it’s only to provide the toll-free number for Retail Equation to call and ask them for clarification. But I am a customer of Sephora, I spend my money at Sephora, Sephora’s leadership made the decision to hire Retail Equation to manage the return & exchange system, so there is no reason that I should have any personal dealings with a third-party company brought in to manage this area of the company. 

Now I’m not talking about someone who has been banned calling to get a detailed report, Im referring to my attempts reaching out to customer service to get a grasp on what has now become Sephora‘s policy and quite frankly it’s infuriating to be told that The best resolution is to give me Retail Equation’s phone number  and hopefully they’d be able to provide some details. This scenario is what I experienced last night when I received my online order and 2 of the items were already open. Because of all the nightmarish situations that other customers shared on th community boards, I called to ask if I would be penalized By bringing these defective items to my local store to return as I would have in the past, to make sure that whatever type of monitoring is going on with my account wouldn’t flag them in the same way as items I’ve used and decided not to keep. I simply wanted to return defective items to a store without being penalized and possibly moving closer to this ambiguous return threshold no one really understands. This includes both customer service representative and manager I spoke to. When customers are literally having to call for fear they’ll be penalized and not be able to be refunded their money when they are sent defective items should not only be an embarrassment to Sephora, but evidence that something in this equation is broken.  

[lswp]

I think it's unfair to not give customers a clear understanding of the return guidelines.  They need to make it public how much returns they are willing to take per person in a physcal year.  Let people know they can't go beyond  "x" amount or they will be refused future refunds/ exchanges.  

Especially in times of covid where we aren't allowed to try on products and they aren't giving samples, they should expect higher than normal returns.  They have tonnes of online only product that can't be tested and the internet doesn't give the best depiction of what the product actually looks like. There are areas that don't have sephora's and they only purchase online.   

Tre doesn't do a good job.  They don't look at past purchase history.  They aren't taking covid into account.  Customers could potentially buy hundreds of dollars in product  and be banned for an undetermined amount of time.  

Tre is a 3rd party hired by sephora. When sephora tells you to contact tre,  they are deflecting responsibility. A 3rd party will not unban you,  they are simply following data analysis and making recommendations to the retailer.  The retailer is the only one that can unban you, but they won't talk to you. 

I also think information is not being entered in their stores correctly.  I have returns marked with no receipt, but I've always had the receipt. The cashiers don't care because your allowed to return an item, no questions asked.

Just curious,  all the people who almost never make returns... how much do you buy in a year?  Are you rouge members? 

They should have a return policy with clearer guidelines that people can follow.  Right now, they are possibly,  alienating some of their best customers. Despite if you return a lot or a little, you shouldn't be penalized for following their rules and regulations.  It's an insult to spend hundreds of  dollars only to get banned. Oh, but please keep buying... it's a slap in the face. 

[Suzy250]

xclass action due to TRE retail equation refusal to allow returns 

what a shady company and Sephora shady to use them 

ban Sephora 

here joinin class action ! 

[RinaValentina]

It's now October, have we still not received a straight answer on exactly how many returns we are allowed per year? Hearing people get banned after only a few returns is absolutely bizarre! Don't brag about how great your return policy is if you are going to ban people on the down low.... If we are only allowed say, 3 returns a year, say so. Don't have your longtime loyal customers in fear of you, and don't tell us to read the return policy because it doesn't give us a straight answer. How many returns/exchanges are we now allowed? BE.👏CLEAR.👏

[yuline]

I will say this.  Everything that happened to me with Sephora is kind of a blessing in disguise.  I’m not overspending and buying extra backups. I’m being extremely careful about researching what I want to purchase.  It’s helpful to know when certain sales are happening every year because it helps me plan when to make big purchases.  A BIG THANK YOU to the BEAUTY COMMUNITY for always being incredibly helpful, kind, and sharing your knowledge and expertise with what to do and what not to do!!!!! You are helping both the companies and customers alike.  It really is a blessing in disguise on this because I never even knew this community existed until these TRE issues came up this year (hilarious in a way).  Anyway moving back to my random thoughts... I am limited in terms of what I’m able to buy at Sephora and I can no longer buy people gifts from Sephora because if they don’t want it, I can’t return it.  I’m more sad about not being able to buy more things from Sephora for those I care about who I want to have nicer things than myself being limited.  I would say at this point, it’s about 50:50 with Ulta.  Anything Ulta carries, I go there instead and I’m moving up the ranks at this rate.  Currently platinum with Ulta but should be making diamond rank soon.  The Ulta store employees are always delighted to see me whenever I step in because I’m an easy customer and I’m helping their stores meet/exceed their sales goals and they go out of their way to make me happy (I don’t expect them to do that but I SO APPRECIATE it and I’m actually currently in the process of writing them a corporate compliment).  With Sephora, I have to be extremely careful ordering online so I’ve kept the online ordering to a minimum.  Again good for my wallet which actually makes me happier LOL.  That being said, these extra vib sales are still putting major dents in my wallet 😩

[juicygirl4ever]

What I don't understand is how the sephora employees mark a return as "unreceipted" even when I had the receipt. I have never had an issue with this TRE (yet) but I also have never really returned much to sephora. I shop there A LOT. Mostly online, several times a week. I return maybe once a year, MAYBE. I had 2 items that I ended up not liking due to extreme color differences between online and real life, and an item that I bought for my daughter and she just wanted something different because the colors of the palette didnt look so good/workable in person once she got it. None of these items were used. Just barely opened to look at. I had receipts for all 3 items and the SA did the return as "unreceipted" because I no longer had the same card i used to originally purchase the items (I had to get a new card/number due to a breach on our bank). All of the purchases had been recent to the date of the return. So, I am guessing those returns will now be on my mysterious file with TRE?? That's just not right at all. Especially since I had the receipts and I had not made any other returns in at least a good year or so. She also only gave me store merchandise credit for the return, which I could not use online. My daughter was exchanging the palette, right then and there, so that wasnt a big deal, but I didnt have anything in mind to get at the moment for my 2 items. So the SA gave store credit. Weird and a little unfair I think. And how does this TRE thing work? Like, other stores use it too, so is it sort of like the returns from one store can effect your ability to return at another since it is basically building a case against you with each return? Sort of like a credit report, where if you have bad credit because of xxx debt, it effects your ability to get credit somewhere else, as well.

[yuline]

@juicygirl4ever The positive is at least you’re aware of how retailers are tracking returns and can take extra measures to protect your account.  Being informed allows you to be proactive in preventing anything from happening.  If you have a receipt that should still be in their system somewhere given the timeframe, never allow someone to do it as a nonreceipted return. If you’ve had issues with a particular store’s cashiers processing returns in the past, ask for the Store Manager to process your return correctly as a receipted return.  The other problem is one can’t rule out the possibility that the cashier DID process the return CORRECTLY but TRE labeled the transaction INCORRECTLY.

[juicygirl4ever]

I didnt realize that they did it as nonreceipted until I got home. I was looking at the receipts and it was stayed on there, "nonreceipted return." So at that point it was too late. 

[DuchessV]

I once tried to return a defective item I ordered online to a Sephora @JC Penney location, because JC Penney is 10 minutes from my home vs 45 for the closest Sephora. Won't be doing that again. The associate didn't accept the packing slip from my order as a receipt, said she didn't need to scan my rouge card, and processed it as a return without a receipt. I got denied and given the number for TRE. It didn't matter that my item was defective and unuseable, it didn't matter that I am rouge and spend $$$$ with Sephora every year. I was stuck with it. I was furious. I contacted Sephora's customer service and they said they could find no evidence that I would be considered "a threat to Sephora" and didn't know why I was given the TRE number. I'm sure it's because the JC Penney Sephora associates don't really know what they're doing... maybe they put JC Penney policy before Sephora policy? But whatever... I will  never try to return anything to Sephora @Penneys again, and I am now totally paranoid about making ANY returns.

[yuline]

Did some online research. Turns out retail equation was merged with a company called sysrepublic to form a company now called Appriss. What I don’t like about it is they have no competitor to level the playing field which is quite SCARY. That’s why patients lose out with the US health insurance system and pay such high premiums while the few insurance companies have a monopoly and are rich and can dictate whatever price. The only interest they have is to take over the world and increase their own profitability. Who is doing the research to see if their algorithm really improves profitability for companies, does not drive away business, and supposedly improves the customer service experience? Why is it majority of the companies that I read about who use them are not doing that great and only getting worse?

[flamingolegs]

You really try to liken health insurance to a company that tracks returns to assist retailers in remaining profitable?  #FirstWorldProblems

[yuline]

@flamingolegs I am not saying healthcare problems and beauty problems are the same.  The theme of my post was issues with monopoly in any sector.  Online merchants like Amazon have such a monopoly (eg they can negotiate cheaper contracts with suppliers through their size and power), mom and pop stores are struggling to survive.  There are real issues with our healthcare system to do with monopoly in my opinion (maybe I'm the only one who thinks our healthcare system is broken) such that patients cannot afford potentially life saving medications due to the cost being charged by insurance companies.  Monopoly anywhere is NOT a good thing in my opinion.  Please don't misinterpret what I'm saying.  I've gone extra to find many ways to cut costs for my patients who cannot afford their treatment and I know for fact many of my colleagues have NOT done the same.  I have saved many people several thousands of dollars per year because I care about people and I'm not content just to treat people like a number to enrich myself personally financially.  I don't deserve this harsh criticism that you have continually been coming after me about long after I've stopped posting about my issues with Sephora and moved onto other topics.  If you want to keep criticizing me and thinking the worst of me, I will not be reacting to any of your posts to anything I posted past or present going forward.  I really don't have time to be reacting to your comments.  I never made it my mission to attack you personally.  Yet you continually criticize me and misinterpret some of my posts.  You are attempting to portray me to be someone that I am not in real life whatsoever. I will say this, I just finished a very long work day (14+ hours) where at one point, I pushed myself so hard to make sure people in my care were getting the best care possible, I thought for a moment my body was going to give out because I had overworked myself, not eating or drinking enough going a mile a minute nonstop to make sure I gave everyone my fullest attention though I did not feel well myself.  For example, today I made sure that issues to do with a young teen's tacrolimus (an immunosuppressive drug to prevent organ transplant rejection) necessary for his new kidney got resolved in a timely manner.  When this teen started to deteriorate post kidney transplantation causing much alarm for everyone, it was I who stepped in and ensured changes were made such that today he is thriving with his new kidney and living life to the fullest.  What I do outside of Sephora definitely has nothing to do with "first world problems."

[ByeSephora2018]

Happened to me today, after being a very longtime customer. Tried to exchange my Josie Maran tinted moisturizer and was declined. I called Customer service was told this is an in-store issue. The girls all know me; I’m a Rouge customer and considered valuable to my local store. TRE only says they are following “Sephora guidelines”,which no one can provide any detail or criteria  I was never given a single for warning about a possible ban on returns/exchanges. I can support fraudulent returns, but I cannot support valid returns (with receipt), abiding within the 60-day Sephora policy. By offering a return policy, Sephora is guaranteeing the satisfaction of their products, period. Bye sephora, I will be taking all my business to Ulta.

[yuline]

Btw Ulta is leading on growth and earnings by a huge margin as usual and as they have been for the past few years.   Everyone else not so much.  Ulta never promoted this culture of excessive consumer entitlement, traditionally ran more sales, had less inflated price points and are a force to be reckoned with the quality of their curations (their buyers must be testing out their products thoroughly) and their customer product reviews are more real.  Every time I rush in to buy a product after reading Ulta customer reviews, it’s been consistently accurate and helped me NOT to make a bad purchase.  I am very picky about my B.B. cushions owning many from the various lines carried by amorepacific.  I’m already breaking into my 2nd box on a line Ulta carries and it’s only been 1.5 months since purchase.  I still have my laneige B.B. cushion from the last nov rouge sale that I never reach for (been painfully using it up for MANY LONG months LONG before I got banned) because sorry it’s not good.  I tested out the new releases from laneige by Sephora in store in the past couple weeks and sorry not good.  As upset as I am I will say one thing good about Sephora and that is their commitment to green and clean/products that don’t contain harmful ingredients.   Being CLEAN and safe with ingredients is huge for me.  Oh well.  I went to Ulta this week and bought all these new releases after testing it out in store and it’s amazing, a keeper. I am SO HAPPY with my purchase!  It makes my day to wake up and reach for my new products from Ulta. They were out of stock on this vitamin c serum so I’m going to have to patiently wait it out or track down another store because I MUST HAVE that vitamin c (not a crazy price point, not cheap but the quality of the product lives up to the price point).  There’s more traffic in Ulta stores. It’s not frequently empty and quiet.  Ulta has continued to impress me unexpectedly with all that they offer so I’m willing to finally take a gamble.  They’ve set up a system whether it’s quality of their curations, price points, accurate customer reviews, and transparency that helps me make better decisions as a consumer with less regret.  They may not carry all the lines you like or sugarcoat the truth or make you feel special and entitled to shop at their store but they have a lot to offer in their own right and at this point I am so thankful that they exist.  I believe TRE may actually be hurting the companies that are paying them to perform a service. The more these companies struggle the more they are deluded into thinking they need to rely on TRE and TRE erroneously leads these companies like Toys r us and JCP into thinking TRE’s methods will save them when in fact they may be contributing further to their demise.

[GennX]

I'm not sure any beauty retailer is 100% free of - how shall I say it - 'problematic' product reviews. With social media being such a major component in promoting and sharing customer experiences with products, the flood of 'influencers' (A term that only recently came into existence!) and their often far from transparent corporate affiliations, have shown up everywhere. And many businesses that have built a reputation for frequent sales in the present retail environment are often finding that having all those sales has created a catch 22 - they need to make more money to stay in business but their customers have come to expect all those sales and the low prices they've grown used to paying. Do they raise prices? Have fewer sales? Difficult decision. The executives at Nordstrom have reportedly expressed regret that they went ahead with opening Nordstrom Rack locations as it has turned out to draw customers from the full priced Nordstrom stores to the Rack, looking for Nordstrom brands at bargain prices. In-store traffic is HIGHLY variable no matter what retailer we're talking about, it's a combination of location, the time of day and the customer base that tends to shop at any given retailer. You'd think that with a Starbucks seemingly on every other suburban corner that there wouldn't be enough business for ALL of the locations, and yet the flow of customers in each store follows a predictable multi-peaking day-to-day schedule but apparently making enough money to keep each location in business - it must be the fact that they essentially have prices that only go up, never down, and enough people willing to pay those prices.

I believe you when you say that for you, Ulta is meeting your expectations as a customer. If you're happy going to Ulta I say more power to you! But a business is a non-sentient thing, like a corporation is a business created with a legal document filing, it does not by itself function to make anyone feel special or entitled - the people working for the business might, depending on what is expected of them in the course of their job duties. But if you're happy with Ulta, don't feel like you need to convince anyone that it is truly the case!

[keelybt]

Hi @GASarah  In order to provide all clients with a positive shopping experience, Sephora may decline returns when we identify excessive return patterns that limit selection for other clients. Please know that clients receive notification prior to any return declines. I apologize if you were told to contact TRE as the only reason for you to do so is if you have received a warning or have had a return declined. As long as your return behavior is in line with the majority of our clients, you should not have any issue. 

Here is our return policy > https://www.sephora.com/returns-exchanges

[ByeSephora2018]

Nowhere in your Returns/Exhange policy do you provide the criteria you have given TRE on the number of returns, and the possibility of a return/exchange ban. A return policy provides your customers assurance their satisfaction in the products you sell is important to you. 

[flamingolegs]

Personally I'm happy to see Sephora clamping down on what I see as abuse of generous return policies.  Everytime someone returns something that can't be charged back to the manufacturer (ie truly defective product) it costs the rest of us in higher prices, less perks, and less employees to assist us.  The amount of things some people return simply stuns me.  They use it for a week and decide they don't like it?  They buy multiples of things they've never tried and then want to return half of it?  Come on.  that's abuse.

I've been shopping at Sephora for about 14 years and have returned three things ever.  One because what was labeled a coral pink lipstick turned out to be a bright purple, one because it was impossible to sharpen the eye pencil without it breaking off, and one because the mirror fell out of the compact the first time I opened it.  Three returns in 14 years, and not a single one because I simply decided I didn't like something.

Thank you Sephora.  I understand that when a customer becomes a liability on the spread sheet, it's time to cut them loose.

[Symbai]

I absolutely agree with you @flamingolegs. 

I truly believe that with the growth of the "influencer" culture, a lot of customers abuse Sephora's generous return policy. I, personally, hate to return things - so much waste and so bad for the environment - and I have only done so on very few occassions in the 4 years I have been a Sephora member. 

As consumers, I think we need to be more conscious of our spending habits. You can't just rush out and buy stuff because your favourite influencer is promoting it, and not do your own due diligence on whether the product will work on you by getting a sample and testing out the product before committing to purchase. 

[flamingolegs]

"Influencer Culture" is a bane on society.  Too many "Nobodies" and too many "wannabes."  Personally the only "Influencers" I can even name are John Legend's wife and one of the Kardashians.  I don't even know their names and have never watched their videos or whatever it is they do to become "Influencers."

I'm far more interested in consuming content with value.  Well written and researched journalism and non-fiction books, documentaries (I just saw one about the process for a puppy to become a service dog--fascinating!), and actual conversation with real people that doesn't include electronics.

[GennX]

At least Sephora doesn't have to deal with people returning (formerly) live Christmas trees (like at Costco), or items stolen to go with a receipt that the person found for that item someplace like out in the parking lot (like at Home Depot)?

I generally don't return things I've bought whether it's makeup, clothing, or Christmas lights. I make sure there's not-yet-allocated-for-things-like-bills money in my bank account for the purchase and that I really want/need the item I am planning to buy. The retail industry as a whole is struggling these days, but there's a small proportion of customers who aren't ever going to be 100% satisfied with the customer service they receive, the returns policy, the cost or selection of products/goods available for purchase, the number of times per year there is a sale that marks down the price on various classifications of goods/products, etc. I've read about Costco telling this type of customer that they will not be able to accept any further returns on the basis of that customer returning so many items that they clearly are not happy with the products Costco sells and that Costco is clearly unable to meet their expectations - usually they then also offer to refund the membership fee as well. So, there are businesses in the retail sector that have decided they can accept returns from their customers...to a point...but retaining the services of TRE isn't part of their business model nor viewed as a good business decision - much in the same way as they would with moving forward on collection activities without shoplifting/theft charges being filed at the time or even ever, against someone that a store has allowed to leave the premises who in-house loss prevention believes to have taken merchandise without paying for it.

The US has a highly litigious population, most notoriously this came to attention with the lawsuit allowed to proceed against McDonald's after a woman ordered coffee at the drive through and suffered burns from the hot liquid after the worker had handed the cup to her and while putting it in the cup holder, the lid came off. If there can be blame assigned to some other party, you can bet there's been a lawsuit filed over it. We also want to be able to buy goods for cheap, and have them quickly available for purchasing at our convenience - even if it leaves a significant amount a retailer has purchased, unsold at full price and then must be offloaded to a retailer that sells discounted overstock, in the effort to try and break even made by the original retail business. This too is a factor in why consumers are now facing higher prices, fewer 'perks' offered, and retailers hiring fewer employees in addition to the reduction in their staffing because of the difficulties these businesses have been facing year after year because the retail landscape has changed in the last decade and they are struggling to stay around as evidenced by the numerous bankruptcies and closings.