Sephora Gift Card Scam

[AE7724]

I purchased a $50.00 gift card on December 5th from Sephora, went to use it on December 25th, and found out it had a zero balance. I called the customer support team, and was told that it was used on December 20th, for two separate orders in the amounts of $30.00 & $20.00, respectively. The customer service representative I spoke with could only tell me it was used by someone with the name of Helen Phillips. I then asked if they can see the order that was placed with MY gift card, then can they cancel it the order, or at the very minimum flag it as fraudulent, but was told no. I also asked if they could at the very least tell me what city/state the order was sent to and was told that I could not have that information, as it would be a security issue for the person that used the gift card. I’m failing to understand the thought process behind this- the money on this gift card was stolen from me, yet your store seems to be more concerned about protecting the person committing the fraudulent activities.

I have filed a chargeback with my bank, and have filed a police report. On December 26th, the offer handling this report did attempt to make contact with your customer service team and was told, after being transferred several times, he would have to get a judge to issue a subpoena to get the information for the stolen order.

This whole experience is beyond frustrating. When I purchased a gift card for your store, I had assumed it was safe to use and load money on- and not a gift card that someone had already gained access to before I even purchased it, and drained before I could use it myself. The customer service team was of little help, especially with being transferred several times, calling back several times, and getting various answers as to if this could be resolved.

 I am thoroughly baffled by the way this was handled and never in my life have I stopped shopping somewhere over terrible policies and customer service, until now.