Sephora filtering out negative reviews

[ajarmr]

I recently tried Estee Lauder Advanced Eye Cream and for the first time in my life I experienced the worst chemical burn. The corners of my eyes were raw and red. I had dry, patchy raw skin under my eyes that took weeks to heal. I have repeatedly tried to post a review so that others might learn from my experience but it doesn't matter how I word it - it never gets posted. I made sure that my review was following all of the guidelines and even tried using as few words as possible. It doesn't seem to matter. Sephora never posts it. As a consumer, I rely heavily on customer reviews and I am concerned that negative reviews are being filtered out majority of the time to prevent consumers from seeing the truth. I am a rouge member and spend a significant amount of money at sephora. This makes me question whether my loyalty to sephora is misguided and if I should start purchasing elsewhere; where I am guaranteed unbiased, truthful buyer review.

[DaneeBT]

Hi @ajarmr,

I'm really sorry to hear your reviews haven't been posted! Upon review, it appears that they were not posted on our website as they did not follow our Ratings and Reviews Guidelines. If you'd like to view the guidelines once more, please visit this link:

https://www.sephora.com/beauty/ratings-reviews

Thank you and I'm sorry for any inconvenience caused!

Always,
Danee

[ajarmr]

It is fair to mention that I even removed the use of "chemical burn" and just stated it left me with dry, raw, patchy skin so to avoid the medical requirements in their guidelines. Even though I don't suffer from any medical conditions and do not have sensitive skin which is quite significant and worth stating.

[Sudesi]

I am having this exact experience. I received a sample of Drunk Elephant Protini. On my second day of use, my face got extremely hot and I ended up with something that can only be described as a chemical burn that took 3 days to go away. Followed by a week's worth of bumps, rash, acne-like stuff on my neck, etc. I wanted to caution others about it because I have what I consider very normal skin that NEVER reacts to new products. I submitted two reviews that weren't posted and when I questioned it, I was told to look at the guidelines. I realized that I couldn't reference other products (like what I normally use, or what I used to try to get through the first few days of fierce reaction) and that it was easy for a single word to trip up the filter. I wrote a short and sweet review that I thought hit all the guidelines and avoided the traps. Very similar to other 1-star reviews I have seen posted of this product. It still hasn't been posted and now Sephora isn't even responding to me when i ask why it hasn't been posted. They asked my user name, when I submitted it, and what product it was, but have not replied since. I worry that they are trying to "meter" the reviews so that there is a steady ratio of 1-start to 4- and 5-star reviews to keep the overall average the same.