What’s the point?

[Caitylotz]

What’s the point of promoting “pick 3 three samples with every online purchase!” when A-you never get the samples you wanted, or B- you don’t get any at all. Literally every online purchase I’ve made in the last six months or so has disappointed me sample wise. Time to just start ordering from brand sites directly, I guess. They usually have better sales and samples anyway.

[angryrouge]

totally agreed. 

Sephora is just getting worse and worse

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Caitylotz wrote:
What’s the point of promoting “pick 3 three samples with every online purchase!” when A-you never get the samples you wanted, or B- you don’t get any at all. Literally every online purchase I’ve made in the last six months or so has disappointed me sample wise. Time to just start ordering from brand sites directly, I guess. They usually have better sales and samples anyway.

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Caitylotz wrote:
What’s the point of promoting “pick 3 three samples with every online purchase!” when A-you never get the samples you wanted, or B- you don’t get any at all. Literally every online purchase I’ve made in the last six months or so has disappointed me sample wise. Time to just start ordering from brand sites directly, I guess. They usually have better sales and samples anyway.

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[starsandbucks]

You can go back years on these boards and people have been raising this complaint with Sephora over and over again - and always with the requisite “Sephora doesn’t OWE you anything!” chorus quick to chime in. 😉 I just don’t think it will ever be a priority for them.

It does puzzle me as to *why* they create the illusion of choice, because I’d say about 70% of my orders come with samples other than the ones I chose.

And now with the revamped lists that display the samples you’re supposed to get it’s all the more frustrating. They should either fix the supply problem, staff problem (?) or just take away our ability to choose. But just blindly ignoring the issue for years on end isn’t making anyone happy. (Well, maybe it’s making Sephora happy?) But I’d like to anecdotally point out that I placed a direct order with Marc Jacobs Beauty a couple weeks ago and I chose a sample of their eye shadow primer, loved it, and bought the full-size a week later. Sephora MUST be losing out on sales by filling our mailers with men’s cologne samples we don’t want and have no use for, right??

[Ari326]

Omg now I’m worried :,( I placed two orders online within the last week. I requested all skin care items...I’m super concerned :(((

[grizzlymaze]

They seem to be going heavy on sending out these useless foundations to us. Today I received 2 YSL ones in some ugly shade and another by Laura Mercier. The samples available when I placed my order werent very exciting but I requested 3 skincare ones and so if they ALL went out of stock you would think they could substitute with something similar. I'd have been okay with that. But foundation .... just yuck.

[shoppermils]

Yes! I've been having problems every single time. I've either gotten different useless samples or no samples at all! I've even called customer service about that, and all they told me was to go to the store and pick up some samples! And don't even get me started on the Flash shipping. It's never "flash". It's getting so ridiculous, I feel like I should start shopping elsewhere. 

[bcain]

At least you got some samples! I just received an order today that had ZERO samples in it... Getting really tired of this happening to me, as it's the second time I've received an order with no samples at all. 😞

[Askenjuri]

I’ve posted about this several times.  It’s a joke.  Just got a pkg last week.  Yeah, I got 3 samples-not the samples I chose, not even close as substitutions.  I asked for a skincare item, I got perfume.  I asked for a lip sample, I got foundation.  Which I don’t even wear, and wasn’t my color anyway.  Oh yeah, got 2 separate foundation samples, just to really rub it in.  I’ve pretty much decided to drop Sephora from my shopping rotation.  I’ve been Rouge for years, but who cares?  Obviously, not Sephora, since that program is a disaster.  Now that they’ve extended that fumbling to regular customers...

[Moonlets]

Same. Haven’t received samples in my last few orders, but today I received 3 (!!) sample cards of the Becca Foundation in place of the samples I chose. The foundation samples are in shades 10x deeper than my skin tone, which is why I didn’t pick them. It’s really disappointing not getting any samples at all, but I think I prefer it to random ones that i’ll end up having to throw out. 

[virrent]

Yes! This is why I’m here - to ask the same question. Seriously, why you are giving us a choice and never bothered with respecting it? I usually get just 1 sample out of 3 that I wanted - the rest is smth I absolutely not interested in. Today I got just 1 (!) sample and guess what - even that one sample was not what I chose. So now sephora guys don’t bother even with putting the right amount of samples! Ridiculous.

[kikyochan]

I've experiencing the same problem for a long time. After a while I just stop expecting that I will get anything I picked. I'm glad someone is complaining about this issue!!!

[SianBT]

Hi @kikyochan@valkyriesound@Marrrryyyyy, 

If you are still experiencing this, please send me a PM with your order number or registered email address so that I may assist you further!

Bisous, 

Sian

[kikyochan]

Hi My email is shenfon@gmail.com. It would be great if you can look into this. 

[RaquelBT]

Hi @Caitylotz,

I sincerely apologize about this and appreciate you bringing this to our attention. I'm going to send your feedback to the appropriate department to make improvements. Also, I'll be sending you a private message shortly to assist. 🙂

Best Regards,

❤️ Raquel 

[valkyriesound]

I have the same problem... I always pick 3 that are NOT perfume (I'm allergic) and now after the last year of multiple Rouge orders... I'm sitting on a box full of... perfume samples!

You pick 3.. you actually get nothing like you selected....

[Indy701]

I counted 10 perfume samples I’ve received this month. Also allergic ☹️  I requested that they at least have a place for us to opt out of perfume replacements. Go the Ulta route. Let us pick from categories (skincare, perfume, etc). We will be less disappointed and that would be easier for Sephora to track. Also it would save customer service time. 

[Anonymous]

The only thing I want IS perfume samples, men's or women's. See how happy you could make your customers if you just let them pick a category or three they preferred? This illusion of choice that is disregarded may seem petty to some, but there's something really soul-crushing about being asked for your choice before being completely ignored. Just. Don't. Ask. 

Even when I select every fragrance on the list, I don't get them either. I didn't even get samples with my last two orders, including the one that arrived today. But hey, at least I got all my products this time.

[Marrrryyyyy]

DITTO !!! I am so fed up with this !!! I already started ordering Buxom lipgloss off their brand site because you get a free mini! I rather have that than no samples or BS samples! And as far as in store samples, the employees always get pissed when I ask or give me dirty looks.... it's their JOB !!!

[Anonymous]

I agree. Customer Service has been horrible online better off calling. Still frustrating and disappointing. In store if you ask for a sample, the employees act like they are paying for samples. Looking like I will be going directly to Brand sites to make purchases as well.

[melooh]

Same. I’ve also placed four orders lately just to have the item canceled because it’s out of stock. Once I could understand, but FOUR times? What’s going on? I’m also waiting for an order I placed a week ago to ship. C’mon, Sephora. You are getting sloppy.