Extraordinary Rewards Experience

[BeautyInsiderBT]

Hi Everyone,

We wanted to take a moment to let you know that we are hearing your feedback regarding today’s Extraordinary Rewards experience. If we haven’t been able to respond to you personally yet, please know that we have read your feedback and definitely understand your frustration. The rewards sold out much quicker than we anticipated, so we were unable to send out the planned email or post to our social channels. We’re sorry if you missed out on these exciting rewards. The response has been overwhelming and we are happy to announce that there will be more extraordinary rewards coming this year.

If you have specific questions or need assistance, please PM a moderator for help. We appreciate your understanding and value the helpful feedback you’ve provided here on BeautyTalk.

[heartsmyface]

I just checked.  My perk purchase went through at 3:11.  That was within a minute or two of the release since I was scrambling around.  Why 3:10????   It seems so staged, like they thought it was enough time past 3 to discourage people from continuing to try for them til morning:/ 

[jemly]

good god. 

[bratknits]

We'll never know.  Sephora lies like water flows.  Until they screw up so badly that people complain to the FTC and state Attorneys General and they're hauled into court they will continue to do it.

[bugsboom]

I believe an FTC complaint might be in order then. They lied. Plain and simple. At the very least, the crap they've pulled was unethical in getting people to buy buy buy before the rewards were released with the fragrance promotion. 

[k617]

Next time, rather than trying to coincide the email with the release, how about ensuring your site can handle the traffic, then send an email ahead of time to let your customers know when they'll be released? For example...Thursday at 9 AM EST....

[Mcakes]

Apart from the frustration of not being able to get a certain reward I was hoping to get, I do want to say that I think you did a great job putting these sets together. Especially since they were mostly full sized items... even for the 1000 point perks. I wasn't disappointed on that front at all. It seems like these were more carefully thought out than previous rewards. I also happen to appreciate the special touch of the autographs. 

While I do understand the need to limit the quantities of these rewards, I suggest maybe including more brands in the promotion to increase the chance of people getting access to these rewards? With more choices at x amount of quantity it would at least be more spread out. 

Also maybe it would be a good idea to offer certain perks that are only available to a certain level or above. For example have sets that any Beauty Insider can get, sets only VIB or above can get and sets that only Rouge can get. 

[Branny]

It's really nice that you've read the feedback and feel you "understand" our frustration.  Frustration at missing-out on a truly worthwhile perk is one thing, but the absolute simmering rage at feeling deceived is something I doubt you're considering at all.

Making the perks available in what is, effectively, the middle-of-the-night for EST and CST customers is a slap in the face.  Do you just not give a #### about us or our long-term loyalty to your business?

I've spent a lot of money in your stores, and had some great experiences there with awesome Sales Associates who were knowledgeable and passionate about cosmetics and skin-care.  But you know what?  Other stores can offer that, too, and they'll just as happily accept my money.

I don't need to be ROUGE, I need to be RESPECTED.  You've lost me as a customer.

[annec322]

As I told them on the phone earlier...I do not want to participate in another round of perks when they are run this way.  It'll be the same thing all over again.  <grumbles and walks away>

[Yuumei]

Maybe I'm in a minority group about this, but I want Sephora to know that I am NOT upset about the rewards situation. When I checked the site this morning I happily picked from what was left (a few 1000 perks were available) and yeah I saw a few mentioned on BT that would have been awesome to get my hands on, but in NO WAY is my life ruined because I missed out. I choose to shop with Sephora because they offer many quality products that I love and I can easily purchase from one place… and YES I definitely appreciate the promos, perks and free samples at checkout (and most importantly free shipping) because it makes me feel like I got some kind of deal for my money spent... BUT I spend money in many places and don't get ANY "rewards" and I still shop there too. Every perk or promo offered has been in limited quantities or while supplies last, so I just accepted the fact that I didn't catch it fast enough. This is not Sephora's fault to me… I mean, there's a whole big world out there wanting to catch a good deal. The sheer number of Extraordinary Rewards necessary to please every one of us would be impossible for any company to offer, at least that's my opinion. Anyway, I still love shopping at Sephora and I appreciate what you guys try to do for us… just trying to extend some positive encouragement 😉

[jemly]

i understand what you're saying -- but people are upset because of the nature of how the rollout went. canadians were excluded when they were told they'd be included, and there was a clear advantage to people living in certain time zones. the extraordinary rewards event happened in conjunction with a 3x points event, which, as someone pointed out below, is rather suspect on ethical (and potentially legal) grounds given people were enticed to spend money on false promises (given that the extraordinary awards came and went so quickly). not to mention, there was no email as promised right here on these boards. soooo from a customer service standpoint, the criticism is certainly fair and worthy of discussion.

[Yuumei]

I can absolutely see the issues with the Canadian shoppers needing to be addressed… that's something that definitely deserves attention and I realize that probably felt awful to be excluded even for a little while… and especially since everything sold out so quickly. Disappointing? - ok, yes….. was this a life altering devastation? - COME ON people? There's always a next time, right? Honestly I could imagine that they had thousands of these rewards set up for us to redeem, but when one individual is able to take multiples of the same perk that obviously leaves less and less to go around between millions of customers. That's why I won't put all of the blame on Sephora for these situations. I could have added 10 of the perk I chose to my basket but I just redeemed ONE… computer glitch or programming issue aside, I KNOW BETTER… it's called having some integrity. Let's face it, every person that redeemed these rewards was a loyal Sephora customer or they wouldn't have had the points to spend, right? So who am I to be upset that they got a reward while it was in stock, I would have too! … BUT I do wish that each happy person just took one (like I did) so others could have had a chance to be happy as well. The email situation? I would bet most of us check BT everyday… at least once a week. Many people then proceed to spread the word through various other websites/blogs/text messages/etc... I mean, everyone knows how to get on here and complain about the lack of an email... but are they honestly trying to say that they never saw all of the multiple threads about the reward perks coming up soon? With this super awesome BT community, who actually depends on the emails anymore? I'm just saying we all kind of already know there are issues with getting Sephora emails. The time zone issue… how is Sephora supposed to fix that? It is what it is… Sephora has no control over where you choose to live. Ok… 3X points event. I keep wondering this... WHY would people spend a bunch of money on perfume just to get extra points to POSSIBLY be able to redeem for items that they can also purchase from Sephora? Just buy the Naked palette… just buy the Kat Von D contour palette… just buy a Drybar set? Most of the perk were items we can buy anyway, right? Why would anyone stake their hopes and dreams and happiness on the chance to get some reward perks offered in limited quantities? Again… I'm probably alone in thinking this way… but I don't feel like Sephora OWES me something for shopping with them. I spend a lot more money at the grocery and they have ZERO rewards (unless you count random sale items, I suppose)… or how about fuel purchases? or when I buy stuff on eBay? I also love shopping for Asian food online and the shipping is tremendous and prices are high but I still love what I get 🙂  I guess I'm just a little confused about how Sephora has inherited this huge responsibility to give us something of extreme value for free or we're all going to riot in the streets? I just feel like there are bigger tragedies in the world to ponder… that's all 😞

[jemly]

Actually there is established history of NON loyal customers taking advantage of rewards and perks that are designed to be for loyal customers (imagine a person or even bot picking up 10 $100 limited edition items, racking up the points to be redeemed on, say, the UD vault (and perhaps much more than just 1) and it popping up on eBay for a profit; this is just a hypothetical and not even the point). The responsibility falls on the business not on customers. *Why* people choose to cash in points rather than buy an item shouldn't be in question, people have that right to make that choice--particularly when it is told to them they will have that option. And, in the end, the extraordinary awards event ended up being a much more exclusive event than it was marketed to be, which is absolutely key to why there are disappointed people and even ethical questions being raised (false incentives are a serious no-no)

[Yuumei]

I totally agree about resellers… to protect the rest of us maybe Sephora should start their own lawsuit? Is that even possible? Probably not, unfortunately. I have actually wondered to myself how much of an impact resellers had on this rewards experience as well. But it's not like the higher ups at Sephora are plotting or even hoping for this to happen, so I still can't put the blame on them. I'm certainly not questioning why we trade in our points… I like to trade mine for a good bargain too 🙂  But what we spend our money on is our own choice… and I honestly don't remember there being any kind of guarantee that these perks would be available to every single customer… THAT would be something we could hold Sephora accountable for and riot in the streets 🙂 Does that make sense… cashing in my pile of points is something I have the option of doing and it's definitely not in question… BUT accusing Sephora of enticing me to buy perfume for 2 weeks to gather points for a chance to redeem from limited quantities of extraordinary rewards that inevitably sold out in minutes (probably to resellers, who knows) therefore denying me the chance to redeem my points that Sephora enticed me to hoard and now I'm broke and homeless and it's all Sephora's fault so I'm going to sue them… (my collective overly dramatic semi-comical interpretation of things I've been reading lately) that to me is a totally different thing. I didn't see any false incentive… people are posting left and right about their 'reward included shipments' being sent and breathing a sigh of relief… people definitely got these rewards… so that's not false, am I wrong? What's most unfortunate is the amount of dedication and free time that these resellers have towards getting as many profit driven rewards before the average loyal consumer gets out of bed… again not something Sephora can easily control… not something Sephora even hopes will happen... nor should they be threatened with lawsuits over. I totally get why people are disappointed… I am too! But I still can't place the blame on Sephora 😞

[bratknits]

Actually it IS Sephora's fault since they advertised that everyone would get an email saying when the products would be available and didn't.  No way around that.

[chelssss]

and it is their fault because they said and I quote "there will be plenty to go around" but I guess that is not a lie because they factored in 100 pt perks I am sure to have a loophole *sigh*

[annec322]

Agreed.  And I'm not ashamed to say I do shop for places based on GWP.  So, for me personally, it is a big deal. I think they should've had better rewards (more full size items and LE just for this event items) and more of them to go around.

[bratknits]

I always shop for value with few exceptions.  Companies with highly paid and benefited workers, EOCs, Community Supported Agriculture or Fisheries, stores with exceptional service and treatment are all places I pay above, often well above, market rates to purchase from.  Sephora is none of those things.  

[GirlCodeWithBee]

This was really disappointing. these perks seemed amazing and now the email doesnt even exist anymore in my inbox, that's pretty shady if you ask me. It was also really rude that these perks werent offered to Canadian shoppers besides the lamest 1000 point perk, the Josie Maran one. Not happy Sephora...not at all

[DandyLionFluff]

At this point, I feel points are worthless.  If you have a lot of us here that should have been able to get something based on points, but have nothing except an extra 500 "I'm sorry points".  Kat Von D sold out in less than 15 minutes.  If you really wanted to try and make it right (you are the only company that sells Kat Von D), you could offer the perk without the signature, since you have the inventory.  

Since this his seems to happen every time, why not establish a point redemption system like U1ta.  I was able to cash in points there and shop with $250 to buy whatever I wanted.  I was very happy with my $250 shopping spree.

[anaa]

At least some got the "I'm sorry" points.  Not everyone has.  I agree that the Ulta system seems to work much better (and if you live on the east coast you don't have to be up at 4 AM and happen to be on the website to participate).

[SydBristow]

Maybe in the future for highly coveted, low quantity items that people could enter for it and be selected at random? Then at least more people get a chance and there's more of a window, as opposed to everything getting snatched up in mere moments. Sephora customers are available at various times of the day, not sure what percent are at 4am EST on a weekday.