Complaint

[Complaint]

I just want to share a very UNPLEASANT experience i had at Sephora located in West Edmonton Mall.

I attempted to return an item (Phytophanere-pills $79) I did not have the receipt- which I was never too worried about returning since all of my receipts can be seen in my beauty insider record. I purchased the item sometime in November and decided to return as I found something cheaper online.

A cashier said that there was no record found in my beauty insider that I purchased this item therefore I wasn't able to return the item. She tried her best looking at my past purchases and no records was found. She ended up calling the manager to see what she can do, i spoke with the manager and she said that there is nothing they can do if no proof of purchase is provided. After at least 30 minutes of talking with the manager. I went home and luckily found the receipt. I ALSO found out that WHOEVER rang me in at the SOUTHGATE location had entered a different beauty insider (that is the reason why this item was nowhere to be found). I am not the type to keep any receipts as I EXPECT that it would be under recent purchase in the beauty insider. I was happy that I even found the receipt which I thought I would never find as I am not the type to keep receipts. 

After that incident, I went back in to West Edmonton Mall to return WITH THE RECEIPT explained that I was just at this location yesterday to return the item but they were not able to find it in my beauty insider because the cashier entered it to the wrong person. The reason why I know this is because the points on the receipt currently only had 500 points and have 2300 points. As she was getting ready for the return I mentioned that the last 4 digit of the Scotiabank number will not match as 3 of my credit cards had been frauded and I recently received a credit card with a different account number. The cashier called the manager and this time a different manager was on shift-spoke to a different manager this time and explained the situation. Then, he said he cannot process a refund unless it is going to be processed to the same card number. He asked for any documentation about the fraud, which I thought was so stupid as credit card companies never provide documents or emails regarding fraud? or at least I didn't get one. Everything was done over the phone so I didn't have documents to show. I then suggested to call the customer service at Scotiabank visa to verify the last 4 digit of my account number as that is all I can do to prove that I am the cardholder. I just wanted to share my experience as they somehow made me feel like I stole this item and the struggle to process the refund. 

[grayreb]

The circumstances the cashier and manager were dealing with are strange. While it is frustrating that you had to go through extra steps, the staff deal with fraud and theft all the time and your situation was unusual. I would give the staff a break on this one.

[tgrillo]

All I know is it doesn’t matter if you make a complaint at Sephora. If you do it online then they just send it on to the Management that gave you bad customer service to begin with. It’s ridiculous and I spend my money elsewhere now and so do many others I know.

[RGbrown]

@Complaint

In any case, regardless of the discussion below, if you'd like a response from Sephora, you need to either call CS or post in the Customer Support group; mods don't read every post to the board, and wont likely see your complaint here. Good luck getting a resolution 🙂

[k617]

Sephora’s return policy is 30 days. If you purchased in November then it would have exceeded the return period. At best if you had a receipt you would only be able to receive store credit. How did the employee enter the BI number wrong? Don’t they either scam your card or ask for an email (I actually don’t know because I always have the card on me). 

It was an unfortunate series of events. I think the employees handled it the best they could. Their policy was more generous before; I’ve returned gifts I’ve received without a receipt for store credit, but they probably changed the policy because people were abusing the system. When this happens, honest people get screwed. It happens. 

[RGbrown]

@k617

According to Sephora's FAQ, the return policy (with receipt) is actually 60 days to get a refund to your original form of payment; after 60 days, refunds will be given via store credit (and there's no specific cutoff date mentioned).

[lachaton]

@RGbrown There's a difference here in the US return policy compared to the Canadian policy. @k617 is correct that he Canadian policy is within thirty days for a refund. 

[RGbrown]

@lachaton

Wow, that's an interesting difference, thanks for the info!

[lachaton]

@RGbrown i actually hadn't noticed the difference until you posted the US policy - definitely odd to see such a distinction! 

[RGbrown]

@lachaton

If I had noticed the op said Edmonton in the first place, I likely would have kept my mouth shut since I'm not in Canada lol. Definitely a curious difference now that I'm paying more attention. Crazy stuff!

[darlyndar]

@Complaint It seems like a string of unfortunate events. I’m sorry you experienced that.