The Retail Equation is a Sham

[Anonymous]

I am concerned about TheRetailEquation.com.  I had purchased my daughter a curling iron for her birthday that she had been wanting and supplied a gift receipt with her gift.  It did not work well for her so I went back to exchange for a gift receipt since I had paid cash and she could not find gift receipt.  The manager very graciously approved but when they ran my drivers license the transaction was denied by a 3rd party TheRetailEquation.com.  I called TheRetailEquation the next day since they were closed and they looked up the transaction and told me that I was denied because of "No Receipt" and that I had absolutely "No Return History" and they do not make the rules they only follow the guidelines Sephora provides to them.  According to Sephora's return policy they "do" allow for returns with no receipt so I feel I am being given the run around and TheRetailEquation is nothing more then an out for Sephora to not give a return to someone in my situation.  I have called back the store manager, Erin at the Topanga mall,  and she had stated that there is nothing she can do because she cannot overide the transaction.  I called customer service as recommended by Erin and they said they are basically online and separate and this has to be handled at the store level.  I am absolutely lost and do not understand how this is possible.  I hate to say this but I feel that I am being taken advantage by Sephora since as there own 3rd party company stated "sir you have no return history, this is because of not having a receipt".

[Suzy250]

Class ACTION AGAINST RETAIL EQUATION 

contact your attorney general 

also company is a 

violation of consumer privacy act in ccpa California 

[MMzz]

I experienced a similar situation in terms of the run around you experienced.

Backstory

I purchased and subsequently wanted to return a concealer. The employee - too busy chatting with her coworker - accidentally charged me for the concealer I already paid for and wanted to return, so she had to end up giving me two refunds - one for the original refund and one for the one she accidentally charged me for. Along with my refund receipt, she handed me a warning slip saying that TRE may/may not accept my future refunds. Fast forward MONTHS later, I purchased a stick bronzer that would not twist up and wanted to EXCHANGE, NOT REFUND it, but was still denied. The manager told me to call customer service.

I called customer service and the person told me that Sephora sites and retailers operate differently despite being the same company - how *explicitly* ridiculous is that?! I was told to talk to a store manager. Anyway, rather than being stuck with a faulty product that I could not use, I decided to reach out to TRE and they emailed me a copy of my transaction history.

THERE ARE WELL OVER 50 TRANSACTIONS THAT ARE NOT MINE!!!! 50+ items I never purchased and 34 of those items were refunded, and NONE of the transactions show on my Sephora account, nor did I receive an e-receipt for them. For example, it says that I purchased and then returned a $229 Foreo, but I never did, never received an email for the purchase or refund, and this transaction does not show on my Sephora account. Had these transactions shown on my account/I received an e-receipt, I would have reported fraudulent activity.

This leads me to conclude that TRE and Sephora are behaving fraudulently in attempts to make money and save money, respectively. I think that they falsify purchase and refund histories in order to justify denying people refunds and exchanges.

[Anonymous]

this happened to me with a large jo malone that i got as a gift that gave me a headache (i was literally walking in new york and lost my gift receipt when I was going to return it). i zero history on my tre report, too. basically, if you try to return anything over $100 without a receipt, you will get denied. it is dishonest and they should just say that's what their return policy is and not use some third party company to do it