Anyone with bad experiences in store lately?

[kikyochan]

I wanted to see the Pat McGrath palettes in person before buying them since they are so expensive. I went to my local sephora store, asked one of the cast members if they had the palette in store. She was annoyed and asked me "what brand is that with?". I looked at her for a split second because I was just surprised that a cast member has never heard of this palette. Then she became very annoyed and told me no that they don't have this palette.

This is not the first time that I've been in a sephora store recently, and cast members can be kind of rude.

Anyone else having similar experiences?

Sephora should really train their employees better. 

[BellaLori]

I generally feel like most of the associates don’t know what’s going on; I ask for an item and they have no idea what I’m talking about.

[hawaiian]

For the most part they have been pretty good. Today I went in and I was there for 30 mins before someone came over to help me. The girls were to busy playing make up and taking pictures of themselves. Also the put my points on someone else account for the second time.

[grayreb]

The employees are not going to know every item in the store, and if they don't carry the brand, they may not be familiar with it.

[jennatar]

Yes -- once, last year (i.e. 2017, when OP posted this question). It was flat-out unnerving.

I was visiting from San Francisco (to spend time with my best friend, who has since passed away), and I'd made a whole list of things I'd neglected to bring with me. Which is kind of annoying, I guess, but yeah, I showed up with a shopping list. Actually...! It was all the stuff I'd attempted to place a same-day delivery at my Airbnb for (!!!!), but for some reason the app wasn't working out, so I went to the store with my order printed out. So... everything I'd "ordered" was also in-store, I knew for a fact, because the app lets you pick from store inventory.

The employee who greeted me just said "no" to most of the things I was shopping for. I must've been visibly unnerved, and eventually -- when the employee finally left to look for a thing -- someone else approached to help. She was actually the store manager, in retrospect. She zipped with me through the store and helped me find literally everything I'd felt I needed. I was extremely grateful.

So... it was ultimately a positive experience, but at the beginning it was not.

I should probably explain... I carry a lot of extra abdominal weight due to diagnosed hypercortisolism, and I remember just assuming that this physical trait probably kept me from looking like I could afford the stuff I was asking for (it was the Sephora on Michigan Avenue, and downtown stores can be really tough on chunky people). Maybe not, and probably the employee was just having a rough afternoon -- I've worked in retail, in Chicago, for a friend, the one who just passed away actually -- but I left that Sephora feeling like that must surely be the reason I initially wasn't helped. It's just a thing I often anxiously assume, since, if you used to weigh 100 pounds and now you're quite fat, you can't help but search your environment for reasons you're treated differently now, versus then.

I've also had amazingly positive experiences at Sephora (as opposed to Ulta, where almost every experience is "someone already dug their finger into this thing I was gonna buy"), and I'm glad and thankful that I ultimately had a good experience on top of my bad experience. (The store manager rescued me from a negative employee, and she also hit the floor quite hard for me -- I will always be grateful.) So it was a real emotional rollercoaster, and I actually left with strongly mixed feelings. "Am I too disgusting to help? Was I finally helped because I matched my expensive shoes to my expensive bag?" Etc. It's a miserable death-spiral of second-guessing.

Makeup is all about finding a way to try to be comfortable with the skin we have to live in, and being mistreated in a store full of makeup is a heartbreaking experience.

Before a Sephora employee can find my post and start apologizing for my experience, I just want to point out that I will never know with real certainty why my greeter-employee was so nasty, and also that I understand that it's impossible to screen employees for anti-fat bias. Fatphobia is generally considered socially acceptable, but also, I think most people wouldn't even know they're doing it, so there's no "questionnaire" you could ever offer. So... I'm cool with it. I have to be. It's just a thing, you know?

But I wish to God the world weren't the way it is.

[WinglessOne]

@jennatar I’m not a Sephora employee but I’m still sorry you had that experience. As the not-so-proud owner of an anxiety disorder, I understand that second-guessing spiral all too well. I’m glad the store manager stepped in to help you. I hope she also dealt with the other employee appropriately because that’s not cool, dude. 

And okay, the Michigan Ave store... I tell folks it’s my 2nd favorite Chicago Sephora, and that’s true. State Street’s my favorite and I wish that location was stocked with some of the Michigan-only brands. If it was, I’d never visit the Michigan Ave store. I mean sure, there are friendly and terrific employees at Michigan Ave. But my worst Sephora store experiences have happened at that location. I’ve interacted with amazingly friendly and helpful folks there, but also some downright snotty and rude folks. 

Spoiler

One day this summer, I was in line in front of a young woman and her adorably pudgy french bulldog. I couldn’t resist petting him. Since I’m a very good dog (and cat) petter and don’t mind squatting/kneeling down to love on a dog, my new frenchie friend had flopped down onto his belly and was completely relaxed—and then I heard someone at the register shout for next customer. 

Realizing I’d probably held up the line, my anxiety kicked into gear while I stood up and trotted to the open register. The Sephora rep behind it glared at me. She didn’t greet me but did ask for any Beauty Insider info. I gave her my number, she pulled up my rouge account, and didn’t say another word to me until she looked at the single item I had. “That’s IT? That’s all you’re buying?” And I should really thank my anxiety for keeping me wound tightly in mode, so I couldn’t snap back at her like I wanted to. I just nodded. She rolled her eyes, rang me up, said nothing else to me, and I got the hell outta there as fast as I could. 

I almost didn’t go back into the Michigan Ave store after that. 

Since that location’s in the middle of heavy tourist traffic, I assume certain Sephora employees get tired of dealing with tourists. (I’m not being negative at all about tourists here—hey, we’re all tourists when we visit other cities/states/countries.) Which really means they’re sick of dealing with people in general. Maybe a rude employee’s dealt with one too many rude customers, or they’re tired of maneuvering around a crowd in the front of that ridiculously congested store (seriously Sephora, y’all need to reconfigure that location), or they just watched some customers mess up all the testers, or they’re having a personal life crisis, I dunno. Are they really getting snippy with me because I’m wearing minimal makeup, not thin, and don’t look like a high end shopper? Possibly. But I like to believe they’ve just had it with people that day and I’m the unlucky recipient of their frustration. 

There are some other Michigan Ave stores where employees play the “dismiss all customers who don’t look the part” game. (I haven’t shopped at Saks in years because of that.) But I’ve had enough good experiences at Sephora to decide they’re not one of those stores, despite the bad experiences I’ve had. 

[grayreb]

Honestly, it probably had nothing to do with and was all about the employee. Every business has employees they are just doing the minimum work to get a paycheck and are lazy. Half the time I go into my local Sephora there is a big group of employees just hanging out in the middle of the store yacking and not doing any work.

[RebeccaBT]

Hi @grayreb @hawaiian and @WinglessOne ,

I am so sorry to hear about your experiences. As this is not the type of experience we want our clients to receive we thank you for bringing this to our attention. I would be happy to forward this information to the store. If you would like me to forward your experiences, please send me a PM with your registered email, date and location of your experience so I can forward this feedback. Thank you! 

Best,

Rebecca 

[GG84]

@jennatar

 Hello, I have dealt with cancer and eating disorders and various other health issues and the death of my partner that have wrecked havoc on my body in the long run and caused me to gain weight. I won't bore you with medical side effects however I can tell you that I understand. I go into one store and she means well, she just doesn't know..she always says to me "you have a doppelganger i swear, this girl used to come in here that looked just like you" not realizing shes talking about the MUCH thinner version of me. It hurts. 

I'm sorry you feel you are treated differently, the truth is you probably are - i know I am. Society sees it as lazy without knowing what someone has been through or that there may be an actual reason, ans for that all I can do is say i'm sorry and I understand. 

[EilidhMck]

Ugh, i’m so sorry that happened to you! there’s been a bad rep with the Sephora stores going lately and I promise you we aren’t all rude and mean, it sucks that this is going on. I personally really try to help out all of our customers and will do my best to find a product for a customer, so it’s not all of us 🙂 But I totally get you, I wouldn’t shop at that location if they’re being that inconsiderate.

[darlyndar]

@EilidhMck I hate that a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch. I personally love all the cast members at my store and have become very good friends with the manager. I do feel like some people expect the red carpet treatment as soon as they walk in because they’re Rouge. That shouldn’t be the case either. I’m speaking of nobody in particular, just what I’ve read in other posts ❤️❤️❤️

[xoangie4]

Yup! Went to a Sephora with a friend and she wanted to buy the brow wiz in dark brown since she ran out and the sale was going on. Only colour left in stock was Granite (really black) and when she asked an employee if they had more dark brown in the back, she said no without checking and then pushed the product Granite on her very viciously. My friend was like I prefer to use dark brown and she said I think Granite would look much better on you, then my friend said no thank you I will wait for my shade to come back in stock and the employee said I’ll put it on you right now and my friend said no it’s alright I said I’d wait and the employee said you probably don’t want to buy it because you’ve been doing your eyebrows wrong and you’ve never seen how I do eyebrows the shade will look good and my friend was like okay NO THANK U

[JessyAnne]

OMG - no she didn’t! That’s almost a slap-worthy moment!

-P.S. just say no to violence 😂

[xoangie4]

Yup I definitely don’t go to that Sephora location anymore haha!!

[ChristineR07]

That’s so horrible to hear!! I haven’t ever had that kind of experience at a Sephora. I did, once, call a DSW and asked if they had a pair of red Chuck Taylors in my size. He asked who made them. Not quite as bad but still, I didn’t expect someone who worked at a shoe store to not know what a Chuck Taylor was.

[AZMaryK]

Most of my in store experiences in 2017 were bad. Rude reps mostly. I try to shop online or at department stores for that very reason.

[Majela]

It's really sad to go through this experience. I had a similar experience at a Sephora in Internation Mall Miami. I went for a foundation color match with my best friend and we were treated in a horrible way. Some associates are just horrible. I sent an email to Sephora Customer Service and they did not even care. 

[ryyy]

I’ve had a few experiences over the years where some associates were super unhelpful or rude. For the most part, I️ have really great people at the stores I️ frequent. My mom, on the other hand, visited a Sephora on the other side of town and had a terrible experience, to the point that she had to ask someone else for help, and ended up leaving because she was so uncomfortable. Unfortunately (especially this time of year) most stores are hiring quantity and not quality to account for the holiday season. Hopefully it is back to better service after the new year!