I actually did a youtube video on this rant but I wanted to elaborate. So if you want to watch the video or just read below instead either way is good
OK, this has to deal with the Paint it Pink set I purchased. I unboxed it previously. Now I absolutely loved everything in the set, and I am really happy for the most part with the purchase. But after I unboxed it I put everything back in its place and left it for about a week until I got the makeup area in my bathroom situated (I currently don’t have a vanity) so after a week I decided it might be fun to use some of the items. I immediately started using the Make Up Forever lipgloss, and ran out of it in like 2 weeks. I decided I wanted to use the Becca product and as soon as I opened it the product slipped out of the pan. I caught it before it slipped, but the whole thing broke into 3 pieces. LAME. So I wrote Sephora an email.
I want to add that I know this was a set, and I had bought the last one, AND they were no longer available online, so I figured this was it. I thought best case scenario they may have something to exchange it for (maybe another deluxe sample) or maybe a little coupon code for like $3-5 dollars, or a small discount so I could buy it full size. But even if they couldn’t do that, I was expecting at least an apology.
So I usually give companies a few days to respond (3 during the week and 5 if there is a major holiday coming up, and Mothers Day is a major holiday) so when over a week passed and I didn’t even get someone messaging me saying they will get to my issue when they can I was like “whelp maybe it got lost or had an error in sending” So the Friday before Mothers day I decided to send another email. Monday I got a response and it was just a cut and paste on their return policies. I want to add I never said I wanted to return the set. I inquired if there were any issues with this set, and with the Becca product in general, and that if there was a way to replace it I would love that, but if there was nothing they could do to just alert them that my product was damaged/defective.
I was kinda annoyed that they couldn’t even write me an “I am sorry for the product, if you want to return here is our policy, or here is how you do it” Nope, nothing.
So then I wonder if I should just call their customer service line and inquire if there is anything that could be done. I know I couldn’t return the whole set, I didn’t want to return the whole set. I kinda just wanted Sephora at this point to take alittle responsibility for selling me a defective product.
The person on the line was VERY dismissive. Not once said, I am sorry, not once asked what they could do. Just said I had to go to the store. or call the store. I was like “Ok, is there any information I should ask or know when I contact the store” then there was another dismissive reply to just call the store. Since there was no point to waste either of our time I hung up.
Quick add here. If you work in a brick and mortar store for a company, it costs a lot of money to take returns. I am not talking about the cost of the money in having a product returned. I am talking about the loss of employee productivity from dealing with returns,. and it looks bad to have a customer come in and be like “this was defective and broken”. So if you can have issues dealt with over the phone or with the customer service line at HQ its better for your business overall. I know that from experience. So saying, go waste the time of our employees we pay to sell products, who probably will get penalized for having to take this return even though it was most likely not their fault, but rather the shipping companies fault or the fault of Sephoras warehouse) seems odd to me, and also unfair to them. If its an exchange or its more convenient for the customer then yes go to the store, but the store couldn’t do anything and i knew that from the beginning which is why I went to their customer service phone line.
But anyways…..
I called the store. I waited until a time I know the mall was dead (I had worked in this mall before and I know when its busy and when nobody is there). I talked to the manager and she was, I don’t want to say rude because she wasn’t rude. She was just extremely dismissive and all like “Well what am I supposed to do” She also said there was no way I had bought it in her store because they haven’t had that set since the Holidays, and I was like I bought it like the 9th or 10th of April, check my VIB account. So I didn’t want to waste her time, and I hung up.
UGH, so at this point I decided to just give it a few days and figure out if I should let it go. Again it wasn’t about the money, more the principle of buying something and having it, or a part of it being damaged or defective. Also at this point I wondered how they treat their customers. I am a VIB Rouge, so if they treat me like this how do they treat the rest of their customers, are they more dismissive, are they so non caring about it. I firmly believe you really see a business true colors when you have to deal with their Customer service.
I was going to leave it alone but then I decided to try one more time and get some sort of real response/ or let Sephora take responsibility for the damaged item and I posted on their Facebook page. They were really good at first, but then told me to contact the store. Completely ignoring the fact I told them I had already contacted the store and that resulted in nothing, not even an honest try to fix this or to just apologize for the damage.
I wasn’t to happy about this, and let them know that was the reason why I had contacted them on FB, was because of the dismissive attitudes of their customer service phone line, and the Manager of that store.
So Now they are going to have someone in their retail division contact me. I don;t expect them to reimburse my money, to switch or exchange it. really I don;t know what they will do. But all I really wanted was for them to take responsibility and say “Sorry we sold you a damaged product”
So yeah. I know I was overreacting a bit, but this escalated because of Sephoras inaction and the dismissive attitudes of their employees. I will still shop at Sephora, but this leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I will post an update once this is resolved, or not resolved.
Sorry for the rant, thanks for reading ❤
Beauty Meow 