I've visited the Sephora at Fair Oaks Mall Virginia multiple times. Every time, I've regretted it due to what I believe is racial profiling and age profiling practices. This time, however, Sephora at Fair Oaks Mall Virginia refused to accept a return despite their policy, saying they have discretion to deny returns, a statement that was endorsed by the national customer service line representative, even though the written policy has no mention of that.
Every single time I've been in the Sephora, I have been followed around the store by a customer service agent. This is true even when I've explicitly told them I do not need help. I've witnessed younger girls of all colors be followed and watched, the manager instruct them to follow them. I've also witnessed African American women and women of other ethnic backgrounds like myself are being followed, young and old.
At first, I wanted to believe I was being followed because the store associates were trying to be helpful. However, when I've told the people I don't need help, I know exactly what I need and they still follow me around the store. One sales girl reached over me to grab the product I was reaching for and placed it in my basket, asking "do you need anything else?" This is, after I told her I didn't need assistance today, thank you. I told her this again after she retrieved the product, she continued to stand right next to me and reached for another product when I went to grab that product. After this occurred a couple times, I went to go look the store hotline online to report it and I discovered similar complaints about being followed in the Sephora Fair Oaks on yelp.com. I filed an email complaint about the phone service and when I didn't hear back, I even called and complained about the phone service and their practice to follow people around their store. I was assured they would call me back and fix the issues. I never received a call back. Unfortunately, my experience got worse rather than better.
I've avoided the Fair Oaks Sephora. The other day however, I was in the area and I did not want to drive to Reston and decided to go in for a quick exchange or return and to buy new products.
Sephora's return policy, as stated by their own website is "If you are not completely satisfied with a Sephora.com purchase or gift for any reason, please return it for a full refund." If it is without a receipt or with receipt, after 60 days you get store credit. I've never had a problem with the policy in the past.
I went through the Sephora Fair Oaks store and was followed within 5 minutes. I had no products in my hand but the woman handed me a basket, which is not unusual for any store. Then the woman followed me around asking me if I needed anything, again not unusual. When I said I knew what I wanted I expected her to leave me alone. When I looked up from a product, she was right behind me looking down. I said, I don't need any help thank you. I walked away, I noticed her watching me and coming towards me during my trip.
After picking up my products under many associate's close supervision, I went up to the sales counter.
When I got up to the sales counter, I told the cashier I would like to return two products without a receipt and one product with a receipt that I bought less than thirty days ago, meaning I would get cash rather than store credit. I told her I wanted to also purchase some products. I expected no issues because of Sephora's liberal return policy.
The sales associate picked up the first product and said, "this is practically empty. " I told her it was a microdermabrasion, it's empty because it dried out, which is why I was returning it and in fact there was 1/4 to 1/2 bottle left. She said again "this is empty." I said okay, expecting her to process the return knowing she did not understand that sometimes microdermabrasion products dry out and that the tube was designed to have a lot of air. Since the Sephora return policy does not state that you must return the product full or even half full, I did not expect a problem. She paged her manager.
While waiting for the manager, the cashier opened up the second product I was returning. It was a peel with 4 tubes. She said, "half of these are gone." I told her it burnt my skin and even pointed to the scar. She repeated "you want to return this, but half of the product is gone." I explained that I used the first tube after receiving two free sample tubes. The first free treatment worked well. The second, I experienced some soreness and redness as well as minor burns. I researched and realized that is what a peel can do sometimes. The third, the paid one, more burns. I read the instructions more carefully and attempted it one last try. The fourth one resulted in burns. I showed her the burns on my face, I was makeup free, she put the item aside.
When I asked her if she was processing the return she said it was policy that she had to consult the manager. She told me that the manager has to be called and she has discretion to approve returns, even though the written Sephora policy states no such terms. I tell her I've never needed a manager before to "authorize" a return and most other sales clerks at this and other Sephora stores have done the returns without a manager. She says she needs a manager.
As the manager approaches the girl starts examining the third product which I bought just days before. It was a liquid foundation and the shade didn't match. She said "did you use this too? " I said "yes." I was irritated but I knew this question was not abnormal. The manager arrives.
The manager proceeds to inspect the first product. The girl tells her "it's empty," even though, to this day, I can still squeeze product out. The manager says, "you want to return this. " I reply affirmatively. She says, "it's empty. " I again explain that the tube has a lot of air, that it dried out, which is part of the problem and it made my skin break out. She said, "it's empty, you want to return an empty product." We went back and forth. I said in effect, the policy is if I am not happy for any reason, return it and I was returning it. She said, "but that's not when the product is used and empty." I explained it wasn't empty and told her she could open it and squeeze it out. Up until that point, they had only been shaking the bottle, even though you could not gauge fullness due to that since it was not a liquid product but a grainy solid product. She did not open the bottle or squeeze it. I asked if she was going to do the return, she said nothing.
The manager started to hand it to me and I took the product, I said, I guess I will take it back and return it to another Sephora. She said, you can't return a product that is practically empty.
Then the cashier tells the manager about the peels being 2 tubes short of their original 4. The manager ask me to explain why I am returning the product. I say it burnt me. She gives me a look and sets it aside pushing it towards me. I said, "so I can't return." She says nothing.
The manager leaves and the girl starts to process the one remaining item, moving the peel, half empty, product out of the way, starting to only process the return for the foundation.
At that point I say "so I can't return the other products." She says, the manager has the right to decide that and continues, goes on only with the one product with a receipt. I tell her to stop ringing the product up, I do not want to purchase anything in the store. She says, "well you were returning items for credit so you could buy new items and then trail off."
I tell the cashier I am calling the customer service line after telling her that I've never had a problem like this in the past, I've always been able to make returns, they have never been inspected and I've bought thousands of dollars of products, most of which have not been returned. She says the manager has the right to decide, that the product was empty and the other was used half way and she says that I could go ahead and call. The cashier also tells me that I should know that within 30 days if a skin care product is going to work or not, and that I should have returned it within 30 days if I was unhappy. If I kept it longer than that, I must be satisfied and that I just want money back. You can make returns to Sephora for 60 days with a refund but return the product anytime for store credit.
I tell her it takes more than 30 days for products to work, in fact 10 weeks for most facial products to work, more for microdermabrasion since you don't use that everyday typically, unless it is formulated for that purpose. She says, "right, you were unhappy even though you used all of the product." I again explain that I should be able to return it anytime. She still does not process my returns, instead moving away from the counter as I wait for the phone call.
I stay at the sales counter of Sephora to make the call to their national customer service line. While I am talking the manager is pointing and laughing at me. She brought her employees off the floor, points at me and I guess, warn them. I overheard her say that she has to be careful about returns because people "like me" try to abuse the policy.
The cashier told her friend under her breath, "can you believe this girl, trying to return empty products". At one point, the manager tells me I need to leave the counter as it is only for "customers" and I am not purchasing, even though I had purchases I wanted to make when I got to the counter that would have exceeded the return.
I complain to the woman at the national Sephora customer service line about the return and she tells me that the manager should take the return but she does have some discretion and her hands are tied. I accept her word for the discretionary part but tell her that my returns should be authorized. The customer service representative on the phone says if the manager will not accept it, there is nothing she can do, she can't force them to return the items. I told the woman on the phone I've never heard of manager discretion and the manager, who has returned to the cash register to tell me to leave the cash register as well as the cashier, both started talking about how they do not have to take my returns if they feel like it, how I am disrespecting the store, that I need to leave, that they are trying to help "real customers" check out.
I've been in Fair Oaks mall store once before to make a return and had a similar issue with the return. The manager was at the counter and told the cashier to go and ahead and do the return. Again, this was after a long lengthy set of questions. I've never experienced lengthy questions at other Sephora stores, never been denied a return, never been told that a product must be unopened to be returned. In fact, the products have never even been inspected when I've returned them. I've never had a manager called to process the return or inspect the return product and never had someone question me about my use of the product at Sephora. I've never been questioned beyond the typical "did you use this product?"
The return incident at the Fair Oaks Sephora lasted more than 10 minutes, probably closer to 15 to 20 minutes excluding the phone call. Before that, I had a return that took about 5 to 10 minutes to "approve." Usually, any delay is in the processing, I've never heard of inspection requirements and manager discretion at Sephora.
When I went to another Sephora in Tyson's Corner to return the products, the cashier processed the return without any receipt, any inspection, or any issue. I asked that cashier if managers had discretion, she said no, that the Sephora return policy says returns must be accepted if it is a product they carry in the store and if it can be looked up online on the Sephora website. I also asked if it needed to be inspected, she said, they are only supposed to ask if it is been used and continue with the return. She knew of no inspection policy. She did not inspect my products, open them or shake them. She took them without even looking at them or opening them. She just asked for my receipt and when I had none, she moved forward.
I was able to return my products to the Tyson's Corner store without any inspection or manager approval or discretion.
When I asked my friend who works at another Sephora about manager discretion and inspection she told me that they have no policy in place, stating that, inspection does not have to occur and managers don't have discretion. She also told me that cashiers do not need managers to do returns, meaning the cashier at Fair Oak's Sephora mislead me about the Sephora policy requiring for her to get a manager. I've witnessed other customers return items in the Fair Oaks Sephora without question, without manager supervision or inspection and without the managers denying the request on a discretionary basis. I don't remember any of those customers being subjected to rigorous screening, inspection or question and they all happened to be white. When I've made returns at that Sephora there is generally an issue that requires me to have further scrutiny.
I am not sure if this is discriminatory, however, I did feel that the Fair Oak's Sephora used an unwritten discretionary policy to deny me my return and that decision was not uniformly applied, but applied only to me.
I also feel like in the past they've attempted to prevent me from returning items with heightened questions that I've notice no other customer is subjected to and I am not subjected to at other stores. The manager's presence and discretionary policy seems to be used to intimidate people into not returning items or denying their return. These facts coupled with the fact I was and have been followed around the store at the Fair Oaks Mall Sephora makes me suspect that the unwritten discretionary return policy might be employed at this store in a discriminatory way to prevent returns.
I am not sure why I was singled out for discretionary returns and manager approval not once, but twice at this store and I cannot explain it especially after rereading their policy. Even if the return was denied on the "empty" product, the "half empty" product should have been approved. It was clear to me, by the cashiers words and actions, that she was only going to return the item with a receipt.
I was humiliated and degraded. I left in tears. The national Sephora customer service line was no help, telling me the manager had discretion even though that is not written in their policy. Had it not been for that customer service agent's statement I would have demanded they proceed with the return. The national Sephora hotline and the store denied my return based on subjective feelings rather than written policy. I believe such subjective discretionary power allows this policy to be discriminatory.
