Because of my love for skin care, I have spent an embarrassingly obscene amount of money at Sephora. This borderline obsessive habit has earned me a place in their Rouge Tier; the highest tier of earning reward. It’s basically like getting a holographic Pokemon card that’s reached it’s last stage of evolution.
I am basically Charizard of Sephora.
Great perks used to come with this membership but it has been on the decline and I was hoping it would pick up. Because of that hope, I was really excited when I received their email inviting me to Hurry! and sign up to test their Beauty Insider Cash Rewards before space runs out.
I saw “CASH” and clicked so hard I thought I might have jammed my pointer finger.
I get to the page and start reading about this new “Rewards” Program that would give me “CASH” for my points.
For just 500 points, I can put $10 toward my next purchase.
THE DISRESPECT!
Sephora must think we’re all Boo-Boo the Fool.
Let me spell this out for you:
500 points equals $500 dollars.
For 500 points, aka FIVE HUNDRED ENTIRE GEORGE WASHINGTONS, for just 2,000 ENTIRE QUARTERS, I can get $10 off my next purchase. I guess this is the “CASH” they’re talking about.
Who gave this the green light?!
Who sent out this email like, “Man, this is awesome! These skin care heaux will LOVE this!”
More importantly though, who is signing up for this foolishment?!
I mean, what’s the entire point of a Rewards program if there is no real rewards involved? No equity? No real perks. I mean yes, $10 off isn’t “nothing” but when the average product is like, $600, I’m not going to be super excited about $10 off.
Now remember I mentioned their Rewards program has been on the decline for YEARS yet I’ve stayed loyal even though it has been bugging me for years? I’m loyal like that but when I say years, quite literally this is an email I sent to them back on 2016 to express my views on that Rewards program at the time:
Good Afternoon,
I’ve been a loyal Sephora customer for roughly the past 6 years. Something that has really bothered me is the Rewards program which I find to be somewhat of a slap in the face to us frequent customers. We spend a considerable amount of money in your store where each point equals a dollar. Wouldn’t you expect then to have the Beauty Insider rewards match that? A 500 point reward is literally “worth” $500 yet the products don’t nearly reflect that value. With the most recent reward, Ole Henriksen’s Glow For It line, going for 500 points, you’re basically saying it’s my “reward” to spend 500 points/ $500 on sample sized products, not even deluxe samples, that don’t even add up to 1/ 10th of $500. Is there a method behind how you guys come up with these insider Rewards? These seem less like a Rewards program and more like we are getting ripped off and placated by offering samples that aren’t anywhere near their points value. Eagerly awaiting a response.
-Sasha
In case you’re wondering, I never got a response. Actually that’s not true, I did get a response but not one that was satisfactory or addressed any of my concerns.
If you’re wondering how much I’ve spent at Sephora, just remember that email was sent back in 2016 and mentioned I’d been shopping there for 6 years so this spending has been spread out over 10 years. 10 years of skin care… that adds up!
Besides, I could’ve spent that money on worse. Like Jillian Michaels’ exercise DVDs or LuLaRoe MLM leggings.
But I digress.
Is it just me or are these “Rewards” programs at major brands and companies getting a lot worse? You would think that with ALL of the competition they have out there, (I have a personal vendetta against Blue Mercury so I don’t shop there *they know what they did* but Ulta has been coming for their NECKS!) they would be trying harder to pull customers in and get people to be loyalty but it seems like the exact opposite is happening.
What is going on? This is supposed to be a “Rewards” program but I feel like I’m being punished.
And apparently a lot of other loyal customers were less than thrilled because in the comments section, people were going all the way in. It’s as if everyone read the details of what the “rewards” would entail, went “Alexa, please play ‘Knuck If You Buck’ by Crime Mob”, and proceeded to cuss out Sephora, their staff, and their whole crew!
Won’t share the dragging, cuz proprietary, but it was bad. Real bad. Michael Jackson.
So yeah, no thanks Sephora. I’ll pass on this beta Rewards Program.
Please do better. This is insulting to anyone who can do basic 3rd grade math.
Guess I’ll continue to hoard my points and wait for something worthwhile to come along that’s worth cashing them in. First world skin care problems. #shoplocal
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