Sephora

The new Sephora ad headline says “educated beauty experts in every store.” That may be true. But they don’t seem to want to share that knowledge.

I shopped on Sephora.com for years. Then, halleluiah, a real live Sephora store opened at my local mall. I admit I was excited. Although the same products, or at least many of them, were already available at Nordstrom and other department stores, I couldn’t wait to go in and see it all in one place.

So I ran right in. There was a greeter. Nice. But that’s where the customer service ended. No one asked to help me. No one. I finally got someone’s attention (not an easy task) and told her what I was looking for. She told me it was at the front of the store. That’s it. So I went to the front, didn’t find it and left.

But I went back anyway. Must be a glutton for punishment. Again, the salespeople were too busy, too important, or too busy primping to ask me if I needed help. But again, I asked for help. And I was told, “I don’t know.” Then she went back to what she was doing. Not yet ready to give up, I stopped another diva. She was clearly bored with my request, but did point me to the right aisle, at least.

I’m in no hurry to go back. But I can’t help but wonder if the 4-color glossy ads are the best spend for this company. Maybe a customer service program and employee training would pay off better in the long run.