Sephora is one of the biggest beauty brands in the world. Cosmetify even ranked it as the largest online beauty retailer in its 2024 index. But, recently they’ve been getting some heat on social media.
Following excessive complaints of Gen Alpha ‘Sephora kids’ earlier this year, Millennial and Gen Z consumers and employees are reporting their own issues. One woman called out the company for a rude interaction at one of their stores. Even former employees have lashed out with their own complaints, including a brand reward gone wrong.
And now, another TikToker has revealed their story with the brand, and it has to do with gift cards.
What’s going on with Sephora’s gift card?
In a video posted on Sept. 24 that has now reached over 1 million views, TikTok user Court (@thoughtsofcourts) shares her recent experience using their gift card.
She explains that her boss gave her a Sephora gift card, which she didn’t use for a while.
Two days ago, she decided to finally go to the beauty store and purchase a few items. But when the cashier attempted to use it, it showed that there was no money on it.
After leaving the store and purchasing her products without the help from the gift card, Court called the number on the back of the card to figure it out.
She eventually learned that there was $150 on the card, but it has already been used by someone. The TikToker doubles down that she did not ever use the card and those previous purchases were not from her.
“So I hang up the phone and I start researching and apparently this happens all the time with Sephora gift cards,” Court reveals. “So much so that there is a forum on the Sephora website where people are talking about this happening to them.”
Commenters share their gift card woes
Apparently, Court is not the only person who is running into trouble with their gift cards.
In the comments section, others who’ve purchased gift cards and racked up points at other companies are complaining about the same thing.
“This happened to me with my Ulta points! Someone used my $200 worth of points in Brooklyn, NY. I live in Utah,” one user shared.
“Same thing happened to me with a Apple gift card. It had $50 on it and they replaced it and when I went to use it for the first time it had nothing,” another commented.
“Starbucks as well! Spent $19 with a $100 gift card. They say I have $9.70 back,” a third said.
How does this scam work?
According to Court, scammers randomly punch in numbers until they find a match to an existing gift card. From there, they can clean out the gift card and the company can’t do anything to help the customers who are getting ripped off.
When it comes to gift card scams, it isn’t just Sephora where security has been breached.
Out of the $10 billion dollars in reported money lost from scams in 2023, the Federal Trade Commission reported that $217 million of that came directly from credit card draining situations like this Sephora slip up, as well as other gift-card related schemes.
At the time of publication, there is no credit card related class action lawsuit in the process against Sephora.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Sephora via email and @thoughtsofcourts via TikTok DM and comment.
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