SEPHORA — Attraction in Emeryville

The only reason why I rated this much higher than I had planned was because toward the end of my visit, Rayla made it SO much better. This review rating does not at all reflect the 5 star customer service she gave. She was very knowledgeable about the products I had asked about. She made some very good recommendations, a couple I ended up purchasing.

Now about my store experience. I’ve avoided this location for years because the customer service I had received was very unprofessional. This visit only confirmed that it’s got worse. The staff didn’t acknowledge me when I walked in. Most were huddle in corners on their phone out of sight from the customers roaming around aisles. Many times I was approached by customers who confused me with the employees there because I apparently looked like I worked there & also because there weren’t any visible staff members around checking on customers to see if they needed help. I recall pre-Covid being annoyed because they were too in my face, but now I kinda prefer being checked on.

I’m pretty self sufficient when it comes to figuring out what I want, which brands I want to try. But as a customer, had it not been for Rayla, I would’ve been way more irritated. I hope she gets a good review, otherwise I’ll offer a job....

The service at this location is horrible at best. I’ve never been at a Sephora location who makes you out to feel like they don’t want your $$$ I only pickup at this location if it’s an emergency because the service is that bad. They were rude to my husband when he tried to pick up my order. Reason he was picking it up was because of how rude they were to me the last time. The tall gentleman with the pony tail who is always rude and bothered to do his job told him he couldn’t have the order because his name wasn’t on it. If he had bothered to ask my husband he would have leaned that I selected him as the pick up person. Instead his co-worker had to tell him that he could just scan the barcode and the information will pop up. What’s so beyond distasteful is I have never been asked for my name when I pickup orders I’m only ever asked for the barcode. Sephora shouldn’t be known as a place who picks and chooses who gets asked for orders by name vs. by barcodes. That would lead to misleading perceptions. As for this location- when you take your consumer for granted/ treat them rudely / disrespect them/ they will leave you. I have worked in retail for over 25 years and this is by far the worst experience I have...

A few weeks ago, after checking out at a store, I realized I had lost my sunglasses. I immediately returned to look for them. A few sales associates and the security guard saw me come back, but they didn't say anything to me. I left and went to another store, but my glasses weren't there. So, I went back to Sephora one last time. I asked two sales associates at the front (one of whom had seen me each time I came in) if they had a Lost and Found, explaining that I thought I had left my sunglasses there. Very quickly, one of them asked, "What's the brand?"

I was caught off guard and couldn't remember the brand because I hadn't expected the question. She watched me, dumbfounded, trying to remember for about sixty seconds before she said, "They're Ray-Bans," and began walking me to the checkout counter. She pulled them out of a drawer there. She then told the cashier who had checked me out that I had returned to claim my glasses.

This was extremely unhelpful. It's crazy that they were trying to benefit from me leaving my glasses at the checkout counter. I'm never coming back to...