SEPHORA — Local services in Philadelphia

THIS IS LONG. I have shopped at this store repeatedly since I moved to Philly three years ago. Sometimes employees are friendly and offer to help; sometimes they don't. That never bothered me, BUT . . .

Yesterday, I had the worst experience. Sephora changed the return policy from 60 days to 30 days for all purchases made after December 14th. I wanted to return a purchase that I made on December 10th, which is within the original policy’s 60 day window. I go to the store and request a refund to my card.

First, the employee at the register tells me that she's new and doesn't know the return policy. No big deal. Shari, a manager, steps in and that's when things get terrible.

Shari immediately tells me that there’s nothing she can do because it’s a hard policy. IMMEDIATELY. When I asked about the change in the return policy, she speaks over me and continues to say that there’s nothing they can do. She never answered my questions. When I asked her to explain the changes in the return policy is, she tells me to look on the back of my receipt. One problem: there’s no policy on the back of my receipt. I again ask about the return policy. Shari tells me that she hasn’t memorized the return policy but I can read it wherever it is posted in the store. It all felt dismissive. Finally, I asked her if she was actually listening to me. She told me to contact corporate.

So boom, I contact corporate immediately after leaving the store. The employee on the phone calls the store and we’re on a three way call with a different manager named Courtney. In my opinion, her attitude was only slightly better than Shari’s. Eventually, Courtney agreed to give me a refund, which required me to go to the store a second time.

I’m VIB Rouge and this made me reconsider spending money at Sephora period. Not going to lie…I felt like there was implicit bias because of my race. If you read the one star reviews, you’ll see that I’m not alone in that feeling. Here's to hoping that the Fashion District Sephora has...

Minus a couple stars because I had a really disappointing experience at this Sephora and to be honest this is the second time in 2 weeks that something negative has happened to me here in terms of customer service. Today I came in for a return with my receipt, barely used products that were to heavy on me, and within 2 weeks of purchase, fully within the return policy. My goal was to exchange for items that worked better for me, not just to make a return and leave. I politely made that clear when I explained the return, and that my hope was to get store credit and shop for products that were more lightweight instead. The associate repeatedly told me it was “policy” that my return could only go back on my original card and that there was nothing she could do, which made me feel like I was being accused of doing something wrong (even though I had my reciept and was following Sephora policy..) When the manager came over, he immediately confirmed that store credit was fine and processed it with no issue.

Thankfully right after the return, a Sephora Beauty Advisor, Tiffany helped me choose new products and she was incredibly kind, patient, and attentive. She turned what had started as a stressful visit into a much more positive experience, and I really appreciated her help and support finding the right products for me. (Thank you Tiffany! :))

I have had some good experiences at this location, but the couple of difficult interactions I’ve had here recently have left me feeling shamed and hesitant to come back into the store. I hope management takes this inconsistency of customer service into account when training employees at this location so that customers can consistently...

Sephora seriously has the best customer service ever! I've spent hours on hours and dollas on dollas here.

You can sample basically anything here and they're incredibly nice about it and give you solid recommendations. They don't work on commission, so I always appreciate when they don't just rave about everything and tell you the truth. They also don't judge when you tell them your price range and will work within that to give recommendations/give samples.

You can return anything, even used. I've tried products a few times and realized it just wasn't worth it, and it's totally fine. GREAT story: I bought a brush set here months ago and during a recent vacation, of the brushes somehow broke. Went in asking if they were able to replace it by any chance, and they replaced the whole darn set for me!! I got 10 spanking new brushes. Thanks Sephora, you da real MVP.

All the artists are incredibly nice.

Sign up for your rewards so you can get an amazing birthday gift.

Spend $50, get your makeup done. Totally reasonable at Sephora. I know Macys and stuff does this but like at Chanel, you get one lipstick for $50. Here you can splurge and get surprisingly a lot for $50. Always check out their sale section.

Sephora brand lipstains, liquid eyeliner, and pressed powder work supperrr well even compared to higher end...