If I'd known how the store was run, I would have just bought online from notino.cz, paid less, and gotten a product I can use. At this Sephora I asked a sales clerk for a recommendation for a cleanser for my skin type, who describes this product as being good for dry skin, containing moisturizing ingredients etc. She was nice and seemed knowledgeable enough, and so I buy the product she hands me (it actually two different Clarins products from her).
I use the cleanser for a few weeks, and notice my skin feeling dryer than usual the more I use it. Then I read the English text under the French name of the product, and I see that it says it's for normal or mixed skin. When I go back to the store and explain my situation, hoping to exchange the cleanser for the correct product, I'm taken to a person who I assume is the store manager. She's the only employee I've seen there who looks very over it and standoffish, with not a hint of a smile as she leans against the table behind the cash registers at the back of the store. She looks at me and does the most exaggerated eye roll I've seen an adult person do outside tv comedies, saying opened products cannot be returned.
I imagine they're not obliged to do returns/exchanges in situations like this (which was likely an honest mistake), but when you're selling things that literally go on a person's skin, and competing with online shopping you'd expect a little better than "caveat emptor". And even if this is asking too much, basic customer service skills shouldn't be. Luckily I didn't have any allergies etc., and it wasn't a La Mer product I was sold (though if it had been, I doubt the skin on my face would feel as unpleasantly tight as it does now). The place gets a lot of tourist traffic, so I imagine the store does well because the regular staff is friendly, helpful, and speaks English. But the kind of leadership I saw, combined with salespeople who literally take the product from the shelf and carry it to checkout while you finish shopping, is a very cynical way to run a business. Needless to say, I'll try to find a brick-and-mortar store that doesn't have people in charge whose slogan might as well be "taking the 'care' out of 'skincare'" . read more