Sephora Failed to Assign My Black Member Birthday Gift

I would like to share the inconvenience I experienced regarding Sephora’s birthday gift. I have been shopping at Sephora for a long time and I am a Black member. I only learned about the birthday gift program after a friend received one. Last year, no birthday gift was assigned to me either. I realized this later, but I didn’t follow up on it at the time.

This year, for my birthday on December 1, 2025, I again saw that no birthday gift had been assigned to my account. On December 14, 2025, I went to the Istanbul Zorlu store. The staff member there told me that my email permissions appeared to be turned off in the system, which might be why the gift didn’t show up in the app, and they updated my settings. I was told that if I contacted customer service, my gift would be sent. However, when I called customer service, I was told that the birthday gift could no longer be issued, and that they could only assign a discount coupon so I wouldn’t feel inconvenienced.

This is exactly where the problem begins for me. The birthday gift is normally a benefit given without any purchase requirement, yet I was told that in order to use the discount coupon, I would need to make a purchase and use it only through the app. This means I would have to make an extra purchase and also pay additional costs such as shipping, so this offer is not a real form of compensation. Moreover, I had already made a perfume purchase around October–November, and despite being an active Black member, my birthday gift was still not assigned.

My phone number in Sephora’s system ends with 048, and even though all my communication permissions were updated in-store, I still did not receive this year’s birthday gift. I am no longer requesting last year’s gift, as I consider that my own oversight. However, I am requesting that this year’s birthday gift be assigned to my account without any purchase requirement, as stated in Sephora’s policy. I am not asking for a discount coupon—I am asking for the birthday gift that I believe I am entitled to as a Black member to be properly assigned to my account.