Estee Lauder Companies

My cousin and I both placed separate orders that qualified us to receive the Blockbuster gift for $60 on 11//20. We both used Apple Pay with our debit cards and completed our orders. We both show holds on in our Apple Pay transactions listing for this date. After hearing nothing about our orders, I called customer service to try and get order numbers because neither of us had received confirmation emails or anything else. Our debit cards had also never been charged, but we assumed it was because the orders hadn't shipped yet. I called customer service at 9:30 PM CST and spoke with a rep and after 40 minutes, she was able to pull up both orders, repeat them back to me along with the dollar amounts and email addresses they were placed under and confirm that they were still processing and should ship out shortly (order numbers are *** and ***). She said that I would receive a text message when my order had shipped, but if I didn't to call back and give them the order numbers. She said we couldn't look up the orders online because we had apparently placed the orders during one of Estee Lauder's 'system updates' which is why they weren't pulling up under our accounts nor had we received confirmation. I began chatting online with a representative today to check on the both order statuses (the first rep's name was 'Paul Michael'), and was told my order numbers did not exist. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was transferred to "Shanniqua" who was even less helpful and extremely rude. She repeatedly told me that the order had never been placed and I was misinformed by the phone rep I had spoken with. She also stated that she could not give me her employee number, last name, nor could she transfer me to anyone else. She said I would need to call customer service again and start over with someone new. She was completely unwilling to help and did nothing but treat me like a complete idiot that she had no time to speak with. She told me that my only other option to place both orders again, but the gift kit is now $75 and the eyeshadow palette that I originally ordered is now out of stock so this is not an agreeable solution for me.

I placed an order with Clinique directly through their website in April. The total of my order was $102.01, which earned me multiple free items according to their website, as well as the order confirmation I received after placing the order. I received an email in May stating that one of the items in my initial order was out of stock, and another email in May stating that my order had been shipped. Upon reviewing the item that was out of stock, I learned that it was one of the items, Clarifying Lotion 3, that Clinique had advertised would be free with a $75 order, which I had. The value of that item is $27, and according to Clinique's website, is in fact in stock. I emailed Clinique Customer Service in May and asked for either a gift certificate for the equivalent of the item, or that they send me the same product, Clarifying Lotion, in the #2 variety, rather than #3 which they claimed was out of stock. Both products cost the same, $27, so I was asking for nothing more than what was initially promised by Clinique. I also know they had #2 in stock because I ordered and received that product with my order that was placed in April. In May, I received an automated email back from Clinique stating the following: 'Thank you for your email. Your question is important to us, and we recognize that you have been waiting for a response to your inquiry, as we are experiencing prolonged delays in email response. Your question is important to us, and we are eager to provide resolution as quickly as possible. To that end, we kindly ask that you contact us via our Customer Care phone line or via Live Chat using the link below within these hours (Monday - Sunday 9am ET - 8pm ET) for more immediate assistance.' As advised, I went to their website and attempted to chat with an agent. I waited for an agent for one hour and 27 minutes, and no one ever answered my chat. I then tried calling customer service but just waited on hold and no one ever answered the phone. So then I tried emailing again, only to receive the same automated email back a couple days later again telling me to chat or call customer service instead of emailing. I went to Clinique's Facebook page and see that many other customers are experiencing the same or similar as I am. I understand that customer service and response times are slower than normal right now due to COVID-19, and that is perfectly understandable. However, to refer customers to call or chat with your customer service only to not answer calls and chat is not acceptable. Even if I didn't receive a response to my email for three weeks, as long as they eventually responded, that would be acceptable right now. From what I have gathered though, Clinique is putting the ball back in the customer's court to continue to attempt to call and chat with them, both of which are dead end methods with no results.