On March 31st, I placed an order to try a PCA Skincare serum. To my surprise, I received another one before the end of June despite not having a subscription nor ordering it. I was actually in the hospital recovering from a surgery when this product was supposedly ordered so I contacted Dermstore to return it. On July 6, I chatted with Chantelle at Dermstore and asked to have this product returned. She explained that their systems were in the process of transitioning and so she couldn't help me and advised me to contact them again in 48 hours and try again. I called Dermstore two days later, waited on hold for well over an hour, and then the person who answered hung up on me, which was frustrating. I then initiated another chat, this time with Jenna, who again says that their systems are unable to process a return. At this point, I have spent a lot of time trying to return a product that I haven't ordered.

I contacted Capital One, my credit card company and opened a dispute. Then miraculously, Dermstore responds and provides evidence (fabricated) that I had ordered the product. I persisted and showed proof (screenshot of my account) to Capital One saying that I did not have a subscription and that I couldn't have ordered it since I was in the hospital. Cap One closed that account and opened up a new one as it is concluded to be fraud. Then on September 28, I receive an email from Dermstore saying that they have tried to ship me the same product but were unable to (because the credit card that they have on file is no longer valid)! I write back in an email and let them know that I never had a subscription and thus didn't order it. They write back that they are sorry and send it from an email address that cannot accept incoming email!

Yesterday, I received a letter from Capital One saying that the June order is valid and that they are holding me responsible for the charge! When I go into my Dermstore account, there is no order for June, and yet I am responsible for paying for this non-existent order! After talking with Josh, Sarah (fraud), and Brianna (disputes) at Capital One, I am told that, while they understand, there is nothing that they can do despite my being a customer for over 14 years. Brianna pointed out that at least they blocked Dermstore from charging me more because they closed the original credit card account. I guess that zero liability fraud protection touted by Capital One in their commercials is untrue. According to Brianna, I can't even provide more evidence because Cap One closed the case.

Shipping out products that weren't ordered is a predatory practice that can be especially hurtful toward the elderly, people with dementia, or basically anyone who may not be able to stop these charges. I am perfectly aware and was still stuck with the charge for a product that I didn't order. Needless to say, Dermstore is engaging in fraudulent practices under the guise of incompetence (e.g., our systems are unable to process a return). And I'm shutting down my Capital One account, too, as they are colluding with Dermstore's fraud.

Been hung up on 3 times, all tracking given are fake tracking numbers - they simply say 'we can't help you' My money has been taken w/ no product. I have used them once before and they were good as far as delivery, (I had not delt with their customer service yet) but this last time was AWFUL and given from recent reviews I have read, I am not the only one paying for items and not receiving them. I ordered $500+ worth of items received confirmation of order then waited on the 'shipped' confirmation e-mail. Instead 4 days later I get an e-mail asking me to confirm my billing and shipping address. Which I had clearly already given them during check out. They said if I did not respond within 48 HRS, the order would be canceled - I responded but then realized it was after the 48 hr window, so I logged onto my account and the order was canceled - checked my bank, I was not charged - no big deal I simply re-ordered the items. Checking a few days later - they processed BOTH orders, one says it shipped - but has NO tracking and the second one had a FAKE UPS tracking number, because I put it in the UPS tracking site and it was not a proper tracking number. Then for the first order the lady on the phone gave me a USPS tracking which ALSO was not a valid tracking number. ALSO, I paid EXTRA for 2 day shipping, with the understanding there may be a day or so delay due to Covid, now their site says my package will arrive over two weeks later (16 DAYS Later) - but still both have no valid UPS or USPS tracking, this is just what their personal site says. When I called customer service, one of the ladies told me that I just had to wait, even if I had no tracking, that they could do nothing - but thing is I was not going to be at the shipment delivery location 16 days out, then she pretended to not hear me anymore and told me I had to wait and hung up. Second lady said the same thing, gave me a BOGUS USPS number, then I asked to speak to a manager and she said 'sure one moment' and HUNG UP ON ME. I was polite to both ladies, only time I got heated was with the second lady who said it was out of her control and not to be mad at her. Needless to say I am not the only person who is having this issue with Dermstore - JUST READ RECENT REVIEWS on any site. This company is going down hill. I will be pressing charges if I do not get an answer or items that I have sent money for and I will NOT be returning to this site unless they get rid of their awful and caddy set of customer service reps AND fix their shipping process.

Made an online order which was taking a long time to be sent, this order had a 20% off coupon. Checked some days after and noticed some items were out of stock. Cancelled those items so that the rest would be sent asap, but noticed that my 20% off coupon was removed... So I cancelled the whole order online and made a different one with a 15% coupon. I didn't want to do any of this online but on the phone. However, I waited for 30 minutes only to be hanged up. I waited for another 15 minutes afterwards but got tired of waiting on the phone, so I cancelled the order online.
Two days after I cancelled I noticed that the first order shipped! And of course, my credit card was charged. I made two attempts to reach them via phone and someone finally picked up. This customer service representative flat out told me that she didn't see any attempt on my side to cancel the order online and there was nothing she could do to cancel it since it had already shipped. After "rechecking" she said she found a way to cancel the order. A little later that afternoon I noticed that the order was still marked as completed and not cancelled like she said, so I made another call. This time I was helped by someone else who told me that the order couldn't have been cancelled since it had already shipped. I told her what happened earlier and she asked me for the previous customer service representative's name. She put me on hold and went to talk to her. After a while she returned and said that the other customer service representative had told her that she told me that I should handle the cancel myself (what?). Not only was she flat out rude but also lied about our previous call. Jeez.
Anyways, this new customer service rep told me that she would sent me a prepaid shipping label to return the items once they got to me...
About a week later I noticed that the new order hadn't been shipped so I went online to look it up and it said that it was cancelled (!). So what the first customer service rep did was cancel my new order! This is the most incompetent and ill-mannered customer service representative I have ever had to deal with. I decided to get the items from Amazon instead.
Oh, did I mention I also try to reach them via e-mail? They took 2 weeks to reply to me that "They were very busy assisting other customers, we will try to get back to you as soon as possible".
I have since gotten the package and dropped it at USPS but I'm upset that I now have to track the package, make sure it gets to their return center and make sure I get my refund...

I have made two separate purchases on Dermstore now and am extremely iffy about them. Yes, they have good sales and "free shipping and returns," however, if you return something using their free return label, they only give you a store credit. If you want a refund, you have to pay for the shipping yourself. And they have the most horrible practice of (what THEY even refer to) as "upselling." After you complete your purchase, a pop-up comes on and they offer you a reduced price on something that is "a special promotion after you have checked out on our website." They make it seem as though your purchase has been completed, but if you click "Yes" on this offer (thinking it would go into your cart for a future purchase), it automatically adds it to your just-completed order and charges you for it. They did this to me and I attempted to contact customer service immediately to cancel it before it shipped (as they tell you to do), but not surprisingly, my order was shipped before I could get in contact with them. Suspiciously fast, too - within a few hours (which I highly doubt actually happened without them seeing my message).
It's been 2 days now and customer service still hasn't contacted ME, so I got online to chat with a representative (strangely one that is personally named in a really bad review on this page). She wasn't rude to me like the other reviewer, but I told her that the product they pushed on me was supposed to come with a free gift with purchase and since they charged me for it, I wanted my gift. She told me that since the promotion was already such a good deal, it wasn't eligible for a GWP. I asked her to show me where it says that because there were no restrictions listed anywhere. She LITERALLY said this to me: "It doesn't say it anywhere, which is why I am informing you now." SERIOUSLY? They could really get into actual trouble for such deceptive practices - and they SHOULD. But they obviously don't care.
She told me that she would go ahead and start a return process for the item for me so it would be faster when they received it, and I pointed out that because of their policy, I would have to pay for shipping. Now to her credit - she DID email me a return label (without me asking) so I wouldn't have to pay for it and would get my money actually refunded. We'll see if that happens - which is why I saved the chat transcript if they try to store credit me.
Like I said - I'm iffy about them. They do have a LOT of nice products and good sales on things that normally don't ever go on sale, but they do say that some companies don't let them give the discount on their products, so the sales don't include everything. Overall, I don't think they're a really bad company (and so far their customer service is still WAY better than Sephora's), but if you order from them, just be VERY careful what you click on.

I purchased some products from Dermstore on Cyber Monday, when I ordered the items it allowed the products to be discounted using the 30% off cyber Monday code dermstore provided. I ordered the items, gave my credit card and paid for them and even received order confirmation emails confirming my purchase with the discount. A day or so later when the products where shipped I received a new order confirmation email from dermstore, this confirmation had removed the discount and charged me the full amount, an un-agreed upon amount. I contacted Dermstore to make them aware of the mistake, and I was told numerous times by email and phone that I was wrong and that I could not get the discount and that I wouldn't get a refund for the difference, finally I provided them with pictures of the discount and order confirmation and they finally conceded and provided me with a refund of the difference. Then when my order finally arrived, upon opening up the package it was clear that the curling iron was a used/ returned product that I had been sold under the guise of it being new (the packaging on the iron was ripped and obviously had been opened before). As someone who works in the consumer products industry this is incredibly troubling, as we would never sell used/ returned product as new, we are upfront and honest when someone is buying used product and never pass it off as new. I contacted Dermstore and stated that I would like to make a return, as I had been incredibly unimpressed with the customer service I had received so far from Dermstore. That return took weeks and many emails back and forth from me and dermstore, with them trying everything from not acknowledging what I am asking for, refusing my return, to saying I can only have a store credit, quite frankly it was the worst customer service experience I had ever had.Do not believe their claims on their website about 'easy returns' returns if your not happy with the items, it's completely false. Finally I was sent a return-shipping label, I told them that I lived in Canada and that would not work, they stated that I would have to pay to ship their used product back to them if I wanted a return. Finally after calling the customer service line yet again, we came to an agreement that I would have someone drive to the border and drop the package in the mail and upon receipt I would be given a refund. Now months later I have decided to try again ordering as I really wanted the products and Dermstore is the only place you can purchase them, again I waited and used a discount code I was sent, in the checkout phase it allowed the products to be discounted again, but yet again when I received my invoice a day or so later it had removed the discount and charged my credit card an un-agreed upon amount, when I called customer service they're playing the same game of insisting that I was not allowed the discount. After checking online reviews this is very common with customers being offered coupon codes and then having them pulled away after their payment and purchase, specifically with the 'favourite item' sales. Again after checking online this is quite a common occurrence for Dermstore to send out product which has obviously been opened/ returned to customers, and making it incredibly difficult to return items. Dermstore's customer service and business practices are unethical, fraudulent and truly atrocious. I thought I would give them one more chance and yet again they blew it, I am telling everyone I know to stay away from Dermstore at all costs.

According to Elta MD Dermstore is not an authorized dealer and obtains their products illegally.

Initially, I thought that the products I ordered from Dermstore.com were good deals. However, I ordered a product that they didn't have in stock. Instead of telling me this, they sent me a similar product for sensitive skin. I don't have sensitive skin, and I don't want to spend a lot of money (about $30) to get a random product that they selected to replace the one I wanted. I emailed with no response for 2 business days, then called. They told me they would send the correct product, and I would need to send the old one back. This is a hassle because, not only did I not receive what I wanted, I had to run an errand to correct their mistake. I returned the item in the middle of June. It is now August 7 and I have not received a refund. I called on August 3, emailed on August 5, and called and emailed again today to find out why I had not received my refund. I finally received a response today, saying that I would receive a credit for a random amount- almost twice as much as the product costs. When I noticed the mistake, I notified them, and asked if they intended to do that. I thought it was possible that, since I have had so much difficulty with this store, that they had given me my refund, and also refunded the other item that I ordered for my trouble. But, they emailed me very soon after I told them of their mistake, and said that they would ADJUST THE CREDIT BY CHARGING MY CREDIT CARD THE DIFFERENCE. Please keep in mind that this company took my money for a product they never sent me at the beginning of June. They forced on me the responsibility of shipping the wrong product back to them, and if I hadn't remembered to look for a refund on my credit card statement, I speculate that I would never have received a dime of my money back. Now, they have issued a credit for an incorrect amount and intend to CHARGE ME AGAIN! At best, this company's highly regarded customer service department inadvertently overlooked my situation. At worst, they are intentionally substituting incorrect products into orders and deliberately forgetting to issue refunds, ripping off the customer. I am generally a patient customer, and I understand mistakes. However, I expect them to be rectified quickly, and I am generally appeased by an apology or some type of consolation prize- like the offer of a gift card. After a series of emails and discussions with customer service, when I asked them for some incentive to ever shop at dermstore.com again, they gave me a 15% off coupon, that negates any other offers, such as free shipping. I will never shop with this company again.