Did you manage to get your free Clarins Giveaway? I did but unfortunately, I left without a great impression of the counter girls.

I managed to print out the form and it was sitting in my bag for about 2 weeks until I got a chance to head over to The Gardens, Midvalley to redeem my free gift. I made my way to the cosmetics floor in Isetan and headed for the Clarins counter there. I do not generally like to visit cosmetic counters in shopping centres as I particularly dislike the snooty salesgirls and this experience confirmed my dislikes.

The counter was empty when I approached it and after I stood there for a while, a Clarins promoter came slinking forward from where she was chatting to another counter girl while I waited. She didn’t have a smile on her face instead didn’t look too pleased at the fact that I was disturbing her little chat! When I handed her my printout, she just took it and asked if I was a Clarins customer. When I said “No” she became rather unfriendly and proceeded to take out a big file without even telling me anything. So I sat after a while and watched as she sorted through the forms to see if I had claimed before.

Once she was done, she gave me the sample (review coming up!) , told me my skin was oily and that the product could be used for combination skin – all without a smile! She further told me to start using a pore refiner and offered me a sample of the pore refiner range in exchange for the product she originally gave me and told me I had a choice of either. I decided to stick with the first product but was rudely rejected when I asked if they had a small sample of pore refiner I could try before deciding to purchase any.

I did not like the experience at the counter at all and I’m not sure if I will ever return to try any Clarins products. Was it because I was not a Clarins customer? Whatever it is, counter girls and promoters should learn to have some tact and be friendlier to customers, whether they are users of the product or not. By being friendly and offering small samples of the products you have, you might actually be able to convince some customers to use your products and make a sale.