AIBU to think it’s strange you only get a sample if you buy a £300 perfume?

[Annmay]

I had an experience recently that I can’t quite stop thinking about, and I’m curious if this is normal now or if something has changed.

I was in a well-known luxury department store, exploring niche fragrances — just taking my time, asking questions, trying to understand what I might actually like on my skin.

I came across Maison Crivelli and was genuinely interested. The fragrances are not cheap (around £300), so naturally I wanted to test properly before making any decision.

At one point I asked if it would be possible to have a small sample — just to see how it develops over a day or two.

I was told I would only receive a sample if I purchased the full bottle.

What surprised me wasn’t just the answer, but how quickly the tone of the interaction changed after I asked.

It went from friendly and engaging to… noticeably colder.

I was there with my daughter, and she even asked me:
“Why are they looking at us like that? Can we go?”

And honestly, that stayed with me more than anything else.
Because I’ve had experiences in other places where you can take your time, ask questions and feel comfortable — and this felt completely different.

Here, it felt like I had to prove something.

I completely understand that samples can’t be given endlessly — that’s not what I’m expecting.

But for a £300 fragrance, is it really unreasonable to want to test it properly first?

It just made me question whether luxury today is about experience… or just transaction.

Curious what others think — is this normal now?

I can see why they don't want to give away free perfume.

I spray it liberally and wait for it to develop on skin and clothes and will buy the next time, or come back after an hour or so, if I'm still in the area.

I do get shirty when they try to give me a piece of paper, instead of a spray.

Yes, I completely understand that and I agree that giving out larger bottles wouldn’t make sense.In this case I meant a very small sample (around 1.5ml), not a full 5ml one.And I was able to spray it in-store and it was more about being able to try it properly over time.So I do see your point, I think for me it was just about the difference in how that situation was handled.

YANBU @Annmay With such an expensive perfume, you should be allowed to test it first.

Also, I have no idea why anyone thinks you posts are AI. I'm not seeing that.

I was in house of frasers yesterday, looking for the new Chloe Green Egypt perfume. I knew it was not out in some places yet. Asked the woman she didn’t know what I was talking about, I said it doesn’t matter I could see they didn’t have it there on display. She goes on about the others I said I have the others it’s the new one I’m looking for. She practically shouts to me to wait till she checks the drawers. She opens the drawer I can see straight away they don’t have it I again say it’s fine doesn’t matter they says, NO! We don’t have it then waves her hand to dismiss me!!!
so perfume counter workers! I would previously be able to go into any department perfume counter and they could tell me everything about every bottle every new bottle how
much they are, what’s in them, now it’s just looking for sales and if u dare say ur just looking hell mend u for having a squirt of something!!! Changed days indeed!

No point in getting a sample AFTER u buy, defeats the whole point!! For £300 I would be same as op and would like to try first x

Yes, that’s exactly what I meant!thank you !I wanted to see how it actually wore over time before deciding, rather than making a quick decision in-store.That’s why I found the whole interaction a bit surprising.

AI posts all have the same structure. Like this section is classic AI:

And honestly, that stayed with me more than anything else.
Because I’ve had experiences in other places where you can take your time, ask questions and feel comfortable — and this felt completely different.
Here, it felt like I had to prove something

The tone, the use of punctuation (the em dashes, the one-word introductory clauses with a comma), the way it’s structured.

Even on a very superficial level, it’s very rare for people to use em dashes in casual writing on social media sites. Not impossible but unusual, so that’s often the first red flag, followed by all of the others.

Once you are used to the way AI writes, it’s very obvious.

It’s also very obvious that OP’s posting style has changed since the AI comments.

Firstly, I just tried one of their perfumes, it was beautiful and lasted all day. Tuberose.

secondly, I found a site where you can buy decanted bottles in 1ml samples for about £7, you could try that first?

there’s a difference between people collecting freebies and someone genuinely trying to decide
How can the brand reps tell the difference? Just by looking?

Discovery sets are an option, but they’re still an additional cost
Yes, they are. To the brand, to manufacture. Maison Crivelli 1.5ml bottles retail for over GBP5.00. If you're genuinely in the market for a GBP300.00+ fragrance I have no idea why you would object to paying for a smaller amount.

I don't understand how a perfume would develop over a day or two? Do you not shower?

Anyway lots of brands have little samples that you can buy. I assume its not stop people taking sample to sell on or to wear without purchasing. I have received some for free in the past and they do a few wears do I take them when I travel.

You probably encountered someone having a bad day.

I've usually been lucky enough to get samples of perfumes I wasn't even considering buying from a few places even without making a purchase.

Sometimes they don't have sample bottles for the particular perfume I want but will always spray the scent on a card or wrist etc if they have that perfume in.

Spray on wrist or clothes is usually enough to tell if it's still a good scent later during the day.

I understand your point, but I’d really prefer to keep the focus on the experience itself rather than how it’s written.If you have a view on that, I’d be genuinely interested to hear it.

@Annmay , if you sign up via their website you can get two samples for free.

Lots of high end perfumeries will sell you a sample that you can offset against a future purchase as well.

Yes and it's noticeable that in OP's non-AI posts she doesn't put spaces after full-stops, let alone faff about inserting en- dashes (or are they em-dashes?)

But you didn't have to make a quick decision in store. They spray you with the perfume and you go about your day and then decide when you are ready. Your reasoning isn't sound. You don't go home, have a shower and then try it again the next day to see how it develops. It's going to be exactly as it was the day before as it will have reacted to your skin over the day and you'll have known. You say there was a noticeable cooling in the attitude towards you, and yes, that's not good but the salesperson will have targets to hit and will meet a lot of people who are just after a freebie. We have no way of knowing what your interaction was. You may have come across as someone wanting a lot of attention or 'experience', taking up their time and then asking for a freebie. That may have alerted them to the fact that the time they were taking with you was no longer viable for them.

And you definitely did want a freebie.

Edit for spelling error.

...they even sell a Coffret for around GBP10.00...

The experience itself 😂

pull the other one this one is dripping in AI.

I think we may just see it differently.A very small sample (1.5ml) isn’t really a freebie, in the way you’re describing. For me it was simply a way to test something properly.Trying a fragrance on clean skin, in your own space, and coming back to it later can feel quite different from testing it in-store.

The trouble with testing via a spray in-store is that, to be sure you want to spend 300 pounds, you can really only test one or two per visit if you don't want your nose to get confused. A brand has more scents than that. And I try to remember where on my forearm I've sprayed each scent, but I get confused with that, too.

However, it seems that times have changed, and I wouldn't mind paying for a 5ml sample, or a decant. Also, I got a sample set from Penhaligon and it was great fun trying each scent on different days, plus it was good value per ml. I wish Guerlain did sample sets of their less well-known perfumes.

😂

I wear a rather expensive perfume. I discovered it years ago and have worn it ever since.
My experience is I go online, order it, grumble about the cost a bit and then crack on with something else.
I do not walk into a store and carry out all my pretty woman fantasies to be fawned over and then ask for a free sample.

After the cooling of the relationship and the withdrawal of the dreamed of experience, one can only wonder if "BIG MISTAKE!" was hissed furiously as a sampleless retreat was made.

I agree with this.

Seems like free samples are out now, though. But the sales associate shouldn't have been rude.

I wonder if a better approach these days might be to ask if they sell fragrance sampler sets. Most still don't, so if they say no, there's always the chance they might give you a sample if they're feeling kind!

I was able to spray it, yes.
But I don’t think it’s quite the same.With more niche fragrances, they can change quite a lot over time, and how they feel later isn’t always the same as that first impression in-store.
That’s why I wanted to take a bit more time with it — to see how it actually wears and feels after a while, not just in that moment.

You went to Harrods. They get over 100,000 visitors per day. I imagine it would be quite easy to get 100 people out of that 100,000 expecting a free 1ml sample of Maison Crivelli's perfume. By which time, based on their largest bottle, they're roughly GBP300.00 down on the day.

You get free samples of cheap, mass produced, perfume precisely because they're cheap.

So why didn't you just admit to using AI?
Your weird choice to use AI in the first place and then to pretend you didn't is way more interesting as a social phenomenon than whether or not you got a freebie

Pretty much every high end brand sell Discovery sets. The OP already said she doesn't want to pay out for that.