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?

Years ago I was given multiple samples by a Miller Harris salesperson. He recognised that I was seriously into perfumes and a future buyer if I liked the scent. We had a really good chat about perfumes from all different brands. I used all of them on a holiday, had time to make decisions over several days and came home to buy the ones I loved. I never forgot his time and generosity and have bought from that brand on many occasions since.

The new-ish Boots dedicated perfume store near Liverpool street is good with samples and has some very interesting brands not usually found on the high street (I'm loving Nancy Meiland perfumes: Eglantier is incredible). Sometimes you do need to live with a scent for a few days before making a decision. I've loved some perfumes on first sniff only to hate the dry down, hated a first sniff and loved it the next day, hated how they smell on clothes v skin, find that they don't last too long etc etc. A sample gives you the chance to check your initial suspicions at leisure.

That's the way expensive purchases work, I'm afraid. Ultimately, they weren't willing to give you a sample, so that's the end of it really. You got a spray of it and that would have shown you how it developed - maybe not to the extent you wanted, but still a perfectly acceptable approach fromthem. . There was nothing to stop you going back another time for another spray if you decided you really liked the first one but weren't 100%.

I am so fed up of ChatGPT

I appreciate your comment😇thank you !
I do understand how sampling works commercially, but this wasn’t about getting something for free.
It was about wanting to make an informed decision before spending a significant amount on a niche fragrance that evolves over time.
What stayed with me most wasn’t even the sample itself, but the change in attitude when I asked.

And honestly-whether something is written with perfect punctuation or not doesn’t change the experience.

When i bought a similarly-priced fragrance in Selfridges I did a couple of sprays, then went for a coffee and a wander. Let it settle for a couple of hours, it let me smell it on its own without the other scents nearby. This feels enough? I also got two 5ml samples (of different scents) with the purchase.

You wouldn’t be using a 1.5ml sample ‘many times’ with all the 🙏🏼🙏🏼 in the world! You’re better off taking a scarf and giving yourself a good old spray on your neck, wrists and the scarf and sniffing it to your hearts content that way.

Strange how OP’s use of capitalisation, punctuation and spacing all changes depending on whether the post was written by ChatGPT or not 😂

So what?

I GIVE A FUCK! (only joking with the caps, chill out)

Lots of us, me and others on the thread obviously included, are sick of post which weren't written by humans. I come on here to talk to humans. If I wanted to talk to machines I would ask an AI chat bot all my questions.

Some AI posts are from fake accounts trying to harvest data/info. That's not what the site is for so we should call it out

Assuming it's a genuine poster and not a bot trying to gain info for some reason (notably it's their first ever Mumsnet post) they would have had to put the info into an AI provider to produce the post. Why didn't they just type that info on here? Why add the embellishments, which means it's impossible to tell which bits of the post actually happened and which are made up by the bot?

Further, it's sociologically interesting to many people (obviously not you) that people are choosing to delegate tasks as basic as a forum post to AI. I'm genuinely interested in why - obviously OP can write in sentences, her non AI responses show this. If she is a real person genuinely asking this question then it would be interesting to me to know why she thought it would be a "better" post if it was written by a machine not a person

People take the piss with samples which is why they are reticent to offer them. They offered you a spray which is totally reasonable on their part.

Actually I have changed my mind - I think this is a bot post. Responding to @AppleKatie 's message which was clearly about AI with a nonsensical answer about "the experience" of getting a sample from a perfume shop 😂
They've used the phrase "the experience" 13 times in as many posts. My guess is some sort of junior staffer for a wannabe 'luxury' perfume brand has been asked to gather some market research on whether people consider free samples "part of the experience".
Am I close? You can tell me OP, I won't tell anyone your robot secrets.

I’ve copied a couple of her responses into the AI detector, and those came up as AI too.

I’ve used it a few times. This is the first time it’s ever told me that it was written by AI.

@Confuserr You do realise that some of us actually can write and construct paragraphs correctly and literately? There are users on Mumsnet from all walks of life, including writers and, shock horror, probably even some of the people who helped build AI! 🤦🏼‍♀️

Confuser 🙈Not a bot, just someone sharing an experience 😊(experience and experience )

If it doesn’t resonate, that’s completely fine — not everything will.

Well I suppose using all the AI adds to the thread experience.

And the experience is clearly very important.

It’s also a dead giveaway of someone who has been educated on the correct and proper use of punctuation; The em dash has always been part of English language.

I think you’re harking back to a different time, when people who couldn't afford expensive perfumes were intimidated in the places that sold it. We’ve all grown brass necks in recent times, and of course influencers take it to an entirely different level. The culture of high end shopping and the sales model has changed completely.

In order to get the level of respect you’re expecting, you need to have built some familiarity and be a known customer. In the past, the balance of trust/suspicion was tipped in the favour of a well dressed customer. Now it’s not. I wouldn’t take it personally. When you’ve bought several perfumes, and the sales people know you by name, the whole vibe will change.

It's obviously AI, I don't see why you are defending yourself when it's so blatant. It's not this, it's that. —. Be for real

Again, the em dash has always been part of proper punctuation.

Also what on earth does “be for real” even mean?!

Oh well!Whether you run it through a detector or not? Have a nice evening 🫶🏻

It's really obvious once it's pointed out.

Unlike a capital letter after a semi-colon.

As multiple people have said multiple times, the em-dash is just one of many clues here. I get that some people like to use them, it doesn't mean that their use won't raise suspicion that it's an AI post. I would be annoyed if a punctuation symbol I was attached to (it's square parentheses, thanks for asking) became a "sign" of AI. But not liking it doesn't mean it's not the case.

"Be for real" or BFR is, by the way, a common informal expression meaning "don't lie" or "be honest". More popular now but knocking around a while. Leonard Cohen had a song in the 90s of the same name.

A capital letter after a semi colon is correct! 😆 My English lecturer would always lose it if we didn’t, it was his pet peeve.

Yes to be fair I use the em dash often on here.