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?

Op you were not buying, you even say you’d need to save up. So they thought you were there just trying to get a freebie. And no one needs to see how it develops over a day or two. No perfume lasts two days. You get a spray from the tester then sure you can go off and do your bit.

Aggressive defenders of the right to use AI word salad is bizarre. And also, there is nothing more to say about ‘perfume experience’ it’s not interesting enough.

FWIW OP my advise is to change your prompt (if you really can’t write for yourself). You can ask AI to avoid the em dash and the this = that sentences and even suggest the type of human and tone you’re going for. You’ll get a better result.

I agree, can you imagine how much it would cost if everyone could just go and get samples. A spray from the bottle is enough to see how it develops.

the op wasn’t buying though. She even said she would need to save up. So she wasn’t even buying any time soon. So she just looked like a chancer trying to get samples of expensive perfume as she couldn’t afford a bottle.

I don’t think I’ve ever went in and asked for a sample. A spray from the bottle is enough. You can then let it develop on your wrist. And go back and buy a bottle if not sure.

I think you were unreasonable to ask for a sample of perfume costing £300. I've never been aware that was possible and wouldn't consider asking.

Normally, you try it on your wrist and wait- and repeat that on another day etc to make sure you like it.

In-store you’re surrounded by other scents and distractions, so it’s hard to really understand how it evolves.Wearing it properly over a full day is very different

So if you spray it on your wrist and don't wash it off, it stays for the whole day!

I've always tried a new perfume several times before making a decision.

I use AI a lot for work and can't see any evidence she has.

BTW- it's advice you need here, not advise.

Very true that’s human error for you 😂

I also use AI a lot for work and see it used by many others badly (teacher). It is obvious here to the point of absurdity which is why I’m motivated to comment. If used well it’s almost invisible and in those cases ‘meh’.

This. It’s so irritating.

I refuse to believe you use AI for work if you honestly cannot see that this post is entirely written by AI.

I'm curious how you think it's so clear?

What's obvious to me is the OP contradicts herself. She says she never intended to buy it anyway due to the cost and needing to save, but then she says she decided not to buy it (or words to that effect.)

I assume she was in Harrods, Selfridges or Liberty

That's your choice.

Love you to point out the sentences or phrases that convince you.

Someone has already done this above. Someone else ran it through an AI detector. I'm also a bit surprised you can't see it although I guess it depends what you use AI for. If you use it for coding or something then obviously it won't be as clear. But it reads as a case study in typical AI language!

No I don't use it for that. Quite the opposite.

I'm puzzled why you or others think it's AI rather than someone who is eloquent and can write fluently.

I've asked for actual examples of why you think it's AI.
I've read all the OP's posts and because of the work I do (with humans) I can see that a human could write all of that.

I suppose what you could have done in this situation would be buy the bottle, get the sample, don’t open the bottle, use the sample for a day or so and then return the bottle if you didn’t like it after all.

That’s what was suggested to me when I was buying my mum an expensive perfume for her birthday at Les Senteurs. I was pretty sure she’d love it but didn’t want to make an expensive mistake so they said take a sample, let her use that to see if she likes it, and if not you can bring the full bottle back for a refund or to change it for something else.

But Les Senteurs is a gorgeous shop where the staff give excellent service, unlike most department stores.

OK, I’m going to C/p her post and try and bold the most obvious ‘tells’:

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?

She said in one of the posts that it was Harrods. She said she went there specifically to try this brand - although on the OP she said she was browsing when she came across the brand. That's another of the issues with using AI, it invents extra detail and therefore it becomes impossible to tell what's actually part of the story and which bits the bot made up.

Bang on

😂thanks

It’s full of contradictions, she says she didn’t buy it not due to price but due to the experience. She then says she would have to consider it, and save up. So was never going to be buying it. She also was given a spray from the bottle, and was told she could have a sample if she bought, which meant she could then test and return if she changed her mind.

she just wanted a freebie.

She is quite clear she couldn’t afford to buy it; she would have to save up.

I expect most companies have ‘net zero’ targets these days, and giving out very small samples in any sort of container would definitely increase their carbon footprint compared to a spray from a larger bottle onto your wrist or a piece of cardboard.

OP you don’t come across as a potential buyer so obviously the shop staff could tell. Similar to this thread which comes across like you are trying to test your LLM on real people for free and without their consent.

If you are genuinely interested in a scent buy a decanted sample.

I’ve only been given samples of perfumes when I’ve bought expensive perfume and I haven’t asked for them. It’s great because I give them to my daughter with the main perfume I bought her and she has small ones to take out with her in her purse.
And I bought beautiful perfumes for my son and they gave me samples too so I kept the samples. (He also said he didn’t like the perfumes and I asked for them back but that’s another story- a full set of Diptique! He can be a bit ungrateful)

I get where you're coming from BUT I also think a human could have written like this.

I agree there are contradictions over not buying, sampling, saving, etc.

But AI would usually not make those mistakes if the right question was asked.

I use AI and I also read what humans write, a lot.
I know people in RL who would write this.

Without knowing the OP, how she speaks, her level of literacy, if she's a journalist writing to wind readers in, it's impossible to make the call.

Even if she did use AI it doesn't change the basic premise of the post.

you missing the point ! Get a life man !

If you use ChatGPT (or other AI) frequently then you get to recognise its style. It’s very distinctive, and, as many have explained above, the OP is full of these ‘tells.’ Probably the best way to understand it yourself is to start using it, try it out with different tasks. You’ll pick up the tone fairly quickly.