SEPHORA — Attraction in Markham

This experience was absolutely heartbreaking and humiliating. I walked into the Sephora Markville location with hope and trust, only to leave feeling disrespected and accused.

When I approached the register, the manager with curly hair came over despite not working the register and asked me what I needed. After I explained, she responded, “Okay, so I’m actually not working the register right now, but she can help you,” pointing to another staff member. I brushed this off, but things got worse.

An older employee then asked to see my receipt, which I handed over. She looked at it and said she couldn’t process the return. My friend had gifted me a Sol de Janeiro gift set with a regular receipt but no gift receipt. Anticipating there might be an issue, I had called the Scarborough Town Centre (STC) location beforehand, and a worker there assured me that I could exchange the item for store credit with the regular receipt. I mentioned this, but the older employee refused to help.

At this point, I asked for the manager—the same woman with curly hair. When she came over, instead of helping, she began treating me like a thief. She assumed the gift wasn’t mine and began interrogating me with questions like, “Do you know your friend’s name?” and quizzing me about other unnecessary details. This was deeply humiliating and made me feel entirely uncomfortable as a customer.

I left the store, feeling completely defeated and disrespected. I had to drive all the way to STC, where they handled the return without hesitation, resolving the issue in under a minute.

This was by far the worst experience I have ever had at Sephora—or at any store, for that matter. I can’t put into words how hurtful and degrading this experience was. I have lost trust in Sephora as a brand and do not see myself returning as a customer.

Thank you, Sephora Markville Mall, for nothing but disappointment and embarrassment. Will not be...

I grew up in Markham and people were so kind and receptive. I guess things change... anytime I walk into this sephora they are all middle aged woman, with teenage attitude. I went to the store for a pick up order on May 24th at 3:40 PM, while I'm not fond of this store, they are the only ones who had the product in stock. I go in, and it was quite busy so I understand that the staff was preoccupied. I also saw my usual mascara was on sale, but didnt see it on the shelf. I decided to go get my pickup order at the front and ask if they had the mascara stock in their drawer there. (It showed the mascara was in stock online). I asked the worker (who was very pregnant, long hair, blonde highlights) at the front if she could check for stock while she grabbed my pickup order. She came back with my pickup and said the mascara was out of stock within 2 minutes. I could tell cause of her attitude and the way she was talking to me (rude, condescending, obviously hormonal and tired) she probably didnt check. I get it, I empathize with her. I was pretty dissappointed though. As I was walking out the store, I also forgot i came to return something so I decided to ask another associate on the floor (asian descent, hair in a bun, winged liner) to see if she can check the drawer for the mascara. She was super friendly and within 2 min she had the mascara in her hand. I went to the cash again to return my items I forgot about and buy the mascara. The pregnant worker saw I had the mascara now and quickly walked away lol. This 2nd cashier also had a condescending attitude? They usually ask if anyone was helping me, but she didnt so I asked if I could put in a positive review for her coworker who helped me. She said 'we dont do that here.' ??? It's like they dont remember they work in customer service...? If you are so fed up of your job, don't...

I'm not sure what was wrong with the cashier that I interacted with, maybe she had a bad day or something? Either way, my interaction with her was probably the worst customer service I've ever had.

I wanted to return this head massager and I did prematurely throw out the box it came with (that's on me and I admit that's my fault), but right after I told her that I wanted to return it she straight up said "Wow that's so annoying". I was so confused and for a minute I thought she was talking about something else, because there's no way she said that to a customer?? She then asked what my email was but I didn't hear what she said since there was a lot of chatter around us. So I said "Sorry?" and she very aggressively told me that I had multiple emails under my phone number. She told my boyfriend who was behind me that this was unacceptable and I just?? Why are you telling him that like he's my guardian?? Kinda weird...All throughout the interaction I was calm, never raised my voice and was very understanding, so I really don't understand why she was so rude to me the whole time... The return policy says items can be returned if it's new/gently used, I've only ever used the head massager once and although it wasn't in the original box (again I admit that that's on me for throwing it out prematurely), the head massager was in perfect condition and doesn't even look like it was used.

I'm not sure if this helps identify her but Auth#04619Z Sequence+Reference#139 Date 12/04/21 Time 16:51:48. I'm not trying to get her fired or anything but maybe the manager can let her know that that's not how you should interact with customers?? Especially if they were cooperative and had done nothing to deserve such...