SEPHORA — Attraction in Vaughan

Dear Sephora Head Office / Customer Relations/ Manager/ Owner

I am writing to formally express my deep concern and disappointment regarding an upsetting and discriminatory incident I experienced at your Vaughan Mills location.

As a loyal and regular Sephora customer, I’ve always trusted your stores to provide a respectful and inclusive shopping environment. Unfortunately, this visit left me feeling humiliated, disrespected, and discriminated against.

I was shopping with my two young children when I was approached by an Indian racist security guard who wrongly accused me of attempting to steal a mascara. The accusation was not only baseless but also deeply insulting especially considering how cooperative I was throughout the interaction.

Here is exactly what happened:

I had taken a mascara from its box to check if the product was full. During a previous purchase, I paid full price for a mascara that turned out to be half empty, and I had to return it. So, this time, I opened the box to make sure it was full. I then placed the mascara in my child’s cart bag temporarily while I tested a Glow Recipe serum on my face, needing both hands for application. I also placed my Tarte makeup brush, which I had brought to return, on the shelf in front of the display of empty box. I simply forgot to put the mascara back into the box after testing the serum.

When approached by the Indian security guard, I immediately showed him the mascara, the empty box, and calmly explained that I intended to buy it. I even said directly, “I want to buy this.” Instead of listening, he refused to hear me out, accused me of "making stories" and "using my kids as an excuse to steal," and ordered me to leave the store immediately in full view of other customers.

I realize now that I should have used a Sephora shopping basket and not placed the item in my child’s cart bag. That was an honest mistake, and I take responsibility for that part. However, my actions were not dishonest or deceptive in any way. I cooperated fully and politely, and yet I was treated as if I were guilty, without any effort to understand the situation.

It’s also important to mention that this was not the first time I had used the cart to place a single item while shopping. When I’m only purchasing one product, I don’t always think to take a Sephora basket and I have never left the store without paying. My intention was always to proceed to the checkout and complete my purchase, just as I have in the past.

What made the experience even more painful was the demeaning and disrespectful tone used by the security guard. I was being unfairly judged and possibly profiled based on my appearance and religion. The interaction was aggressive, humiliating, and traumatic especially in front of my children.

To make matters worse, when I asked him to speak with the manager, I was told, “He is not here.” I was given no further assistance, no opportunity to speak to anyone in a position of authority, and no way to escalate the situation at the time. I left the store feeling voiceless and powerless.

Afterward, I looked up reviews for this store and found multiple other complaints about customers being mistreated at this location, which indicates a pattern of unacceptable behavior.

I am respectfully requesting the following:

A formal apology for how I was treated;

A full investigation into this incident and the conduct of the security guard involved;

Clarification on Sephora’s customer treatment and loss prevention policies;

A commitment that staff will receive training in respectful, unbiased customer service, especially when interacting with diverse communities.

I’ve been a loyal Sephora customer for years and always felt welcomed until now. This experience was deeply distressing and has made me question whether I can continue to support a brand that allows such...

I had a terrible experience shopping at Sephora Vaughan Mills today (Thu Sep 4 2025). From the moment I walked in, none of the staff even bothered to greet me even though I was looking for help and so I had to find someone myself to ask for assistance with searching for a concealer as a first-time user. Luckily, I was able to find a staff who was willing to help me (she was wearing a hijab and was the only approachable employee there, but I still felt she could’ve been more friendlier, though). I asked if she could help me out with buying a concealer that is both gentle on acne and budget-friendly, so she showed me products from Rare Beauty, but didn’t really show me all the options available. I ended up taking her advice and also asked if it was possible to check the prices of each product that she recommended me to use, in which she directed me to check it out at the cashier. This is quite inconvenient as the employees don’t even have a scanner on them to check the prices themselves and there were also no barcode-scanners in the store where you can manually check the price yourself. Anyways, I went to check out the prices at the cashier, but the cashier staff had the rudest look on her face while serving me. I had asked her if she can check the prices for me, as I’m a college student, so I have a tight budget, but I felt very rushed while checking to see which items I truly needed and which ones I didn’t because of this cashier employee who seemed to be East/ Southeast Asian with long straight black hair and tanned skin. In addition, later on, I came back to purchase a finishing powder and another cashier staff served me and this employee had black curly hair with dark skin tone who seemed to be of African descent and she was very impolite to me as I was checking out and paying for the item. She literally threw the box at me instead of passing it to me normally. I am literally paying money for this product, I am not a beggar but the way she acted towards me was very unprofessional and unethical work behaviour. I was treated with such arrogance even though I was literally a normal customer who just trying to buy makeup for the first time. The whole atmosphere felt very toxic and the employees seemed like a bunch of mean girls who are disinterested in their jobs and don’t care about providing good customer service. Mind you, I did not do anything inappropriate to provoke any of them and yet they still acted this way towards me. I also mentioned to the employees that this was my first time shopping here and my first time even buying a product, so to receive such unpleasant treatment like this on my initial visit is a shame. There needs to be retraining of ethics and customer service amongst the staff here whom all have this condescending and indifferent attitude. These employees seem to only give their divided attention and interest in select customers who look like them and those who are knowledgeable in makeup. Otherwise, if you do not fit this criteria, they are very unfriendly and posses such stuck-up behaviour. I am not the only one who has opened up about this but many others on here have stated the same as well, and unfortunately, it’s also quite a common thing in many beauty-related stores. This...

STAY AWAY FROM THIS STORE!!

This is the worst Sephora I have visited with my wife. Sephora is a woman’s world, we men just follow our wives around in the store. I was unaware of Sephora rules - cannot sit in make up station. As a man in a woman’s world, I had no clue it was a make up station, first of all what is a makeup station?? I saw some empty chairs with some mirrors in front, was vacant and looked used. It was beside the store entrance. It dint look like selling furnitures, no sign written “not allowed to sit”.. three female associates chatting away. Looked around saw nothing unusual about the seats, signalled my wife to go ahead shop around, she’ll find me near the entrance. I gently pulled out a chair and parked my ass, one of the three female associates (brown complexion, short in height) turned around, pointed her finger and sternly says, “Excuse me, you are not allowed to sit here, there is a chair in __ (i forgot the area she mentioned), you can sit there”. The way and tone she said was unacceptable. A sentence can be said in different tones and ways. The way she said felt like she was reprimanding a little kid. There is a way to say things to others who are not aware of your store rules. To the store owner, if you continue to have such arrogant store associates, slowly you will lose your $$$. You are not the only Sephora store, I rather have my wife spend $$$ in another store. There is no excuse for rudeness!!

Check the store video surveillance and you will witness rudeness which gets revealed from her body language. Audio you may not hear unless multitudinous audio bugs are bestrewed in the store.

To the associate - learn to be courteous, professional and stay humble.

To the store manager (male with nose piercing) Not everyone has the maturity, self-confidence, or self-awareness to admit what they did wrong and apologize. As a store manager (male with nose piercing) you should had primarily heard, understood the incident instead of snapping the explication and jumping to conclusion by saying “yes she is right by saying cannot sit on those seat”. Turn the shoe around, would you like it if she berated you the same way? Where was/is any placard with “no seating/not allowed to sit” written?

To the owner - send secret auditors to check your store, there is no auto-roll for business.

This is Sephora...