An Etobicoke woman says she was shocked to discover that the $220 bottle of Dior perfume she purchased for her grandmother at a Shoppers Drug Mart turned out to be a fake.
Ashley Vien bought a bottle of what she thought was Dior’s J’adore from the 666 Burnhamthorpe Road store and said the box holding the bottle was sealed and behind security glass when she purchased it on Feb. 25.
“My grandmother is 75, she wants to get back into the dating world,” Vien said. “She asked me to buy her this specific perfume she liked. She gave me the cash, and I used my Optimum points for a discount.”
After the discount and taxes, Vien said she paid $198.88 in total for the perfume.
Vein didn’t see her grandmother until two days later, when they opened the package together. They quickly realized something was off with it.
“It was a completely different, really awful knock-off of a perfume. It said ‘Joane’ on it, not J’adore,” said Vien. “The packaging looked real, sealed and everything, but the bottle inside was a fake.”
She returned to the store, receipt in hand, she said. Staff referred her to the cosmetics manager, who checked their system and told her there was no history of returns or issues with the product beyond her own purchase. The manager suggested she contact Shoppers Drug Mart’s customer service.
“I called customer service, and they said it was a special investigation case,” Vien recalled. She was asked to submit photos and her receipt by email. Two days later, she said she received an email saying “case closed, contact Dior.”
Weeks later, Vien said she finally received a refund on Wednesday afternoon after a Star reporter reached out to Loblaw, the parent company of Shoppers Drug Mart, for comment earlier in the morning. Loblaw issued Vien $200 in PC Optimum points redeemable at any Shoppers Drug Mart location.
Loblaw, in a statement to the Star, described Vien’s experience as an isolated incident that was resolved directly with her.
“We are committed to customer satisfaction and take concerns like this seriously. If similar situations arise, we will review each case individually and work to make it right,” the company wrote.
What remains a mystery is how the bottle of “Joane” perfume ended up in the box. Her ordeal, which she shared on Reddit earlier this week, has left her feeling less trustful of big-name retailers.
“If you’re buying something expensive, like a $200 perfume, open it right at the store. Otherwise, there’s no way to prove what was inside,” she said.
For Vien and her grandmother, the experience has been more than a financial setback.
“Right now, money is really tight for everybody. My grandmother is in her 70s and still working, and she just wanted to do something for herself,” Vien said.
