I was really excited that we got an Ulta in Manhattan. I've always been impressed with the customer service at Ulta. I usually go to one in Colorado when I visit family--or the ones in Lawrence or KC, and they are accommodating and friendly every time.
The Manhattan facility is gorgeous, the store is huge and well-lit, aesthetically pleasing etc. They have Mac (the last Ulta I'd gone to didn't carry Mac), which is wonderful, and it may be one of the nicer stores I've ever been in. It was evening, and the store was not busy.
That's about where the good ends.
I went to Ulta after having been outside all day-- as is not that uncommon in an agriculture-heavy state-- windblown hair, and probably even a little dirt on my jeans. I needed some new make-up, and always rely on the great staff I've met at other Ulta stores to give recommendations and show me techniques-- help me pick correct colors etc.
I was looking at the Benefit brow bar, trying to figure out what colors to purchase--nearby there were 4-5 girls doing what looked to be stocking shelves.
I kept looking over at them, hoping that one would realize I needed some help-- but they were too immersed in their conversation to care. I finally headed to the front counter, and on the way a different staff member walked by me-- I asked her for assistance, and she somewhat begrudgingly helped me pick a color before moving on to something much more important (joining in the conversation with the girls stocking shelves). As I browsed the make-up in the vicinity of this work crew of young women-- I heard them loudly giggling about the damaged skin of another customer (I don't think this person was in the store at the time), they had no qualms about loudly mocking a customer's less-than-perfect complexion. I was pretty aghast, and felt like I'd entered a high school.
I then spent about another 30 minutes browsing, and had about $300 worth of products I was ready to purchase. The rest of the time I was in there, despite there being at least 7-8 people working and maybe one other customer, no one spoke to me, no one offered help. There was no doubt in my mind from the 100% lack of service from any of ladies working there-- that I was either not welcome, or that this store doesn't care about customer service.
This entire experience made it very easy to put back $250+ worth of merchandise at the checkout, when I was informed that the posted "freebies" that were supposed to come with several sets of makeup were all gone.
The cashier flippantly informed me that they were usually out of everything-- yet there were postings absolutely everywhere in the store-- incentivising the purchases. There were no apologies, no substitutes (Beauty Brands does this when they run out of things), and just a flippant "yep" when I told her all I'd be buying was the brow makeup.
No "thank you", no "have a good night", just more of the same.
I have never felt this way at an Ulta before, and I'm bummed, because I won't be back to this location. read more