Ulta Beauty — Attraction in New York

I had an unpleasant and unprofessional experience at the Ulta Beauty store located at 133-05 20th Ave, College Point, NY 11365.

On October 10th , My husband and I visited the store. I purchased an Anastasia eyebrow pencil, and my husband purchased a hair product. As we were leaving, my husband accidentally dropped the eyebrow pencil. Because it’s a thin product, I was concerned it might have cracked, so I returned to the cashier to request an exchange for the same item.

The cashier called a manager with RED LONG HAIR , The manager rolled the pencil all the way up and told me it wasn’t broken. I explained that it might be cracked from the bottom because I could hear something loose. She then told me, with an attitude, to “go grab another one and come back.”

When I returned with the replacement, the cashierr called the manager again. The manager told me she couldn’t exchange it because I didn’t have a membership account with Ulta. I was surprised and asked why that was necessary for a simple exchange of the same item. She repeated that I needed to be a member and refused to process it with a big attitude on her face .

As she was giving me an attitude the entire time ,I reacted to her tone and left the store with the pencil I thought was cracked. A few minutes later, I created an Ulta account and went back to return both items entirely, since I no longer wanted to shop in this store after being treated that way. When I came back, the same manager came from the back and said, “Oh, you’re back!” with clear sarcasm. I told her I wanted to return everything and again mentioned that I didn’t understand why she had said I needed to be a member for an exchange. She repeated that “it’s the rule.” In a very rude way .

When I told her she needed to fix her attitude, she responded rudely, saying I needed to “stop cursing” in her store—even though I had never cursed at her. I had only expressed frustration to my husband while leaving the store, saying “this is stupid,” but never directed anything offensive at her. She then claimed, “this is my store,” which is false, as Ulta Beauty stores are corporately owned, not privately owned. I later confirmed through Ulta’s customer service that a membership is not required for exchanges or returns.

On Saturday, October 11, I received a call from General Manager Charmaine, who asked me to explain what happened. I did so in detail and also asked for the name of the person I had the issue with (the manager who claimed to be the owner of Ulta). However, Charmaine refused to tell me, saying she didn’t know who was managing that day.

To this day, I still haven’t received any explanation for why that employee refused to process my exchange and insisted I needed to be an Ulta member—which, again, I confirmed is not required. I’ve spoken to both customer service and the general manager, yet no one has taken accountability or provided any resolution.

I strongly recommend avoiding this location due to the unprofessional experience I encountered. It would be best to take your business elsewhere where customer service and...

My experience at Ultas(been to this location one or two other times but it’s been over a year) is usually good, with at least one staff member asking if I need help finding anything. I came here the other day to a rather empty store(not packed w customers) and there was 2-3 staff working if you include the security guard that was stalking me. I came for a specific concealer and dug through(respectfully, without making a mess) all the concealers which were sloppily thrown in a little cubby behind the testers..there was no actual organized stock ready for customers to take from..there was barely any shades(Tarte) so I figured there had to be more concealers somewhere and that I needed to ask for help from a staff member. I had to loop around the entire store a few times to find someone, it seemed as if anytime I got close to where they were they must have moved. I finally find a staff member and tell her that I looked through the concealers I saw available but didn’t see the shade I needed so I wasn’t sure if that was it or if there was more elsewhere. She precedes to look exactly where I was looking(where I didn’t find anything), can’t find the shade I need(idk why she expected to, clearly she didn’t listen to what I said earlier), then hands me “the next closest shade” to the one I needed, which was so off. I needed a beige shade because of the undertone in my skin, she would have known that by taking one look at me/ if she had any knowledge on makeup, yet she handed me a neutral shade. I really needed concealer so I just trusted that she was right and hoped for the best. No. The shade looks so orange on my skin..because it doesn’t have the proper undertone--. I realize now I should have asked if there was any more stock in the back but honestly why should I have to…I’ve worked in retail before so I know it’s not hard to just give the back a quick peek or assure the customer there is no more but they could order online/ whatever is appropriate to say in regards to the missing product. The shade I needed was out of stock in every size. The woman herself looked super orange with caked on make up on so idk why I even chanced trusting her, she acted like she didn’t care about anything, had long brown hair with bangs and just an entire prissy attitude going on. The cashier who helped me out was very kind. This place needs either more staff or better quality staff that have an idea how makeup works, that also stay on top of stock and keeping the floor organized/...

Worst experience.... It's my second time coming here to this location & the experience is ABOSOLUTELY upsetting due to the fact in how they treat you there as a customer. So today, I went for a pick-up online order in this location, and this lady in the register named (Paulina) was very rude & unprofessional. BY THE WAY IS NOT THE FIRST TIME I felt discriminated... I was doing a pick up online order & of course I was purchasing some items, and she, with her uncalled attitude, said, I'll take your items that you're paying first with an attitude!!! Then I just went ahead and paid for the items, & tried to use some store credit I've had & haven't used it in like forever. So there was a issue with the card that couldn't swipe, I tried swiping many time and it didn't read because the card was scratched since it was old and never used, I kindly asked if she could check the balance for me and she said that I have to call customer service. But it clearly says in the back of the card I could check the remaining balance "in store," which she didn't want to do. On top of that, upon finishing the transaction. I had to give her my order number. She got the order number and found my items.. slammed the bag with my items inside.. on the table, then opened the bag with a digusted face. She also left some paper garbage inside my bag with the items, after checking and writing down in her book, etc.. which im pretty sure she could've thrown it out instead of leaving it inside my bag!!!! How am I supposed to feel when I encountered all of that being done to in my face. Am I supposed to feel happy with my purchase??!!! Abousolutely NOT!! I WAS DEVISTAGED!!! after everything, I just grabbed my bag and left, and she had the nerve to ask if everything was OK?!!! NOTHING IS OK, NOT WITH THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE IVE ENCOUNTERED TODAY!! I WOULD NEVER GO TO THIS LOCATION AGAIN MOST DEFINITELY WILL NOT RECOMMEND TO MY FAMILY NOR FRIENDS!!!! STAY AWAY FROM THIS LOCATION. They seem to treat you differently because of the way you look & you're dressed/ & if your spanish!!!!!...