Ulta Beauty — Attraction in Rockaway Township

DO NOT GO TO THIS ULTA IF YOU HAVE A CERTAIN IMAGE OF YOUR HAIR IN MIND!!! They will not give you what you ask for, or the picture you show them. I decided to try this Ulta salon in Rockaway, NJ. I had previously dyed my hair with a red box dye 3 months prior. I went into the salon and told them exactly what I put on my hair and then showed the stylist a picture of the color I wanted. It was a light brown BALAYAGE with minimal pink accents. She told me she could try to accomplish this and we started the highlighting process. I didn’t expect her to give me exactly the picture (I am realistic and know it takes more then one session), but what I got was far from it. When I sat in her chair, her license and cards said MASTER DESIGNER, but her and the other salon employees said she was an ELITE DESIGNER (which means more $$). I wouldn’t have minded a pricier dye job IF I actually got what I wanted (or at least close to it). Halfway through her applying full-highlights to my head, the stylist said she could not lift my hair and could only do a full pink or a full brown. This is not what I had hoped for, but with no other options and my hair looking slightly orange and yellow, I chose pink. When she said pink, I thought a nice rosey gold or a light pink color. This stylist made my hair BRIGHT FUCHSIA. Nowhere near subtle, nowhere near the picture, and FAR from my expectations. After 5 hours in the salon chair, I ended the session more disappointed with my hair color than when I first came in. I get to the register and the total came out to $290, not including tip. When I asked how it came out to be so expensive, the girl at the register said for the amount of time and products she used, plus being an ELITE DESIGNER!!, it came to the price of $290. Now keep in mind, I am an independent, college student and I work so hard for my money. To waste my day off of work and spend over $300 on a hair color/cut that I was extremely dissatisfied with, I felt so defeated. Unfortunately, I had to swallow my pride and charge my debit card over $300. Fast forward to a month later, I have called the salon 4-5 times for the last 4 weeks to see what I could do. I have spent a month hating my hair, losing confidence in myself, and wondering how I got to this point. I called the salon to see if I could get even a partial refund, or fix my hair, and every time they blamed me for using a box dye on my hair and that they were all there during my consultation, so it is my word against theirs. Don’t go to this salon if you’re looking for good customer service. They do not listen to you, they do not call you back, and they are NOT willing to work with you. Never again will I waste my money at an Ulta salon!!! I’ve never in my life been so mistreated by a salon. “The customer is always right and should be happy with their outcome” does not apply here. They will not work with you!! Now, I have filed a complaint with guest services, and hopefully, they will be willing to help me get a refund so I can get my hair fixed. I really wish I could attach images so you can see just how bad my hair really is. Such a shame, this salon has the opportunity to be great, but the customer service is terrible and they just want to blame you, not listen or try to help. Save your $$,...

I had a terrible experience at Rockaway Ulta and I have not gotten a call back about remedying it.

I went in for a root touch up of my previous ‘Total Blonde’ service. I booked the appointment and sent photos of my hair ahead of time so she could see how much I liked it. She asked on the phone if I wanted highlights and I said no, just the same blonde as before. When I got there, she asked three more times to switch to highlights. My hair is very light, so ‘highlights’ made no sense. I had to keep repeating that I wanted all blonde the same as before. My hair had grown out about an inch or so because they weren’t open, but a touch up seemed like a simple thing.

She didn’t leave the lightener on long enough I think because my roots are very brassy compared to my length that is a light creamy vanilla. If the previous stylist could do it, why did she get it wrong? It is even more visible around the neck I think because she washed it all out at once and had done the back last and didn’t wait for it to develop better. She also didn’t give me the deep conditioning treatment I asked for when I booked the appointment over the phone, and I had tried to make sure politely in advance that there would be enough time to do it. When I asked her about it, she said she gave me a conditioning glaze when she was rinsing my hair. That felt like a brush off. When I told her the color didn’t look the same on top as the rest, she said it will look fine if I just see it in the sunlight. That was said undoubtedly just to get me out the door. Terrible treatment.

I had only agreed to book the appointment with someone other than my last stylist because this other stylist told me she wasn’t coming back. Toward the end of the appointment, she confessed that my previous stylist may be going to a different Ulta salon in several more weeks. Had I known all this, I definitely have waited and I definitely would not have booked this crazy appointment!

I called to speak to the manager yesterday. I asked to have my color corrected by another stylist because she had made me so uncomfortable. She seemed to be rushing me out the door and was careless about everything I had asked for. I have not received a call back. I think, perhaps, the better stylists there are growing tired and don’t want to fix their coworker’s messes. I asked for something simple, to maintain my roots. I very disappointed about not getting a call back and I feel I have to make this...

Really weird experience. I’ve been to this location a few times and this was the first time I felt really uncomfortable.

We were not greeted when we walked in the store. Not a big deal but they managed to greet the people before us and after us. There were several people shopping when we walked in yet they watched us the whole time we were shopping. I was there for two items. Couldn’t find them so it took a while to search. No one offered help. The workers were standing around the counter socializing the whole time or leaning back and staring. These were different people than I’ve seen there before too. As we were still continuing to search, and I was looking for a clarifying shampoo (which I couldn’t find because I wasn’t sure which one was a good one) I searched every single brand there to compare prices and compare ingredients, etc., as most people do when when they’re buying expensive products… Apparently this prompted the security guard to come down the aisle three times to watch us. As I mentioned, there were several other people in the store. We weren’t doing anything suspicious. We had no bags so it’s not like we had anywhere to stuff anything if they thought that we were trying to take something. He watched us from the moment we walked into the store until the moment we left. I was told I needed ID to use my Ulta credit card as well so I couldn’t use it since I didn’t bring anything in the store with me except my phone which has Apple Pay. Never had them ask me for my ID before.

TLDR: They never greeted us. Said hi to everyone but us. Never offered help when I was searching for products. Watched us like we were going to take something. Apparently our gym clothes meant we needed to be watched. Should’ve known from the other reviews that I would eventually have a bad experience here. Definitely cancelling my ulta card and never coming back to this location. I will be going to Sephora as I have never had a negative...