Ulta Beauty — Local services in Durham

My review is based on my Ulta Salon experience with Sarah. I went in, asking for balayage highlights. I came in with 3 pictures of what I wanted, and all three of them showed light blonde highlights but with a significant amount of natural hair color showing.

After 5 hours in Sarah's chair, my hair had barely changed color. I was upset because the highlights she gave me were nowhere near as light as I had asked for.

I called and complained and agreed to let Sarah fix my hair for free, rather than getting a refund. I wish I hadn't. I don't know what about highlights Sarah didn't understand because I left with completely blonde hair from about 4 inches from my scalp to the bottom. Instead of getting highlights, I got what looked like a 6-month old bad dye job.

I expressed my concerns about not having enough natural color in my hair as Sarah was doing the "highlights", but instead of reducing the amount of hair she was bleaching, she just kept going and said I could come back and get lowlights put in at a later date.

Sarah's understanding of balayage highlights is nothing like how most people understand it. She didn't put much variation in where the "highlights" started, so although they didn't start at my scalp (correct), they all started at about the same distance from my scalp (incorrect), making it look like a grown-out dye job. Further more, she dyed 90% of my hair below the line where she started the "highlights", so I don't think they conform to what most people would call highlights.

Although Sarah did apologize for not listening to me and "getting carried away" when I went back the second time, she still didn't listen when I tried to get her to bleach less hair during her "fix". And although she offered for me to come back to get lowlights at a different date, I knew that would not be enough to fix the hair and I no longer trusted her to touch my hair.

I am still working on trying to get my money back. I only agreed to give Sarah a second chance if I could first speak to the salon manager, but when I showed up I was told the salon manager wasn't there. I let her do the fix anyway and severely regret it. I've contacted corporate twice, but the store manager still hasn't gotten back to me within the timeframe they gave me.

I had to go to a different salon to get my hair fixed. Instead of doing just the highlights I wanted originally, I had to get lowlights to restore lots of my natural color, highlights to vary the distance from my scalp from which the highlights start (the fundamental characteristic of balayage that Sarah did not understand) and 2 glazes to keep the lightness of the highlights but get rid of the yellow (Sarah told me the toner she was using could only get rid of brassiness by...

I went into the Ulta Renaissance Center IV (6923 Fayetteville Road, Durham, NC 27703) on 12/22. I brought in a product which had been ordered online for in-store pickup, but it was the incorrect product which had been given to me when I picked it up a few days before. The incorrect product was very similar to the product I really ordered, and it was the same price.

The manager on duty, Liliana Perez, said that because I checked out as a guest online and did not use my loyalty number during the transaction, I would only be able to receive $8 back for the $28 gift set. I explained that I did not want money back, that I wanted the CORRECT item that I ordered and had proof of ordering (emailed receipt). Liliana said that because I didn't use my loyalty number, there's no way of tracing that this was legitimate and that I could have bought the item from somewhere else and just shown up to get money for it (!!!). She also questioned why I didn't bring this up when I originally picked up the product, and I explained that they were both very similar gift sets. It wasn't apparent until I started wrapping the item.

I am utterly dissappointed in Ulta for not fixing a mistake that the STORE made, and I attempted to fix as soon as I discovered the issue (within 3 days of picking up the item). I will not be coming back to Ulta again. I cannot trust a company that treats customers this way. If you must have a loyalty number in order to make a return for the STORE'S mistake, then you should REQUIRE a loyalty number for every transaction.

Regardless of their return policy, nobody should ever tell a customer that they are probably coming in to try to scam the store. That is humiliating and...

Have tried to give this particular location numerous chances because I know people have bad days and things happen but I have found this store to consistently have terrible customer service including during my most recent visit. I specifically drove all the way to the store to pick up an item that was on sale after checking online to make sure they had it in stock. I go to the store and the product was no where to be seen and there weren't really associates on the floor. I stood in the checkout line so that I could ask the associate at the register about the product and she said it should be over by the front and I explained it wasnt with the other sale items. She then said we prolly dont have it. She checked with another associate who I explained about this item being on sale today only and showed her the app and that it was in stock at their location. She said yes it looks like it should be on sale but I dont see it up here and that if we had it it would be on the display by checkout. I told her I didnt see it there but she just responded that it would only be there(without helping me look even though I asked) and walked away. I looked for a while myself but had no luck, couldnt find anyone again so stood in line again and let the person at the register know I wasnt able to find it and she said we probably dont have it. I asked if the store could order it for me because I know in other stores they have offered that but she said they couldnt because their system was down. I know that can haappen but it just didnt seem like anyone wanted to help with a solution after I had wasted a ton of time driving down for in store pick up. Just dissappointed and still did not get the...